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An (Un)Willing Sacrifice

Manir took in a long, deep breath as he cradled his head in his hands. Things hadn't been going all that well for him in the preceding weeks and he needed to do something to make headway in his research if he was going to do anything about the steady string of disappearances in his village.

Ever since he was a young boy, he noticed that people who were blooming into adulthood were all going missing, one at a time. Soon after they graduated from the academy and took on their respective jobs, they would disappear without a trace, and absolutely nobody seemed to ever acknowledge their lack of presence.

Sure, they all came back, and every single one of them claimed to have been 'on a vacation', but Manir knew that wasn't the case. Just one week ago, he had seen his friend Specter get dragged away by a mysterious, cloaked figure in the night. They were out together on the kinevan hill, looking at the stars without the obstruction of the trees that surrounded their village. When Manir left to hang a leak, he came back and his friend was gone. His keen eyes picked up the sounds of thrashing and screaming around the other end of the hill disappearing into the northern woods. He tried to dash after the source of the cries, but couldn't find them once they got lost in the sound-dampening woods.

Since then, nobody in town had talked about Specter. Every time Manir brought it up, he was met with disdain, being treated as though he making things up or was letting his overactive imagination create friends that were too real.

That's when he knew that there was something more sinister going on beneath the surface.

In the following days, he had send every one of his afternoons in the library, reading up on history, lore, and even old religions of centuries past. He scanned every book he could find that might explain why everyone in his village seemed to be completely okay with their people getting abducted at the cusp of adulthood, and why none seemed to recall what happened when they were gone.

Further urging him forth to find an answer was the fact that he had just reached adulthood himself, literally days after Specter. He knew, deep down inside, that his time was coming and unless he figured out what was going on, he would fall a victim to whoever was abducting young adults in his village.

Most people his age would have gone to see friends or kept around large groups, but Manir wasn't that kind of feline. No, he preferred solitude to socialization. He stayed to himself, didn't speak well with others, and often found himself unable to socialize except with only the most passive of friends. He often stumbled over his words and twiddled his thumbs or found something else to talk about when people he didn't know tried to speak to him.

He wasn't the best at making new friends. He was good at research though. His laser-focus concentration and ability to tune everything else in his life out allowed him unparalleled ability to ignore distractions and accomplish what was needed quickly. Only Specter understood him, and now that dragon was gone. He had a job to do, and nothing would stop him from uncovering the conspiracy behind this wave of abductions that had washed over every single member of his village at one point or another.

"Breaking the Spell: Defunct Religions and their devout followers. By Olfrin Atophyr." Manir said to himself - whispered, since he was in a library - as he pulled out a thick, hardcover book off a low shelf in the philosophy section. It likely wasn't the best option to look for intricate details on tribal history, but he wasn't finding anything in the history section, and he had only made it to the 'A' section of the philosophy authors.

For some reason that name sounded familiar to him, like the author was important, even though he had never heard of anyone by the name of Atophyr. Olfrin, however, seemed like it was inspired by some historical figure. Eager to learn more, he grabbed the book and clutched it close to his chest, walking briskly over to the farthest table nestled over in the corner, away from everyone else.

When he sat down, he noticed a slight irregularity in the side of the book. It wasn't even, liek there was a bookmark in there somewhere. Curious, he did what anyone would do by opening the book to that page, exposing not a book mark, but a twice folded parchment that had some markings on it. He glanced up to see if anyone was watching him; when he was sure nobody was within viewing range, he unfolded the parchment.

On it was a series of tiny notes about 'rebirth', and consumption overlooking a map of his nation, with a big red X over the northern valley near his village. A cult, a tribe, since 450 AG in this region. Not a lot of details, but enough to piece together a scary portrait for his paranoia.

He had pulled the parchment to the side to see the chapter that it had marked for him, titled "Saurian of the Dark Sea: Cult of the Deep." Yes. This was the information he needed. He had just started to read when he heard a shuffling elsewhere in the Library.

Panicked, he slammed the book shut on the parchment and glanced up, eyes scanning to see who was there. A robed figure poking its snout out from behind one of the book shelves, a broad grin peeling golden scaled lips up off his sharp teeth. Saurian, clearly.

It was time to leave. He didn't feel safe in the library anymore, so he got up and briskly walked over to the receptin with his head held low to keep from making eye contact with anyone else. When he got to the desk, he saw that the librarian was nowhere to be seen. His heart skipped a beat, then fluttered to catch up with his brisk breaths as he wondered if maybe he was being stalked, and she'd been silenced.

"Good cat of the jungle, I hope you don't stumble. For you may find yourself in a position to rumble." Another purple reptile spoke from behind. He was gently tapping at a small drum and whistling in between his words that were spoken like a song. He was stepping closer with each line. "Dig too deep and you will find, what is out there is beyond your mind." He hissed and flicked his tongue with a smile.

Manir froze in spot before glancing back to the other reptile, only to find he was gone. Panicked, he held the book close to his chest and darted past the purple-scaled bard and burst into town's square. There, dozens of other felines, canines, avians, and reptiles were milling about, going from building to building, road to road.

He kept his head low as he ducked into the crowd, heart thudding in his throat as he shrunk down to look as small as he could. That few seconds in the library had rocked him to the core, and he was ready to die, it felt like. However, Manir was a feline, and therefore eternally curious, so he looked back at the library to see the two reptiles standing in the archway in front of the door, staring right at him.

The panic never let up, so he ducked down and tried to hide behind a group of canines that were walking away from his home. His instinct was to head back to his home and nail the doors shut, but instead he decided to walk in the opposite direction, maybe distract and disorient them. There wasn't actually any proof they were following him or chasing him, but their words, behaviour, and eyes told all the story they needed to.

Though he was not schizophrenic, Manir felt he had all the reason to believe that these two were after him. Though he'd only been researching the situation surrounding the abductions - previously thought to be a vacationing rite of passage for boys and girls as they became men and women - he was already gathering enough evidence to believe that he was being chased. Watched. Pursued.

He was quick to dart between people, glancing back at the two saurians to make sure they weren't in range when he slid into an alley between two buildings. He'd lived int he village all his life, so he knew all the backdoor ways to get back to his hut, and how to get there quickly without being seen. There was no way the two would be able to follow him.

That is, unless they already knew where he lived.

"Shit." He muttered to himself, book still clutched to his chest as he slipped between stacks of crates and barrels. He knew that there wasn't really a whole lot he could do unless he made it back to his home and literally nailed his door shut. He knew he couldn't scream for help or point them out, because he knew that his friends and family would ignore him, as they did with every other disappearance or odd happening that occurred in his hometown.

At that moment, he decided that maybe it was in his best interest to just leave the settlement entirely. The jungle was thick around his village, but there were trade routes leading east and west, as well as one smaller one to the south. Bandits patrolled them and he would be a exposed to the threat of mugging if he didn't hire protection, but he also didn't have anything of value he needed to take with him. Hell, he could be gone for a week, and nobody would notice. Happened to everyone else in the town, it seemed, so he doubted anyone would care or pay the slightest mind to his absence.

Of course, he needed to get back to his home first, and if the two reptiles were still watching him or chasing him, he had to be very careful. He was quite sure that they couldn't possibly have seen him dive into this alley, and he was tightly fit snug between two boxes and three barrels in the dark - not even the piercing light of the sun illuminated him. Nobody would be able to see him unless they knew precisely where he was.

Rather than dart back to his home, he closed his eyes and leaned back against the brick and wood panels of the building he was in behind, resting against the curved barrels he was wedged between. As a feline, he was able to get comfortable in virtually any odd or unpleasant location. It was certainly a gift he had over most others in the village, especially the saurians. While there, he did his best to read as much of the book as he could, with hands jutting out from the wood at the most awkward angles.

He let the day pass him by until night, waiting for someone to burst around the corner and apprehend him. Every second that passed gave him time to rue the villagers around him while also planning his escape route. How could anyone ignore such a widespread epidemic? Of course, he never really liked the people of his village, finding them to be an inconvenient distraction from his personal life and constant invaders of his solitude. Even his own family seemed to resent him more than respect him.

Each passing moment had him more and more sure of his plan to leave. Other than Specter, there really wasn't anyone at all in town he actually cared about. He'd be far more useful in one of the bigger coastal regions than in this dumpy little crap-shack village in the middle of the jungle.

Though his thoughts were never positive, he found the solitude to be quite relieving. His hours on his own without anyone bugging him for attention really calmed his heart and mind. The adrenaline had dissipated, his pulse had reverted to a normal tempo, and he felt at peace. Perhaps it was time for him to return home. There, he could grab up some of his books, personal belongings, and disappear into the night, ne'er to be seen again.

Once he was fully convinced of his own absolute solitude, he slid out from between the crates and barrels, emerging into the alleyway to sneak his way home. His vision was quite good at night, and he knew that the dragon and reptile types couldn't even begin to compare, so even if they caught sight of him they wouldn't be able to follow in the jungle.

Not without some sort of enchantments. The yellow one seemed to be decked out in gems and a sash that probably leant itself well to harboring the items needed to enchant or make potions. No doubt in Manir's mind that they might have been enhanced.

He couldn't take a risk. He had to dart back home and then leave. It was his only logical course of action.

Due to his condition, he was still living with his parents - adult or not, it made more sense for him to be cohabiting - and he wasn't looking forward to explaining to his mother where he was or to his father that he was off doing research and not looking for a job.

When he finally arrived back at his doorstep, he once again held the book close to his chest and kept his eyes trained to the ground in front of him. The less eye contact he had with his family, the better. He quickly burst into the front door and started padding his way right towards his personal room, ignoring the sounds of his mother stirring a pot in the kitchen or his father reading a book in the living room.

"Oh? Dear, I'm surprised to see you." His mother cooed at him, barely looking up from the meal she was preparing on the stove. "I didn't expect you back so soon, I didn't prepare stew for you."

Manir stopped in his tracks, confused by his mother's words. Why wouldn't she be expecting him back? He had been away all day and didn't come back at sunset, which was his usual curfew. She should have been worried about his absence, not shocked at his presence. "What did you say?" He muttered under his breath, most of the sound getting caught in the top of the book.

"Nothing, dear. I should toss some more meat into this, huh?" She smiled and purred before sliding her way over to the counter where some bloody chunks of beef were sitting on the counter.

He wanted to say something, to call her out on her apparent lack of care for his whereabouts. He had all the information he needed to confirm they were in on whatever it was that was stalking him, so he gritted his teeth and disappeared into his room, ignoring the both of them. Manir needed to be fast, or something was going to go wrong. He could feel it in the base of his tail.

The door shut behind him and he started idly clawing through his drawers and closet for enough clothes and a pack to hold his stuff in. Just then, his father opened the door, catching him mid-packing. He quickly spun and audibly gasped.

"You have visitors, son." He told him, with book at his side and shoulder leaning to the frame of the door. Then he moved to the side to reveal both the yellow and purple scaled reptiles that he had seen in the library.

This was it. The end of him. Manir glanced around the room for an exit, but his window was too small for him to dive out and easily too dangerous to pass through. He had been betrayed by his own family, left to be sacrificed to this cult. Still, he wasn't going down without a fight, so he lunged at the two of them, swinging fists and screaming like a mad-cat.

Unfortunately, they were both so much more powerful than he was, and were both able to hold him down. The yellow one tackled him to the bed and held him in place from behind while the purple one grabbed a potion from his satchel and soaked some of it on a rag. With Manir on his back, leaning on the yellow dragon, the purple one started snapping his fingers with the rag up at face level.

"Little kitty kitty, this won't be pretty. Just relax my friend, you'll be gone with us by ten." He chanted before hopping up onto Manir's bed and straddling his hips, helping to hold him down as he draped the cloth over his face.

All the while, Manir was squealing and squirming under the both of them, casually glancing over to his parents - both of which were in his bedroom door, watching as the two dragons held him down and smothered his face in the teal-soaked rag. He had a sharp pain of betrayal in his chest, resentful of his parents for allowing this. As he struggled and gasped, he felt his muscles growing weak thanks to the potion covered cloth that was draped over his snout. His vision was going blurry and he was losing his will to fight back, even if his mind was still racing with the mixed emotions of anger, resentment, and panic.

Before long, he felt every muscle in his body going limp, aside from his eyes. He couldn't raise a hand to protest or resist. Though he lacked muscle control and his mind was a little loopy, he could vaguely make out what was going on around him, the sounds of their speech somewhat obscured and the visions of his parents swirling into a weird mist before reforming. Once it was clear he wasn't able to defy the two dragons, they gently slid out from under and on top of him, daintily grabbing the cloth and putting it into the purple one's satchel.

"Sorry it came to this." The yellow one spoke to his mother, his voice deep and silky. Manir wasn't sure if this was his natural voice or if it was because of his potion-addled state.

"It's fine. We know he can be something of a pain in the tail." His mother apologized, giggling as she patted his father on the back. Both his parents gave each other a happy hug as their tails curled up between their legs and entwined.

The yellow one shrugged and patted the purple one on the shoulder, chirping gently now that Manir was subdued and laying, sprawled out on the bed. "We just wish we had found him before he made it home. It's never good for them when they feel their parents betrayed them." He paused and glared at the purple one. "And you need to stop singing every time we apprehend an initiate."

"But it wasss fun!" He protested with a broad grin.

Manir's mind had been slowly dissipating into semi-lucidity, and he was struggling to keep a hold of his consciousness in order to gleam as many details about these two dragons as he could. Unfortunately, he was powerless to stop the dreams from washing over him, and he was soon gone from his own consciousness.

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What felt like only moments later, Manir groggily moaned as he started to regain lucidity. He was laying on his side in a patch of dirt, the whole world on its side next to him. He blinked the sleep away from his eyes to get a better view of the world around him. Manir was in a clearing, surrounded by dense jungle on three sides, with a cliff face directly ahead of him with a waterfall splashing into a small pond that drained into a series of creeks.

The feline could make out a few shapes of yellow and purple scales opposite him from the cliff face. Must have been the two who abducted him. The sun was out, so it was the next morning already, meaning he must have been out for at least half a dozen hours. As his vision returned, he could see a small cave carved out of the bottom of the cliff, with a massive dragon-carved statue standing over top of it as part of the wall. The opening to the cave was the gap between the dragon's front legs, so presumably the first dozen or so meters were travelling under its belly.

Dozens of questions raced through Manir's mind, most notably wondering where he was or how he got here. When he tried to stand, he felt his hands tug against each other, tied up tight by some rope that connected him to a pillar nearby.

"Ah, finally! You are awake!" The deep-voiced yellow dragon declared, hopping forward to Manir as he got to his feet. "I was somewhat worried that Travels-Many-Lands over here overdosed you on the tranquility potion."

Manir tried to respond but all he could mutter was a drawn out moan.

"I am Priest Kieran, arbiter of the Saurian of the Dark tribe." He knelt down next to Manir and raised his staff to the purple one behind him. "And this is Travels-Many-Lands. He is my assistant."

"What kind of a name is that?" Manir managed to squeak out, still groggy and in recovery.

Kieran glanced back to his purple scaled companion. "Oh, he's not from around here. Different naming conventions where he's from. I wouldn't worry too much about it, though. I'd be more worried about your fate." He grinned and offered a devious wink before getting to his feet and raising his staff. He grabbed at the end of the rope holding Manir to the stake and untied it, dragging the feline along towards the cliff face with the dragon on it. Travels-Many-Lands churred gently and laid on his side, chuckling and whistling a tune all the while.

Of course, Manir's first that was about what could possibly be inside that cave that would decide his fate. Was it a dragon, as depicted in the statue jutting out from beside the waterfall? Would he be replaced with a pod or egg person that looked like him but wasn't him. He wanted to flail and resist, but at this point he knew that he had little freedom, and any attempts at an escape would be quickly squashed.

"Odd, most people ask more questions at this point." Kieran joked. "You aren't gonna ask why we have you or what we plan on doing? You aren't going to ask about the dragoness? What about the disappearances of each of your friends and family?"

Manir shrugged and lowered his gaze to stare at the dirt before him. "Not really. It doesn't matter, will it?"

"How depressing." Kieran scoffed. "Well I had a whole speech prepared to tell you about how you're gonna be fine and that it's just a rite of passage around these parts, but if you really don't want to know, then I suppose I'll let you enjoy the surprise." With that, he raised his staff again, the tip glowing and billowing teal smoke off the end of it. Suddenly, a flash pierced the jungle clearing and Travels-Many-Lands started whistling in a very distinct pattern, mumbling and humming indecipherable, rhyming words.

Though he was trying his best to be stoic, the fear was settling into Manir's chest, building his heart rate and surging adrenaline through his body to give him that familiar tingle in his paws. His eyes went wide as the giant dragon statue in the side of the mountain started to crack, bits of rock and slate falling off in patches around the opening of the cave. "W-what's going on?" He whimpered, pulling back against the rope in an attempt to get away.

Kieran pulled back against the restraints, keeping Manir in place. "Nope, you had an opportunity to ask your questions. Now, you get to be a sacrifice to the goddess of the seas."

The rock chips continued to flake off in chunks, revealing glistening blue and orange scales beneath. Slowly, more and more of the rock covering fell away to reveal a full sized dragoness built into the cliff side. She twisted her neck with a hiss as she pulled out from the rock wall, peeling her skin and scales from the stone that held her. She seemed to be having more than a little trouble, since her skin seemed to stick.

She yanked her head down and clawed at the dirt next to the cave, prying every inch of her body from the cave walls. When she was fully released from her stone tomb, she shook off the remnants of chips and pebbles from her back, spreading her wings wide and raising the frill that lined her spine to full height. She gave a long, drawn out roar that transformed into a hiss as she glanced over to the three of them.

"Behold, Lady Domina Luero Venosa of the north seas! We offer you this feline in exchange for continued harvest of the seas!" Kieran bellowed, yanking hard on Manir's ropes to make him stumble forward between the two reptiles and the dragon.

Manir tripped over a rock and fell to his belly as the two who brought him here lowered themselves to their knees, bowing to the dragon goddess before them, staves on the ground in front of both of them. This left Manir on his own, curled up int he grass inf ront of the massive dragoness. He was still groggy from the effects of the tranquilizing potion, so he could barely get to his feet due to the shakiness and instability of his knees.

His motions were slow and put an unfortunate strain on his spine, tail twitching and drooping out behind him as he raised his hands to the dragon, begging for mercy. "My dragoness, I...I-"

She cut him off by slinking down so she was nearly on her belly, forked tongue flicking out at him as her wings laid flat to her sides. Her amber eyes were glistening in the morning light as she grinned at him, snaking her form in close so that her exhalations tickled his fur. "Mercy? Oh skies above and deep of the sea, sssuch a thing is not possible." She hissed at him, the twin fork tips of her tongue just barely missing his muzzle. Up close she seemed immensely huge, twice the height of a two story building and built with the rippling muscles of a snake.

He could feel the fur on his tail and up his spine standing on end as his heart fluttered and the adrenaline flowed through his body. A gulp caught in his throat as he stumbled over his incomplete thoughts. "Wh-what do you mean by that?"

Lady Venosa smiled, pulling her lips apart to show the white of her fangs, each of which had to be as long as Manir's forearm. "I mean there'sss no need to have mercy. Did the dragons not tell you you're not in danger?" She tentatively brought a front talon forward and sliced the ropes off Manir's wrists, glancing past him to look at Kieran and the oddly named Travels-Many-Lands. "Well?" She demanded.

"We tried to tell him, Lady Venosa, but he didn't seem to want to hear it!" He explained in his silky, baritone voice, still bowing down so that his snout was buried in the dirt behind his staff.

The dragon goddess hissed and smiled, her eyes growing soft as she leaned in close to press her snout to his. Her voice was calming, alluring. "Well then I sssuppose we should carry on with the ritual, then?" Her massive form slid closer so she could wrap her twisty neck around his behind, cradling him a bit against her snout as she opened her massive, fleshy maw, fangs glistening in the light.

"I, uh, I am still not sure what's involved in this ritual. C-could you fill me in?" Manir squeaked, unable to look her in the eyes, his gaze focused on those fangs. His heart was calming a bit, since she didn't seem to be filled with malice, and was actively trying to calm him with touch and assurances, but his lack of knowledge meant that he still was out of th eloop, having no idea what was about to happen.

She hissed again and shook her head against him, the powerful muscles on her jaws squeezing against his hips. "I think I'd rather ssshow you!" She twitched her form away from him to lift her head up behind him, gaping maw open and clamping her lips around his shoulder. The sudden strike happened in a split second, with her fang puncturing his chest just below his shoulder. It didn't go in deep and was immediately withdrawn, but the pain was intense and immediate.

Manir felt the pain of a hot arrow lancing through his torso as her venom was injected into him. Almost instantly, he fell to the ground and let out a bloodcurdling shriek, palm pressed to the puncture wound on his chest as he writhed in pain on the ground. He had never felt anything like that before, and he felt it could be best be described as being run through by a blade that was heated in a furnace.

But the pain didn't last long. The searing pain of the venom dissipated mere seconds later, leaving him with a gentle, tingling warmth that coursed through his veins. His state of mind shifted from one of panic and pain to that of a drugged up potion user. His vision was growing hazy, colors swirling into one another. He reached out in front of him, holding his paw up to his face and watching as it stretched and contorted before his very eyes.

Above, Venosa smiled down at him, her visage twisting like blue and orange paint on water, only to have a sudden vortex of cherry pink emerge from the middle. She grabbed him with her front teeth - not her fangs - to jerk him up high, tossing him into the air above her gaping maw as he flailed in midair.

For a split second, as he seemed to remain suspended in the air above her open gullet between ascent and descent, everything was perfectly clear in his mind. She was sitting on her haunches with her wings spread out a bit, maw gaping open and fangs bared as the early morning sun glistened off her saliva-moistened maw flesh and the rows of sharp teeth that lined her upper and lower jaws. That split second of contemplation had a sudden change of heart overcome Manir, who quickly accepted his fate and shut his eyes, waiting for that massive gaping maw to close on him.

After his brief moment of lucidity, he felt himself dive headfirst into her tender throat, followed by both jaws clamping shut around him to squeeze him in place, waves of muscles squeezing him from foot to head. He could feel her gulps accented by the gurgling of her belly deep within, and that was all he could hear. Any sound of the forest were instantly muffled as his hears were smothered in copious flows of saliva and what he was worried might have been venom.

He wriggled and writhed inside as the jaws squeezed him tight, the lower jaw and upper gums sliding into one another perfectly, leaving the twin sides of the maw-trap clenching down on his belly and back, holding him in place as her tongue and lower throat muscles twitched and squeezed against his midsection, forcing him to slide deeper into her gullet and away from the rows of sharp teeth. HE could feel his feet slide past the base of each gum ridge, carefully avoiding the needlepoint saw-edge that was just inches away. He had no way of measuring, but based on her size he figured her teeth were each as long as his middle finger and sharp as a needle.

Manir snaked his entire body against the undulating walls of her throat as she threw her head back, twisting the muscles in her neck to clench down harder and more aggressively than before. The sudden pressure had Manir sliding headfirst into her belly as though he were diving down a water slide, the tender walls caressing him and coating him in thick saliva every step of the way.

Mere seconds later, he felt his head push through a valve of some sort, the tight walls of her throat squeezing even tighter before he emerged into her belly. However, when he emerged into her depths he found that her interior was quite roomy, filled with air, and - as he opened his eyes - found it to be glowing and illuminated fully. He could see everything, but what he was greeted was not the soft wrinkled flesh-walls of a stomach but the open mess of a horrific monster, with shifting masses of flesh twisting and contorting every which way. Pink tendrils were extended from every single wall, roof, and floor, extending towards him to wrap around his arms and hands, pulling him down into the mess of flesh-tentacles.

To his utter shock and surprise, before him lie Specter! He was on his back, nestled deep in the malleable flesh of Venosa's belly tendrils, moaning and grinding himself against her insides. The tentacles were each leaking lubricant all over him, two of them wrapped around his tail and penetrating his rump, pumping more fluid inside him. A few more were near his head, filling his throat while another wrapped around his cock to stroke him gently, keeping him hard.

He laid his palms against the side of her belly, attempting to dig his claws in for leverage; problem was, her walls were so slick and resistant to the claws so he just slipped around, lost his footing, and ended up flipping over to splat on his back next to Specter.

"S-specter! Can you hear me?!" He gasped in the open cavern of her abdomen.

Specter couldn't speak, for he had his maw full of fleshy tendrils, but he could have nodded or acknowledged Manir's presence in some way, but instead he was just nuzzling and caressing the tentacles that were shifting and forming themselves from the walls and floor of her belly. He completely ignored Manir, to the point Manir assumed that his friend's mind had been sucked out by the tentacles already.

He went over to pounce on his friend, hoping to wake him up, but had two tendrils lash out from either wall of the belly to grab his wrists and hold him back. Instantly, they twisted and shifted around his forearms to hold him in a hammer lock with both arms folded up on his lower back, tugging him against the wall beside the valve to her throat. He struggled and tried to pull away as best he could, only to have the writhing mass of flesh around him squeeze tighter, more of the thin tendrils stretching and extending from the walls to wrap around either of his ankles.

One particularly thick tentacle with a gaping opening at the tup drooped down from above, hovering right in front of his muzzle, leaking a slimy fluid onto his belly. The warmth and stickiness of it mixed with the venom in his blood led to a slick sensuality emanating through his entire form. For a moment, he felt like he was experiencing an orgasm, even though he wasn't even the slightest bit aroused, member still flaccid and hiding in his furred sheath.

However, the sensation of climactic bliss kept building within him until he let out a long, drawn out whimper. As his maw gaped open, the tendril that was hanging in front of his muzzle struck at his gullet, forcing itself into him as it pumped copious flows of the mysterious fluid into his belly.

It was sweet on his tongue, and it seemed to numb his throat so he wasn't gagging. Unfortunately, that also left him open for more of the stretchy-fleshed tendrils to emerge from her walls, wrapping around him and prodding at his every orifice as the orgasmic bliss continued to wash over him from head to toes to tail to head again.

One tendril came up and wrapped around his leg near the upper thigh, squeezing tight and parting his legs wide, exposing his genitals for another one to prod at. Two tentacles from either side - thin ones - wrapped around his tail at the base and tip, pulling him in two separate directions. Another tendril wrapped around his other thigh, then extended to grab at his ankle and tug, leaving him immobile with his knee bent as far as it would comfortably go.

With tendrils around his chest and arms, each leg, tail, and one down his throat, he felt his inhibitions slowly fade. The more of the drooling fluid that touched him, the more fully he was able and willing to succumb to the pleasures of the tendrils. His mind was fading in and out of lucidity as he struggled to maintain consciousness. The tendril that was throbbing and pumping more into his gullet seemed to split into four different tendrils as another wrapped heavy around his chest, extending from the ones that were tying his wrists together behind his back.

One of the last thoughts he had before his mind devolved into a state of perpetual climax was to realize that these tendrils were not tentacles in the traditional sense, but that the material around him was malleable and able to shift into any shape and dexterity with ease. They were like putty or an amoeba, not like skin and mucous membranes.

Just then, as his revelation played in his mind, he felt one of the medium-girthed tentacles prodding at the underside of his tail, moistening his pucker before plowing into him, throbbing and writhing through his insides as it forced itself deeper and deeper with each passing second. He could feel his guy twisting and wrenching alongside the tendril as it pumped and throbbed, filling him with the same fluid.

His cock was twitching with every pulsation of the tentacles that were in and around him, soon rising to full mast and bobbing against his lower belly. Then, before it could spew his own pleasure seed to his fur, a tiny little pencil-thick tendril shot out from the nearest wall to prod at the tip of it, teasing his barbs and coiling around his length before the end of it slipped into his urethra.

He gasped against the tendrils in his throat, arching his back and moaning against the sensation of the unique penetration. Normally such a thing would have been irritating and uncomfortable, but the copious fluids mixed with the utter control they had over him and the venom that flowed through his veins made him shudder in delight. Everything felt delicious, every touch like a stroke to his cock, every prod like a deep and thorough thrust against his tailhole.

The tiny tendril snaked its way into him, plunging into his cock, curling around inside him, and emerging into his furred balls, filling it with the fluid that was bloating him from throat to rump. The pleasure hit him all at once, a full bodied orgasm that left him spasming in delight as the tendrils slowly put him down against the shifting, twisting floor of the dragoness' belly, where he easily rested his eyes in a perpetual state of bliss.

=====================================

"Why didn't you just tell him what was going on?" Travels-Many-Lands asked Kieran, his tail swishing out behind him. Before them lie Venosa, spread eagle and on her back as she rubbed her belly and left her maw gaping open.

Kieran chuckled, using his staff to gently poke his reptilian companion on the snout. "His parents asked for it, actually. Said if he learned the hard way that not every tricky situation was worth throwing a fit over, then maybe he'd help get over his social anxiety. I dunno, it is what it is." He happily walked over to Venosa, stepping over her tail to rub gently at her lower belly. She was so much larger than him that he had to actually climb up onto her and step over her cloaca just to get at her belly.

She stirred at the touch of his talons on her scales, idly bringing her head up onto her chest to stare at the priest. "Really? They specifically asked you not to tell the little guy what was going on? That doesn't sound right to me at all. You know how we do things. They come, they are devoured, then reborn. It's not supposed to be scary, and yet here we are, and you've broken the tenements of our religion." She hissed at him a bit, eyes narrowed.

"Cool your jets, Luero. It's a one time exception at the request of his parents. When we approached them and explained that it was his time, they specifically told us not to tell him what was going on, and that we were just to take him. I thought it'd be fun for once, to play a bad guy." Kieran explained, extending his staff to her snout, as he had done to his helper.

Travels-Many-Lands whipped out his pan-flute and started blowing into it, setting a tone before singing a little ditty. "Oh, the parents asked, they asked for help. The son himself, demanded we not, but here we are, with mercy we sacrifice, to the goddess of the seas." There was a long wait time before he started back up, walking up her tail and over her vent to stand on her belly behind Kieran. "Whatever, whoever it shall be, we and he, shall-"

"Cut it out." Both Venosa and Kieran interrupted at the same time. They were sick of hearing his silly songs. Wasn't really their thing at all.

"So now what?" Kieran asked Venosa, sitting cross-legged on Venosa's chest as she folded her talons up behind him.

The massive dragoness shrugged in place. "Well, it's the end of the season for graduates this year. No more need to be initiated, but the first wave are just about ready to come out if you'd like to get their eggs and send them back to the parents." She writhed on her back, snaking spine around as she kicked idly, knocking Travels-Many-Lands off his feet and onto his rump next to her opening.

"Oh wow, yeah. I can feel the eggs inside her. Just about ready to pass through." Travels-Many-Lands exclaimed, rubbing his hands eagerly against her soft, broad belly scales. "So should we massage them out?"

Venosa let out a long, pleased hiss as she threw her head back, gaping her maw open and smiling all the while. "Of courssse! Thisss is my favorite part!" Her hind legs spread apart, the motion and shifting of her body spreading her ventral scales apart to expose the soft pink flesh of her vaginal duct of her cloaca.

The two dragons paused to look at each other before hopping off the goddess' body, careful to not land on her wings before padding around to the base of her tail. Kieran tossed his staff to the side and leaned up against the crook between thigh and tail, where her cloaca was spread open, the soft pillows of flesh of the walls squeezing in.

As per the ritual, he quickly pulled out a cloth he had in his satchel and darted over to the nearby stream to wet it before returning, rubbing the fabric gently over the scales around her opening, clearing them of dust and rock and mud from earlier. "Yeah, this is my favorite part too." He muttered under his breath with a smile.

"What was that?" Venosa shot at him, still happily laying on her back with mouth gaped and tongue flicking out.

"You heard what I said! This is the best!" He got to his tip toes to look over her belly at her face, winking at her as she rumbled an approving growl, her form writhing and muscles twitching under his touch. He got a little excited, but kept his composure. He was in the presence of one of the gods, after all.

His companion, the onlooker who he'd conscripted to help with the religious ceremony, walked up next to him on the other side of the tail to help him with massaging the dragoness' sex, coaxing an egg from its depths.

After a few brisk moments of gentle massaging, Venosa grunted and moaned, arching her back and angling her sex at them, muscles clenching and sputtering birthing fluids all over the both of them, the goop sliding down over her tail to the dirt below. Her lips parted to show the crest of a perfectly white, gently textured egg forcing its way out. The girth of it stretched her lips taut, the cherry pink inner workings pushing out a bit to protrude from the ventral scales as she grunted and pushed.

Both Kieran and Travels-Many-Lands leaned in to massage her exposed inner lips with one hand and cradle the end of the egg with the other, sure to not let it slip out before it was ready. If it fell, the rebirth may have not completed and the young adults would need to be swallowed again to finish their maturity.

The pressure from their hands on her lips gently slid her scales backwards over the bulge of the egg, leaving it with only the tip still inside her. She grunted and squeezed her muscles gently to force it out, allowing the two helpers to cradle the person-sized egg in their arms. The warm air of the jungle surrounding them dried its surface quickly, so they were able to waddle their way over to the treeline where they could place the egg down. They nestled it on a pile of blankets they had prepared for the occasion next to some crates.

"How many are in there for this round, m'lady?" Kieran asked.

Venosa moaned and writhed on her back, gaping vent pulsing and twitching as she felt the eggs inside her. "Three. That's all for now. Second batch are still inside, percolating. Then there's Specter and Manir to go last. Seven."

The two dragons rolled their eyes and chuckled a bit. "We know how many there are, total, we brought them here. We just needed to know how many were ready to come out now." Travels-Many-Lands explained. He grabbed the corner of the blanket and covered the egg, ensuring it was properly incubated within itself.

"Three, then. Just the three. Get back over here before the next one pops out!" She lashed her tail at them across the clearing to smack at the two of them, stopping mid swoosh to grunt and arch her back again. Another egg was coming.

"We're comin', hold on m'lady." Kieran assured her as they both darted across the clearing, hands still clean and ready to take the next egg. He and Kieran both assumed their position, with one hand on the side of her vent, ready to massage her opening, the other hand waiting just outside her cloaca to catch the egg when he came.

The second egg slipped out with ease and minimal pushing or grunting, popping right out into their waiting hands in a matter of seconds. Like the first, they, took it over to a blanket they had waiting for it and they covered it to help incubate it. When they returned for the final egg of the day, Kieran rubbed at her lower belly as she writhed and grunted against him. He grabbed his still-moist cloth to give her another gentle cleaning, only to have the fabric gummed up with the lubrication her cloaca produced.

However, Travels-Many-Lands seemed to have something a bit more intimate on his mind. When he sidled up next to Venosa's tail, prepared to receive the third egg, he rested one hand on her ventral scale, but then pushed the other hand up into her. The soft pillows of flesh swallowed him to the shoulder with ease as he waved his forearm around inside, feeling for the next egg.

"What are you doing?" Kieran shot at him with a hiss, trying to pull the dragon's arm from Venosa's depths.

"I'm helping her out! The last egg always is deeper in there and she might need some encouragement. Besides, do you see her struggling?" Indeed, she wasn't resisting or kicking; instead she was moaning and writhing more than when she was laying the first two. Clearly, she loved the attention. The massive dragon's huge body was shifting back and forth, a deep rumble reverberating through her torso that could be felt in her tail and lower abdomen.

Kieran paused a moment to witness her reactions to his companion's eager limb. Once he was convinced that she wasn't offended by his partner's intimate touch, he mimicked him by slipping his arm in next to the first. They glanced in each other's eyes as they held hands deep within her cloaca, the soft flesh pulsating with each beat of her heart to squeeze them in together.

"So we should probably help get that egg out, eh? She needs a bit of a massage, so you'll have to warm up each bit of her walls. Like this." Travels-Many-Lands explained as he started pumping his arm in slowly, pressing down against her posterior wall, then the wall closest to him, and rotating around to massage her anterior wall - the last of which coaxed a chirp and a cooing sound from her. He had hit her most sensitive spot.

At that point it was clear there was no harm in helping out, so Kieran did the same thing by rubbing her in circles form inside, massaging her posterior wall, then her side, then finishing up at her anterior wall alongside Travels-Many-Lands to cup his palm against the engorged flesh of her sex. Every tiny little twitch or finger motion coaxed at least a tiny muscle spasm from the massive dragoness.

The positive reactions gave Kieran all the motivation he needed to carry on, curling his bicep upwards to drag along the roof of her vent. Then, in the middle of his pleasing of the goddess, he stopped to look across her tail to his companion. "Wait, how did you know to do this?" He asked, eyes narrowing. "What gave you the impression Venosa would allow such a-"

"Don't question him, just keep doing what you're doing!" Venosa bellowed, still curled up like a cat on her back. Another powerful contraction rocked her body with ease, the pressure nearly forcing their hands from her oviduct.

Travels-Many-Lands simply grinned and shook his head as though he had a secret as he pushed his arm in back to the elbow, sloshing his forearm around against her walls.

A moment passed where Kieran wanted to call him out on his deviant actions, but then remembered that if Venosa wasn't okay with such affections, she surely would have said something or just swallowed him up again like she had years ago when he was initiated to her sect. He still wanted to say something but was quickly silenced when he felt a shifting lurch of the third egg inside pressing against his palm.

Both nodded to one another in agreement as they pulled her cloaca apart, gaping it from vent to the egg so they could see the rounded edges of it inside, the soft flesh attempting to smother it against their prying hands. Another powerful lurch and spasm of her muscles had her curl her toes and squeeze against the shell of the egg, forcing it to slide through her cloaca towards her vent with a wet and squishy sloshing sound as little bits of air and slime were sputtered around the edges.

Tough the two dragons were pushing against the egg, her strength was greater than theirs and her clenching walls forced it out with a juicy pop, the pleasure from the motions nearly making it slide away from their grip and onto the dirt. Luckily, both Kieran and Travels-Many-Lands were anticipating the sudden ejection of the egg and were able to cradle it in their arms.

This one was heavier than the first to, so they had to be particularly careful while shuffling their way over to the blankets next to the first two. When they laid it down, they saw it was actually larger than the others as well. Kieran glanced over to ask Venosa why it was so much larger, but she was interrupted by the shaking of the ground as she rolled onto all fours.

She shook herself clean of the dirt and grass that had accumulated on her back as she turned to look at the two before her. "Thank you for your service, you two." She grinned, baring her fangs. "But I believe it's time for me to go back into hibernation until the next batch is ready." She gave a wink and crouched as she slipped back into the cave. Her whole form turned sharply before she raised her head high to rub against the ceiling. When she was in position again, with legs spread and back pressed against the walls of the gaping cave opening, she closed her eyes and opened her maw to bare her fangs.

The rock of the cliff seemed to grow out around her like a moss, covering her from head to shoulders to chest to belly and her legs. Before long, she was completely encapsulated in the rock and she looked, once again, she was part of the cliff and not a diety masquerading as a statue.

Travels-Many-Lands looked at his soaking wet arm and rubbed it clean on his cloth. "Well, I guess it's time to get these eggs back to their family and friends. Do you have what you need to determine them each from one another?"

Kieran nodded. "Well, the big one is the dragon-kin, that much is clear. The other two I might have to get a candle to illuminate the insides, but I don't think it'll be a problem. Help me heave the big one up to the cart so we can take it back to town. I'm sure his husband will be happy to see him."

=====================================

Manir stirred in the pulsing mass of flesh that was cradling him deep within the goddess' body. He was only partially conscious, but he could make out images of Specter in the corner of his vision, and he constantly tried his best to form a full thought, but couldn't do it. Every one of his ideas got swirled and mixed in with the sensations of having her tendrils invading his body from every orifice.

His entire body remained in a constant state of warm pleasure, the venom still coursing through his veins as the slimy concoction seemed to coat every inch of him, inside and out. The malleable bed of flesh seemed to shift and pulse in response to his every orgasmic twitch. His thoughts were too fluid to concentrate on one thing, and that actually worked for him because he couldn't resist the onslaught of climax through his body.

The more he moved, the deeper into his walls he seemed to go, like he was digging into the flesh, parting it and rearranging it as though it were clay. The muscle contractions and gently pulsing throbs of the pink walls and floor that smothered him seemed to be massaging him into a fetal position, leaving him curled up on his side.

As the walls rose around him, nearly encapsulating his form with only an oval window looking out towards the rest of the cavern, Manir got a good look at the others who were in little pods around he and Specter. After the time he was left inside her abdomen, curious and confused, he completely failed to see two others - one other feline and a canine - balled up in what looked like eggs hanging from Venosa's belly walls.

That was it. He truly was going to be replaced with a pod person.

His one last conscious thought was accented by the deeply unnerving feeling of the tentacles slowly pulling from his orifices. The thick one tugged from his rump while the thin one was yanked from his cock tip. He had to fight against his gag reflex when the mass of tendrils reversed course and slid from his mouth.

He was free of the invading extensions of the dragon's fleshy, malleable walls, but now he was nearly entirely encapsulated in a pink pod with nowhere to go and nothing to do. He had no strength in his body, and soon found himself floating in a puddle of fluids that the walls around him were secreting. Those same juices that he'd been pumped full of from both ends and smothered in was filling the makeshift pod, leaving him curled up in an unformed egg.

Curious as ever, he reached out to poke his talons up through the surface of it to find that a thin membrane had formed, covering the tiny oval pod opening. He was fully encapsulated, smothered in flesh and fluids, gradually becoming part of the Goddess of the seas.

Time seemed to compress itself around him. Thoughts raced and yet it felt like weeks. His mind wandered and flitted from one fantasy to the next as his conscious thought dribbled in and out of lucidity. He forgot he was encased in a pod inside a dragoness, he didn't have so much as the slightest ability to comprehend his whereabouts or the situation he was in.

But something odd happened to him in the time he was curled up in the pod that was attached to her abdominal wall. The dreams he was having started to get clearer, and more vivid. It felt more like memories than it felt like dreams and wispy fantasies.

They weren't his memories, though. They were the memories of the others that had come before him. Memories from Specter and the dragons, felines, canines, and avians that had been disappearing. He saw images of each and every one of them being abducted by the yellow and purple dragons, carted back to the clearing, then sacrificed to Venosa. The difference between his experience and theirs was that the others actually seemed to be looking forward to it.

Specter, in particular, seemed giddy when he saw the priest show up at his door, like he knew what was going to happen and was actually looking forward to it. He wasn't scared, held no reservations or apprehension, and lacked any sort of confusion.

Based on the undefined images of his family's faces, it seemed like the others were actually cheering for him. Out of the corner of his vision, Manir could vaguely see what looked like a congratulatory banner with the word 'ascension' on it.

Before he could put the pieces together, he saw another vision of a large red, orange, and yellow dragon eagerly waiting at the foot of the tree he called his home waiting for Kieran and Travels-Many-Lands to come up to his house, his boyfriend standing behind him and urging him on. More evidence that people wanted this.

So why did Manir not know about this process? His parents never told him about it, and the other villages kept hush about it. He'd never heard of a ritual to the Goddess of the Sea where people were sacrificed to her, and it didn't explain why the people always came back after a week or so.

Another vision invaded his mind, an image of two young lovers - both canine - in their own home together, snuggling one another while the remnants of a shell lay in a messy heap in the middle of their living room floor. Eggs.

His mind wasn't exactly the most lucid, but he was granted a brief memory of what he read in the book before he was abducted about rebirth and regrowth. Though his mind was still in a perpetual daze, he then found the lucidity to wake from his slumber and pump his fist in the mass of goopy mess within the pod he was encapsulated in, only to find that he was now in a hard shell.

Groggy, he sloshed about inside the egg, rocking his form around as he pressed his cheek to the inner walls, listening to what was going on outside. He could hear Kieran and Travels-Many-Lands chatting outside, their voices muffled due to the shell that parted them from him. He could feel the warmth of the flesh around him slide away, exposing him to the light of day again.

He had just been laid, dumped directly into the hands and arms of the two followers that had abducted him. A moment later, he was rocking back and forth in the albumen that smothered him. He had been fortunate enough to regain his lucidity within minutes of having her ventral scales slide over the egg, releasing him into the world. He didn't feel like he had the energy to break out, and he was comfortable, so there were no urgent needs to hatch.

However, he also seemed to have gained the knowledge he had sought. He knew why the ritual happened, he knew why his parents had been so calm about his abduction while not doing anything to explain the situation, and he knew why others hadn't wanted to talk about it. He felt changed, like he wasn't the same person anymore. He had all his memories and thoughts, but he felt enlightened. He felt invigorated, and he felt like a new cat.

That's why the ritual had happened. Lady Venosa of the Seas was giving each and every one of the adolescents and young adults of his village the energy and vigor needed to live the rest of their lives. No fatigue, just boundless energy. Furthermore, the reason it was kept a secret was because, while inside, Venosa actually infused a portion of her life energy into each of the young she'd given a second life to, the part that wanted to keep this gift secret from the outside world.

Manir had no idea how he knew all of this, but it just came as blunt and obvious to him as he regained his composure within the egg. Like the clearest dream ever, only the images and ideas felt like memories and deeply held beliefs than the ethereal wisps of scattered thought of a dream.

In that moment of clarity, he knew what he had to do when he would be returned home. He wouldn't be staying. He needed to get out of that village, where no others appreciated or respected him. He didn't want to be a part of a culture that so easily and dismissively waved off his needs and social anxiety.

Now it was clear that his parents kept this from him as a punishment, more than anything else. That was a feeling of betrayal he'd never felt before, and he was livid. Angered, he punched out from the shell, leaving a fist-sized hole followed by a split around its epicenter. This was it. He was done. Done with it all.

He would have his revenge thanks to the boost in energy the goddess had granted him.