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The Isle of Kinoa - Part 5 By Luther

Three were left now: just Bobert, Draco, and Saphira.

Bobert padded ahead as softly as he could. At this point he was the only one who could move ahead inconspicuously. Being in league with two massive dragons sort of made him the scout by default. The ceiling had lowered considerably since leaving the chamber of extreme climes. As a result, he was the only one still in charge of his full range of movement.

So while Draco and Saphira shuffled and bent their backs towards the ceiling to continue on behind him, the otter slid himself between the columns of the single row in this corridor. But the columns started to fade and the hand-carved features slowly vanished. Some were defaced, smashed in, and fallen broken onto the ground. Others seemed to be left unfinished. Eventually they yielded to the natural rock beneath but the tunnel stretched onward.

It just kept going. After enough twists and turns it was conceivable that they might be now heading back the way they came... assuming this passage ever ended. One never really grasps how big a mountain really is until you feel like you've walked almost clear through it. Eventually there came a need for rest. Even though Bobert would oftentimes proclaim himself as perfect, even he needed to stop once and a while and give his feet a break.

The otter perked when a low growling sound reached his ears. He drew a knife in anticipation of some slavering beast but none came barreling around the corner. Then he realized the only growling in the area came from his stomach. It had been so long since any of them had eaten that food seemed like a fond and distant memory. Somewhere behind him, the dragons were feeling it too. Now that danger and adrenaline had passed the hunger pangs could be more sorely felt. Draco rummaged through his pack while Saphira clutched her stomach but there wasn't much. They didn't exactly expect to be gone this long.

None of them had to say anything. They all knew they were hungry, their stomachs did the talking for them. Saphira was about to suggest turning back and returning when better prepared when she noticed a dim light coming from ahead. Wordlessly, they all moved ahead to investigate, turning the corner to find... a tree.

There was a banyan tree growing here underground. How odd.

Bobert began to walk towards it and abruptly stopped. As he moved perspective asserted itself and the result was dizzying. This wasn't a normal sized tree growing down here, the thing was instead impossibly large! Draco barely stopped himself in time before tumbling over the edge of the rock shelf they found themselves perched on. It was easy to miss, given that it was stone with a background of even more stone and it dropped away into a staggeringly large cavern. The three of them slowly came to realize what exactly it was they were looking at and at length would estimate the thing to be well over four hundred feet in height.

Though it was even harder to believe, the thing grew here miraculously without any sunlight whatsoever. It shed its own light and thus made its home visible to them. No touch of harsh flame revealed this place. Rather, soft viridian light trickled and dripped from every leaf. Spiraling blue luminescent patterns wound along the trunk like traceries. The thing was so large and so old that it was impossible to tell what it originally grew on top of.

Still partly struck in awe by this discovery, they began to make their way down the stone incline, hopping from shelf to shelf as need be. As they did so the tree loomed ever further above them and gave a gradual emphasize on exactly how enormous the thing was. By the time they reached the bottom and stood in what would normally be the tree's shadow, they almost had to look straight up to see top of it.

While it was a transfixing sight, what gripped the eyes most was the tree's bounty. Each orange-colored fruit the thing held was enormous, even for the tree's size. Their greatness ranged from the size of a rain barrel to that of a small cottage and each bore heavily down upon its parent branch. They might have stared a little longer were it not for the sound of someone clearing his throat.

They all glanced down to find a curious fellow standing in front of them at the base of the great trunk, addressing them as a group. It was a fox. His fur looked to be almost glowing in the light of the tree and it carried a metallic luster, silver in color. He stood maybe a head taller than Bobert but didn't seem fazed at all that he was staring down two huge dragons that were almost thrice his height. The only real nervous tell about him was the way his long whiskers twitched back and forth as he looked them over. Down his front and tied off in the back he wore a slightly ragged white apron like one might expect to find in a kitchen or the galley of a ship. Stitched into the upper left hand side was the word "Khar". It would seem he didn't need an introduction, nor did he presume to give one.

Was he there before? They didn't remember seeing him there before. Given the magnificent view it was understandable to miss him at first. But there he was, right in front of them.

"I'm afraid I cannot allow you to leave here..." the fox said with certainty and broke the silence. He let the words hang in the air for a time. He did not look very imposing but their hands slowly moved to their weapons regardless. "... without first offering you something to eat," he finished.

That stopped them. A few bewildered moments passed before they finally relaxed their grips.

"Are you serious?" Bobert finally asked.

The fox nodded curtly and gestured behind him towards the tree. "You'll find the figs of this tree to be much more desirable than those of its lesser cousins," he said. Before anyone could ask if he expected them to eat the colossal fruit it bore, he made a snipping motion with his fingers. Immediately the arboreal monolith heaved and a great weight fell from it. One of the figs had come undone and plummeted. It rolled along the sloping trunk which gently brought in line with the ground. The wagon sized fig wobbled but kept its course until it began to slow, nearing them. As the ruddy fig crawled to a stop it began to peel itself, unfurling as a flag would. Where one would expect to find the meat of the fruit instead something incredible lay. In front of them was set a perfect banquet table, expertly settled atop the peel. The former wrapping was like a great rug now beneath it.

"Not everyone in the service of this place wishes to commit violence upon you," he explained. "We all have our jobs and my role here goes by several names depending on who is asking: quartermaster, gourmet, --but most call me the chef," he said as he turned to the prepared table.

Not a thing was missing or jarred from place, despite the tumble. If any doubt that magic was at work lingered, it was gone now. It was flawlessly set with sterling cutlery and crystal. They could all scarcely remember the last time they saw such glassware. There were even candles set amid it all, already lit. All of this was mere framework for the food itself.

Steaming roast and steak sat piled in cuts or still on the bone. Cheese in whole wheels lie with knives jutting from them or was heaped in crumbled piles of all varieties. Strange and unknown vintages stood ready to fill glasses again and again. Small mountains of fruit and nut stood crisply plucked from vine and bough.

Draco and Bobert were a little cautious of the magic mystery feast of convenience put in front of them but Saphira had no such reservations. Someone or something must have known her weakness for, while there was plenty of regular foodstuffs there, the table was loaded with a great amount of desserts as well. Cakes, pies, plates of cookies, things glazed and sprinkled and confectioned to perfection all stood in tempting array. She waited scant seconds in diving upon it, taking only the time to set down her things and take a place on the side. Since she was too large for the chair she had to sit cross-legged, not that she seemed to mind.

Bobert furrowed his brow at it all but at length shrugged his shoulders and decided to take a place next to her while Draco maneuvered himself to sit at one end of the table in a fashion similar to Saphira while Khar, their impromptu host, sat at the opposite end. He waited patiently for them to begin.

"Well, go on. The two of you must be as hungry as your friend."

They certainly could feel it gnawing at them and Saphira's enthusiasm wasn't helping things. As if to assuage their doubts to the safety of the food, Khar reached for a handful of almonds and popped one into his mouth to prove their innocence. Nothing out of the ordinary... if one could overlook the origin of the meal.

Draco and Bobert looked over at Saphira, who was currently muzzle first into a cherry tart, before looking back to their host and ultimately satisfied that they wouldn't die a horrible and agonizing death from any of this. Hunger won out over suspicion and they joined in as well, the gold dragon grabbing the nearest thing made of meat and the otter picking carefully over the whole presentation.

It was Khar who first spoke since his guests were currently preoccupied. "The tree does most of the work but even still it requires a cultivation that the average brute cannot muster. Just like you or me, all manner of 'monster' needs to eat as well. We must make our own provisions, since we cannot just assume some meaty explorer will come stumbling by at every convenient moment." Though he smiled, he left it unclear as to whether that last part was actually a joke. There was a short pause, a nervous chuckle, and then resumed eating.

Even amid the unexpected meal, Draco could not help but notice the brilliant purple color of their host's eyes. It was the same hue that the twin elementals had. Was this something held in common among those the island called its own?

"It's an acquired trait," Khar said, sensing the unvoiced question. "One prized by those who can adapt to their environment." Apparently when you're as large as the dragon was you are also easy to read. Draco gave a quieted harrumph of dismissal and that was that. He may have questioned further but another development was demanding attention.

A blue scaled hand had reached in front of him to grab up a morsel he had been eyeing. Granted, it wasn't yet on his plate but... that was an awfully long reach for her. Normally he wouldn't say anything in particular, they were all hungry and he enjoyed a hot meal as much as the next guy. However, Saphira was eating with such an epicurean fervor as to give pause to even the worst hedonist. The otter had noticed it too. That reach of hers wasn't so short anymore and what Draco had previously assumed to be a feat on her part was looking to be less so. Her head was significantly higher than his now, something he knew wasn't the case when they first walked in. But they could all see it. As she ate, she inched taller. Her legs began to take more space beneath the table, her side starting to press against Bobert's chair, and the swell of her stomach was doing the same to the table.

"Saphira?" Draco asked. There was no response from her other than continued eating, even after he tried twice more. Bobert, seeing how much good this was doing, took a little initiative.

"Hey! Stop sucking down everything in sight and listen for a second you fat cow!"

That one got her attention. Offense wrestled with the euphoric food for a moment as she narrowed her eyes at the remorseless otter.

"Saphira, do you feel alright?" Draco asked. Luckily that snapped her attention from Bobert.

"Of course I do!" her voice boomed. "I feel better than ever! You just have to try some of this," she said excitedly. While her words may have been inviting, her actions were not. She was snatching things so quickly from the table that anyone else would hardly have a chance to get anything for themselves. With the rate she was expanding it was all being packed away that much faster. She was looming over the table now, able to grab an entire cake in a single handful --and a handful didn't last very long.

At this point it was becoming apparent to the rest that she either couldn't or wouldn't stop eating. Attention shifted to their host. "Oh my, this does happen sometimes..." he said.

"What are you doing to her, turning her into some kind of monster?!" Draco snarled at Khar.

"There are no monsters here other than the ones you brought in with you. It's not my fault she's always kept this part of her hidden away," the fox said. "Maybe you didn't know her as well as you thought?"

She was growing a little round as well, not exactly fat but her belly was distending a bit from her gluttony. From an outsider's perspective she wore it well, a bit too well perhaps. To Draco and Bobert's perspective she was downright terrifying and she was beginning to resemble something else entirely --something like the feral dragons one might hear stories about. She wasn't just growing, she was reshaping as well. It was a subtle alteration more than anything else. A slight reimagining of what power might look like in a dragon.

"Stop eating, there's something terribly wrong with this food," said Draco. He earned a sideways look from Bobert for stating the painfully obvious.

"Would you believe me if I told you it wasn't actually the meal?" Khar proposed.

Saphira's change continued to take hold even though she hardly seemed to notice. The dark blue crop of hair she normally kept neat went wild, tumbling into a mane down the back of her slowly elongating neck. The horns she wore lengthened and twisted down and forward along the length of her snout to frame her face. They stopped just short of her mouth as to not interfere with her feeding. Her fangs grew longer and more pronounced. All the better to tear into the delicious treats arrayed in front of her! They never stood a chance.

Her body stretched higher, expanding and growing in all directions. She had gone from her normal fifteen feet to nearing twenty in height... more than twenty! The leather straps that held together what armor she wore were quickly failing. A quick pop and a snap in the face of that unrelenting flesh saw the buckles falling to the ground with a metallic ring, quickly followed by the armor itself in piecemeal. Those deep blue scales that normally glittered were now shining with their own brilliance in the light of the tree, each the size of one of the dinner plates placed in front of them and reflecting the watching faces of the others. They looked as hard as steel but yielded so easily to make room for more and more glutting dragoness. At last the inevitable happened and the table was cleared of food. The towering wall of scales that was her belly did not cease advancing. At twenty-six feet tall, all that size was asserting itself and it pressed mightily against the side of the table. With a great heave the whole thing came toppling over. The others were sent sprawling back by the sudden force amid a clattering of tableware, all except for Khar who expected this and had the foresight to step backward.

"Now all this delicious food has brought about a realization," said Saphira. She'd finished eating, at least for the moment, and casually took up her weapon --not to arm herself but to use as a mere toothpick. "Why would I further risk myself looking for some treasure when a great prize is here before me? " the dragoness continued, looking to the tree. "I've already found my Horn of Plenty. Why it is a greatness even befitting a creature as magnificent as me, fit for a dragon... which is exactly why I must keep it from you."

Saphira looked down at her shed armor, she felt no more need for trappings of that previous life and to that end discarded her toothpick. Why would she want to hide that body, that enormous and still-growing thirty-four foot body? Instead she had adopted a hunch to her stance as she heavily plodded forward. This mobility felt far more natural. Her arms cracked and reformed, rearticulating themselves into a more primal formation. Gone was the form she entered with. Now she was bearing down on them with something out of a fable.

"Listen to what you're saying, Saphira." Beseeched Draco. "This isn't you-"

"Quiet! Of course it is, just more -of- me! You're trying to trick me so you can have it for yourself!"

The other dragon didn't immediately correct her in that. It would be more appealing though if it came without the part about becoming crazy. She stepped around the fox and made sure to leave him unharmed. He was a possible source of more food and power, after all.

"Now come over here, little morsels, so I can eat you!" Well that was a promise they both knew she'd make good on.

Bobert wasted no time and sprang away towards the tree, he wanted no part of this immediate mess. He knew he was one well-placed stomp away from being a smear on the rock. Upon reaching the trunk of the thing he quickly disappeared between two huge vines.

"Damn you otter, don't you leave me here alone!" shouted Draco.

"I'm gonna try something. You can hold your own for a while --you're a big boy, aren't you?!" came a retort from somewhere in the direction of the tree.

So it was between the two dragons now. One definitely had a disadvantage and that gulf of power was only growing wider with every moment. Draco was faced with an opponent over twice as tall as he and several weight classes ahead. This was going to be an uphill battle.

Likely a quick one too. Common sense tells us a creature that size shouldn't be able to move fast enough to close the distance before Draco could respond. Common sense doesn't take mysterious giant tree magic into consideration either. She was on top of him with preternatural speed and a sweeping backhand caught him squarely in the chest. The air evacuated his lungs and he was hurled backwards onto the ground. He scrambled to his feet just in time to avoid a second blow, this one promising lethality via wickedly extended claws each the size of his arm. With the element of surprise dispensed with Draco was now able to keep this pace, just barely ahead. An earthen shield stopped one massive claw before quickly being smashed aside from an incredibly more powerful kick to only find the dragon had absconded in the ensuing dust cloud.

"Where the hell are you, Bobert?!" Draco called out.

"Hold her there!" answered the otter's voice.

Draco backpedaled and made a motion of raising his claws upward and, in mimicry, immense stony hands ripped themselves free of the ground and grabbed Saphira's ankles. She stumbled forward from the sudden intrusion of the hands Draco puppeted to hold her in place. The dragoness howled and thrashed, reaching down to tear at her fetters. They were enough to restrain her for the time being but that would soon change at the rate she was growing.

Up high in the branches Bobert appeared, having reached one of the lower boughs by way of his climbing expertise. He ran along the enormous and twisting limb until he came across the largest fig he could find. Out flicked the dagger and it plunged into the stem over and over. He whittled it down, each fibrous bundle snapping in their time. The otter spared a look downward towards the big blue dragon. Bobert and the fruit were just above her... perfect. His foot slipped from the distraction and he dropped the knife to reflexively catch himself on the massive fig. It rocked from his weight and the last strand snapped.

Any number of curses might have been passing through the otter's head but all everyone could see was the huge piece of fruit plummeting downward. Everyone but Saphira, that is. It smashed right on top of her head with a dull thunking sound. The thing fell and rolled in one direction while Bobert bounced off of her admittedly soft body in another direction, rolling to relative safety.

"Ow!" she cried in a decidedly deeper voice.

Then she spied the fallen fruit. Saphira had been too short to reach any of them before and so it didn't cross her mind. But here was one so conveniently in reach. She stopped her thrashing and lunged for the thing, grasping it like some precious jewel and coveting it... for about two seconds, then she began to rip into it with those razor teeth of hers.

Draco looked over to his so-called partner with a look of absolute disbelief. "You just -you just delivered that right to her!"

The otter shrugged. "That played out better in my head."

Saphira ate too quickly to savor any one bite, that pleasure would instead be reserved for what it would bring. This one was more akin to a normal fruit: solid and juicy. The magic within it compounded with that already in her and accelerated the process. Bigger she grew, surging with every bite past forty feet. The animate stones gripping her shuddered and struggled to stay on. Larger still, she ate and the two handed fruit soon became something she could easily hold in one. At fifty something feet the hands surrendered and flew apart, collapsing on themselves and rolling to the side. The boulders were like pebbles to her now and were done away with a simple kick. She was free.

The two of them braced for crushing fist or foot but neither came. Instead she stopped and stooped low to pull them both into sight. A great inhalation could be heard and both of them could feel the air around them being pulled towards her. Realizing what was going to happen couldn't stop it.

A tremendous gout of purple flame erupted from her open maw, bathing the area and licking the footsteps of the duo who had decided to cut their losses and quite literally run. With singed backs they absconded towards the far side of the cavern. For the first time since her discovery of this new and wonderful fruit, Saphira was presented with a decision: does she give chase or stay and devour the rest the tree had to offer?

The tree won out.

Neither of them risked looking back until they reached the far wall. Gracious fortune saw fit to give them an escape route in the form of an open archway that presumably led further in. They took shelter on the other side of the threshold and looked behind. They turned around just in time to see her happily curling around the trunk of the enormous tree, craning her neck upward to nibble at the remaining fruit and resting her hand on her bulging belly. Whether she was herself or not or simply drunk on food, power, or whatever else... it didn't matter. Saphira, the new owner of the tree, made it very clear she was staying. Khar was nowhere to be seen.

The truly enormous dragon glanced back and them and flicked out her tongue, as if to taunt them. One had to squint to see it but her eyes had just turned a definitive shade of amythest. Draco's suspicions were confirmed. It was an acquired trait alright.

It looked like with just a little food and a grander perspective on things she was willing to change sides... or at least try to horde this particular treasure for herself. Dragons, right? Go figure.

Both Bobert and Draco looked at one another.

"Not worth it," they said simultaneously to one another and ran further into the caves. They had no idea how big she'd get by the time the fruit ran out but they didn't want to stick around to find out when they were the only things left to eat.