Twenty-one days now. Twenty-one days in the darkness of the cell. Lilisila currently stared up at the ceiling, occasionally feeling a bit of squirming between her breasts. She sighed, the rise and fall of her chest halting the movement for the time being. The elf wondered what it was like to be so close to her heartbeat, to have its gentle thumping and breathing fill her world. Gloria seemed to like it, having request to be nestled between Lilisila's breasts most of the time. She had blushed so brightly but Lilisila didn't mind, honestly she enjoyed keeping her cellmate close.

The days had passed with very few incidents. Alicia hadn't visited her again though it was not surprising to the dirty elf. Gloria was her only company and typically they passed the time talking. Rather Gloria would talk and Lilisila would listen, occasionally interjecting her own remarks. She was now aware of the name of her home village, the names and appearances of all of her immediate family, who she was named after, the main export of her village, and more than she had ever wanted to know about milking cows.

They were inane little things but the elf listened to each and every topic, indulging in the conversations just to keep sane. Very little about them was actually of interest to her. Honestly they were rather dull and Gloria's life had been horridly uninteresting. The most interesting thing that had happened to her was, ironically, her capture and enslavement. Her tales of witnessing one of her friends devoured by her daughter didn't surprise her at all. Apparently she'd taken her time, tasting and toying with him on her tongue before swallowing. The little human had found it horrific, Lilisila, who was no stranger to devouring humans felt very little.

Gloria squirmed a bit more, signaling to the larger woman to let her out of her little shelter. The elf's fingers dipped between the valley of her breasts and plucked the tiny human out, setting her on the ground beside her head. It was easier to talk to her when she was near Lilisila's triangular ear. Her hearing was keen but when she was right there she could hear her clear as day. The giantess wondered idly what the conversation topic would be today. Maybe pig wrestling or boys she had liked.

"Morning, Lili! How'd you sleep?" Gloria inquired with a yawn.

Lilisila shrugged. "Well enough. You?"

"Great! You never seem to toss and turn so it's like heaven. Can only imagine its better without the dirt." Gloria said.

Lilisila opted not to mention why she never tossed or turned. Insomnia had long kept dark circles under her eyes and she longed for the rare nights when she could sleep. She had felt every squirm of the human when the tiny creature slept, every toss and every turn. She envied her really. The elf envied the human for her ability to fall asleep whenever she wanted. Lilisila felt so tired all the time. So very tired.

"So... Lili... can I ask you something?" Gloria said, her tone unsure.

"Ask away, we have nothing but time after all."

"It's about... Alicia."

Lilisila winced as her daughter's smiling face entered her mind. "That is a... personal subject."

"Well, who am I going to tell? Didn't you say I was going to become a piece of jewelry?"

She... had a point Lilisila supposed though she doubted Gloria understood why she had a point. Regardless the elf let out a weary sigh. Talking of her daughter was... painful. Just thinking about it hurt. Talking made it real. Even still she knew that talking was something she had to do eventually. Might as well talk about such matters to one that was never going to repeat it to another.

"Very well... what do you want to know?" Lilisila asked.

"Well... how did she get all... ya know..." Gloria asked, suddenly seeming a bit careful of her word choice.

The elf chuckled bitterly. "Insane? Crazy? Barking Mad? A few swords short of an armory? I have heard it all before."

"There was no... one incident that pushed her to madness. It was gradual. Slow. However perhaps I should start at the beginning."

She took a deep breath and let it out, preparing to lay out her sins before a witness. It was so hard to find the proper words even as she had long thought over how to phrase the tale. How exactly did one describe what Alicia had once been and what she had become? How did one describe a fall into the blackest of madness from the greatest of heights? No one word could capture it and any amount of them seemed insufficient.

"I remember, when I discovered I was bearing Alicia, I was so happy. I was young back then, much younger than you see now. For the longest time I knew I wanted to be a mother. I bore my daughter happily for a year, feeling her grow inside of me. There was pain bringing her into this world but such bliss when I held her in my arms." Lilisila started.

"I was the Mistress of Elder Magic before she held the title and her father was a brilliant scholar. It only made sense that we would bear a gifted daughter. To call Alicia gifted, however, would be an understatement. Whatever field of magic she attempted, she excelled at. She was my equal in Elder Magic by her first century and possessed access to many other branches as well. Of course I was proud. However... it wasn't good enough."

"What do you mean? She sounded perfect." Gloria interjected.

Lilisila swallowed the lump of emotion in her throat. "She was. Oh, if only I had seen how she was. Alicia was such a perfect child, so loving and gentle. She didn't used to delight in tormenting humans; she treated them gently and cried whenever one died near her. For all her gifts however, for all the power inside of her, my daughter was insecure to an extreme."

"Insecure?"

"Mhm. She never thought she was good enough. I certainly didn't help matters there. I was always pushing her, I was sparing with my love and in showering her with affection. I wanted her to succeed, because through her was my validation. She was my legacy. So to please me, Alicia devoted herself more and more to magic." Lilisila said, blinking back tears.

She remembered well the long hours Alicia spent training, researching, throwing herself at her magic with barely a thought given to sleep or food. She remembered how icy and cold she herself had been, stringent with her approval. If she messed up then she was berated, if she succeeded then she could have done better. More and more Alicia had grown desperate, her gleaming green eyes so very wild with desperation as she toiled away.

"Magic is dangerous, not just to the target of a spell but to the user itself. It feels so good, addictive, like a drug in some ways. To abuse magic is to abuse one's soul. Alicia abused it. She abused it over and over again, the power seeping away at her sanity. Slowly she grew more erratic and more eccentric. I remember watching her down her pampered and cared for pets like nothing one day."

What a jarring memory that had been. Her daughter had abstained from human based meals on principle for the longest time. However she had devoured her little pets with a relish and glee Lilisila had never seen. One after the other she had popped them in her mouth and swallowed them down. The elf had simply assumed Alicia was simply discovering how good they typically tasted and felt squirming down. It had been brushed off at the time. Humans were eaten all the time after all.

"Eventually she discovered the soul strings, refining her control of Elder Magic to its finest point and that was when she made the true plunge. That was when she decided to take control..."

_____________________________________________________________________

The manor was eerily quiet as the full moon was newborn in the sky. Lilisila stepped inside, the door creaking ever so slightly. She looked around the foyer and found no sign of the servants and all of the candles were extinguished. It was so quiet that if a pin had dropped the woman would have heard it clear as day. The darkness was not unbearable as the moonlight dappling through the curtains was more than enough to light her way for the time being.

"Edion? Alicia? Are you two planning something? The Council meeting wasn't that bad honestly, no need to go to any trouble." Lilisila said, a slight smirk upon her lips.

Her purple robes swished around her slim form as she walked away from the door. Her eyes searched around until her sandal splashed into something. The woman looked down and immediately regretted it. Blood. Fresh blood by the looks of it. It had been drawn upon the floor like a little finger painting, an arrow pointing down a nearby hallway. Lilisila's arm was morphed and transformed within a few seconds, black talons gleaming in the moonlight as her grotesque Dark Arm rested at her side.

Assassins perhaps? It wouldn't be the first time. The logical thing would be to search out a battlemage in the city. However with the blood on the floor and her husband and daughter here the woman was not willing to just leave. They could be injured or worse. Immediately she rushed off down the hall, finding further arrows pointing her along the path. Her heart was pounding as her talons flexed, prepared to tear any assassin to ribbons. They would learn the price of crossing a Councilor of Elsira.

The arrows turned down the hall and into a nearby corridor. Before turning Lilisila moved her Dark Arm around the corner, the eyelids upon the appendage blinking open. Wide red eyes stared out at all around, their eyes connected to her own sight. No ambush so far. The arrows seemed to lead down the corridor and into the dining room. Not exactly the best place for an attack. Close quarters was where she excelled.

Lilisila turned the corner and stopped beside the door to the dining room. She moved her arm out to take a look, and immediately wished she had not.

The room was a mess. The table was cracked and splintered and the chairs had been tossed around the room. The servants of the household were strewn about the floor, certainly dead. Some had slit throats, others looked to have stabbed themselves in the gut, still others had been sliced open by their fellows. Sitting in the only upright chair was Alicia, gossamer purple strings stretching out from her right hand. They were connected to a well-dressed and handsome male elf, Edion, her husband.

The mother turned the corner and entered the room, her steps halting as she got a good look with her natural eyes. They were all so mangled and torn and bloody. Edion didn't look up from his place on the floor though Alicia did smile widely at Lilisila's entrance. She clapped her hands together and giggled.

"Mommy! Your home! Sorry about the mess, housecleaning sure can get messy." Alicia said.

It was then that Lilisila got a good look at her daughter's eyes. They were bright as they always had been though they were alight with something sinister. Something dark. Madness. She was dressed in her little cotton nightgown, which was stained in blood. Blood was also upon her fingers, likely having been used to paint the arrows in the halls. It wasn't as though she was lacking for blood to use. The look in her eyes was so... evil.

"Ali... what have you done?" Lilisila asked, trying to remain calm.

"Hmm... Well, the servants always messed up my dinner, were behind in changing my sheets and stained my best dress. Really horrid servants honestly. So I opted to show them that their services were no longer required." Alicia said, turning her gaze to the ceiling.

The older elf's eyes flicked to Edion who was still bound by the strange purple strings extending from Alicia's fingers. Just what were they? Lilisila had never seen such a magic before in her life. Was he dead? She prayed it wasn't so. Surely her daughter was not too far gone as to do that. Then again... the scene of murder all around her told her that Alicia was already quite out of the loop of sanity.

Her daughter lifted her right hand. "Pretty aren't they? I call them Soul Strings. They give me direct control over a person's body and spirit through commands pulsed out from my spirit along the strings. Daddy likes them, don't you Daddy?"

Apparently he was given enough command over his mouth to speak when Alicia twitched her pinky. "Lili, run! She's gone-!"

Another twitch cut off his vocal cords once more. Alicia narrowed her eyes at her father and kicked out, her heel smashing into his jaw roughly. That was what prompted Lilisila to finally move. She ran forward, her Dark Arm ready to restrain her daughter. The only warning she got was an explosion of gossamer threads before she found herself frozen in place. Alicia's left hand was held out and more threads were extending into Lilisila's body.

It felt so... wrong. Like most elder magic it felt like it was violating every natural law just by existing. This was most certainly elder magic but of a caliber that Lilisila had never imagined possible. She could only stare out with eyes that were no longer her own, she couldn't even blink or breathe without Alicia allowing her to. Such magic like this was so far beyond her own that it was laughable.

Alicia stood and let out another unhinged giggle, her eyes rolling around in her skull as her lips were turned up in a childish grin. Lilisila's hand morphed back into a normal flesh and blood hand, her magic now under the control of Alicia. She felt afraid of her. Of her daughter of all people! Never would she have imagined Alicia doing something like this. Certainly she had become a tad... eccentric these past couple of years but nothing out of the ordinary for a skilled mage.

Her daughter reached out and caressed at Lilisila's cheek, staining it red with blood. "You know, Mommy, for the longest time I was trying so hard to figure out what would please you. What might make her happy, I wondered? I thought that if I was like you, if I was as good as you then you might love me more. You might hold me close and tell me how proud you were."

Her fingers strayed from her cheek to her lips, dragging over them down to her chin and then down her slender throat. "However... I had an epiphany. You see, I realized that being like you wasn't the answer. I had to surpass you. You always told me I could be the greatest, Mommy, so I figured I would follow through."

Alicia drew in and whispered into Lilisila's ear, her breath hot upon her skin. "Aren't you so proud of me, Mommy?"

Lilisila felt her vocal cords being set free and she swallowed hard, fear flowing through her veins like ice. "Ali, release your father and I. You can't-!"

Immediately her voice was stolen from her and a sharp slap was delivered to the side of her face. Alicia's face was twisted in fury as she stared into Lilisila's eyes, the madness having vanished in favor of anger. The sharp open handed slap was followed by a vicious backhand and she felt the strings tug her to her knees alongside her husband. She couldn't even look to her husband for some form of comfort.

"Can't!? I can do whatever I want, Mommy! You can't tell me what I can do anymore, I'm better than you now. The superior mage. I'm the Mistress now!" The younger elf shouted, spittle flying in Lilisila's face.

Alicia spun away on her heel, her breathing heavy and audible as she pinched at her temples. She took deep and calming breaths, not speaking for the longest time. Lilisila could only stare ahead at her maddened daughter, listening to the sound of her heart beat drumming in her skull. Her cheeks still stung and out of the corner of her eye she could see a trickle of blood dribbling down her husband's chin where Alicia had struck him.

"Anyway, Mommy, Daddy was quite mean to me earlier. What did you call me? A 'monster'? A monster! Me! His own daughter, just because I opted to take out all this trash!" Alicia said, her expression one of genuine hurt.

At the moment Lilisila was inclined to agree with Edion's assessment and that most certainly hurt. This wasn't Alicia. This couldn't be her daughter. This was some monster wearing the skin of her daughter. Most mages were eccentric in some ways; Lilisila herself could be a tad detached. This however went beyond eccentric. This was insane. This was the madness most mages were warned away from.

Alicia narrowed her eyes at Edion and flexed her fingers. "You're a bad Daddy! A good Daddy wouldn't hurt his daughter like that. I don't want a bad Daddy around."

Her voice had lowered threateningly and Lilisila listened in horror as Edion let out a scream of pain, his voice freed. She wanted to beg Alicia to stop but her voice was no longer hers. Why was this happening? Tears formed in the corners of her eyes as she listened to her husband scream over and over, the sound strangely becoming fainter and fainter as the moments passed by. This was a nightmare. This was a bad dream. She was going to wake up and find her daughter and then hold her tightly.

The pain fading from her cheeks told her that this was indeed real. Lilisila watched Alicia pad across the dining room on bloodstained bare feet, the younger elf stooping down and plucking up something from the ground. Lilisila watched her hold Edion's squirming form between her thumb and forefinger, her lips turning up in a wide grin. Madness danced in her green eyes as she regarded the tiny elf writhing against her massive digits. She squeezed slightly, earning a sharp cry of pain from her father.

"I like you much more like this, Daddy. Am I still a monster, huh?" Alicia asked.

"Ali, please, stop this! Don't hurt your mother!" Edion cried, pushing pathetically against Alicia's fingers.

"If it was Mommy in my fingers she might be able to escape with her magic, you on the other hand are so weak. Not a bit of magic in you."

"Why- ah, are you doing this!?"

Alicia rolled her eyes and giggled. "Because I can. I'm in control here. Mommy will only be proud of me if I'm in control, silly."

"Do you think she'd proud of this!? Of having made these people kill each other?"

That's what Alicia had done? She'd forced the servants to just murder each other with these strings? This power of hers chilled at Lilisila's blood. She felt like a passenger in her own body, as such she couldn't imagine how horrifying it might be to hurt another when not truly meaning it. If not for the circumstances of the displaying of this power Lilisila might well be proud of her daughter, for having surpassed her in ability.

Alicia merely shrugged at the question noncommittally, like it didn't matter. "Let me ask you something, Daddy. Would you die to save Mommy from a terrible fate? Do you love her that much?"

"Of course!" Edion shouted.

"I'm happy to hear that. Maybe we should test that." Alicia said.

Lilisila felt her limbs jerked and watched as she rose to her full height. Her daughter held her father up by his legs and dangled him over Lilisila's head. The older elf tried to stop her neck from craning back. Alicia licked at her lips as she willed Lilisila's mouth to open slowly, strings of saliva breaking as her silky velvet tongue lolled out. It was at that moment that she realized exactly what Alicia had planned for Edion. Judging from the screaming of her husband he realized it as well.

"I'm so jealous, Mommy, I've wanted to try shrunken elf for a while after discovering how yummy human could be. I bet Daddy will taste sooo good!" Her daughter said with a giggle.

"Wait! Ali, please, don't do this!" Edion begged.

"Keep squirming like that, Daddy, it'll make you feel so good going down."

Lilisila was not a religious woman. She was one of magic and logic. However, at that moment, she found herself mentally begging for a miracle as she stared at her shrunken husband struggling a squirming above her mouth. Her stomach had claimed many humans over her centuries, however that was different. Edion was her husband, her lover, the man she had chosen to share her centuries with. The idea that she was going to be forced to eat him was enough to make her want to retch.

"Let's count down, it'll be fun! I'll start us off. Three..." Alicia started.

"Ali! This is wrong, please, I'm sorry for what I said!" Edion screamed.

"Two..."

"You don't have to do this, please!"

"One!"

"Ali-nooo!"

With her final count she released her hold upon her father and allowed gravity to take hold of Edion. The tiny man fell towards the dark and moist hole below, screaming all the while. His screams were cut short as he landed upon Lilisila's moist tongue, his wife's lips snapping shut at Alicia's direction. She could feel him on her tongue, squirming and pounding as he tried to desperately escape the dark and humid hell of her mouth. Alicia giggled and forced her tongue to start toying with him.

Lilisila's tongue swirled around him, coating him in a thick coat of saliva. She got a good and long taste at the tiny elf. To her eternal shame he actually did taste better than a human might. She pressed her husband against her cheek, storing him there for a bit. Tears form in her eyes as he struggled against the inside of her cheek, quickly being pressed hard against the roof of her mouth. Saliva formed quickly, filling his mouth and lungs with the fluid. Her eyes were locked upon Alicia, a pleading look in them.

Her only response was a wide and childish grin as she forced Lilisila's tongue to toss the elf to the back of her mouth. No. No, no, no! This wasn't going to happen! Lilisila tried to break free from the strings that held her, desperate to save her husband. His struggles were weaker now, likely having been exhausted from being tossed around like candy and drowned in his wife's saliva.

"And down he goes~" Alicia sang.

Lilisila swallowed. Her heart sunk as she swallowed, feeling her squirming husband squeezed down into her tight throat. He was still squirming all the way down and she felt Alicia's finger trace his passage down. It felt as good as when a human struggled vainly against their inevitable fate. There were few sensations she found as relaxing as a human sliding down her throat but in this case it was a horrifying feeling

Alicia slipped a hand behind Lilisila's robes and rubbed at her stomach as Edion arrived. He struggled and squirmed in her gastric juices, no doubt trying to escape his fate to no avail. Lilisila felt it, she felt everything. She felt every little tickling motion he made inside of her stomach, the desperate scrabbling to escape pain and death. It was to no avail of course. If countless humans couldn't escape Edion wasn't going to.

"Mmm... bye bye, Daddy. Now he'll always be part of you, Mommy. I bet he tasted so good for you since he loved you so much." Alicia said, pressing her fingers against the soft skin of Lilisila's slim belly.

The strings binding the older elf slackened their hold, allowing her to fall to her knees. Her eyes widened as what had just happened finally sunk in. She had just eaten her husband. Immediately she opened her mouth and tried to stick her fingers inside, hoping she could induce vomiting fast enough. Her arm froze with a flick of Alicia's fingers, preventing her from doing anything to release Edion.

"P-Please, Ali, please let me release him! Don't do this! He's your father!" Lilisila begged, pressing her face into the hem of her daughter's nightgown, weeping into the bloody fabric.

Alicia knelt and took her mother into her arms, hugging her. The older elf cried into the cook of her daughter's slender neck, clinging tightly to the monster in elven skin. Her fingers curled into the fabric of Alicia's nightgown as she wept and cried anguished tears. Slowly she felt her husband's struggles begin to die down. Soon enough she felt them cease forever. That only made her cry all the louder.

"Shhh... Mommy. Daddy was bad. He didn't really love me. He stole so much of your love, which was why I barely got any from you. It's better this way. Now you are all mine... forever." Alicia whispered, her arms tightening around Lilisila possessively.