Two Days

Team Jax

Jazim leads his squad into the thick jungle lands that surrounded their city, His core group was currently the best retrieval team in all of Johannis and today they would show the newbies how it was done. The overgrowth was thick and the animals aggressive, cutting their path with military precision and awareness they scanned the dark green environment looking for that distant hue shift that would signify there quarry was close. His 2nd Amie Lyne kept the new team members up to date with each motion and why it had to be the way it was. “Everything in this wilderness wants to kill you, Do not lose focus, Half of this fauna is poisonous, the other half is carnivorous, Trust your squad to have your back and if anything moves outside of our line you shoot first and ask questions later”. The long hike through the hard environment was taking its toll on the team when Xander slid down back into the group from his high scout location moving into quick step beside Jazim. “North, Northeast, The purple mist is swirling”. That was the news Jazim had been waiting for, Orientating himself he called out for his squad to follow him as they had finally found what they were hunting for.

 The team crouched around the edge of a large patch of purple plants that extended off in every direction, Large solid thorns the size of combat knives erupted from the stems and a purple mist swirled around the ground, Amie started pointing at the various features of the landscape before them. “Okay newbies, This is a patch, This is the whole reason us hunters live, The Mist that swirls around the ground is highly toxic, if you fall to the ground, don't breath or you’re dead, Those thorns are sharp enough to cut through your bones on contact, you will lose body parts if you go near them. Oh and those huge 15ft wide flowers halfway up the stem, we call them carnys, They have a reach of roughly 40ft, They will lunge out and devour you whole should you get too close” As Amie went through the additional more subtle dangers she could see the new recruits starting to grow concerned with their mission, some were visibly recoiling from the horrors of the obstacle course that lay before them. “Listen, we move quickly and carefully and we will reach the target.” as she gestured high into the branches there were large purple orbs twice the size of themselves clearly visible in the highest points. “We bring back one of those then we have done our job, we bring back two and there will be a party in our honour, Three and we become big damn heroes”

 Sprinting forward Jazim lead by example as he expertly dodged and weaved through the huge vines and knife like thorns towards a thick stem that seemed easily climbable, with a flick of his wrists a pair of climbing hooks swung out from under his shirt and he shot up the large plant with a dancers grace. He looked back at his team who were staring at him awestruck. “See, Nothing to it! Now I can’t do this alone, let's get the job done”. On his words, the rest of his 12 strong team charged into patch drawing their climbing picks to replicate his feats. Seconds later an ear piercing scream echoed through the overgrowth, Amie turned in horror as Keith writhe on the ground, his leg severed by a nearby thorn, she gasped in horror as the man rolled in the mist cursing and sucking in breaths of the purple toxin. “Everyone look away, Focus on your climb, FOR FUCK SAKE BE CAREFUL”. Those who couldn't turn away watched as Keith's veins turned purple all over and then slowly expanded popping out of his skin, The scene was horrific and Georgia who had been close with Keith started to scream uncontrollably from her position halfway up a long purple plant stem. Xander started yelling at her to stop from a nearby vantage but the woman's mind was locked up in her screeching. “MOVE, MOVE GEOR..” the screaming stopped as a huge plant swept down from above and enveloped the woman entirely before immediately retracting back up into the higher branches. Those nearby were stunned and more scared than they had ever been in their lives. Amie called down from above where she had been following Jazim “Keep your tones down, Don't scream they can sense it more than most other sounds, They also can’t attack things that are too close to them so make sure you move close to the flowers as you climb”

 Xander caught up with Jazim as he sawed through the thick stem holding the huge purple orb, the large orb fell to the ground and bounced a little way before piercing itself on a thorn. “Fuck fuck, That ones no good now, we can try but they are never good enough if we break the skin” the team leader was cursing as Xander broke into the rant. “We’ve lost 5 so far, the two at the start, Jean and Tak got snatched by the carnies and Riley fell, I only hope he died from the fall and not the mist”. Jazim shook his head as he moved towards the next purple orb a few feet above him. “It’s the only way this job works, You bring some fresh meat to keep the more aggressive plants occupied while we get the work done, It’s your fourth time out with us, you know that by now” Xander nodded sullenly as he followed his lead to the higher orb, “Still feels wrong you know, training hunters only to use them as bait for oversized man-eating plants”. Jazim secured himself to the large stem as he took out his saw once more. “What's not fair is the fact that we have to do this at all, We risk our lives day after day for large purple balls of poison. That one down there that is leaking purple ooze, That is so concentrated it can dissolve skin, What possible horror could these death balls be used for and we, my friend, we are complicit in that use yet we do nothing to change things” as he finished ranting the large stem finally gave way to his saw and the large orb fell, bounced and rested safely against the first. “Okay, One.” Amie slid over from a parallel stem “I have another over here, We just lost Simon to the Carny that was overlooking it so it should be safe enough”. Jazim nodded to his 2nd and directed Xander towards the now safe harvest. He pointed to another orb above him “That’ll be our last, between that and the one Xander gets we should get at least two good ones, We’re running out of distractions to risk being here any longer”

 Emilia had just caught up with Amie and Jazim, They were moving ahead and getting the work done while her and the rest of the newbies were struggling with the climb and the risks involved. She followed the two up towards a high purple orb trying her best not to look down, Then she saw it, a huge creature with legs beyond count slowly skittering down from above towards them. She and Amie reacted instinctually, locking themselves to the stem and swinging their rifles from their backs to begin shooting. Jazim was not so fortunate as the large monster tore his head from his shoulders and let it fall to the ground as it devoured his body. The creature was not prepared for the pounding of the bullets on to its armoured carapace however and it was pushed back, falling from the stem. The whole team watched in horror as it recovered on the purple ground and began skittering quickly up towards them once more. Then it was all over as a large white and yellow plant swept in and covered the creature, shortly after both were gone, off into the dense canopy. “Always a bigger fish” Emilia spoke to no-one in particular as she glanced over to Amie. “That's nature, Jazim knew the job, Team JAX is done, Emilia, Welcome to Team AXE, now get to that Poison globe and let's get out of this hellscape.

 The team had lost Hank during the climb down leaving them with only Amie, Xander, Emilia, Zane and Jens as the survivors of the days hunt, between them they rolled the 4 huge purple orbs from the jungle, It was late evening by the time they finally got back to the city gates. The hunter commander came out to congratulate them on their great success as he looked at the damage orb. “This one been punctured, It won’t count towards your total!. Amie knew this would be the case but was hoping that even a damaged orb would count for something if the other teams had come up short. “How many are back?” she said anxiously as the commander inspected their haul. “21 squads have returned, 6 more are still out, With yours, we will have enough to meet the target so it’s going to be a good night, I am sorry about Jazim, He was one of our best, Report to HQ tomorrow and we’ll make your command official and find you some fresh blood”. Then he left, giving the order for the orbs to be taken away for cleaning.

Sarah’s Routine

Wandering down the streets of Pyraxi Prima, One of the goddesses favourite cities and origin world to both Cassi and Alyssa, Sarah was enjoying the feeling of walking with the people. It was a shopping trip for her kitchen as they so often were and watching the hustle and bustle of the busy capital city always brought her a certain level of happiness. She was here to make a few key purchases, the milk from this world was unmatched anywhere else in the universe and the Goddess would never accept anything less than the best. Sarah was also looking for a potential boyfriend, Her last one had abandoned her for a priestess and she had been forced to stick him to the end of her dildo and end him, It was the only course of action that made sense she rationalised as her finger flicked through the Pyraxian dating application.

 Hours past and Sarah had enjoyed her time in the large city, going over the various niche products in her basket she felt a sense of accomplishment as one does when they achieve the smaller goals. Her palm device was still flashing, she had managed to snare a lot of young men with her recently added dating profile, Sarah had listed her age as 25 to match her pictures although she had lost track of her ages centuries ago and had no desire to find out her true age, Time moved in weird ways when you served the ultimate goddess. Selecting a few choice specimens Sarah offered herself up for a few trial dates later that week, No priestesses were going to steal her new boy toy and any mortal girls who tried would meet a satisfying end, she wouldn't risk the goddess freeing anymore of her revenge slaves as she had with Arianna. Walking into an Alley the door opened before her, taking her from the city into another city, this time she stood a titan on a pedastel. This world was one of hers and they revered her like they did the Goddess herself. The city was built in a circle around her arrival platform, from her standing position she could see every detail as the tiny population scurried to greet their ruler.
 A long chain of bound people were being dragged out before her huge sandaled feet. She looked down on the 0.5cm people with a smirk. “Prisoners?”. Then a platform slid into place at waist level with the cities leaders prostrate before her. “They are yours Mistress Sarah” the small leader spoke into a microphone that blasted across the city. Slowly raising her foot just enough, the huge maid brought her foot over the line of people, trying to feel them struggle beneath her leather but she felt nothing. With a sigh she lowered her foot delicately, breaking them slowly and feeling for the pop as their insides spurted out across her sole, then it came and her sigh became a moan, nothing like a small power trip to improve your day. “A very good way to start our exchange, Now, do you have my supply or do I need to go for a walk about town?” the group on the platform started making movements and motions as another platform ascended to join them at waist level with the towering beauty who loomed over them, Sarah inspected the small box, 50 fresh purple berries, a fruit the goddess was particularly fond of with her breakfast. She sensed something was wrong as the leaders offering the berries were nervous about something, She mumbled in celestial to herself and a single berry hovered from the box, inspecting it closely she found the damaged side that had been painted over. “Oh dear Oh dear, Not only is this one damaged, You actually tried to cover it up”. Shaking her head slowly she looked down on the now cowering leaders. “If you damage a berry, You are to discard it, This was made very VERY clear” Sarah placed the berry that stood twice the size of the small people in amongst the small group. “Bring me the team that brought this one back immediately”. 

Team Axe was lead from their morning training, through the large government buildings and placed onto a long cable car ride. No-one had told them what was going on although the presence of Sarah was visible for them all to see and her words carried to each corner of Johannis, They were in serious trouble and there was no way out. Sarah watched from above as the tiny people were lined up before her, her mind was racing with what came next and she could feel her nethers begin to heat as they often did during her power plays, some lucky Pyraxian guy would be getting the full treatment later. “You had the audacity to return to the city with a damaged berry, There is a reason I cultivated this world to be so dangerous to you insects, The Goddess believes that should I exempt you from the normal tribute schedule, You should all prove your worth by facing a challenge, This is cheating that challenge”. Sarah struggled to hide her smile at her explanation, She knew the real reason she made them traverse her lethal berry bushes was that she wanted to be able to offer a story as to how they are harvested, on the off chance the goddess ever asked, She could have made normal bushes for normal people to harvest but that never made for a good tale. “An example will be made, All 5 of you, lift that berry over your heads” As they did so, Sarah squat down bringing herself face level with the group, leaning in she brought her lips down over the small group sucking them into her mouth. Working them all into the middle of her tongue she popped the berry on the roof of her mouth and listened to them all scream as the acids splashed all over them, burning their skin away and spilling their insides across her tongue with a salty ting. “Mmm juicy, It is a shame they are so dangerous to you folks, You’ll never be able to appreciate the divine flavours, These berries are literal ambrosia” With that she plucked up the small box of berries and put them into her basket. “Next time I’ll need 100, Better not try and cheat me again” she said as she vanished, leaving the city awestruck and terrified for the future.