For weeks Jenny and Robert were chased. They slowly worked their way back toward the eastern shores toward the destination of Reglar. Jenny had gained full use of her wings but hadn't realized any powers she may have developed with the transference. "Robby, I'm going to have to fly us there. There's no other way" Jenny decided, flexing her wings. She had spent the week practicing gliding throughout the trees like a bird and had, to Roberts embaressment, fashioned him a harness where she would fly with him facing her, his head resting on her shoulder. Any other stance would upset the balance. The children were quite embarassed at the situation and Robert had to take precautions not to offend the lady during the flight. The only trouble would be if Jenny could get them far enough, and if monsters would take them along the way.
"Jenny we could drown. We need a boat. Something... " He trailed off frantically looking around the ocean like a boat would magically appear with a crew that would sail them there for free. This was a gamble. Jenny thought she could make it but if she tired too soon, they would drown. Robert had an idea. "Just wait. Let me do this one thing." Robert explained as he grabbed giant logs and jammed them into his storage bag.
As the branches in the woods behind them began to snap and the dog barking became audible, Robert climbed into Jenny's harness, as she braced her knees to support his weight with her new leveled strength. As their cheeks brushed both of them blushed furiously. Jenny looked at Robert and smiled shyly as she pushed off the ground, cresting over the ocean, determined to push her stamina bar to the maximum. The persuers broke through onto the beach moments later to the foxgirl and the human boy vanishing into the clouds. Furious, as a last ditch effort to profit from the purchase and hunt of the escaping prize, the Princess of Lycor decided to go with her second plan. "Archibald, use your Life Leech and bring me back to eighteen again please." she decided, smiling.
Once her body aged past 21, she had promised her father she would take a husband. As he had not secured her a match, (due to her own cunning at disposing of his prospects for her) when she had turned eighteen she was given the right to choose a husband of her own. By not securing a husband by age 22, her father would wed her to a man of his choice. But no man had swayed her. They were so easy to please, like pets, like the beastkin. No beastkin husband for her this year, no way. "As you wish, your highness." he acknowledged as he flung a leeching necrotic spell toward the retreating pair, sticking itself to both the children. The princess began to reverse her aging more than she had bargained for because the spell had hit two targets instead of one. She would wake the next morning as a 15 year old girl this time instead, again allowing her father control over her future marriage. And he knew she had been sabatogiing the arrangments now. She would be in trouble.
Title Gained! Lost Youth! Your youth has been stolen!
"Robert, that spell hit me and it says I lost my youth. I don't wanna die." she said crying as her wings beat frantically.
Robert moved his head back from her neck and yelled "WHAAAAAT?" which was still muffled from the wind.
Jenny laughed through her tears. She had lived through worse. "Nothing." she said moving her face away from his, wiping her cheeks as nonchalantly as she could as he watched her gripping her body with his life. He reached out and brushed her tears.
"It's gonna be okay Jen. Just look at that sky." he said pointing at the landscape that stretched before them. Jenny didn't hear him but she saw his slight smile and his gesture at the vastness of their surroundings. Oceans laid beneath their feet like a giant graveyard. The sky laid out above them with rolling clouds and blueish purple hues like the heavens they would never reach. She saw their surroundings too, but where he saw hope, she saw a tunnel of death that they were trying to fly out of.
In their haste to make the irrational decision to cross to Reglar using Jenny's wings certain things weren't thought through. The first was the girl-boy proximity. Robert had enough modesty to be embaressed at his reactions to Jenny but Jenny enjoyed the attentions. She was old enough to marry after all, and Robert had rescued her. "It wouldn't be the worst thing, to be a runesmith's wife," she reasoned with her heart, mumbling to herself as she glided back down to the water, so she and Robert could relieve themselves in the ocean. Robert once again pulled the log out of his bag for them to hold onto as they ate some rations they had collected before their flight. After they finished Robert slid over to Jenny, making her heart beat frantically, and climbed back into his harness. Shoving the log back into the bag, Jenny quickly launched them out of the water before they began to sink. "I like you Robby" Jenny whispered as he tucked his head into her neck and she launched. Robert didn't hear her. The drain of time passing quickly and exhaustion eventually knocked her into the water. Immediately dismounting from his harness, Robert pulled out the wood he packed and quickly used his Summon String to stitch together a small raft for them until she regained her strength. As day became night, Robert drifted in the lapping waves, curled up next to her cold and wet trying to share warmth. The stars and moons shone down on the pair as the current drifted them closer to Reglar. As the hours progressed, Roberts clothing began to grow tighter on Jenny as her body and mind progressed beyond its years. As her breasts began to swell, Jenny woke up crying in agony.
"Are you okay? What's wrong?" Robert asked the girl as she covered her face in embaressment.
"My boobs hurt. I got hit with some spell earlier. It said I lost my youth. I dont know what that means but my boobs are growing. And I think I'm taller. I'm so friggin hungry too." she admitted.
Robert handed her some bitroot for inflammation from his bag, and some extra rations for her growth. Hoping to assure and appease her he said, "The root is for the growing pain, and we caught all that boar last week so you're gonna need to eat more if you have some kind of super growth. I've heard of stolen youth being put on animals so they can harvest their meat early. It's also a way for old people to get young again. But... umm.." he trailed off, looking at her expansive new chest. "I'd say you're already a few years older, probably at least my age as far as your umm... looks go." he said, adjusting himself, covering his eyes as he finished. Peering up at her, she looked relieved.
"Well, I just have to reach lvl 50 a few years faster so I dont get much older." she concluded, deciding not to worry herself. "You made a nice raft for a last minute grab. I'm impressed." she complimented him.
Sheepishly he replied, "Nah, I should have been more prepared."
"We did what we could with the time we had. This is a great respite. A little wet but more than I had planned."
"Well you're the one doing all the work." he replied, feeling like a failure. Jenny leaned over and kissed him. Kissing lead to touching. Touching lead to, "Can you massage them for me a little bit? Like without being a pervert? Then maybe I can rest again.." she had suggested hesitantly after an hour of laying on the floating logs grunting in pain. She was a naive girl, but it was cute. After a lot of fumbling, he got out some herbs to help her and got in position, "Is this okay?" he asked. She laughed at him as he let go and backed away. Pulling him toward her and putting his hands back on her she explained, "Your voice is geting really deep. I almost couldnt recognize it." Sliding his hands around her bursting bosoms, brushing his calloused hands across her nipples he replied even deeper, "Oh." as she began to doze. And this was how Robert spent the best, most painful cold and wet night of his life, massaging healing oitments from plants into expanding breasts with his hands as the girl dozed topless in his arms.
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During the night as the raft was battering against a dead kraken carcass, Robert woke. Nudging the beautiful woman from his newly angular muscular frame, Robert began sawing some meat off the freshly killed carcass, storing it into his pack as he looked around the murky waters for the more lethal predator. Slipping his arms back around Jenny, he sunk his hands back into her shirt, kneading her gently until his frantic heartbeat slowed with the beat of the waves. As the couple slept, the merfolk were about the raft, curious.
[I recognize the girl. The wings are new though.] said Abigail Thundertone Siren lvl 34. The battles against the Krakens had taken its toll on the merfolk, but once they had dedicated themselves to their cause and began training their forces, the krakens had began to fall, and the territories were becoming safe havens again for all sea creatures. Even one of the long lost merman had been born to one of their newest sirens, so their population would be maintained and they had a future king. Things had been good since the sirens became aware of their surroundings.
[Are they friend or are they foe?] inquired the Siren Queen lvl 50 telepathically, as her people began dismembering the carcass for their biomass food storage. The sirens recipes for kraken were amoung the tastiest thing one could eat in the whole of Alanor. They reveled in the defeat of their enemies and made thier bodies taste like the heaven they felt after their victory. Only Sirens could experience the joy of tasting spiced kraken sticks with their special kraken sauce over rice. The fermented kraken sauces were obtained by a King five hundred years prior. A Siren Queen had died over his greed for more. Mankind were not a friendly sort, and breeding with them presented... problems without enough stored biomass. It was simpler to dispose of their conquests and eat them to prevent future problems and ensure substantial fetal growth. This was a topic of contention amoung the sirens, as they became of breeding age. Something may be changed to ensure fetal development in the future, but for now, evil souls would perish as their seeds and bodies fed the future sirens, as has always been.
[Friend I believe. Refugee from men. The girl has changed much. Force aged. They carved her and blended her with a beast. The boy has been force aged as well. How cruel.] said Abagail, horrified at the indigities these children must have faced.
[But they have eachother, no? There is a beauty in their tragedy.] said the Queen, gesturing to their warm embrace.
[May we help them Queen Mother?] asked Abagail, aware that humans were good and bad, just like sirens. Their cultures may differ but their hearts devoted love the same way.
[Every action has a reaction. The ripples you send out with your actions could change the world. Your choice is your own daughter, I will support it.] said the Siren Queen, testing her one true daughter. Abagail didn't know who her mother was because she was raised in the brood, but her mother did. She was kept at arms length but watched carefully. Unlike the manfolks kingdoms above the water, Noble classes were naturally evolved as needed upon circumstance. Even if a Siren Queen had her child removed from her, upon death a new Siren Queen or King would arise from the Siren's direct lineage. Abagail was being guided into her future as a monarch and she had no idea.
[I wish to help them Mother. We can guide them to shore as they rest. The rest of the swarm are headed to conquer the eastern waters. I will join them upon the safety of these manfolk.] she decided, planning with her mother.
[Take Sandra and Renee with you to aid in your travels. Safe journey my daughter. Return unharmed from the manlands.] said the Siren Queen, patting Abagails cheek as she slipped into the water directing the swarm back to their palace with the kraken meat.
Abagail, Sandra and Renee dove under the raft and guided it toward the shores of Reglar. Ropes were made from seaweed and slipped onto the strings of the craft and magical water barriers were cast around the resting couple so the waves wouldn't wake them. After those preparations were made, the mermaids pulled the raft like horses to a wagon quickly guiding them to the shores. Upon arrival the women looked at the bloody half starved couple in ripped rags. The girl was bursting from the too small little boys clothes and the boys pants had torn clean off. The sirens giggled as Abagail swatted them off.
[My sisters, these two are as pitiful as they are beautiful. They have been given such a small chance of survival, tossed out to sea like a newborn siren without a broodmother.] stated Abagail, looking on the two starved bodies.
[Beautiful and pitiful, yes. Quite fitting sister. A blessing yes?] inquired Renee.
[Abagail do you know the rites?] asked Sandra, excited to see a Siren coupling. This ceremony hadn't been performed since the last merman was born three hundred years ago. It would link two souls in a marriage bond, which would increase their regeneration, as well as give a siren's blessing granting them the ageless title before level 50. This would halt any further accidental age progression possibly saving their lives, as well as let their bodies adapt to their accellerated growth without killing them. Barrelling through puberty would help develop their bodies and their maturitiy but intelligence was not experience, and this seemed like the best way to help them. Hopefully the pair would appreciate it one day.
[Yes of course. That will have to be the solution. Let's make haste to aid them before they perish. We must return to the swarm] Abagail concluded. In her time with the menfolk, she had met some very nice people along with the very terrible. One had been this girls adopted mother. She assumed nothing good had happened to the woman considering what happened to the daughter
Not wanting to be seen, the trio retreated down the beach to begin weaving the ceremonial wedding garb from seaweed flowers and magic. After ensuring the couples continued sleep, the trio stripped, changed and washed the couple. they braided and decorated Jennys hair, placing pearls and seashells in a crown atop her head naming her the queen of the marriage. Her eyes were powdered with dried seaweed, and her lips and cheeks were dusted with dried flowers. Her dress was an offwhite flowing piece, the outer layer sheer, the fabric like a smoothe egyptian cotton. Robert was dressed in a fancy off white suit, his hair trimmed and decorated with a crown of pearls, tying him as the king of the marriage. The Sirens placed thier resting souls side by side, joined thier hands and began the song of marriage.
"The sun may set the moon may wax
Swiftly dodge a dragons attack
They'll be your heart forever
When water crashes monsters call
When saviors stand and rich men fall
They're in your heart forever
Your hearts may push your hearts may pull
Allied together hearts are full
Hearts are joined forever"
Blessing of a Siren Boon Gained! Ageless! Title Gained! Married! Boon Gained! Regeneration doubled!
And with that, the pair were joined as husband and wife not by choice but by destiny and fate's design. Without the intervention of the Sirens, the pair would have perished in their sleep as their bodies ate away at their fats and then their muscles. The beautiful couple in the spring of their youth would wake hours later, embracing in wedding garb with statuses to match and new bodies to adapt to. They had finally made it to the shores of Reglar, unfortunately they weren't the only ones who would be arriving.