"You tiny..."

"Put her down now" the boss grumbled. The man obeyed. "I assume we can make them big again" the other asked. "If we want. Some we will keep small. Westerners call it Macrophilia. And those that pay very well can indulge in what they call voreaphilia. That's eating someone alive" the boss replied. Neither man had not considered that idea. One plucked up a random kid. "Can I?" he asked. "Nobody pretty" the boss replied. He looked at his catch. A girl about 10 years old with a cleft lip. The girl began crying and wriggling between his fingers as he brought her to his mouth. And just as he was about to drop the shrunken morsel into his maw, gunfire rang out. "Look into it. Make sure those fools aren't shooting at snakes and shit" the boss told them. The man placed the girl back into the cage and went outside with the others.

Susan stood there watching as they emerged. They only paused for a moment to look at the strange white woman in armor before taking aim and firing. Susan deflected half the shots, but the other half clearly struck her. She fell back into the mud. Her chest stung which confirmed the rounds were made of iron. The enchantments didn't deaden the impact at all. The rain beat on her face as she collected herself. "Shoot her in the head" one said. The man crept closer. "Synchronizing to 5 hertz. Neuron linked. Lemurian control spell level one. Puppetry" she muttered. The man took aim and then found that he couldn't pull the trigger. "Stop fucking around!" the other one yelled. "I can't move!" the man yelled. Susan stood up. She twisted her hand and the man turned around. She narrowed her eyes as she commanded him to aim at his friend. "Please help me..." he muttered. He fired.

He couldn't drop his rifle. He couldn't move a muscle other than his mouth and eyes. He could only watch as his body gunned down a friend. He stood there as Sudan walked around him. "You actually crying?" she asked. "What the hell are you?!" he yelled. Susan smiled and wiped his tears away. She kissed his forehead and caressed his cheek. "An agent of karma" she whispered into his ear. The man pissed himself before her. "Now let's not keep your boss waiting. I'm sure he's curious about what's happening" she grinned as she had him march like a windup toy.

The boss held his prize gun in his shaking hands. A fondness for western things had taken him to cars, women, movies, and eventually guns. The .44 magnum was his favorite ever since he saw Dirty Harry. In the chamber was rounds given to him by his contact minus one. The one Susan dug out of Keith’s chest. He heard gunfire, screams, more gunfire, and then the faint sound of sobbing. "WELL?!" he yelled. The sobbing got closer. The door flew open to reveal the controlled puppet of a man. "She's a monster..." he muttered. Then a flash of light and the man shrunk down to the size of a bug landing in her hand. Sudan glanced at the kids. Their tiny hands rattling the cage. Her anger boiled over. Her body glowed as a silent fortification spell took over. The boss terrified fired the gun.

Susan ducked, dodged, and deflected all five rounds and paid no attention to the clicking gun or the man. "SUSAN!" Hope yelled as she got close. Susan didn't smile as she opened the cage. She dropped the man she had right inside leaving him surrounded by shrunken yet gigantic to him children. Hope towered over him. "Not even ten minutes like I said" she told him as she raised her sandaled foot over him. "Please wait! I'm..."

*squish*

"No, you weren’t" Hope said coldly. She watched the familiar giantess walk towards the boss staggering slightly. "You...it was you" she said looking at a bullet on the floor. "Who was it? The one who told you to use iron. The one who gave you the spell?" she asked tired. "Oh, that was me" a voice said behind her. Susan turned around and threw her glaive at the direction. There stood a young man and the weapon went right through his body sticking into the floor with an audible thud. Shockingly, his body shimmered as water on the floor rejoined with it. "Water...illusion. High tier" she said. "Bravo. You have caused us some trouble Susan Durmont" he said to her. "Which one?" she asked seeing the ring on his finger. "Aquarius" he said bowing. "Hope was the target all along. They were patsies" she said. "You are smart but smart only gets you so far" he said as rainwater entered the room adding to his form. "You'll see I'm not the same as I once was" she said looking at the boss. "...I heard every word earlier especially the voreaphilia part. Separating potassium. Increasing water concentration. Lemurian fire spell level three. Shrieking Pyre" she muttered.

The boss screeched as his body spontaneously combusted. The potassium in his blood, normally safe and inert, was changed into its raw elemental form and burst into flame as it touched the water in his blood and tissues. Even Aquarius was taken aback by the horror as fire spewed out of every orifice of his body. Susan looked dead at him ignoring the burning corpse on the floor. "Well now. You're aren't the run of the mill borrower, are you? That glowing array in that eye...I know what you are" he said with a sinister grin. Susan lunged at him and went right through him. She pulled the glaive out of the floor and began swinging it through him. Aquarius sighed in annoyance and punched her in the face with a fist made of hard ice. Her jaw was shattered. "Calcium reintegration. Lemurian healing spell level one. Panacea" she muttered. There was an creepy cracking sound as her jaw reformed and reset. "In the light of things...I will consider your surrender" he said tapping his foot. Susan pointed her finger into the air. "Come now Susan. You can't kill water" he sighed.

"A caster of illusions must be near them" she said concentrating. "True but you have no idea where I am. The rain masks my scent very well and not even you can hear that good" he said. "True but you've been casting magic every time I disrupted your illusion. Even your ice punch...I traced...it. Traced...you..." she said. Aquarius stopped being aloof. In reality, he stood on a hill west of the village about 150 ft. away. Even pouring rain, he was bone dry due to his artifact. He heard thunder overhead. "You gotta be kidding me" he hissed. "Creating negative and positive ion path. Lemurian lightning spell level two. Sky Cutter" Susan muttered. A mighty bolt of lightning struck the point in which he stood. The flash dazzled Susan and the thunder shook her bones. The children screamed in fright. The water illusion collapsed into a puddle.

His ears bled, his vision blurred, his hair singed. He was on his knees in the mud but alive. Incredibly, the power of his artifact redirected the lightning just a few feet above his head. "So that's how it's gonna be? Okay Susan you had a good opportunity to survive but you fuckin' blew it" he hissed. Staggering to his feet, he tapped into his artifact once more causing the mud and soil to ripple and vibrate.  It felt like a small earthquake to Susan. Over a thousand tons of mud and soil cascaded down the mountain to the northeast. The resulting mudslide slammed into abandoned homes destroying them it slowed the onslaught but not enough to prevent the storehouse from being completely buried. Only a few cracks of light peeped in from the direction of the door. "Since you won't play nice let's have a change of plans. I'll just wait a few hours until you asphyxiate" he said from an illusion of a mouth made of water on the floor.

"You'll kill the Etherion child too" Susan said. "She's three inches tall. She won't need as much oxygen as you. Seeing how your batteries are running low I doubt you can move this much earth. Checkmate Susan. Toodles..." he said ending the spell. Susan slipped off her sandals and stamped her feet. The vibrations confirmed they were totally buried. She could sense she knew powerful earth spells, but he wasn't kidding about being tired. A small spell she could do easily but that could make the creaking roof cave in. And in her current state...she didn't dare dial up her power for one massive spell. She figured she could withstand the drain (as she found herself lasting longer with each time she practiced), but her humanity would fade out and the power would take over. A power bent on keeping her alive by any means necessary. "Susan, we need help" Hope said.  Susan saw the mudslide had caused the cages to tip over spilling the kids over top one another. She unlocked them and let the shrunken kids out. Susan sat some distance away trying to think of a way out.

Hope had calmed the kids by telling them the giantess was her aunt. It was terrifying to see her set a man on fire, but she did stop their kidnappers. A few began to approach her. "Stay back" Susan said quietly. "Susan they're scared. Can't you just hold them for a minute?" Hope asked. "Absolutely not. Keep them away please" Susan replied. Hope went right to her and hopped onto her thigh. "Jesus! Hope stay away!" Susan yelled. "It's...it's not safe to be around me right now" she said quietly. Hope sat on her thigh and just smiled. "Hope please. I'm starving right now. This power...it's telling me to eat you alive" Susan said shaking. "I want my mommy" a young girl begged tapping her giant big toe. Susan plucked her up and held the girl between her fingers. She was barely an inch and a quarter tall, maybe 8 years old with long pretty black hair. Poor girl was missing her shoe. "Her name is Ria. She likes chicken broth and noodles. Her favorite..."

"She's 37 calories. She'll taste delicious and wriggle all the way down my throat. That's what my power tells me. It has no morality at all" Susan said shedding a tear.  "Of course, not silly. It's just knowledge and power. It's not a person. I know how it feels Susan. To have that feeling of power at your fingertips and barely having control on it" she said. Susan looked at her curious. "Yeah. Yeah exactly. You've been acting different today. More mature" she said. Hope sighed. "The day I was born I had to fight but I had no reason, desire, or emotion for it. I was a cold thing until I looked into the minds of those around me and then heard my baby brother crying. It stirred something in me. I knew what right and wrong was. I ended the fight and listened to those who were scared for me. But in doing so I could sense the uneasiness of my parents and those around me."

"So, I did something to make them feel better. I acted like a kid. True I understand things like a kid but that doesn't mean I have to act like one. Daddy instead of dad. Begging with puppy dog eyes. Just enjoying life like an 8-year-old girl. But this is who I am Susan. I know what my body wants all too well. I want to use my power everyday to fulfill my desires. So many cute boys at home and they smell so damn good.  They stare at my chest, my feet, my eyes. I could take them. I could mate with them. I could eat them! But...how many hearts would I break if I do? You know what grounds me when I use my power?" she asked.

"Love?" Susan asked. "Bingo!" Hope laughed. Susan looked at the young girl staring at the giantess from her fingertips and gently kissed her. She placed her back on the floor. "I want a kiss too!" Hope yelled. Susan held her to her lips and kissed her. "I love you so much Aunt Suzie" she said. "I needed that. Hope. I can't move this much earth" Susan said looking around. "Silly. Just translocate" she replied. "That's a high-level spell and..."

"And you'll be fine. Do it" Hope said. Susan sighed. "Lord, protect your children in their time of need.  Amen. Alright everyone! Back into the cages! If I mess up at least you won't be flung all over the place" she said as she turned the cages right side up. Once they were in, she positioned them very close to her. "I've never tried this before. Pointers?" Susan asked Hope. "Not so much as a place but focus on a person or thing" Hope replied. Susan took a deep breath and dialed her power to max. Her eye flared brightly, and she got dizzy. She looked at the kids and her mouth watered at the sight of them. That is until she saw Hope. "Creating space time bias. Destination outskirts of..." she was saying until she lost her balance. "Dammit...I can't do it..." she muttered. "Aim big miss big. Aim small miss small" Hope said. "You are maturing" Susan chuckled. "Creating space time bias. Destination...108 feet from current location. Honda Civic. Lemurian reality magic level one. Translocation" she muttered. A rip in reality formed underneath them, and they gently fell through.

They emerged just millimeters off the ground just a few feet away from the Honda Susan had "borrowed". While the others were amazed, Susan was busy staring west at the hill. "I don't fucking believe it. Not even 10 minutes" Aquarius hissed as he saw them appear. Now though he could see Susan staring directly at him. "Your move dickhead. You wanna ride this train?" Susan asked making sure her voice carried over the wind and rain. Aquarius weighed his options. He knew she was exhausted but that didn't mean she was helpless. She had a spell or two left in her and she was the kind of person to die fighting. Her last spell nearly split him like a oak tree in a thunderstorm. "Another time...archetype" he said disappearing through a rift. "He got away" Hope said. "Good. I can barely keep my shit together right now" Susan muttered. She loaded the two cages into the passenger seats of the car before getting in.

Susan calmly drove back. Her body ached, tired and famished. "You gonna tell dad about me?" Hope asked. "What about...oh you mean acting like a little kid not to creep people out. No, that's your business but I can say this. We'll love you no matter what. I know personally that it's not how we came into being but what we do with our life that matters" Susan replied. "At least I made friends right?" Hope snickered looking at the shrunken kids holding into the bars. "I have to erase their memories Hope. You know that" Susan said. "But they’ll forget about me!" Hope yelled. "Humans aren't ready to know magic. Look what happened today. A human used shrinking magic to kidnap kids. You heard what he had planned. He was even open to letting people eat them if that had the money" she explained.

"You have no idea how lonely I am! Everyone looks at me as either the Etherion child or the daughter of Keith. Never Hope the person. Never seeing the girl who just wants to be known as just Hope" Hope sniffled. "I understand how that feels kid. For a long time, people saw me as either Lily's charity case or her lover getting preferential treatment. I can't tell you when it will change but it will one day. Look at Rose. She's her own girl now" Susan said rounding a corner. "And it took her mom dying" Hope interjected. Susan didn't interject. "I'm sorry. I know that a sore subject" Hope said. "Everything comes in its own time. Lord knows I learned that lesson" Susan said. Susan eventually made it back to the city and parked on the outskirts. She placed the cages on the ground and opened them.

The kids quickly got out and were utterly stunned at how huge the world truly was at their size. Even blades of grass towered over them. "Nobody run off. Lot of bad stuff out there that'll love a snack of tiny kids" she said. "Susan!" Hope yelled. "It's the truth and it won't matter soon anyway" she said. Susan held her hands together and focused.  "Analyzing spell. Shrinking arcane European type level two. Spell destruction" she said. A flash of light from her hands broke the spell instantly and within a few seconds, the kids were normal sized again and very much dazed. "Detecting chemical bonds made within the last two hours. Destroying bonds. Lemurian mind spell level one. Whisper of Amnesia" she muttered. A glowing mist enveloped the crowd of kids around her dazing them further. "Perception" she whispered as she took Hope's hand. They watched the kids confused as how they even got there just walk back into the city as if nothing happened.

People yelled as the children appeared. Parents and police rushed to them hugging, crying, and asking questions. They didn't notice Susan and Hope walk past them. She could hear the kids tell them they didn't know what they were asking as to how they escaped, who took them, where they had been. Hope sighed as she walked through the gate. The small yaksha citizens saw them appear. Giantesses tired, filthy, and so happy to be back. They had heard what had happened and felt horrible for the kids. Susan smiled giving a thumbs up. The people smiled and cheered as they walked back to Lawan's estate. "I love a hero's welcome" Susan grinned to Hope. Hope was not so happy. Susan hugged the girl and kissed her on the lips. "I know it hurts. If you can't talk to your dad then talk to me okay? Suzie loves ya" she said pinching her cheeks. Hope nodded and smiled.

Susan and Hope stood outside the estate. "Wait here kid. Until we can get that stupid magic blocking collar off, I don’t want to try shrinking you down again. Thing gives me the creeps" she said before releasing her own growth spell. Hope sat down with a heavy thud shaking the house. "Keith she's back!" Lawan yelled. Keith staggered out clutching his chest. "Oh god..." he said walking outside. "Susan..." he muttered seeing Hope flexing her toes looking at the sky. "I need chicken" Susan said walking past him.  Lawan watched the weary woman walk into the house and start raiding the fridge. "Susan?" Lawan asked. "Damn. Forgot your sandals and that spear thing" she sighed. Lawan snapped her fingers and they appeared her scale on the floor. "Neat trick" she muttered as she began devouring leftovers. Lawan touched her and she flinched. "Took everything I had. Everything. I nearly lost my soul" she said sobbing. "But you didn't did you? And look out there" Lawan said. Susan looked towards outside.

"Baby?" Keith asked trembling. "Hiya daddy" Hope said. Keith sprinted to the teen giantess and sobbed as he hugged her giant big toe. "Daddy my toes are dirty!" she yelled. Keith said nothing and sobbed his heart out caressing the mud caked toe. "I almost lost you" he muttered. Hope gently picked him up. "But you didn't. Susan was on the case" she said smiling. She felt bad for him. He had never cried so hard before her. She nuzzled him taking in his scent. Faint traces of blood she could smell, and she remembered him bleeding out on the street. Her eyes narrowed in anger for just a moment. She kissed and nibbled on his bare chest. "Please don't cry" she asked. Keith wiped his eyes and nodded.

"You understand, now don't you? All things have purpose. You literally gave people hope today" Lawan said looking outside. She turned back to Susan to find her passed out on the table with a chicken legbone in her mouth. 

Later that night...

Susan woke up feeling the need to pee. She felt a hand gripping hers. Her eyes adjusted to the darkness to find Hope asleep on her bed. Quietly, she excused herself to the bathroom. She bumped into Keith coming back. "Hey girl" he said. Susan smiled a little as she entered her room. "She refused to leave your side" Keith said sitting in a chair. Susan sat on the bed next to Hope. She gently played with her hair. "I couldn't have done it without her" Susan said. "She filled us in. I had no idea you had so much power" Keith said. "Neither did I. It was so primal and pure. If this is what a touch of Etherion feels like I can only imagine what Hope feels" Susan said. "I've tried you know?" Keith asked. He gently touched Hope's bare toes. "I know why she has these cute feet. That perky smile. Beautiful hair. That's all easy to explain but there's no science to explain the heart. If you were a kid who could remake the world...what would stop you?" Keith asked.

"Herself maybe? Like any kid she wants to be loved. She doesn't want to be feared. One day you will have to ask yourself a question unique to your position. It's not if she's ready for the world. It's if the world is ready for her" she said. "And if it's not?" Keith asked. "Then she waits until it is, and that day may not come till we're all dead and gone. Of all her powers, there is one that you, Aspen, and Claire will have the hardest time to deal with. Eternal youth. She's been alive 7 months now and has not aged a day. A 15-year-old body but hasn't grown a millimeter. Even her hair is still the same length" she said. "So, she'll outlive us all" Keith muttered. "And I don't envy her one bit. It will be the most painful thing she will bear but we'll prepare her for it" Susan said. She bent down and kissed her forehead. Keith picked his daughter up in his arms. "ZODIAC has got to be stopped. That collar was specifically made to dampen her. Took me a goddamn hour to pick the lock. They went so far as to employ human traffickers and give them shrinking magic. Can you imagine the damage they could've done?" he asked looking at his child. Susan looked at her bare feet for a moment.

"I'm afraid now they know what I am, they'll get desperate. And desperate people are even more dangerous" she said.

Meanwhile in Seattle...

A young man sat passed out on a plush sofa. Lines of cocaine on his coffee table as well as an odd metal shipping container barely a foot long and 6 inches high. Droplets of blood and very tiny scattered clothing littered around it. He woke up with a start as a searing pain in his head alerted him to appear before them. He wiped his nose and belched before making contact. "You didn’t have to shout" he said after appearing. "We feared you would not awaken from your idiotic drug and shrunken human binge" Taurus said. "We know you failed" Aries said. "You said you had a contact that was foolproof. Or was that just for the coke and access to sex slaves you could shrink and eat?" Pisces asked. "It was foolproof but there was an unexpected variable none of us could have foreseen" Aquarius said. "Enlighten us" a voice said. "Lord Ophiuchus! I swear it wasn't my fault!" he yelled. "I said explain you peon!" the mysterious figure yelled.

"Susan Durmont attacked us. She's...she's no ordinary borrower. She's the archetype" he said. "Bullshit!" Aries said. "It's true! Doesn't the archetype have access to the legacy magics of elevated Lemurians? The very spells she used had the name in them!" he said. "It would explain what happened to Capricorn. She was no pushover" Pisces said. "Libra?" Taurus asked. "She speaks the truth. I made sure of it already" she replied. "You used your artifact on me?!" Aquarius yelled. "Be silent!" Ophiuchus yelled. "She'll never join us and with that power I don't see how we can stand up to both of them head on. No offense my Lord" Aries said. "She will join us. If what you said is true, there is a way a Susan Durmont can join us" Ophiuchus said.

Three days later...

Very few knew of its existence. Once it was mentioned in whispers and those were mostly told by very old men drunk on sake. Its existence predates the name of the city itself. Back when it was known as Edo it was created. Its purpose was to protect the treasures of Japan. To preserve what they called the soul of the nation. The Magatama, the Kusanagi, the original Tale of Genji and Kojiki. And its newest member, the sacred mirror. Being technically royalty herself, Hikari got the frantic call of an attack on it. She was curious as to who as the place was underneath the Imperial palace a good 200 ft. In fact, those that knew if it today where royalty and the guards who themselves descended from guard families that protected the emperor and his family since the days of the Tokugawa.

They told her not to go but she was not one to shy from a fight. Her tiny toes wriggled anxiously in her geta sandals as she descended down in the elevator. It had been 12 minutes since the last transmission. A call full of screams. The elevator doors opened showing the alarm lights flashing. Her guards rushed past her guns drawn and rounded a corner. Hikari herself did a jumping glide through the air trying to keep up. Gunshots, flashes of light, screams. Then nothing. "REPORT!" she yelled as she got close. When she rounded the corner, she froze. A woman stood in front of her 15 ft. away. She looked dead at the koonago on the ground as she slurped something into her mouth. She grinned after swallowing. At her feet were splotches of blood and mush. "Impossible. Susan is that you?" Hikari asked. "Depends on your point of view" she replied. "You. It's the one from the mirror. How did you get free?! Tell me!" she yelled. Susan calmly walked to her.

"STAY BACK!" Hikari yelled hurling a spear of ice right at her throat. Susan easily caught it and broke it with her hand. Hikari used the ambient moisture in the air making large icicles and throwing them. She watched in astonishment as they impacted a barrier. Susan' eye glowed. "Increasing air density and air flow. Lemurian wind magic level one. Gale" she muttered.  A force of 200 mph wind battered the koonago and ripped almost all her clothing away. She flew at an angle into the wall. She barely had time to use a tiny cushion of water to deaden the impact. It was enough though to give the princess a concussion. Susan walked over and picked her up.

She chuckled at the state of the girl. Bruised, battered, and left in only her panties and sandals. Susan used her fingernail and flicked the tiny footwear off. "Where I'm from you're dead. Keith was the one that ended you, but it seems I get the pleasure this time. I bet princesses taste yummy" she said smirking. "If you think I will beg and scream you are mistaken" Hikari weakly said. "Oh, I know you won't. You didn't back then either. The only sound you made was crunch. Like stepping on a cockroach. Sayonara" Susan said letting the girl tumble into her mouth. Only Hikari's bare soles were visible sticking out from between her giant lips and then they were slurped in. Her ears popped from the suction as the giantess from the mirror world sucked on her. She thought of her mother, her people, Keith, and her son Yuusha. She allowed one sob to escape her lips. Her honor would not falter for something so understandable. Suddenly, she was spat out into the giantess' palm.     

"Yes, a message" a male voice said. "You're the boss" Susan muttered. Hikari wiped the drool and spit from her eyes to see a young man standing just behind her. "You got lucky koonago. You get to keep your life so you can deliver a message" Susan said. The young man whispered into Susan's ear before walking past them. "Tell him ZODIAC says he officially crossed the Rubicon. He'll know what that means" she said. Susan watched her new friend round the corner. "And have you deliver a personal message from me. I'm more than ready for round two" Susan said as she placed her thumb on her back and index finger on her chest. She pressed hard and there was an audible crack. Hikari shrieked as her back was broken. Susan laughed as she callously tossed the koonago over her shoulder like a crumpled-up piece of paper.

Hikari landed with a small thud on the floor. She felt nothing below her waist. Blood ran down from her forehead. Her arm broken in the fall. The shock of her back being broken making her piss herself and breastmilk to seep out of her nipples. She felt cold, so very cold as unconsciousness tugged on her. "Keith...help me..." she begged with her very soul.

"I want you to take it easy for a few days when we get back. That's an order" Keith said. "Well I was planning to go to the movies but not alone" Susan said sitting in her seat. "What me? Like a date?" Keith asked. "Kind of? Wined and dined. A nice movie. I'll paint my toes any color you want" she said smiling as she slipped her sandal off and rubbed his bare leg. "Preparing for takeoff sir" Fiona said. "What do you say? Don't you want to suck the toes of a pretty junior officer?" she smirked. Keith blushed. "You're so fun to tease" she giggled. Keith dragged her to him and hugged her tightly. He kissed her. "I like this side of you much better. The part of you that's happy" he said. Susan quietly nodded. She looked behind him to see Hope looking out the window at a waving Lawan. The babies were in a double stroller in front of her. "She misses them already" Susan said. "I know the feeling" Keith muttered. Suddenly, Keith gripped his head in pain. "What's wrong?!" Susan asked worried. "Hikari. Something horrible just happened to her. I felt her cry out to me. don't know how I know. I just feel it."

"Fiona. Change of plans. Inform the control tower that were flying to Tokyo on last minute emergency" he said.  "Uh, sure boss. What's the emergency?" she asked. "...I don't know" he replied. Susan felt a chill run up her spine. At the time she thought it anxiety as very little made the man she loved break out in a cold sweat. But the real reason was so much worse...