Lyra, Ritual
Lyra hung from the jungle gym. She gripped one of the bars with her powerful claws and was dangling, wings below her head. She enjoyed being in this position; somehow, it just felt right to her. She giggled, remembering how her father and Mort would occasionally find her trying to sleep in her closet, suspended from the clothes-hanger bar. That's not how a proper lady slept, they would tell her. She would tell them she didn't really care, if it helped her sleep when none could otherwise be found.
The moon was high in the sky, and Lyra was done with the tutoring and magic lessons for the day. On a nice cool winter night like this, with three magically important lunar events happening simultaneously, she wanted to be where she could see it. Initially, Lyra had asked her father and Mort if she could watch them perform their various rituals for the individual events, but they declined. With three coinciding events, they had too much to do to have her under foot. Next time, they promised.
The moon was full, and appeared enormous. It was the first full moon of the year, called a Wolf Moon, and was on it's closest pass of the earth, called a Super Moon. But most importantly, was the total Lunar Eclipse. The earth would be perfectly situated between Sol and Luna, giving it its fabled bloody color. She felt a chill wind blow through the park, and the handful of others there grew quiet as they huddled closer together.
Most of the gathered individuals were night dwellers like herself. There were pair of wolves on a blanket, making out about thirty feet away. She couldn't see them, since she was facing away, but she could very clearly hear the sounds of suction between muzzles with her sensitive ears. It was cute and all that they loved each other and were on a nice romantic date, but she wished they would stop. There was a sloth lounging lazily on an out stretched branch of a tree near the middle of the park. There were others, too, who were day dwellers, and were only out this late for the special event.
Finally, the very edge of the moon began to take on a faint reddish color as the lunar eclipse began. There was murmuring as the various assembled watchers talked among themselves and their nearest neighbors about what was happening. Lyra was unconcerned. She kept to herself and thought about all of those who were learned in the arts of magic that were now going into frenzy, as they cast powerful spells whose purpose was unfathomable to any gathered here.
For her part, Lyra was excited beyond measure. She could feel, as more and more of the moon turned steadily redder, power flooding her body. It was like a heat, in a way. It was like a little warmth, that slowly grew until it felt like a fire burning in her. She was becoming restless. She felt the wax and wane of power with the moon, with eclipses, and with super moons, but this was the first time three all happened at once on the first month of the year. She felt bursting with power, and it was making her horny. Had she been alone, she would have been masturbating furiously. It took a lot of control to not try and satisfy her needs.
The moon was full within the corona, but yet to actually eclipse when a chill breeze cut through the park. Had Lyra not been lost in the feel of the magical energy suffusing her furson or the beautiful color of the red tinted moon, she would've noticed that the breeze did not rustle the denuded tree branches. She would've also noticed that the sounds of the wolf couple had been cut off mid-slurp just like the sentences of the other assembled viewers. She didn't even notice as seven black robe clad individuals with deep hoods that obscured their faces approached from the treeline.
Lyra didn't even notice as the seven individuals arranged themselves beneath her. The first she noticed of them was the sudden feeling of being compressed, like she had several large rubber bands being placed on her. Lyra panicked, and felt the bands of force tighten on her until she could hardly breath. Struggling, Lyra lost her grip on the jungle gym bar, and fell to the ground. The drop was only five feet, and she was light, but she was upside down, and unable to use her wings. The impact with the cold, hard ground was painful. She temporarily went cross-eyed as her face hit the gravel, and the wind was knocked from her lungs when the rest of her body followed suit.
When Lyra could start breathing again, she took as deep a breath as she could and tried to calm her nerves. She began pushing at the invisible bonds with her magic. Filled with the energy of the moon, the bonds felt weak. She could hear sudden grunts of effort and labored breathing from the figures as she easily began pushing back the invisible restraints.
As they struggled to maintain their grip on her, one figure shouted out to another, "Use it before she escapes!"
One of the robed figures moved forward a step. Lyra saw him produce a small box from inside the arms of his robe. He opened and upended it. A small, translucent green blob fell out of the box and splatted to the ground near her face. It pulled itself back into a cohesive whole, and began putting out small psuedopods. One of them touched her cheek, and it burned like ice.
The little gelatinous blob moved towards her, and began covering her muzzle. As more and more of it touched her, the icy feeling, and the blob, grew. Lyra could feel it feeding on her magic, using it to grow and cover her. That was the source of the icy feeling. It was this no longer little thing sucking the warmth that was her connection to magic from her. It quickly grew to cover her entire body, even filling into all of her holes. It was scary and felt uncomfortable going into her nose and filling her mouth, going deep down into her lungs. Somehow she could still breath though. She felt it filling her stomach, and push deeper still. It plugged her ears, blocking out the sound of the robed figures. It grew down her back, over her wings, and over her rear. As it covered her, the bands of force binding her vanished, but she couldn't fight the blob. The warmth partially returned to her as it pushed itself up into her pussy and into her anus. She couldn't tell if it was just that it didn't need as much of her magic, or if she was just blushing at the intrusion. The feeling of fullness increased as the ooze in her butt joined with the part that had pushed down into her intestines. Her pussy strained as it continued to push deeper there too, seeking to fill every space. Lyra orgasmed as it flooded her passage and began pooling into her womb. She felt her belly inflating as the ooze fit as much of its bulk inside as it could.
Finally completely covered and filled, the ooze lifted itself off the ground on a number of large psuedopods. The robed figures formed a line with Lyra in the middle, and began moving towards the woods. She could not feel the movement of the ooze. It felt like she was suspended in water, except that she wasn't able to move around at all. From within her gelatinous prison, she could not see particularly well, but she did notice that the few things that should be moving were all frozen in place. Lyra attempted to channel some magic, anything at all. But each time she tried, the Ooze would swell ominously, then discharge the excess slime onto the ground, where it dissolved quickly. It was not lost however, on the hooded figures how much and how fast she was making the thing grow.
Once they all passed the tree line, they made haste, heading towards an unknown location. After several minutes of fast walking, they turned off of the path they had been following and into the undergrowth. Lyra hoped she would be able to remember her way once she was free. It was not long after that a soft blueish purple, pulsating glow could be seen. They moved into a small clearing, and the source of the glow became apparent. It wasn't just one thing, it was actually several things creating the glow.
At the far end of the clearing, there was a large blue crystal, taller than even the tallest of the hooded figures. It appeared like a natural formation, only heavily polished, and it glowed brightly. It had three clocks embedded in its face, arranged in a vertical line, on the top half. On the bottom half, was a niche carved into it and a small cub had been stuffed into that space. Narrowed eyes showed a calculating anger and pain. Lyra could tell that the artifact was drawing the life from the poor boy to fuel its function.
Traced into the dirt in the clearing was a spell she recognized from her fathers study; it was a teleport circle. It was much larger than the little one furson circle he had. She watched as the hooded figures grabbed and hauled the large crystal to the center of the teleport circle. It took four of the seven to move it, and they used hands to do it. One of the figures disinterred the cub from the interior. The cub was bound, but she could see that the individual was a bat like her. Two of the hooded figures held them up, while the last escorted her and her gelatinous prison into the circle. Once there, he held his hand up and spoke a few words, and she felt a disorienting wave of vertigo.
Lyra, who's perceptions and connection to magic was different from others, felt the transition from the park. She had been trying to get the knack for translocation magic for a few weeks now, and kept reporting to her father and Mort her weird jaunts through what seemed to be empty space was. What she was experiencing was called the Blind Eternities, or the space between dimensions. Most furs were unable to experience their time there, and only perceived themselves as being in one place, then at their destination an instant later. Lyra felt it as a physical location, and though she was there no longer than anyone else, it felt like she was there for seconds, even minutes. At least, that's how it was when her father or Mort took her for a teleport. For her, in her limited attempts, it happened sometimes, but not always. No one was powerful enough to actually travel to other dimensions, but it was possible to breach it temporarily and move vast distances within it. Lyra didn't like the Blind Eternities. Whenever she made it here, she felt her power draining from her. It felt like dying, and this was just like any other time in her limited successes. But instead of the usual trickle, it flooded out of her.
The hooded figures still surrounded her, as did the ooze, but unlike it, they appeared as statues. The ooze began swelling ominously as the ooze began attempting to absorb her escaping magical energy, but it was too much; it rippled as arcs of her energy pierced it, splitting it open, releasing Lyra. In an instant, Lyra felt drained, as all the energy that had filled her from the lunar event discharged from her. She noticed that the other cub was looking at her, like he was aware of what was occurring. Before she could say or do anything else, there was another wave of vertigo, the ooze rippled again, losing cohesion, and they were all back in reality.
There was a second of silence, as Lyra took in her new surroundings. They were in an enormous stone room that was ice cold. The stone was crudely carved limestone bricks mortared together. The floor was a single surface, also limestone, that had been smoothed down by a combination of deliberate effort and possibly centuries of ware an tear. The bulk of the floor was occupied by the largest spell circle she had ever seen. She still had difficulty identifying types of spell circles, but she thought this one looked like it might be one for summoning. The ceiling was like the walls, but there was a long stone shaft positioned dead center over the middle of the circle on the floor. It was circular, three feet in diameter, and was perfectly straight. There was a door in the center of the far wall. Sconces every few feet with torches lit the space. There were dozens, possibly hundreds more robed figures here.
Then the ooze imploded, splattering everything and everyone. Yells of surprise rippled through the assembled individuals. Lyra laid on the cold stone floor, feeling numb and drained. As she remained supine on the floor and watched the hooded figures, she felt the power of the moon begin to fill her once again.
A loud voice cut through the chaos, commanding the other figures to do things. The first clear instruction Lyra heard was the order to suppress her and the cub next to her. She felt the same sense of being compressed by rubber bands as she had at the park, but as more and more of these cultists assited, the magical restraints began to feel more and more like iron. She struggled, but even with her strength returning, there were far to many for her to resist. The other cub was likewise restrained, and was carried from the room by several individuals, as was the large crystal artifact.
Lyra was hauled into the center of the room. Looking straight up the stony shaft, she saw that the eclipse had barely progressed since her capture. Had that crystal clock thingy some how managed to slow down time? She knew it was theoretically possible. It would explain why it needed to feed off the life energy of someone to function. The hooded figures backed away quickly once she was there, and she felt the restraints vanish from her as they left.
Turning her head, Lyra saw that they were all arrayed around the circle, watching expectantly. Many, who had been caught in the wave of rupturing slime, were removing their robes. There was something else going on though. She hadn't noticed it before with everything else going on, she had been right under it and had been surrounded. There was a balcony, maybe halfway up the stone wall. She saw three furs standing there, robes on, but hoods down. The one in the middle had horns, and was very powerfully built. She wondered if he was a bull. The other two were much easier to make out; male lions were just too distinctive. In front of them was a podium with one of the largest books she had ever seen resting upon it. She could just hear them discussing something, but not what they were actually saying; the sussurus of the other cultists was too prevalent.
The minutes crept by, and more cultist slowly assembled. Lyra marveled at how many of them there were. There had to be close to three hundred of them in there now. She watched the assembled masses as more and more of the moon occupied the center of the stone shaft, and see it becoming eclipsed. She wanted to escape, but she didn't make a move. It wasn't fear that held her back. If they had just left her there unrestrained by magic or rope, it could only be because they had some other way to keep her put. She did move her wings and claws a little, just to ensure she could in fact move. She waited. Her body vibrated with energy, verily glowing with it, by the time that the three individuals on the balcony turned. The moon was three-quarters eclipsed, and almost dead center of the stony skylight.
"Brethren," the deep voiced bull in the center began. "Today, we bare witness to the birth of a new age. Our Goddess will walk among us once more." There were great cheers from the crowd. The bull looked down at this book, and his attendants each held up an object. One was a golden, metalwork symbol of fertility, and the other was a symbol she recognized from her studies on ancient religion, though she couldn't remember what being it represented. Lyra felt more than just a little uneasy. She remembered all to well the horrors that the extinct human race worshiped in their early days. The cheers died down rapidly as the bull began to intone the words of a long dead language. Soon, the cultists around her picked up the chant too, speaking along with their leader. As they all chanted, the magic circle beneath her and the symbols written through out began to glow, dimly at first, but quickly picking up in intensity. The outer edges of the circle glowed a pink tinged white, and red arcs of energy began to snap and crackle loudly between points of the six pointed star that took up the bulk of the circles interior. It was almost enough to drown out the collective voice of the cultists.
As the arcing reached a fevered pitch, Lyra decided it was now a good time to try to escape. She took a couple breaths to try to calm herself, and began to channel her magic to try and escape. Just as she was about to release her magic, she felt a wave of nausea pass over her. A queasy sensation of the bottom of her stomach dropping out of her like she was going down on the first big drop of a roller-coaster, minus the excitement. It took a moment to adjust to the strange feeling, but as soon as she was able, she clenched her teeth and began channeling her power a second time. It felt like her magic was being siphoned off, much like if she was in the Blind Eternities. She didn't like the feeling one bit, but she adjusted to that too. A spike in the fervor of chanting and increase in pitch corresponded with a brief discomfort in her stomach, again breaking her concentration. Lyra grunted in frustration, feeling the gathered energy bled off, leaving her at square one yet again. It felt rather like being on the verge of orgasm, then having it snatched away. She began channeling a third time, hoping desperately that nothing would interrupt her, but braced for the inevitable. She felt discomfort building in her abdomen, like the feeling of pins and needles when a paw or wing fell asleep, but she held on, continuing. The sensation increased, and spread out over entire lower region of her body; she could feel her magic slipping away again. A sudden pain caused her to lose it entirely, and she saw her belly bulge, like something was poking at her from inside her womb.
Lyra watched in a confusing combination of fascination, wonder, horror, shock, pleasure and discomfort as her abdomen visibly began swelling, her flesh stretching. She could feel as her uterus began to fill from the inside, a writhing mass coming from seemingly nowhere. Here and there, she could see as whatever was inside her poked at the inner walls of her special place, causing small bumps to appear on her distended belly. Her abdomen continued to swell until she appeared to be pregnant with what had to be a calf. She tried to get to her feet, but she was weighted down with her newly acquired bulk.
The seemingly random poking from within Lyra became more purposeful. No longer the quick, uncomfortable jabs, but long, smooth strokes that progressively moved lower and lower. Suddenly, Lyra felt her cervix expanding as something began pushing its way through the opening from the inside. She could just see her pubis distend over her gravid belly as it moved down her birth canal, filling the small space completely. It moved slowly, and writhed powerfully, pushing firmly against all the walls of her cunny. There was some discomfort, but strangely no pain. Finally, it reached her inner vaginal lips, and pushed free. She could feel it spreading her from the inside, but she couldn't see it at first. Lyra spread her legs and lifted her head for a better view.
It was flesh toned, and had mottled splotches of pinkish-red coloration here and there. It reminded her strongly of Mortimer's tail, but hairless and smooth. It quested around, as if observing its surroundings. The chanting of the cultist began to wind up, increasing in volume and pace as they witnessed the tentacle push out of her. The glowing of the runes and symbols on the floor were painfully bright. The fleshy appendage, as if satisfied with what it was sensing, dipped slightly before perking up, then sliding back inside. The feeling of its retreating bulk oddly pleasurable.
After several seconds, the cultists and their leader fell suddenly quiet. The circle continued to glow brightly. Not knowing where to look, Lyra looked up, out of the stone chimney to see the moon seconds away from becoming fully eclipsed. She watched, breath held, belly squirming with the unknown held within as the last thin sliver turned from golden yellow to blood-red.
In an instant, two things happened. First, Lyra felt herself flush hot, like lava pouring into her veins. Mystical energy flooded her like the waters of a tsunami over an unsuspecting beach. She had been feeling the veil within herself thinning, but she was unprepared for its total collapse. Second, she felt the presence within her surge forward. It battered into and through her core, and into her birth canal.
A monstrous tentacle pushed its way out through her vagina. Lyra had no idea how it was fitting through her without pain, but painless though it was, she gasped as a second, and a third sprang forth from her. She looked down at herself, and saw that she wasn't even distending, like the tentacles remained small until they exited her, then expanded on the outside.
Lyra still couldn't recall what ancient being she was being used to rebirth into the world, but she wasn't interested in helping. She reached deep into herself, into the vast reservoir of magic that resided within. The veil having fallen away completely, she felt it surge into her like a bolt of lightning that didn't end. She gathered it up, drawing on it and straining to contain it. The strange tentacles stopped pushing their way out and turned back to her, almost as if it could see her, and indeed, small eyes began to form along their length. They were all black and inscrutable, but it saw something it didn't like. The movement of the tentacles picked up drastically. Several more joined the few that had already pushed their way out.
From above, Lyra heard the bull call out, "What is she doing? She's glowing, that's not supposed to happen!" She didn't pay attention. Instead, she gathered all her focus, and tried to be as far from where she was as she could get. The monster's tentacles formed together to create a gaping mouth, and it screamed. It was chilling, it felt like nails on a chalkboard, magnified through a megaphone, but she didn't let it interrupt her concentration. With a last push of effort, Lyra bent the magic to her will, and the magic bent time and space.
To be continued...