A Gift to Explore

(Part 4 of the Final Stand)
(Part 3 of the Battle for Fantasia Trilogy)

She stopped in the center of the bare clearing, turning to face the pair of friends at her back. Embyr and Sterling watched with keen interest as Kaz pulled a large cloth sack from her waist, fishing about inside for some time before withdrawing the searching paw.

Her violet fingers held a single item: a tiara made of adamant with a large, sparkling emerald adorning its center. With a flick the wolf sent the artifact flying towards the dragon who dexterously caught it in her free hand. Both the Black Terror and her human companion looked down in wonder, studying the crown-like item with fascination.

"What is it?" the scaled giantess asked, turning the gift over in her hand to take in every angle of its perfect design.

"There was a legend," Kaz recalled "that a goddess once came to our world for reasons unknown. Here she found a human man with whom she fell in love – but, due to her position on the pantheon, she could not stay and have a life with him; likewise it was forbidden for a human to come to the realm of the gods. So she asked her father for help and, with the very embodiment of love he held for his daughter, the deity forged an item that could keep his child with her beloved.

"It is called Bond, though some refer to it as the Giantess's Crown. With it the goddess took her lover within her very body, made him part of her so that they could remain together despite earthly and heavenly ties. With it, Embyr," she said, addressing the dragon "you will be able to aid your friend in the coming battle."

"I like the sound of this!" the black dragon grinned, snapping her fingers around her human friend to bring him up above her waiting mouth. "So what, I just eat him?"

"If you want to digest him, yes," Kaz warned. With a scowl of disappointment the dragon lowered her palm away from her salivating maw, accepting the annoyed kick against her stomach that accompanied her friend's release.

"Put on Bond." The wolf instructed. Embyr complied, resting the human down among the shallow snow to entwine her claws around the artifact in her grasp. Slowly, reverently, the obsidian giantess slipped the crown around her head, feeling it rest easily along her brow.

"Lie down." Kaz ordered, coming to stand beside the titan. Just as before the Black Terror obediently followed the command, resting among the white blanket around her as her red gaze turned up to the skies above. The wolf nodded, extending a hand to Sterling.

Secured in her palm the boy was moved to the forehead of his colossal friend, released just above the dragon's muzzle. The great orbs before the tiny swordsman turned towards him, Embyr going cross-eyed as giggles from the tickling steps slightly shook her frame.

The knight turned to Kaz again as she fished about inside her bag again. This time she withdrew a small ring, slipping it over her finger before taking a moment to admire the adamant band. She stood and moved as though she would plant a foot in Embyr's face; just as the dragon began to brace herself for the impact, however, the giant form of the wolf disappeared.

A human sized girl, still bearing the canine characteristics of her previous body, stood before the human atop the dragon's muzzle. It was, in every element save for size, Kaz.

"How did you…" Sterling asked as the hound took a seat between the Black Terror's nostrils, clearly enjoying the surprise evident on both faces.

"A reductor," she explained, flashing the ring through her wriggling fingers. "I helped a wizard invent them a few years back; to be honest I rather like this size, it puts the world into more of a… realistic light."

"And makes you snack-sized…" Embyr cooed, her eyes glinting. Her gaze was met with a cold stare, one that stole the mirth from Kaz's face as quickly as it had come in the earlier morning.

"I am not food." She said simply, her voice taking on the power and ferocity of a demon's. "So much as lick me and I guarantee you will regret it; I can assume my previous size just as quickly as I donned this. Do you understand, dragon?"

Embyr nodded, throwing both human and wolf off balance. The gesture seemed to put Kaz at ease again, however, and a bright smile returned to her face, stealing the darkness of the moment.

"Now then," she said, waving a hand towards the Black Terror's forehead "why don't we test this out?"

"What do I do?" the titan beneath them asked.

"Nothing," the canine returned. "Now is the time for Sterling to make his move."

Gulping slightly the knight nodded. The movement seemed to please his mentor and she once again gestured up the giantess's body.

"Step onto the gem." She instructed her pupil as Sterling passed the pair of watchful crimson eyes. He did as he was instructed, his feet easily holding their ground on the solid surface of the enchanted emerald.

"Now comes the moment of judgment." The wolf warned. "Simply wanting to mix power with her is not enough. You have to trust her; you have to care for her. If you cannot manage that Bond will not accept you and you will be left here. Do you understand?"

"Is it a problem if I don't really want to cuddle with Embyr's insides?" the knight asked sheepishly. "If that's the case I don't think this will work…"

"Do you think the goddess's lover wanted to slip around in his lover's bowels for all eternity?" Kaz asked. "I guarantee the answer to that is the same as yours. The point is that he trusted his beloved and, beyond everything else, wanted to be with her.

"All you have to do is trust Embyr. Focus on nothing but that: the bond of friendship that you two have shared for so long. Think of all the great memories you have experienced side by side, all the times you put her life above your own. Do this and Bond – and Embyr – will accept you."

Sterling nodded, closing his eyes as his feet rocked him back so he lay atop the shimmering gem beneath him. Behind the sealed lids the darkness gave way to visions, recollections of the boy's past. He saw when he first met Embyr, saw the caring nature behind the playful mask. He saw when his friend had first saved his life, how she had worried about his feelings through it all. He saw how she had comforted him after his hunt with Crystal which led way to memories of the caring dragon associating him with her Trial, her need to remain beside him.

More recollections came before Sterling: meeting the Council, the Blackwater incident, the near-murder of the villager, the journey through Shadowdale, and even more modern moments during which Embyr had proved her friendship with him just as he had proven his friendly bond with her.

It was then that the artifact seemed to accept him. It came slowly at first, as though a trickle of water was running behind the human; but then that trickle grew into a consuming river as his body was pulled inside the gem, dissolving as it went. The knight thought to pull back, to resist the tug; but then he relaxed, coming to trust that, whatever happened, he would have the Black Terror at his side to aid him.

Then he was gone, surrounded by darkness. He had no body, no material form whatsoever; it was as though only his consciousness existed, a will with no power behind it save for that of thought.

Through the void about him Sterling willed himself to move, to find the exit. To his surprise his senses picked up what seemed to be a portal, a way back to the world he had once known; but, at the same time, the mysterious new sense also picked up a number of other objects of interest. With growing curiosity the boy forsook the path back and instead headed towards one of these points, colliding with it through the force of his willpower alone.

Light came to the knight's world in a flash. He saw the gray clouds of the heavens above gazing down at him from above a canopy of trees, only the tops of which came into view. It was notable that everything was in much more vivid detail, as though his vision had received some sort of divine stimulant.

Then, by the force of another will, his line of sight shifted. His eyes now rested on a tiny purple form resting atop an expanse of black scales.

"What happened to him?" a voice from beneath Kaz asked. The wolf cocked her head, tapping a claw against her temple.

"Can't you feel him? He's inside of you, Embyr."

"I can't feel him!" she shot back. "I can't taste him at all! This isn't like one of our games."

"You can't taste him if he isn't in your mouth." The wolf growled in exasperation, throwing up her hands as though it was obvious. "Would you mind concentrating a little harder? He could be anywhere in that mountain-sized body of yours."

"Sterling? Sterling are you in there?" the dragon's voice called.

"I'm here!" the boy called, though his voice seemed to be sucked away through the void that was around him. To his surprise, though, the body beneath him jumped in shock, the eyes through which he saw blinking hysterically.

"Sterling?" she asked again.

"Can you hear me?"

"Loud and clear," she said, grinning as she poked at her head. The great red orbs turned back towards the wolf who once again was attempting to reclaim a sitting position atop the obsidian muzzle.

"He's talking in my head!" she exclaimed, tapping at her temple. "This is incredible!"

"Find her mouth!" Kaz called up. "I can't hold a conversation with you if you can't speak."

Sterling complied, pulling away from the eyes to once again immerse himself in the void that had come to by Embyr. His body moved through the shadows towards another point detected by his new sense, one that was position as though it were the maw that had, countless times, accepted him. Now it accepted him again, though this time he was a part of it instead of a denizen of its slimy kingdom.

The human felt the power of the muscles, the solidity of the fangs, the moisture of the saliva. It was as though he were one with that great organic cavern; he could taste the air flowing through it and, he could imagine, anything else that would pass between the lips.

"Relax, Embyr," a voice from above implored the frantic dragon. "Let Sterling have control."

Grudgingly the black dragon complied, her body going limp beneath her repressed influence. Willing the muscles around his consciousness to move as his own, Sterling spoke, a voice almost identical to his own passing between Embyr's lips.

"I think your fur is tickling Embyr's nose." He noted, having received such a hint from passing by the conduit for the giantess's smell. Unable to hold herself back any longer the Black Terror let out an excited squeal, taking back her mouth as she ran a her tongue through it.

"This is incredible!" she exclaimed, a hand pressing against her jaw as though she sought to touch the boy within her.

"I'm glad to see you're managing." Kaz said, a pleased smile crossing her muzzle.

"You have essentially joined her consciousness." The wolf continued, addressing the human directly. "Your will flows through what you see as a 'void' which, in reality, is the mental side of your friend's body, what some might call her soul. If you concentrate you can feel that you, at least to some extent, are everywhere, spread across her frame."

A blush conquered the cheeks above Sterling's position as the dragon crossed her hands over her chest, suddenly very conscious of her more feminine areas. If the boy had a physical form he, too, would have gone bright red; the idea of dominating certain areas of his friend was certainly a bit embarrassing.

"If you focus," Kaz went on, ignoring the flood of emotion beside her "you can fill her and operate on the same terms with her. You can control multiple parts of her at once: her legs and arms to run and strike out, her jaws and belly to both bite and breathe fire, or any other possible combination.

"There is also another option," the wolf continued "one that is very practical for training purposes. You can retract those tendrils, the connections across her frame, and manifest your will in a single point. Doing this, Embyr can actually feel you. It will help her to relax a certain part of her body should you need to take control."

"So I overrule my Sterling whenever I need to?" the dragon asked.

"The stronger will between you two wins out in any conflict." The smaller woman explained. "Right now, just having entered your consciousness, Sterling's will is repressed and weak; you will have dominance until he gains a bit more ground."

"Did you hear that?" the obsidian colossus asked, poking at her gums. "I'm in control here."

"Like you weren't anyway!" the knight shot back, managing to take his hold on the element of speech for a short moment.

"A last note," Kaz mentioned. "You have your other senses while you're at a point – like you are now. You can have hearing even among your friend's toes, you can smell even from an arm or an elbow – you can obviously hear now, even in her teeth. This can help if you need to focus on something specific, something that even Embyr cannot find normally."

"Thanks for the tip." Sterling said through the relaxed gums, opening his "eyes" to gaze through the gap in the fangs at the sky above. The sight, however, reminded him too much of his undesirable place among those keratin swords, and his vision quickly shut off beneath his changing will.

"Now then," the canine said, leaping down from between the great nostrils "I'll leave you two to it. Have fun today; experiment, play around. We'll get started on real training tomorrow."

"Where are you going?" the titanic dragon demanded, rolling over to watch Kaz head towards the trees. The violet woman turned back, sighing as she did so.

"My son had a late start leaving." She explained. "He should be arriving just about now and I'm worried about what he'll find."

"What do you mean?" Embyr asked, her eyes narrowing.

"I heard of Tyus Brek'enwrath when I entered Council grounds." The wolf explained. "And, unfortunately, Brindle has a very bad reputation with drow elves…"