A Deeper Friendship 4: Incentives

Story by awesomeos on SoFurry

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#4 of A Deeper Friendship

The fourth installment of my series.

Hope you enjoy


WARNING

This story contains funk (right here in this box)

Actually, this story contains vore of the slightly harder variety. It's not extremely bloody or gory or anything but I do want to warn you that I used this vore scene as a more shock value part of the story to show some inner conflict. There are also the beginnings of digestion. DON'T SAY I DIDN'T WARN YOU. The next addition of the story will not have hard vore.

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"So, this is all you could find, eh," the figure chided, gesturing to Zack. "Disappointing."

Zack looked up at Kara. She looked as though she recognized the voice. She seemed angry.

"What are you doing here Agnidev?" She snarled.

A deep maroon dragon emerged from the shadows grinning smugly, showing off his sharp teeth.

"I was just around and thought I'd stop by," Agnidev stated coolly.

"Leave now! You're not welcome here anymore!" Kara spit.

"Temper temper. You were always so easy to anger Kara." He smiled condescendingly, suddenly diverting his attention to Zack. "What is this little thing that you have here?"

"He's my friend, Agnidev," she said, slightly more calm.

"What's your name?" Agnidev asked Zack.

"I'm Zack."

"My name is Agnidev but you can call me Agni."

Agnidev turned to Kara, completely ignoring Zack again. He approached her and whispered in her ear. "It would be a shame to let something so... vulnerable unattended. He could get snapped up by a dragon pretty easily out in these treacherous woods."

Zack looked up at Kara, hearing Agnidev's threat. Kara looked angrier than she ever had before.

"LEAVE!" Kara roared.

Agnidev complied, grinning wickedly at Kara. He looked down at Zack and licked his lips. Zack instinctively used one of Kara's legs to hide behind. He sauntered off into the darkness once again.

Kara looked distraught. Zack looked up at her again. "Who was that?" Zack asked.

"That was my old mate." Kara said distantly.

"Your old mate?" Zack started. Kara grabbed him suddenly. She sprinted for her cave. She ran inside all the way to the back of the cave and laid down in a corner devoid of light.

"Kara, where are we?"

"In my cave."

"Listen, it's getting kind of late. I should go..." Zack started.

"No, absolutely not! I thought that Agni would leave me alone but I know that he's stalking you now. He wouldn't think twice about breaking into your house and kidnapping you."

"Well, where do I go then?" Zack asked.

"You should stay here tonight. I'll make sure he can't get you." Kara said as she put Zack down. She began to settle as well. She curled up around Zack, folding her wing over him.

"Kara?"

"Yes Zack?"

"How do you know that dragon?"

"Well, we were both in kind of the same situation when we were younger. When I was younger, my parents were killed by a human who had found them. He came during the night while we slept. I was in another room. He killed them but missed me. I think he must have found the room that we kept our valuables in before he found my room. He must have never checked. When I woke up, my parents were slain and I was alone. Luckily for me, my father had given me my ring a few days before he died; this ring was enchanted and gave me a way to blend in with the humans. You've seen how it works."

"So how does that have anything to do with meeting Agnidev?" Zack interrupted.

"I'm getting to that... So, because I was able to blend in with the humans, I enrolled in school and started taking classes. In one of my classes, a boy seemed to be paying a lot of attention to me. I asked him about it and he said that he wanted to meet me out in the forest to talk. I'm not sure if it was my naivety or my confidence that urged me into going to the forest but I did. I met him in a clearing... actually it was the same clearing that we met in. He had said earlier that he wanted to talk in private but he had plans for me that I was not aware of. He planned to make an easy snack out of me. He took off his enchanted ring..."

"Wait, hold on. How does he have an enchanted ring?" Zack queried.

"I was shocked too. I thought that I was the only dragon that could change. Apparently, there are quite a few rings that were forged by dragons long ago that allow the wearer to disguise themselves as humans if they so desire. Anyways, he took off his enchanted ring and transformed in front of me. He started talking about how good it would feel to have me sliding down his throat. I asked him to let me leave but he told me that I was part of lesser beings that needed to learn their place. As he was about to grab me, I took off my ring and tackled him, pinning him down. His tone completely changed. With me pinning his neck into the ground, he offered for him and I to team up against the humans. My mind was in a different place back in those days; I would not have thought twice about killing a human. In my mind, they were all bad. I agreed. We spent a lot of time together hunting and preying on our favorite treats. I started to like his company. We seemed so compatible. We ended up becoming mates but it was not to last. He started treating me more like an object than an equal. He would order me around like his servant. It was awful; being around him started to feel like a chore. We would still hunt together but as I killed more, I started seeing more innocence in them. I started seeing myself in them. I was no better than the human that killed my parent. One day, I had enough and confronted him about my feelings. He scoffed at them, saying I was weak and stupid. I left and we never saw eachother until now."

"I'm sorry that you had to go through that." Zack said solemnly.

"It's okay Zack, it was part of the past. Now we must worry about how to keep you safe from him.

Zack yawned. "Yeah... what should we do?"

"We'll think about that tomorrow. You should sleep now, you sound like you need it. Goodnight Zack." Kara said, lifting her wing and licking Zack's cheek.

"Goodnight Kara." Zack said sleepily.

Kara felt Zack nod off in her embrace. She looked out from her cave into the night sky. She looked down again at her wing that covered Zack. "I won't let anything happen to you." She said to Zack although she knew she was reassuring herself more than she was reassuring Zack. Zack was seemingly sleeping soundly.

Zack opened his eyes. A grey mist surrounded him enveloping everything in sight. He stood in a roughly one meter sphere that was clear of the mist. There was nothing he could see with the fog covering everything. He looked all around, trying to find something of substance but there was only nothingness. A chilling sensation climbed up his spine, causing him to shiver. His teeth chattered. He started walking forward, trying to find something in this weird world. Slowly, trees emerged from within the mist. The trees dwarfed any trees that he had ever seen before. They looked dead. Their branches were bare save for a few leaves. The bark was coal black, almost charred. Zack reached out and touched one of the trees. They were hot to the touch. Zack withdrew his hand quickly and looked for burn damage. He saw that his fingertips were dusted black with the ash. 'What could have done this?' Zack wondered. He continued walking until suddenly, the ground vanished under him. A steep cliff side replaced the ground. Zack started sliding down the Cliffside, trying to grab onto anything he could. The Cliffside was bare. The grey fog started to dissipate into a much larger circular radius. Zack looked down to see that the cliff was about to drop off into a near ninety degree drop. Zack tried desperately to stop himself. He slid to the end of the cliff and grabbed onto the edge. Zack dangled off the edge of the Cliffside, looking up for help. He worked up the courage to look down. The drop was definitely lethal for him. It was about forty feet from where he hung. Suddenly a sinister laugh caught his attention.

"Well well, I see you're in a little bit of a jam here, wouldn't you say?"

Zack looked up. Agnidev was sauntering over towards him.

"It's such a shame that there is nobody here to catch you...Oh wait, I could help you with that, I think." Agnidev said. He dropped down from the Cliffside and positioned his wide open mouth below Zack's dangling form. "Now, do me a favor and let go."

"Kara!" Zack cried out. "Kara please help!"

Agnidev laughed. "How weak of you, relying on your dragon to help you."

"She's not my dragon." Zack mumbled.

"But you want her to be _your_dragon." Agnidev taunted.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Zack asked incredulously.

Agnidev chuckled. "It's obvious that you like her."

Zack was about to comment but a low rumble could be heard in the distance. Zack looked towards the source of the sound, struggling to hang on to the cliff. The rumbling continued to grow in intensity until Kara burst from the forest below and tackled Agnidev. She clawed at him and bit him. Agnidev tried to fight back but Kara had the upper hand. Roars and growls could be heard from both parties as they fought. Kara's claws had made contact with Agnidev's cheek scales. Another roar, this one from pain was uttered by Agnidev. He suddenly pushed her off and ran into the forest. Kara stood up, panting, looking over at Zack dangling.

"Kara! I'm so glad to see you. You saved my life!" Kara padded over to where Zack stood. "Can you get me down from here?" Zack said, looking over at Kara. She seemed different. Her eyes were emotionless slits focused on him. She lowered her body to the ground and started stalking Zack; It was almost as if she was trying to sneak up on her. He was confused by what she was doing. She slowly positioned herself underneath Zack's dangling form. She opened her maw, strings of saliva breaking as she yawned wide.

"Kara, come one, you can taste me later; right now I want to get out of here!" Zack pleaded.

Kara tilted her head in a fashion that showed misunderstanding. She seemed to not comprehend what Zack was saying. He looked down in fear as her muzzle slowly approached. Her teeth started closing in around his thigh, applying slow pressure. Zack started to feel pain.

"Kara, Kara stop, you're hurting m--ahhh" Zack cried out as a tooth broke through skin. He let go from sheer shock. Kara seemed to be expecting this result and quickly opened her mouth wide. Zack plummeted into her wide open maw which snapped shut when he entered completely. He grabbed his leg in pain and curled up in a ball. Something was terribly wrong. Kara would never do this. Zack didn't have much time to think as the throat opened up almost immediately after he hit the back of her maw. He continued his freefall down her throat. Her throat muscles clamped around him causing another jolt of pain to shoot through his body as he was forced to curl up even tighter. Zack was crying from the pain. He was slowly extruded into her stomach. The tooth cut deep. He didn't understand why Kara would treat him like this, like he was just a piece of meat, a snack. She didn't even seem to recognize him. As he stayed curled up, he felt liquid at his feet. It soon started filling up to his legs and it reached his thigh. An extreme burning sensation was felt on all the parts exposed to the liquid.

'She's digesting me!' Zack realized as he tried to struggle to get free. It was futile. The burning grew stronger and stronger until...

Zack awoke with a start. He had perspired quite a bit from his night terror. His sudden awakening had caused Kara to stir. She unfurled her wings and stretched them. Kara looked down at her friend still in her grasp.

"Hey sleepyhead." Kara said, licking Zack on the cheek. Zack visibly recoiled at the touch of her tongue. "Hey, what's wrong, why are you so jumpy?" Kara asked worriedly.

Zack looked up at her, still rocked by the events in his dream. He wasn't sure if he wanted to tell her why he was so scared of her right now. "It was... just a bad dream Kara."

Kara started wondering why a bad dream would cause such a response. She would have to keep an eye on him.

"Come on," Kara said, motioning to the door. We've got stuff to do today.

"Well if you want to eat, we'd better find something to catch." Kara said as she walked outside of the cave. She stretched for a few seconds, enjoying the warm sun on her scales. Zack followed her apprehensively, trying to keep his distance. Kara never seemed so large to him before. She was at least twenty feet when she stood. Thinking about how humbling her height was just intensified his fear of her. He was not sure why that dream had so much impact on him. His thoughts were consuming him, toying at his emotions.

He tried focusing on something else. He took a deep breath. The air was cool, damp and fresh. It was as if the forest below was waking up with him. It smelled deeply of pine sap. Zack always loved the smells and sights of nature, it always calmed him. Suddenly, Kara grabbed him. Zack tensed up, his fear intensifying once more. He looked around to see where she was taking him.

Kara placed Zack on her back. "Hold on tight and don't let go, alright?" Kara yelled back to him. Zack quickly grabbed one of her back spikes and held on. Kara spread her wings. She flapped them a few times to get them ready for flight. The power behind those wings showed through as debris around her cave was pushed away with the force of a hurricane. Kara gave her wings one large flap and lifted off. She wasted no time in gaining altitude. Zack watched as the world around him flew away, getting smaller each second that he looked. He had flown before but that had only been in an airplane. This was different. Zack tensed up again, not from fear but from sheer exhilaration.

Kara had not been able to fly for a long time. She missed the feeling of the wind in her face and under her wings. She felt so free when she flew. She knew that she would have to dial down her excitement in order for Zack to be able to hold on. She decided that she would take it slow to start. She slowly dipped down. The fresh air was cooling and comfortable against her scales. Kara couldn't help but smile when she flew. It brought a childlike joy and wonderment to her every time she did. It was the one time in her day that she felt as though she didn't have to worry about anything. She felt Zack tighten his grip. He felt like he was a bit scared of her flying.

"Are you okay back there?" Kara called back.

"This is amazing!" Zack responded.

Kara smiled and decided to have a bit of fun. She angled upwards and beat her wings powerfully. The treetops below slowly blended together into an undefined green mass as she pushed higher. The clouds began to surround and engulf them. Zack reached out towards the clouds and felt the fresh moist air run between his fingers. Kara continued to climb until they broke through the layer of clouds. Kara climbed even further.

Zack was overwhelmed with excitement. He had never experienced such a feeling of unrestricted joy. Every care that he had seemed to disappear with the ground below. He lifted up his arms as though he was on an amusement park ride. For him, this was a billion times better. Kara started spiraling upwards, enjoying her time. Zack was not ready for this sudden change in forces. He tried desperately to grab onto her back spike again but missed. Screaming, he tumbled off her back. Suddenly, the blue sky started turning a dark shade of purple, the clouds started turning grey. He looked for Kara, hoping that she noticed him falling. Suddenly the clouds enveloped him. Time seemed to stop. A voice could be heard, reverberating as though it was the clouds around him talking.

"Such a weak human, so vulnerable."

Zack looked around for whoever was talking. He could not see anything with the clouds in the way.

"How gullible you must be, human, to think that Kara sees you as more than food." The voice said.

"Who's there?" Zack called forcefully.

"Such an intimidating voice you have there." The voice mocked, hearing the fear behind Zack's forceful tone. Zack could hear a dark condescending chuckle.

"WHO SPEAKS TO ME?" Zack yelled, angrily.

"You are too weak and vulnerable for her," the condescending voice harassed.

"Love cannot exist between different parts of the food chain." The voice said.

"GO AWAY!" Zack yelled.

Kara raced downwards after Zack. She had heard him scream but he had a head start. She was desperately trying to catch up. Her wings beat as fast as she could make them. She was starting to feel the muscle pains from her sudden overexertion. She was getting close to him until he was engulfed by the clouds. Tears started running from her eyes. She was not sure if she would be able to find him through the clouds. She just followed his trajectory into the clouds, hoping for the best. As she got closer to Zack, she started hearing him yelling. She began to see the form of a human. Slowly she saw the blue in his shirt becoming visible. She pushed even harder.

"GO AWAY" Zack yelled.

Kara looked at him, concerned. "Zack, it's me, Kara!" Kara called back.

Zack had his eyes shut tight. He seemed to be trying to fight something off although nothing was around him. Kara took the chance to grab him. She held him as she opened her wings, they had just broken through the cloud layer. Leveling out, Kara looked for a place to land. She found a small clearing in the forest below and dived down again. Zack struggled in her grip, trying to push her hand open. Kara landed. She opened her hand to see if Zack was alright. His eyes were still shut tight and he was cowering away from something.

"Zack! Zack, can you hear me?!" Kara cried.

Zack seemed to stop his struggling; he opened his eyes and looked up at her. "Kara, wh- what happened?"

Kara was confused as to how he had forgotten what had happened. "Zack, don't you remember? We were flying and you fell off." She said, concerned.

"I only remember little snippets of that. I don't remember falling off though. I do remember hearing a voi- um never mind." Zack trailed off.

Kara looked at him angrily. "Okay, that is it! You've been acting really weird today. I don't know what is wrong with you today but I do know that you are going to tell me right now!"

Zack looked up at her, his fear showing through in his expression. Kara looked down at him, showing her frustration.

"Well?" Kara probed.

"Last night, I had a dream. It was about Agnidev,' Zack started. Kara's ears perked up at the name. "I had fallen and was hanging off a cliff when he showed up. He made me feel weak and unimportant. He had positioned himself underneath me so that he would catch me in his mouth when I fell. I was about to slip and then you showed up..."

"What happened then?"

"Uh..." Zack started. "Nothing, I woke up." Zack lied.

Kara looked at him incredulously but gave him the benefit of the doubt.

"Okay... so what happened in the air just now? You looked as though you were trying to fight something off."

"I don't know, there was a voice and it kept talking to me. It was dark and the darkness was closing in around me. I was trying to fight it off but it was stronger than me."

"What did the voices say?" Kara asked.

"I don't really remember, It was pretty much the same things that Agnidev said last night." Zack answered.

Kara looked at him sympathetically. "I'm sure Agnidev is behind this."

"How could he be?" Zack asked, confused.

"Agnidev is a powerful dragon, a master of deception and trickery." He's probably laying down little incentives to make you think a certain way."

"Why would he do that?"

"Well, it's easier to trick you if he knows how you are feeling and what you'll respond to." Kara explained.

"How do you know?" Zack asked.

"He used the same method on me." Kara said, dejectedly.

Zack looked up at her. "I- I'm sorry." Zack said, unsure of how he could comfort her.

Kara smiled. "Thanks Zack." She picked Zack up again and nuzzled him with her muzzle.

Zack tentatively reached out and hugged her snout. He heard soft purring coming from her mouth. Zack smiled at the response he got. Kara's eyes closed contently. She loved how Zack showed his affection. His emotions and affections were subtle and carefully chosen; not one out of place. They weren't overwhelming either, just an amuse-bouche of emotion. When she first met him, his distant submissive personality was weird to her. At first, she hated how quiet and contained he was. However, after seeing it as a way to show that he cared, she saw it as a welcome change to how Agnidev treated her.

"Are you still hungry?" Kara asked, still nuzzling him.

"Yeah," Zack said smiling.

TO BE CONTINUED.