Royals & Riches - Chapter 6: Fever
In this chapter, Ben gets taken on a wild, wild ride through his subconscious.
I look down at my body; I can’t be any older than 4 years of age. This time though, my arms are long enough that my paws drape on the floor, like some kind of grotesque ogre. My arms start to grow in length, and they’re completely limp. This confuses me enough that I start crying, my arms spilling out into the room like some kind of elongating noodles.
I hear the voice of my mummy behind me. “Oh dear, sweetie. You’ve gone all long, haven’t you?” Teary-eyed and with smudged vision, I use my wrist to wipe my eyes and see a fox that looks just like mummy, except she’s wearing a white apron and a white hat.
My brain’s cogs turn, initially feeling confused, but then I remember. My tail starts to wag. “You’re Anna.”
The fox lady smiles at me. “Yes, I am, and I can see you need a change. Let’s get you all cleaned up.” Feeling perplexed, I look down, noticing my arms were back to normal, and what was casual tot-wear has seemingly transformed into an exposed adult nappy, soaking wet. Strangely, this garment fits my toddler-sized body, and has four tapes instead of the usual two. Why am I still in diapers?
I look at Anna. “This isn’t real,” I say, my voice quivering. I feel scared, and my body shakes in fear. I stand up, wobbly, the saggy nappy feeling hefty and uncomfortable between my stout, young legs.
All of a sudden, the entire scene starts to collapse before my very eyes; pieces of the dream splinter and fall down into nothingness like big raindrops. I watch aghast as the fox begins to melt into a puddle of nothingness; nothing but her face remains, staring jarringly at me.
Everything is black for what seems like forever and simultaneously no time at all. I find myself looking down at my now older 8-year-old body. I’m looking around and I’m in a white medical room, but with no bed. Strangely, the door has a glowing bronze handle on it. Feeling tired and drained, I walk up to it and turn it, to find myself inside my room at the palace. I suddenly feel my gut wrench as I hear a voice I thought I’d never hear again.
“BENJAMIN! You’re late for training!!” Booms Father, his voice shaking the entire room as dust from the plastered ceiling falls from above and tickles my hair. I suddenly rush back to the door I came through, which is weirdly the door to my wardrobe. I try and try to open the door, but it doesn’t budge. Still, I keep trying, goosebumps tingling my shoulders and neck as somehow I know that Father is right behind me.
I feel his disgruntling, bated breath behind me. Gulping, I hesitantly turn around, quivering. Father looks maybe triple his usual size, towering over me completely. “If you don’t do as I say, I'll get rid of you like your brother, boy!”
I scream in confusion and fright as his body grows even more, smashing up into the vast ceiling of my room. Suddenly, both wardrobe doors burst open and an ethereal light blinds me. I feel myself swept quickly off of my feet, sucked in feet-first inside of the wardrobe.
I fall onto my bottom with a thud. Sweating and panting, I look around, trying to catch my breath. I’m back in the forest! But I’m still just an 8-year-old. In front of me is the fennec fox vixen from the slavery place, clad in a different dress this time. She grins widely at me. “Oh Benjamin, don’t you realise? You’re being sold on as a virginious, prestigious sex slave for millions, no, billions! You’ll live your days in this nightmare until I find a client, and the more you struggle, the more you’ll be sedated.”
A gasp escapes my muzzle as events start to click into place in my brain. She steps up to me and seems to tower above me, despite her short height. She grows, towering taller and taller above me, until she blocks out the sun, and eventually everything else. Her body loops around and over me like a hamster wheel, and I find myself being engulfed into her body, my body spinning rapidly like a washing machine. Blackness returns for just a split moment.
I’m in some kind of market square, in my 18 year old body it seems; I look down and observe myself. I’m completely nude, save for the metal chastity cage locked against my genitals. A huge paw touches over my shoulder, accompanied by a booming voice. “It’s okay, Ben. They don’t know who you are any more.”
Feeling goosebumps spread across my neck and shoulders, I feel the temptation to look back at who or what this is, but I don’t. Instead, I’m guided forward by this paw as I’m led through this bustling market of all kinds of people rushing about, exchanging goods. The alluring scent of freshly-baked sage bread fills my nostrils one moment, then it’s fragrant fruit the next, then it’s interesting incense after as we pass by, stall by stall. The sun shines happily on me,and not a single person stops to look at me or even acknowledge my existence; everyone seems to be rushing around, focusing on just themselves. I breathe a long sigh of relief.
“This is the kind of reality I could give you,” the voice calmly claimed behind me. Still, I daren’t turn around; instead, my left paw meets the paw that rests on me. It’s approximately twice the size of mine, and radiates warmth all throughout my shoulder.
The stranger behind me leads me to a mysteriously abandoned-looking house right there on the market square. For some reason, the sun doesn’t shine on this building. Heading inside, it’s as derelict as it looks on the outside, with cobwebs and dust coating every surface. I cough as I look around and come across a huge, floating window in the living room. Curiously, this window seems brighter than everything else in this dull place, and I can see myself through it, sleeping on a bed inside a white, padded room, hidden under the covers.
“Such a shame to see potential like yourself wasting away to a sex trafficker,” adds the deep, dark voice behind me. Is this my inner conscience talking? It doesn’t sound like it. “Admittedly,” continues the voice, “she’s smarter than you might think; even I don’t quite know where you are. You should know that I’m coming for you, Ben,” the voice states in a calm tone, the voice’s accent twinged with a French flourish. “I’ll be there as soon as I can to rescue you.”
I gulp and turn around, and I see someone who’s taller than me. My eyes flicker as immediately the body begins to shapeshift and take on a different form, as if it detects me seeing him; I don’t even catch a proper glimpse of the body before. Who I see now looks quite similar to me; same species, but with a stockier build. A lightbulb squeezes out of my head, and illuminates above me, basking us both in warm light.
“Brother?”
A slow, sombre nod from him. He smiles at me, and pulls me to a close embrace.
“I’ve missed you, Ben. Let’s catch up sometime.” I notice that his accent has changed to one not dissimilar to my own.
I’m too engrossed in the embrace with my long-lost sibling for the words to hit me right away. Whilst clutching, I suddenly notice that he’s disappearing. “Wait, where are you going?! I have so many questions!!”
He’s gone. All that’s left now is this house, and my ears perk up as I hear creaking above me which turns into a sinister cracking. I look up and watch as the whole ceiling is cracking above me, the house crumbles and topples onto me in a mere instant. For one last time, everything fades to blankness.