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The dimension of Eteria was, as a general rule, jaded to the strange happenings that occurred on a daily basis. When people turned into giants, the sky caught fire, the land turned into pudding, and the Prince of the plane was regularly poofing people into different forms, it was hard for anyone to really be surprised or excited about much anymore. It took something big to get the populace of the land to actually feel excited, let alone anxious.

But the fact that Lucifer himself was leaving, having just visited the Prince, was enough to tell them that something was up.

Lucifer didn't leave Hell lightly; he trusted the rulership of this buffer realm to Prince Skarlath, allowing the wolf a great deal of autonomy in exchange for his loyalty. The last time that the King of Hell had visited, it had been because there was a shift about to happen between the dimensions, and an adjustment of the Ley Lines and the general bindings between the planes had to happen to preserve the 'stability' of the place. Not that Eteria was all that stable at the best of times, but that was all the more reason to keep what it had.

Nobody had a clue what he was here for this time. The Prince hadn't announced the lion's arrival, and the people only found out when the King of Hell made his exit as visible as possible, striding over the land in giant form, a crown of black fire upon his head and his 'equipment' swaying back and forth enough to knock over some of the buildings that stood in town and castle. His feet stomped furrows into the ground that were deeper than three men standing on each other's shoulders, and left different pieces of the sky burning at his passage.

Of course, all that disappeared shortly after he was out of sight, the different time mages working to repair what he had done, but it was still really noticeable at the time.

Those that lived in the capital were even more curious than those that lived in the country. They heard the rumors that the Prince was calling in his three greatest advisors, those that were closest to him and were most involved in running the plane. The castle town of Phrixus buzzed with the news that Skarlath had summoned not only his seneschal, a large lion named Artemis, but also Brock the badger, the blacksmith of the castle, and Roan, the captain of the King's Own. It had been a while since all three were summoned before the Prince at the same time. It could only mean that something big was going to happen, and soon.

It was WHAT was going to happen that evaded them, and nobody could figure out anything that would match both Lucifer's arrival and the summoning of those three to the court.

#

Sitting on his throne, Skarlath looked out the nearby window. It was placed to allow him a magnificent view of the castle town, giving him the ability to look over all of Phrixus without needing to stir himself from the seat. It was a nice feature, he found; it was better than having to get up and walk all the way down the carpet leading up to the throne in order to look down on his subjects. He never understood why that was the way most places were set up on Earth; it seemed counter to simple logic.

Then again, from what the Prince remembered, the throne rooms on earth tended to be on the ground floor of whatever palace or castle they were built into. His was far higher; in the tallest room of his castle, for that matter.

He looked over the last remaining vestiges of Lucifer's visit. A cock shape dent still marked one of the buildings, but it was rapidly being removed, and the foot crater near the wall surrounding Phrixus was just as rapidly filling back in as time was rolled back.

The news that the King of Hell had brought, however, was not fading. Skarlath leaned back into his throne, his back flat against the hard symbol of his authority, and he rested his chin on his hand. "A wild magic, hmm?" the wolf muttered into his hand. "That's going to be interesting."

According to the lion, there were a few semi-sentient spells that had gotten free from some of the magic users down in Hell. Something that some succubus or incubus had been working on, and had gotten away from them. From what Lucifer had indicated, one of the spells had crossed the near-pointless boundary between Hell and Eteria, and was making its way towards Phrixus.

Sadly, the King of Hell hadn't been able to tell him what the hell the spell would do; they had gotten away before anyone had seen just what they were made of, the magic that made them up. However, according to the demon that was responsible for its creation, the spell was only strong enough to affect four people before it was completely used up.

That had mixed benefits. On the positive side, the spell wouldn't be able to cause too much damage with only four potential targets; even spells that caused people to explode in fiery ways could only catch so many people, and Lucifer had assured him it wasn't that kind of spell. So, from a pragmatic view, there was no worry about widespread panic from damage.

On the other hand, the fact that only four people would be affected before the spell lost its energy meant that it would be hard to track what it did, or be able to fight it if it had a negative effect. With only four cases, they'd need to deploy a few of the mages to be on constant alert, and that was if this thing could actually be tracked; there were some spells out there that couldn't, after all.

Shaking his head, the wolf leaned back on his throne again, sighing. "This is going to be one of those days," he said.

As he waited for his 'court' to assemble, the Prince stepped up from the throne and started wandering around the throne room. Many of the pieces that had been here for the last throne room had been placed in other parts of the castle, while other decorations were new. Likely, the place would be as jumbled next time that the room moved. It was something he understood, something he was used to, but it was still just a bit of effort to remember that the surroundings weren't always the same as they were last week.

One of the many new things was the golden mirror on the wall. There wasn't much in the way of silver or certain kinds of iron in Eteria, nor in Hell, for obvious reasons, and gold was all the more valuable as a result. It had a nice look to it, and Skarlath stopped in front of it with a small smile, taking a moment to admire himself.

Like a good many of the demons and devils in Eteria, the wolf didn't wear much in the way of clothing; he had a blue cloak that he wore almost like a cloak of office, and he had a circlet of a crown that was almost buried in his red fur. Though he wore a set of pants, his sheath bulged hard in it, almost to the point of making them useless. Despite standing about 6'4", the mirror towered over him, giving him more than enough room to enjoy looking at himself without having to back up.

He was decent looking wolf, if he did say so himself; his frame was covered with muscles, to the point where it made him look thicker, almost bulbous in a few places. Not in an ugly way, he was glad to see; there were some demons in the realm that looked almost ugly with all the muscles that they had on their body. With him, though his arms and legs were thick and his torso throbbed with muscles, he still looked great. A small smile crossed his muzzle as he turned to the side, flexing his arms lightly, making his chest and arms bulge even further as he gave himself a little show. His long hair swished lightly as he slid into the pose, long locks of dark blue and dark purple spilling down his back partway at the movement.

"Are we to be summoned for shows now, Your Majesty?"

The wolf turned slowly at the sound of a familiar voice, a slow smile crossing his face. "I thought I would kill a little time while waiting for you, Artemis."

A pale gold lion smiled back at him, crossing arms that were muscled as thoroughly as his own over a hard, chiseled chest. "Well, don't stop on my account, Your Majesty," he said, his voice playful, but respectful. He bowed his head, a mane that was only slightly darker than his fur covering his face for a second before he stood up again. Tail twitching lightly behind him as he approached, Artemis said, "What have you summoned me for? Is it in regards to Lucifer's visit?"

"Patience, my friend; let's wait for the other two first," Skarlath said. His eyes drifted down to the lion's crotch, chuckling lightly at the bulge there; Artemis was almost as massive as he was, and every time he saw his seneschal enter a room, he wondered how long it would be until the enchanted pants finally gave out. Or when Artemis would find a Ley Line and the enchantment would stop working.

That was one of the more profitable businesses in Phrixus, the enchantment of clothing. There were too many demons and devils with large cocks out there for any real pants to be able to fit them, so they were made and then enchanted to stretch beyond what was normally physically possible. Of course, considering the way that Ley Lines tended to screw with most magics, it only worked as long as people stayed off of them. It would last for a while on them, but eventually, it would give out, and people would have the inevitable wardrobe malfunction.

Thus far, Artemis had been able to avoid that, but Skarlath still figured it was only a matter of time until he'd get his own free show.

Marching back to his throne, Skarlath took his seat just as Artemis stood at his side. The lion adjusted his cloak lightly, much to the wolf's amusement, and he rolled his eyes as his seneschal put the crown more appropriately on his head. "It doesn't really matter that much, Artemis," he said.

"Appearances matter, Your Majesty; even if you're just trying to get into the pants of someone else, they matter, let alone for the Prince of Eteria."

"Is that why you keep making me wear the pants around here?" he said jokingly.

"It's not a bad thing, just in case some of the demons bring in the kids," Artemis pointed out. "After all, we have to maintain some standards."

"And you still get more with teasing than you do with just showing it off, you know," another voice said.

Lion and wolf turned their heads to the far side of the throne room, and Skarlath grinned at the approaching horse. "Roan, good to see you."

"Just as good to see you, Sire, particularly in one piece," the stallion said with a grin on his face. The big equine sent vibrations through the floor as he approached, sending a few of the more unsteady things in the room vibrating. Then again, when someone stood just over twelve feet tall, that was to be expected, and when they carried around the muscle weight that the stallion did, that made it even worse.

As Captain of the King's Own, elite teams of warriors dedicated to the protection of Eteria as a whole, Roan had to be strong, powerful, and a symbol of the strength that the Prince could use on behalf of his land. The stallion filled the part well. Not only was he taller than most demons, but he was also muscled almost beyond belief. Thighs thick with corded slabs of muscle rubbed against each other every time that the horse took a step, and their sheer thickness forced his sheath and balls forward in his pants, making them positively indecent, even by the standards of the other massively hung demons.

Even Artemis had to stare at the approaching stallion, something that made Skarlath chuckle under his breath; the seneschal really didn't get quite as much fun as the rest of them, and it showed sometimes. He'd have to remedy that.

When the muscled stallion stopped in front of the throne, he went to his knees, one fist thrust against the floor and the other resting on his knees. Another thunderous thud filled the room at the impact, and Skarlath thought that his butt might have left the throne for a brief, infinitesimal moment. Red eyes looked past a mane of black hair, and the stallion snorted softly as a smile crossed his face. "As you have summoned me, so have I come, Sire."

"Rise, Captain," the Prince said with a smile. He winked at the horse as he stood up again, nodding towards the other side of the throne. "Take your place. We're just waiting for Brock now, and I can tell you why Lucifer came to visit."

"Thank you, Sire," the horse said. "I'm very curious, you know."

"You always are," Artemis said with a slight roll of his eyes.

"It helps me do my job better; the more information I have, the more effective I am," Roan said from his side of the throne.

The two of them settled into a familiar argument, Artemis talking about the need for obedience to the Prince, and Roan going on about how information helped him provide better protection to the realm. Skarlath tuned them out; neither of them really meant what they were saying, and it was more of a way for them to waste time and keep from being bored than anything else.

Better still, it let the wolf get another good look at their packages. He smirked a bit as he looked over their muscles, over their crotches; this close, Roan was almost grinding his bulge against the Prince's face, and since Artemis was standing while he was sitting, the lion's bulge wasn't too far away either. With their attention on each other, his eyes could feast.

Despite the enchanted pants holding their cocks hidden away, Skarlath could make out the bulges well enough to enjoy the size on each. It made him smile every time that he did so, knowing where those cocks had been, the times that he had played with them over the years; not one of the advisors that he kept close had gone without at least an examination from him, and most had gone further than that.

It helped that they were all as hung as him, or at least close; foot long cocks were the shortest around him, and most of them were bigger than that. Enchantment or not, the pants were still hard pressed to hold in such magnificent shafts while they were soft; if they were to become hard, well, Skarlath doubted that they would hold forever.

Licking his lips unconsciously, he realized that his advisors had stopped speaking. The wolf prince flicked his eyes upwards, and saw that both the lion and the horse were looking down at him with raised eyebrows and smirks on their muzzles. "Oh, like you don't enjoy looking at me as much as I enjoy looking at you," Skarlath muttered, shaking his head as he leaned back on his throne.

Ignoring the way that they chuckled at him, the wolf looked down at the other end of his throne room, just in time to see the door opening. He smiled, knowing who was coming next, and glad that he was not going to be caught by surprise by one advisor, at least.

The door opened slowly, and the male on the other side stepped through just as slowly. Black furred legs, thick and solid, stepped through, and pulled the rest of the badger they were attached to along with them. A leather apron, spotted with the burn marks of countless sparks and embers, was pushed forward by a solid but round belly. It didn't bounce or ripple like a fat man's would, but was solid, lifting and pushing upwards, a little like the badger had pushed a bowling ball from earth underneath his apron. He hadn't, of course; Brock didn't have that kind of silliness to him, Skarlath knew.

Musk spread through the room as the badger came closer, one that was a mix between the sweat that Brock always worked up while handling the castle forge and the natural scent of a badger. It was a little stronger here in Eteria than it might have been on another plane, but that was because most of the people of Skarlath's kingdom didn't mind those sorts of smells. They were a way of conveying some moods, of showing off just how manly a person could be. As long as it didn't turn into a total stink, no one was offended, and more than a few might be aroused.

Skarlath wasn't one of them, but he had to focus a little bit to avoid springing a bit of wood inside of his pants. He leaned back as he traced his eyes over the blacksmith's bulging arms, looking at the way that the muscles in them swelled and pulled, shifting and growing and shrinking and...just showing off their sheer size and mass with every movement.

The apron was almost useless in covering the badger's chest, as the plates of muscles there almost dwarfed the ones that his other advisors had. It was understandable, he supposed; with all the upper body strength that the badger had to use, it would make sense that Brock had developed some muscles more than his other advisors. He was a bit less developed in the legs, and he had the bigger belly that the other two didn't have, but he made up for it in the upper body.

He had one little distinguishing characteristic that made him look different from a lot of badgers, besides the longer than usual hair. The fur along his face, where it would be white on normal badgers, was blue, and it almost shone when it was particularly clean. Or particularly wet, as was the case here; either Brock had been sweating more than usual, or he had chugged down some water before coming up here and been messy about it. Either way, it made his face brilliantly blue amidst the rest of the black fur.

"So, I'm the last one here then?" Brock asked.

"Looks like it, blacksmith," Roan said, his lips turned up slightly in a smile. "How long did it take the runner to pull you away from the fires this time?"

Rolling his eyes, the blacksmith continued his walk towards the throne. "I was working on something special."

"Everything is special to you," Artemis said.

"That's going a little far."

The lion arched an eyebrow. "The last time I wanted to talk with you, you were insisting on finishing a project that took you almost an hour."

"So?"

"It was a nail."

Skarlath lifted an eyebrow at that, looking between the lion and the badger. That seemed...slow. "An hour for a nail, Brock?" he asked.

"It was a special nail."

"Must have been," the wolf said with a shrug. "That's something for later, though; right now, we need to talk about how we're going to handle the news that Lucifer brought me."

Lion, badger, and stallion turned their attention to him, and Skarlath pulled himself a bit more upright in the throne. His face tightened slightly, the smiles from before fading as he settled more into his title.

It was something that he had to do when the serious stuff came up. While Eteria was fine, he could joke, he could play, he could enjoy himself. He could even go out and about, have his fun with some different citizens as well as his advisors, and even be a little mischief maker from time to time. It was what he usually did, because his land didn't have all that many problems.

But when something potentially dangerous to the realm came about, he couldn't simply be Skarlath. He had to be the Prince of Eteria, and the Prince of Eteria did not so often smile.

Managing to loom even without the advantage of Roan's height, Skarlath began to explain. "Lucifer has informed me that a rogue magic has crossed the borders between Hell and Eteria."

Brock groaned at that, but Skarlath continued as though there had been no interruption. "The rogue spell apparently has a form of sentience, and is as of yet unidentified. It was conjured by either a succubus or an incubus, however, so I am sure you can imagine some of the potential effects." They nodded. "I'm glad we're all on the same page with this.

"The only other piece of information that Lucifer could give me about the spell was that it is limited in potency. The magic can only affect four people before it is spent."

"Well, at least that limits the total damage it could do," Artemis said.

"Harder to track, though," Roan pointed out.

It took him a little willpower to hide his smile; his advisors were already seeing the same points that he had. Skarlath kept his face neutral, however, as he said, "Regardless of the potential damage, it is imperative that we find the spell before it has a chance to affect the people of my kingdom. I will not have the people of Eteria at large in possible danger from something from Hell."

His advisors nodded, giving their agreement on the matter. The wolf permitted himself a slight smile at that, and slowly stood up. "Right. Now, does anyone have any ideas?"

"Could we lure the spell onto a Ley Line?" Roan asked. "If it's semi-sentient, it means that it might have a goal, something to go for; if we can distract it and get it onto a line -"

"It could work, but we'd need to find it first." Brock shook his head. The badger rubbed his head lightly, sighing. "There's a reason I work in a forge rather than anywhere else; I don't like dealing with that kind of magic."

"But if we can find it, then a Ley Line would probably deal with it in short order, particularly if the effect it would have on someone is pretty powerful; we know how that kind of magic works on the Lines."

They all did, Skarlath more than them, though not by much. The Ley Lines were a unique feature of Eteria; rather than the way that most on earth thought of them, the Ley Lines didn't enhance magic, but instead disrupted it. The wolf didn't really know how it worked, just that it did. There was a reason that they had more modern things in some places and more medieval things in others. Building a city along a Ley Line necessitated that part of the town lived in less magical settings than others, and Phrixus was a case in point for that.

Depending on the spell, sentient or not, a Ley Line could destroy it in any time between a few seconds and a few minutes. The only variable to the time it would take would be the power behind the spell, and whether they could keep it within the Ley Line.

If it had been just a magical creature, then Skarlath might have thought twice about it. As a rogue piece of magic, though, it had little point in existing, and would only try and exercise its power until it was extinguished.

All that remained was the matter of finding it.

He stood up, interrupting the continued debate of his advisors. "Send a message to the scryers; search for any concentration of magic that's big, and that's moving. We'll compare it to the maps we have and see what matches what's there, and what's new."

Artemis blinked, and held up a hand, but Skarlath shook his head. "Yes, it will take a little while. But it's better than trying to ride around all of Eteria trying to find it." He looked around. "Any other objections?"

When nobody answered, he gestured to the door with a wave of his hand. "Then let's get started."

#

It hadn't taken long for the mages to find it. Even with all the magical places in Eteria, there were only so many that moved around, and among them, there were only so many that moved outside of established patterns. Each and every one of those had a different sort of 'aura' to them on the map, and could be tracked relatively easily in turn. The storms, tornadoes, and other magical swirls out there were too big to miss, even by people that didn't go in for the scrying magic.

The new magic, the intruder was different. Small, but fast, and moving rapidly inwards through Eteria. So far, it hadn't gone near any of the edge settlements, but Skarlath wasn't going to trust that to continue.

Besides, as it was, it was on a path directly to Phryxus, with no Ley Lines to hit until it was halfway through the town.

The Prince and his advisors left the castle together, with a few other soldiers coming along. Roan had insisted that several members of the Kings Own join in with the different members of Caspian's security forces, but Skarlath had insisted on keeping the numbers down. The last thing that they needed was to have too many people around if they screwed up; the four of them might be able to handle the spell's effects, but the others were in far more danger. Best to limit casualties, even if it meant getting his friends a little angry with him.

They found the spell ranging only a few dozen miles away from Phryxus. The speed at which it had moved astonished the wolf Prince, and he shook his head as they looked at it from a small hill.

It twisted and surged, made of a surging red light. Flickering brightly, it looked like a bonfire, spiraling around and around. Not just in circles, but in amongst itself, like wind currents gone mad, carrying the heat of fire with it. Not quite a tornado, he thought, but very close in shape, though only the size of Roan in height.

He turned his head to the side. According to the map, one of the Ley Lines lay not too far to the west. Maybe a mile or so, at the most. If they could get the attention of the spell - and more importantly, get it to follow them - they could end this before it got too close to anyone to affect them.

Looking to his side, and behind him, the wolf met the eyes of all of his entourage.

Brock, sitting on a tall horse that whinnied under the blacksmith, and carried a fresh-forged blade; Artemis, sitting tall on a mare that had its head lowered, looking down and at rest; Roan, who stood on his own two feet, arms crossed behind his back at attention; and everyone else, assembled guards that were mounted or, in the rare case that their height matched Roan's, standing. They were armed, but nobody held their weapons other than Brock. When the Prince met their eyes, they gave him a sharp nod in return, quickly done, quickly finished. They were ready.

And so was he.

With a nod at his officers, Skarlath gestured towards the Ley Line with one hand, and towards the tornado of light with the other. They would split; one team to go towards the line, the other there. It would be a tag team, in a way; a small group to get the attention of the tornado, and a larger group to keep it.

Four of the seven soldiers started riding towards the tornado, while Skarlath, his advisors, and the remaining three rode towards the halfway point.

"I hope this works," Roan said as he jogged alongside.

"If it doesn't, then we'll just have to deal with it." Skarlath chuckled. "Besides, better us than the guys in the city, huh?"

"Better us than you, for that matter, Sire," Artemis pointed out.

He rolled his eyes at that, but didn't bother fighting his Seneschal anymore. It was something Artemis would never give up, regardless of how many times that Skarlath won the argument, so he had nearly given up trying. Nearly. There were times - like in the throne room today - that the wolf had needed to remind him who was the Prince here, and who had the final authority. Clearly, the argument hadn't taken.

But that was for another time. Now, they needed to deal with the spell.

The first team had caught its attention. Light flared as the tornado veered off of its course, a terrible howling filling the air as it changed direction in a split second. It fell in behind the riders in seconds, and Skarlath stared slackjawed at how fast it advanced behind them. It was like a predator of magic, rushing forward in an eager attempt to swallow up prey.

"Ride!" he shouted to the soldiers. "Ride as fast as you can!"

They did, but there was only so much that horses could do. The storm of magic behind them was powerful, more powerful than the scryers had told him, and Skarlath cursed under his breath as it seemed that the soldiers might be caught in among them. The King's Own were trained for this, were warned that this was part of their duties, but he didn't want them to be caught in something like this.

A blur at his side was all he saw as the storm came closer and closer to the riders. The wolf blinked, and in the space of that time, Roan had made his way towards the soldiers. With mighty heaves of his arms, he grabbed them from their horses and threw them off to the side, out of the path of the advancing light. He turned, took a step -

-and was swallowed into the storm. The red surrounded him in seconds, obscuring him from sight, and the howl from within prevented anyone from hearing whatever the horse might have shouted in his last moments.

He could only stare in shock, but before the storm could escape, Brock rode forward, capturing its attention again. In seconds, it was right behind the badger, following him towards the Prince's group again.

"Ride, Sire!" Artemis shouted, the lion's roar enough to shake the wolf out of his daze. Along with the guards, they reared their horses around, turning towards the Ley Line that was their target.

Skarlath wanted nothing more than to look behind him, see what had become of Brock, but he didn't dare. The storm was moving too quickly, and anything that might throw the horse off track might make them all fall prey to its effects. Roan might still be okay; they didn't know what it did yet, and he might still be fine. Just needed...needed to get to the -

The howling increased again, and Skarlath knew that it meant that Brock had been swallowed. He didn't dare look back...but he could command another to.

"Soldier," he called out to a guard at his side. "Veer off, call out how close it is!"

"Yes, sir!"

The wolf soldier pulled away from the group; as Skarlath suspected, the storm didn't veer off after him. It was after the largest group, and so far, that was Skarlath's.

The wolf's shout came shortly after. "It's barely ten feet behind, sir, and closing quickly!" Skarlath just barely heard over the roaring. "Hurry! It's going to get you if you don't hurry!"

He already knew that, but at least now he had confirmation. He shouted at the other guards to leave, one at a time, and he heard them veering off, one to one side, one to the other. Their group was gradually pared down, gradually made smaller, but in a way that always kept them as the biggest target for the storm. The one that the storm would follow right into the Ley Line.

It wasn't long before it was just him and Artemis left in the group, and the lion was just far enough behind him to be invisible to him. Just like with the storm, he didn't dare look back. "Come on," the wolf muttered under his breath, low over the horse. "Just...a little...further..."

He felt the presence of the Ley Line an instant before the storm howled again. There was no need to look back; it had caught Artemis, he knew. And that meant that it was right behind him, right on the verge of catching him and doing whatever it would do.

But that was if it survived.

Skarlath rode over the invisible line that marked where normal Eteria and the Ley Lines met, wheeling his horse around as he felt the strangeness of the Ley Line surround him. The wolf's eyes met the storm, seeing no sign of his advisors, no sign of those that had followed him. Only red light.

The spell twisted and howled as it reached the Line, the burning red lights swirling around in different patterns. They were wilder, less coordinated, and Skarlath could see the magic slamming itself itself, crashing harshly and loudly like waves on rocks. The wolf felt a vicious smile creeping over his muzzle, and he did nothing to stop it. The spell was dying, and he was happy to watch it.

Squirming and flailing in place, the light of magic gradually began to fade. Pulses of light, formerly so strong, slowly faded. Dimmer and dimmer with each pulse, as the Ley Line broke it down into different pieces, disrupting the spell.

Suddenly, just as the spell looked to be on death's door, it pulled out one last surprise. Skarlath's jaw dropped as it suddenly rushed forward, the last of its energy expended in one desperate rush to get to him. He had no chance to move, and it collided with him with enough force to knock him from his horse.

The spell surged around him as the Ley Line pulled it apart, the light changing colors in rapid succession; red to blue to green to purple to white. The wolf struggled against it, but the pressure of the spell held him against the ground. He bared his teeth, he growled, he threw his arms and legs against the swirling light, but he was as helpless as a cub against a full grown soldier. It was too strong for him.

And worse than that, it was settling into him.

Skarlath was helpless to do anything but watch as the white light pushed itself into his stomach. It was like a drill boring into him, pointed right at the center of his belly, and boring its way in. Toes curling and fists clenched, the Prince howled in protest, but there was nothing he could do. The tingling power of the spell spread through him as it forced its way into his body, and he could feel it...changing him...modifying him deep inside of his body. His stomach felt different, and there was a new sort of...tension...need...pulling at him from within. It was like a cramp, but deeper than that, a clamping, throbbing pressure inside of his body that desperately needed something.

And then, just as soon as it started, it was gone. The light faded, shattering into pieces before the Ley Line darkened the spell for good. Soft hoofbeats filled the air, and the sounds of horses riding closer filled Skarlath's ears as he pressed his head against the ground.

Hoping for the best, and struggling against the darkness of unconsciousness, the wolf raised his head, looking through bleary eyes back the way he came. He was just able to see the silhouettes of different horsemen riding his way, the bulge of Artemis's mane, the huge walking horse that was Roan, and Brock's massive arms before he passed out.

#

It was the warm touch of hands on his cheeks that woke him up, patting him and rubbing his cheeks lightly until he slowly opened his eyes. "Mmmrph..." Skarlath grunted softly under his breath, shaking his head as he pulled back from the hands.

"Finally, he's awake."

"We were worried."

The wolf shook his head again, blinking his eyes to get rid of the blurriness that kept him from seeing clearly. He could have sworn that his advisors were towering over him, and not by a small amount.

It turned out, they were.

Skarlath blinked as he stared, his eyes flicking from lion to badger to horse, and then back again. "Okay...am I seeing things, or have you all grown?"

"You are not seeing things, Sire," Artemis said with a shake of his head.

"How long was I out?"

"No more than three hours," the stallion answered before the lion could.

"Three hours...and you're this much bigger?"

They nodded.

The Prince shook his head in amazement, his eyes settling on his advisors one by one, studying the transformations that had changed them so much in so short a time.

Artemis was the closest to him, so he was the one the Prince stared at first. The lion had always stood taller than him, but the recent contact with that spell had sent him surging upwards. His head was nearly at the same level where Roan's normally was, three feet taller than he had been that morning, and more than a little bit bigger in other ways as well.

The changes hadn't just been to the height of his advisor, either; the bunches of muscles along his exposed arms and chest almost looked inflated, though the hardness beneath the bulges made it clear that there was no air there, just pure hard muscle. When the lion crossed his arms - which he did while Skarlath stared - the muscles were even more evident, thrust forward in a way that made the fur next to invisible compared to the sheer mass of muscle beneath them.

His eyes inevitably flicked downwards on the lion, and Skarlath was torn between grinning and staring with jaw dropped at just how much junk was stuffed in the front of his Seneschal's pants. The enchantment on the fabric had to be stretched to its limits, the lion's balls pushing down against the crotch of the pants, and apparently so large that one testicle had gone down each leg, making the thighs look even bigger as a result.

He'd always hoped for the lion's pants to rip at court, and a small part of him couldn't help but be excited at the possibility of it finally happening, even if it was bizarre how much had changed.

Turning his head to the blacksmith, he could see that the changes had hit the badger just as hard as the lion. More, perhaps, because Brock had gone from six feet tall to more than ten. Not quite as tall as the Seneschal, but a greater growth than what Artemis had gotten. From being hit by the spell before Artemis? Possibly, the Prince thought, but he couldn't be sure; he was a little too distracted by the unnatural eye-candy that the badger presented.

The leather apron that he had been wearing had been discarded, and unlike Artemis, Brock was completely naked, giving the Prince a very good look at his body. Though the badger's belly remained - much to the Prince's delight - there was a hardness to his body that made him look even stronger, even fitter than before. The large hands at the end of the badger's arms looked positively massive, and Skarlath made a mental note to get a few larger hammers for the blacksmith forge.

Everything was bigger on the badger, though, not just his hands. Veiny lines ran down his arms and over his thighs as the muscles beneath shoved the vessels closer to the surface. Brock shifted his position now and then, shifting his weight from one leg to another, and every time he did, the muscles bunched up that much more. There were bumps and bulges of it, even along his legs, which previously had been smoother and less...huge...than Roan's or Artemis'. And the muscles along his chest and shoulders...oh god, they could have hung a suit of armor off of the badger's arms, and Skarlath doubted that his blacksmith would even feel it.

But the most noticeable change was the one that stuck out from his groin. Skarlath felt himself licking his lips slightly at the sight of the badger's cock, sticking forward and half erect...and bigger than his arm, both in width and length. The entire length throbbed, even though it wasn't completely hard, and Skarlath realized that it could still keep growing.

The balls below were just as huge as Artemis's bulge, but they weren't restrained by pants, and fell down naturally. The huge orbs seemed to almost throb with every bit of seed inside, and before the wolf's eyes, he saw them bubble, writhe, and grow just a little bit bigger.

Shaking his head a few times, Skarlath shook himself free of the trance the sight threatened to put him in, and turned to the stallion.

His jaw literally dropped, his chin thudding against his chest at the sight that waited for him. The captain of the King's Own was almost a giant now, rather than just a supernaturally tall horse. The pants had ripped somewhere along the way, and a throbbing horse shaft pointed at the air above Skarlath's head; Roan had to be on his way towards 18 feet tall now, having grown more than the other two advisors, and he was so tall that there was no way that Skarlath could have reached that cock without jumping from the ground and flailing with his arms.

"I, uh, guess the spell got me the most," the stallion said, one hand rubbing the back of his head embarrassedly. He chuckled a bit. "I did run right into it, after all."

And had become one of the biggest, most muscular, and....wow. Skarlath was vaguely conscious of Artemis approaching him from the side, but he couldn't stop staring. Those veined, corded muscles along the horse's legs, leading up to a pair of balls, each sphere bigger than his head, if not bigger than his arm, and burbling with seed. His shaft looked as though it were fit to burst, hard and flared at the tip, with so much pre running down the length of it that it shone in the light of the throne room.

His eyes flicked up to the horse's chest, the muscles beneath Roan's chest pushed out like steel slabs on top of a paved road on a Ley Line; hard, solid, and unbreakable. They looked like a surer piece of armor than any piece of metal, and the wolf had the feeling that if he knocked on it, he would risk breaking his hand. A little shudder went through him, tingles from behind, as well as the familiar throb in the front as his shaft started to rise up against his pants.

A sudden poke against the side of his head brought him back to Eteria and out of his fantasies. Rubbing the sore spot on the side of his head, Skarlath turned to his left.

Artemis loomed over him, looking somewhat solemn even as small rips slowly spread through his pants. "Your pardon, Sire, but we must talk of how we are to deal with this."

"Deal with...what? This gift of seeing you guys grow?" Skarlath asked, a little chuckle creeping into his voice. "Look at you; you're not bad looking you know. What's wrong with -"

"Sire. We're still growing."

"...What?"

"We are still growing, Sire," the lion said. He gestured to the stallion and badger. "Me, Roan, Brock; we've been growing non-stop since we were touched by the spell. I had to give my horse to one of the soldiers to bring back, and Brock had to do the same not long after." Grunting, Artemis pressed on, even as the front of his pants strained, more and more rips showing up in the fabric as the enchantment began to fail. "And as you can see, we are still growing. Muscles, height...genitalia...we are still getting bigger."

That...that had to be wrong. Skarlath looked back at the other two, his eyes going a little wider as he caught a little tremble going through them. Muscles bunched, and there was a slight...bending...to the air as something pulled them a little taller, spread them a bit thicker with muscle. Both badger and stallion leaked a little pre at the shift in size, adding to the growing pools on the throne room floor.

Even as he shook his head, the wolf couldn't deny that his advisors were still growing before his eyes. A part of his mind realized the danger; if they were still growing, there was no sign of when it might stop. And with the spell distorted from the Ley Line, there was no knowing what it might have done to him before it had been destroyed.

And worst of all, they didn't know what had caused the spell, or what might have gone into it to make it. Without that, stopping it, disenchanting themselves, would be much more difficul-

"Ooof!" Skarlath grunted as a very rigid poke caught him by surprise. Grunting, he ducked his head and turned back to Artemis, intent on giving him a glare for the repeat poke.

It wasn't a finger that had gotten his cheek, though, but the lion's cock. It had finally managed to break through the lion's pants, and had nudged against the wolf's cheek when it had escaped. Skarlath had to stifle a chuckle at the slight blush that had covered his Seneschal's face when it happened, reaching up and batting the cock in front of his face. "Heh, you finally got that thing out; maybe there's some good for this spell after all."

"Some, but how big are we going to grow?" Roan pointed out.

That was the question...but for now, Skarlath was going to enjoy what he had.