FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Queen to Be Thicc

Version 2.0

By Shalion & Krown

Morning

Wind whistled through the burning battlefield as a sapphire dragoness flew over. Her name was Belynda. She was rising in the hot air, but below, the city, her home was on fire, invaders filling every street. The dragons whirling through the air cast their fire downward while the countless humans torched the buildings sending sparks upwards. Every now and then, a dragon, great and terrible was cast down while the humans, taking terrible losses themselves, simply filled in their ranks behind the dead. Belynda's heart burned with anger and despair. She could not believe what she was seeing. It was twilight for the last dragon city, Drak'theris, twilight for her species itself.

Though she wasn't a warrior, far from it, in fact, as her body was both soft and heavy from a lifetime of comfort, the green dragoness roared down, claws extended. The human army raised their terrible weapons upwards, unleashing a blast of black smoke and metal shrapnel towards her, piercing her scales... She fell, smiting her enemies under her where she broke upon the ground in a terrible crash.

Belynda awoke with a gasp from her terrible dream, hugging herself with claws and wings. There weren't any holes, she was whole. The sun was streaming in through the large open windows of her apartment high on the acropolis. She'd woken late again. The dragoness rolled her eyes, thrust her head between pillows, and grumbled noisily. Despite the late hour, she still did not want to get up!

Sighing and withdrawing from the cushions eventually, she stared blankly at the wall as she did first thing every morning. Deep inside of herself, she could feel her inner magical flame bloom as she dragged herself out of her slumber. Her dragonsoul pulsed warmly inside of her, seemingly ready to greet the day, even if she was not. Birds were chirping outside of her window and even as she watched, one landed and began to build a bit of nest in a tiny crevice. It looked to be another brilliant, cool spring day.

"And yet I've nothing to do..." She yawned toothily, thick strands of saliva running from tongue to the roof of her maw. She scratched at her chins, brisket wobbling fully. She then became distinctly aware then, as any dragon of her position would, that something was amiss with her routine. She shook away the webbing in her mind and called out,"Francis! Julia!" She waited a moment after this to hear a response. And she received one with the rapid scurrying of feet on the other side of the to the door of her chamber.

"Yes, Mistress!" two voices called.

"Where's my wake up call?" said the dragoness muzzily, not necessarily cross, but certainly annoyed. She thought belatedly to wonder why her thralls were speaking to her from the other side of the thick wooden door to her apartment.

"We tried Madam, we tried!" said the recognizably masculine voice of Francis, though most human voices sounded rather shrill to dragon ears. "Something's blocking the door!"

"Wha-?" Belynda's eyes were then drawn to the obscenely thick, dragon-sized tome resting on the floor in front of the oaken door. Vague memories of returning from the royal library in a drunken huff came rushing back to the dragoness; little wonder the lightweight humans couldn't budge the door.

'Or was that last Tuesday?' Belynda thought, mind still hazy. Her chambers were filled with many aging books sitting upon dark, rosewood shelves which led her to think perhaps one had simply fallen from it shelf; that made more sense than her leaving one in front of the door, didn't it? Though such thoughts only sprouted more questions. She shook them off and crawled out her deluxe, extra plush bedding and violet sheets; very comfortable, but she did have to be mindful of her claws which had to be filed down regularly. When her hindpaws touched the ground her belly was free to begin knocking against her knees which was only a mild nusiciance, but one did have to make small sacrifices for the name of fashion these days. She stifled a belch. At least the modern palace culture came with a few perks...

Lazily Belynda looked about her den. Everything was in need of a proper dusting. Her writing desk, her treasure chests, the book shelves which reached to the ceiling, and of course the wide and tall stained glass windows depicting many, vibrantly colored dragons in flight, all definitely wanted for cleaning, even if it meant filling her dim room with bright light for a time.

"Alright." Belynda coughed, plucking the book from the floor and placing the heavy volume upon a thick wooden shelf which creaked under the mass of vellum pages. "Come in."

Two human thralls entered through a smaller door set into the larger dragon door. At the very least they were dressed for the day, and Francis in his fetching little red coat; how adorable! Francis was a middle aged human beginning to bald with what hair he had left greying, a pity how his kind faded so indignantly. Julia was a vibrant, red-headed youth, but her mismatched blue dress and green stockings were rather plain and threadbare. Belynda resolved to dress up her newest thrall more appropriately as soon as her next stipend came in. They both bowed low to her.

"Hail, Belynda." They said together with an appropriate deferential pause and remained with their eyes suitable down cast. Francis must have been putting in extra time to see that Julia was properly trained. The great dragoness beamed a warm grin down at her hard little workers before yawning and stretching, revealing her long white teeth and polished talons. The hallway beyond her reasonably sized palace quarters was remarkably quiet. Noticeably so, in fact.

"Good day," she said lazily, looking down at the small human pair. Sticking her nose slightly out into the door, she added, "Where are the others?"

"You slept late Ma'am cause we couldn't get in, as we said," Julia explained in the human tongue; Belynda had no problem understanding her, however, as she had already devoted years to learning the tongues of lesser races. "Francis thought it'd be best if they got a head start on cleaning the bath."

"Oh?" Belynda looked to the man now. "So breakfast isn't ready? That's a shame..." Over the course of the last two decades or so, Belynda had gotten very used to large, early breakfasts.

"No, Madam!" Francis said, in less than stellar drakine. It was difficult for his tongue and jaw to produce the appropriate consonants and clicks, but the dragoness knew that he understood far better than he spoke. "Food cooking. It cooks! Will be later. Bath first, yes? Will be very nice, relaxing for Mistress."

"Oh...very well," said Belynda after a time. She pointed a long claw down at the man. "However, in the event I'm sleeping late in the future I prefer a meal in my belly first. Got that?" Belynda's belly couldn't stop jiggling, even as she put her paw back down, but Francis did seem to get the point of her mild annoyance. Belynda was very soft-clawed when it came to thralls in comparison to other palace dragons, but there were a few things that just simply had to be done right in her opinion.

"Yes! Yes, Madam!" The man then bowed away before the dragoness could say anything further. She sighed, shaking her head. Francis was a marvelous human after having taken the time to get to know him, but he was, in the end, only mortal.

"Julia, do be a dear and go get the water running. I want to slide right on in once I get there." The woman bowed again and darted down the hall, much faster than the older man, passing massive busts and paintings of dragons of old which lined the hallway beyond. Belynda withdrew into her chambers once again and padded about the room, thinking what book she'd want to read whilst soaking. "A novel? Hmm, I've got the one by my nightstand. There's also that historic text, Mustifahr the Grand. Or the Budding Draconologist Guide to Drakine Reproduction. Been wanting to do an essay on that. Hmm, what to read, what to read?"

As she pondered these monumental choices, she started tapping a claw against her chin, and in doing so realized how remarkably dull her scales were. They didn't glitter or sparkle in the slightest, unless one wished to be very generous about the definitions of sparkling. She gasped and began looking herself over.

"Well there goes leisure reading. Can't concentrate on that and get a polish at the same time!" She grumbled angrily to herself before leaving her room in a huff; part of her wished she did not have to spend so much of her time maintaining her appearance, but it was less a matter of choice when one was a chosen heir to the Empress, even if a junior heir. She passed a small statue of a dragon standing tall among her enemies. A bust of the great leader, Mustifahr; of which there were many paintings in the halls.

She even had one of herself done up in water color over the threshold of her door; not for vanity's sake but as a result of a dear friend having bestowed it upon her. As she padded through the empty hallway, she also saw a comically exaggerated portrait of said friend on the way to the bathing room.

"Ah, dear sweet Corobus," sighed Belynda, passing the painting of the pudgy, golden drake. "I ought to commision a new one of you. This one's much smaller than the blimp you've become." The dragoness waddled away, sniggering to herself until the trickling sound of running water came to her ears from up ahead.

The palace had many baths, so it was not surprising to find the one nearest her chambers empty; well, empty save for the familiar dwarf stooped over a copper contraption set partially into the tiled floor. It smoked only slightly, the vapors escaping out of the open balcony and into the sweet morning air. Belynda took a moment to appreciate the view of the city before padding over to where the dwarf crouched, operating a crude bellows for the boiler.

Not every dragon allowed their thralls the freedom to innovate in the fashion of their own race, but Belynda herself had no complaint about being spared the effort of heating water by magic and thus conserving her energy for more useful things. "Excellent timing, Lady," said Borlok in his gruff tone, rising from the long wooden handle. "The water is scalding hot, just as you like it."

"Thank you, Borlok," said Belynda airily. Properly, Borlok was not just her servant but part of the general palace staff, but he seemed to hang around so frequently, he felt like he was part of her assigned staff. She descended into the tiled depression cut into the stone floor and the dwarf twisted the valve to let the copper boiler empty into the bath. The dragoness sighed magnificently as the hot water hit her scales, and her head quickly began to swim in the heat and steam. The dwarf wasted no time and opened a clay pot, reaching in with a long wooden ladle and scattering some scented salt of magnesium into the opaque water. The room was quickly filled with the scent of lavender and the dragoness sighed again, closing her eyes. She considered her previous statements to Francis, and sighed.

"Go get some breakfast for yourself and make sure Francis eats something too," said Belynda without opening her eyes. "I must have my scales polished after this, so make it quick."

"As you wish, My Lady," said the dwarf casually before she heard his clomping boot steps exit her chambers. Other dragons said that she was far too lax with her thralls, but the more Belynda learned about other races from her books, the more she thought that perhaps a lot of the evils of the world might have been lessened if her people, along with elves, dwarves and the other empowered races had taken more time to understand the people they considered inferior.

Belynda lifted her wings out of the water, the large membranes cooling a bit before lowering them back down into steaming, scented water. Still, with such a marvelous bath it was rather difficult to feel very bad about things. She took the time to rub down the scales lining her large, soft body, feeling the familiar heft of her round belly and padded sides, comfort and burden intertwined.

Belynda was interrupted from her reverie by the sounds of footsteps coming into her room from the corridor beyond. "Borlok, bless me when I said make it quick I didn't mean-"

"-Excuse me, Great Lady," said a voice Belynda vaguely recognized. She opened her eyes to see an imperious looking elf thrall standing at the edge of her bath. He wore a black armband around his upper arm, marking him as a thrall belonging to the Empress herself. Belynda stood at stark attention, splashing the warm water of her bath over and onto the blue marble flooring as she gathered herself. In some ways, the thralls of the Empress had greater status even than some dragons, and all of them were to be taken as seriously as the Empress herself.

It did not take much longer for the elf's name to manifest in her mind. After all, she had been living in the palace for over 100 years now. The elf was, in fact, probably a good deal older than her.

"B-Bellas!" exclaimed Belynda as she looked across at him. On foot she would have towered over the elf, but submerged in the bath, their heads were level. "What brings you here?"

Bellas gently inclined his head and his shoulder-length silver hair, as if there was no trace of impropriety in the current situation.

"Great Lady, you can oblige this servant by preparing to meet the Empress personally for a private meeting. It is auspicious that I find you already making excellent time in that endeavour. If I may be so bold, may I assist you in making yourself presentable for the Great Mistress?" He spoke in clipped formal Drakine in spite of the shape of his jaw, and nothing in his servile tone suggested that there was anything optional in what he was suggesting.

However, since she had effectively belonged to the Empress since emerging from her egg, Belynda was more than used to this kind of intrusion into her time. She calmed down quickly and assented to the elf's requests.

Bellas retrieved a long-handled brush from where it was set on one of the walls and reached down into the water with it to scrub at Belynda's scaley hide. Her soft body deformed readily against the pressure from the stiff bristles, the scales folding with a minute clicking sensation as the abundant fat underneath squished into hills, valleys and folds. A slight foam arose in the milky water from the scented salts, but this increased after Bellas reached a hand into a different clay pot and began to scatter flakes of soap across the dragon's large body. Belynda was left to lie still and oblige the elf by lifting a leg or a wing to expose herself while floating in the relatively shallow water.

The elf had just got started, however, when Francis noisily entered the bath chamber. Belynda's head rose automatically at the scent of sausages and hot cakes. The platter the man carried must have been heavy because the the clattering it made as he set it upon a low stone basin rang like a bell in the small tiled room. Bellas wrinkled his sharply angled nose in disapproval at the interruption.

"Breakfast, My Lady." said Francis.

Languidly, Belynda pressed a foot against the bottom of the pool, pushing herself to the edge of the large basin and lifting her head out of the water. Her more-than-ample girth supported the dragoness easily in the water as she appraised what the human servant had brought from the kitchen. The large platter was heaped with what her nose had already informed her, a pile of crispy sausages leaning against a high stack of pancakes, lightly doused in honey, but there was also a heaping quantity of sumptuously grilled eggs, red and green with chopped bell peppers rounding out the circular platter evenly into thirds. The whole thing probably weighed two stone at least, a modestly sized first breakfast for the heavily indulged dragon.

"Thank you, Francis..." said Belynda, feeling that she was being generous considering the lateness of the snack. She reached forward with her thickened neck, feeling the abundant hanging fat of its underside bunch up against the lip of the pool. It still surprised her sometimes how much weight she had put on in the last several decades...

Belynda's tongue was already snaking forth out of her snout when she unexpectedly received a sharp tap to the soft end of her muzzle. She shrank back from the hand holding the handkerchief like an overgrown dog, Bellas already stuffing the cloth back into his breast pocket. "Ahem, My Lady. You will be all over with syrup and grease in short order if you proceed thusly. Please allow me..." The elf handed his long handled brush to Francis and with a gesture sent him to work on the dragon's body even as he withdrew a long silver pipe from inside his coat. Belynda relaxed into the water, trying not to be irritated at how Bellas had ordered her servant about, as she accepted what was about to happen.

Belynda knew already that elfen magic worked differently from that native to dragonkind. They did not generate new magic inside themselves like dragons and as far as she knew, only dragons could produce their own magic. Elves instead relied on the power of their ancestors, former-elves who had long since turned into trees and were capable of absorbing mana through their roots from the earth, whole forests of them in other places on earth, and not a few of them here in Drak'Theris either. The elf-song was a way of calling out to these ancestors and, as far as the she-dragon understood, cajoling them or persuading them to lend the living their power. However, with the mana leak, the old wooden-elves' power was but a fraction of what it had been, even as it had a deleterious effect on the oldest and most powerful dragons; all save the Empress herself of course.

This was evident as Bellas was capable only of levitating about a handful of eggs or two or three sausages at a time into the waiting mouth of the blue dragoness with his song. And Belynda suspected that Bellas was only doing so as to spare his hands from becoming sticky with honey. Still, at the very least it was easier this way than trying to nibble at the large silver platter while trying not to knock it over with the end of her snout.

Also, with the slow pace of eating, Francis had almost finished with brushing her entire body by the time the platter was finished off and Bellas put away his silver pipe. The elf stepped lightly over to examine the plump dragoness, Francis standing by and wiping the sweat from his brow. The water had already gone tepid and Belynda struggled to lift her heavy body out of the basin. The blue drakka had to admit to herself that she was not in the best of shape as she had to siphon off some of the heat from her dragonsoul and give her rump a telekinetic shove upwards to get her hind paw up that last foot or so to obtain a foothold. She took a deep breath to steady herself as she felt the elf run a hand down her slick, padded side.

"Hmm..." he hummed melodiously, "have you considered having your scales polished soon, Mistress Belynda?"

The drakka's ears flattened with the barb, which was as close to an insult as a thrall could come to a dragon. "I... had given a thought to it..." she said with a restrained voice. Nothing good would come with insulting a highly valued thrall of the Empress, and of course, Francis would say nothing about her earlier plans.

"No matter," he said as he dried his hand on a pocket cloth. "There will be no time for that, I'm afraid. We must make haste to meet with the empress as I expect she will grow irritated with our tardiness quite shortly..." The elf stepped along the length of of the drakka's body and towards the entrance of the bath. Outside Belynda thought she could hear someone pacing, but she was distracted by a strong scent which seemed to thrust itself down her nose. "...here." said Bellas.

Belynda struggled to contain herself and not retract her head from the elf's proffered hand. There in his palm was a large round packet. The scent of peppermint was almost intolerably strong. "A spice ball?" She asked stupidly.

"For your breath, Mistress," said Bellas severely. Frowning slightly, Belynda extended her tongue and took it from his hand. She crunched down on the mint as he shook excess saliva nonchalantly from his palm. "Now, we may continue..."

The elf got no further than opening the door of the bath, however, before the hallway before us was obstructed by a wall of golden scales which quickly resolved itself into a familiar round shape.

"Fancy meeting you here, Belynda..." drawled Corobus as he waddled elegantly into the bath, his fat sides scraping lightly against either side of the wide double doors. He barely noticed the elf who stepped aside quickly on dancer's legs; despite his elevated status, it was a thrall's own duty ever to avoid being trampled by a dragon's gait.

"Hardly," Belynda responded. "You know I use this bath more than anyone else."

"Which is precisely why I came here," elocuted Corobus in his lilting tongue. His own grossly expanded frame belied the drake's own sweet voice, which was both delicate and sharp in an elfin way, but with the resonance of a dragon behind the fine words. "Oh, hello there..." he added, just noticing Bellas around a globular hump of his own shoulder fat. She noted the way the underside of his jaw jiggled and swayed as he moved his head, the golden-scaled fat bunching and creasing on the inside curve of his thickened neck. Corobus had truly put on an astounding quantity of stone in the last ten years or so, but then Belynda realized that the same could be said about herself, especially as she felt the weight of body pressing down onto her soft paws.

"Excuse me, My Lord," said Bellas stiffly as he recovered his formal, straight-backed posture instantly.

Corobus seemed to notice the elf's armband then, but he was always so much better at maintaining his cool rather than Belynda. The Gold took up a large amount of the remaining space in the bath, but he moved with deft grace that made it seem as if he were not two and a half times a heavy as he should be, even as his bulk wobbled around him. Now that he was no longer blocking the doorway, he said magnanimously,

"No excuses needed Bellas!" He looked down the end of his golden snout shrewdly. "Undoubtedly, you have some Empire-shattering business with my fellow Heir here..." He gestured towards the blue drakka with the end of his thick tail. "...which is why I will take only a moment of her time." He swept his wing magnificently over the tiled floor.

Bellas, however, bristled. "I'm afraid we're quite late enough as..." but he got no further before Corobus spoke easily over him, his voice overpowering the elf's.

"Belynda, darling. I've been trying to compose a new sonnet for Solaris Day, but it's still lacking that..." Corobus poked at his copious double chin with his wing talon, "...authentic factor. I thought perhaps with all those books your nose is constantly stuck in..." he trailed off suggestively and batted a wing at Belynda.

Bellas covered his face from the light breeze produced. "Now see here...!"

But Belynda did not particularly appreciate being ordered about with no notice either, so she answered, "Why Corobus, you should have come to me sooner! Isn't Koleth's stand the day after tomorrow?"

The heavily obese Gold took a seat on the tiled floor, his grand belly spreading over the glazed stone so much so that he had to cock a leg out to make room for it all. He inclined his chin seriously. "Indeed it is a late hour, but let me at least tell you what I have so far." Corobus cleared his throat and recited:

"Look at how it gapes open, wanting more than it is owed. It desires all it can grasp. This, the wanting bone!"

Belynda took a seat and listened attentively with a student's ear. She did not write much poetry herself, but she took the matter very seriously. Writing poetry was a full time occupation for more than one dragon in the palace as well as a passion for the otherwise gossipy and indolent Corobus. "I think you need a verse referencing the comparison between the hero Koleth to the ascendant sun. Maybe something like, 'It longs to be like the hero of old. Koleth, the champion of the skyward gold.'"

Corobus lifted his chubby forepaw and snapped his claws. "Ah, I knew you'd have precisely what I was looking for!" He preened for a moment, "A brilliant move on my part, as always."

The blue dragoness rolled her eyes heavily,

"Whatever would you do without me, dear?"

The Gold blew a kiss in her direction with a wave of his paw, a literal kiss at that. It flapped tiny wings of rich flame like a candle as the moth-sized construct fluttered over to the dragoness. It landed on her cheek with a flash of warmth and her dragonsoul fluttered ever so slightly as the Gold's magic brushed against her.

"Don't make me contemplate such an abysmal state of affairs, Belynda!" he said with mock dramaticness, but there was an edge to his tone. Of the many inert and useless palace dragons, Corobus was one of the few who at least kept up with the stream of dismal news coming from the war front.

Belynda tittered as much from the feel of the Gold's magic as from his words; mana seemed ever more precious these days.

"Well, you can take a load off at the nearest fainting couch then. I doubt that I'll ever have a good reason to leave the palace at this pace..." The dragoness heaved a sigh and finished drying herself with a bit of mental effort to make the droplets repel themselves from her skin as if they were opposing magnetic poles.

Before Corobus could speak again, however, there was a loud, elvish tutting. The blue looked down to see Bellas tapping his smartly polished boot on the floor.

"Time is of the essence, Mistress Belynda," he said impatiently but still in that clipped reserved tone of his. "It would not be proper to keep the Empress waiting."

Belynda rolled her eyes over to Corobus who was taking more interest in various clay pots and scented potions now.

"I'm afraid my leash is being pulled upon..." she excused as she was drawn irresistibly towards the entrance to the bath by the waiting elf.

"There's no helping that, my dear..." Corobus said lavishly as he seemed to peruse the bath's contents for a scented teeth scour. He reached a talon into a pot and began to scrub at his fangs with the salt and some water from a handy fountain. "It is our lot in life to suffer such miseries..." he lamented, spitting into the grey water of the bath. The Blue was just about around the nearest corner in the hallway when she heard Corobus call out, "Come see me perform in the southwestern courtyard, won't you darling?"

Belynda thought it would be rude to shout back down the hallway, so she responded with an indecipherable tail wave as she rounded the corner. 'Let the dandy chew on that for the next day or so...' thought the Blue smugly, already thinking of the complaints Corobus would mount at leaving him in suspense. The elf led her down several flights of stairs, leaving the bright windows and balconies behind as they descended into the heart of the grand palace.

Queen Cinder

The carpeted hallways muffled the sounds of both heavy dragon paws and sharp elvish boots. The elf set a brisk pace despite the fact that his legs were shorter than a dragon's. But with a dense first-breakfast sitting inside her, Belynda found herself panting after a while just to keep up. She didn't care for how her thighs were starting to chafe or the ache she felt on her hips from the weight of her low-hanging belly.

"You'd best keep up the pace if you don't wish the Empress to be angry, Mistress Belynda!" said Bellas without a trace of sympathy as the Blue lagged behind, breathing heavily.

"That's fine for you to say..." Belynda gasped as she leaned against a corridor wall for support, "...stick that you are." She knew it was not particularly clever to call Bellas a 'stick' but she was already going to need a lot of help to recompose herself after this effort. Only an inborn fear of the Empress's wrath compelled her to expend even this much effort.

But Bellas surprised her by turning back, spinning on one heel like a marionette. Belynda watched as he withdrew his silver pipe again and blew a melody that seemed to evoke wing blowing through branches. A coolness washed over the beleaguered dragoness, soothing her strained muscles, such as they were.

When the melody ceased, Bellas replaced his pipe, forehead creased from the effort. "I'm afraid that's all the cure we have time for, Mistress. Let us make the best time that we can."

The blue dragon took a moment to look curiously at the elf's retreating back. In all the years she had known him, this was the first relatively kind thing he'd done for her. Belynda felt a renewed sense of trepidation at what might be waiting for her below. They passed into a large foyer with many branching hallways, and out through the open door into the wide courtyard of the Queen's inner sanctum. Few dragons had been permitted to live in this wing of the acropolis, and fewer still had entered the Queen's private garden, which was where Bellas was leading the Blue.

A wall of thickly vined steel fencing shielded this private area from the rest of the garden. Two large guards stood watch by the gate, dressed in gleaming white and golden armor that covered their sleek, scaley hides. Though their bodies were mostly hidden under the armor, it was easy to tell at a glance that these were not typical palace layabouts; frankly, they were about half the size! Although it was plain to see that the palace food had a way of rubbing off on even the most disciplined army dragon, as both of these guards' outfits looked rather tight around barrel-shaped midsections. Belynda came to a stop before them as Bellas addressed the dragons formally, her own knee-deep belly wobbled for a while after her paws had stopped moving.

"I have brought Madam Belynda as the Empress requested," said the elf as if he were delivering a package.

The two guards looked at each other and the one on the right grunted acknowledgement. "Very well, you can take her inside. She should still be in the middle of brunch."

The other guard opened the large gate and Bellas led the Blue inside the private garden without so much as another word.

The sounds of gulping and chewing quickly assailed Belynda's ears as she padded carefully along the flagstones set into the flawlessly maintained garden. High stone walls rose around every side of the cloister, the damp stone and darkened windows and balconies giving the appearance of being at the bottom of a well. The garden was small, with only enough room for two very old-looking trees standing at opposite corners; Belynda was not knowledgeable enough to tell at a glance whether these were elf-trees or not. The centerpiece of the garden, though, had to be the Empress herself as she spread out in all of her glory upon many densely compressed cushions in the center of it.

The black scales seemed to go on and on, bulging in awesome padded flanks, each of which would likely exceed Belynda's own not inconsiderate mass, and folding over each other in roll after roll. The Empress was in peak condition, but then again, she always was, being the very fattest dragon in the nation by a wide margin, (no pun intended!) and growing visibly heavier each year that passed. While Empress Cinder's appetite was legendary in the palace rumor mill, Belynda had personally seen her eat on precious few occasions, save at a few public functions. The Empress was also well known for having a keen sense of privacy. The feast on display now, however, seemed entirely out of proportion as it spread over several low tables arranged before the very wide dragoness. 'She must have invited a few other dragons.' Belynda reassured herself as she took a knee and bowed low before the Empress.

"Ah, Belynda..." drawled Empress Cinder as she swallowed a whole chicken from a skewer she held in one very thick foreclaw. "...my favorite heir, how good of you to make it. The food was just about to get cold." She gestured to the enormous spread, flesh dangling plentifully from her foreleg.

Belynda took a seat across from her. Though the tables were spread wide, she realized that with two dragons in the garden, and Cinder taking up enough space for three, there wasn't very much space left for any other potential guests. She laid down on her belly, feeling it squish under her and spread her thick thighs; the Empress was so engorged that she could rest on her abundant tummy like a mattress, but Belynda wasn't there yet, nor did she think that such a minor convenience would be worth the expenditure of mana the Empress needed just to move around at this point. "I apologize for my tardiness, Empress," said Belynda, meek as a hatchling with bowed head. However, when she did dip her nose, she was exposed to the redolent and wonderful scents of the feast in front of her. Her belly betrayed her by releasing an audible groan of anticipation, though there was far more here than was appropriate for a second-breakfast or even a full brunch.

But the Empress only keyed into the sound, eyeing Belynda over a large tureen of chilled cucumber soup. "You should apologize to yourself, young one!" she laughed, wobbingly a very heavy dewlap under her chin which was as thick and meaty as the Blue's foreleg. "You clearly haven't treated yourself well enough this morning." She cocked her head, deforming a fat-filled ruff which had grown to frame her face. "Have you considered having your scales polished?"

Belynda struggled not to wince visibly. "I... was taking that into consideration, yes," she said stiffly. The mere fact that Cinder had mentioned it would mean that Belynda would need to spend the rest of the day on an especially good polishing. The Blue made a mental note to have Francis rope in a few extra thralls for the job...

The Empress smiled briefly at Belynda for a moment. "Well, don't hold yourself back on my account," she said and gestured again at the grand feast set between them.

Belynda was not sure what the Empress intended with so much excess food here, but clearly she did not intend for her to nibble at it. The Blue snapped her claws at a distant platter of sliced ham and cheese and one of the impeccably dressed thralls standing around the tables picked it up and brought it closer. Seeing as a dragon's four clawed hand was not the most delicate at manipulating objects, it was easier to have the servant toss the slices onto her tongue for her before chewing thoughtfully.

"Excellent aging on that ham, Mistress," said Belynda appreciatively, but the Empress was hardly listening, instead levitating the cucumber soup to her mouth with magic and swallowing it in large greedy gulps. Clearly, she was not interested in small talk at the moment. Belynda sighed softly to herself and opened her mouth to have the rest of the plate tossed in.

In addition to being the fattest dragon alive, and perhaps of all time as well, Cinder was also the most magical as she recklessly used her mana to levitate objects around the table at will in a way that would have left Belynda exhausted and unable to move in mere minutes if she had tried to do the same. It was an uncanny and intimidating display of power in an age of magical scarcity; and yet, Cinder's magical might too seemed to grow year after year, along with her waistline. She was indeed the last of the elder dragons to have not succumbed to fugue in the wake of the mana leak.

The meal continued in silence for over a half an hour, with Belynda becoming steadily more full despite not even trying to keep up with the rapaciousness of the Empress. Belynda was no slouch when it came to the dinner table, but even her stamina was tested as she opened her mouth up to receive the twelfth pound of spicy, rosemary sausage hash, the fifteenth coffee cake, the eighteenth omelette and the twentieth liter of iced chamomile tea. It was around the time that Belynda's round cheeks were turning just a shade greener that the Empress decided to relent in her bottomless appetite and speak again.

"I'm happy to see that you've taken my example to heart, dear," she said abruptly after swallowing the last of an expertly prepared turducken coated in hollandaise sauce.

"Mh-urp... o-of course, Empress!" said the exceptionally bloated Blue as her stomach vainly attempted to excise any remaining gas for lack of space. Belynda felt like she had hash browned potatoes sitting on the back of her tongue as she struggled to speak, "E-every dragon alive would... would be wise to, erp, f-follow your example..." Belynda reached up to wipe at her damp forehead, wincing at the ball of pain in her middle. "...in these, these trying times," she finished.

Empress Cinder watched the Blue carefully, much in the way a cat would a mouse between its paws. It did not seem to matter how her moon-like cheeks and sagging jowls made the black dragon's blue eyes beady in her fat face. The intensity was withering regardless and Belynda squirmed uneasily as if she had not already lived for a century at Cinder's beck and call, since the Empress had been a dragoness little more than half of the Blue's current weight and a fraction of her present hill-like bulk.

When she spoke, it actually came as a relief to Belynda, at least initially. "I won't dishonor you by pretending that you're the first dragon to say that to me." She allowed a wide grin to spread across her wide, fleshy features. "But it means a lot to me coming from you, it truly does, Belynda."

The Blue turned her head bashfully away. Several deep breaths allowed her normally ironclad stomach to assert its prowess and she spoke more easily this time, damping down the pain she felt in her belly while acutely avoiding any look at the food still filling the tables under her nose.

"I don't know why it should matter so much in my case, Empress. I am, after all, only your humble servant." She bowed her head for emphasis, but felt better in reaffirming her place in the Empress's court. A Junior Heir, Belynda was technically fifteenth in line to inherit the throne, but when dragons could live in excess of ten thousand years, this amounted to an almost negligible amount of political power.

What Belynda's position amounted to in reality was something of a glorified handmaiden to the Empress, save that when she had taken possession of her egg just over a hundred years ago, Cinder had the opportunity to groom Belynda to her way of thinking and train her on how to perform should an emergency-level event happen. There was also the odd case where Belynda had been sent to execute the Empress' will in some distant part of the Empire, but it'd been sixty years since the last time that had happened and there was not much of an Empire left with which to communicate.

"You are mine," the Empress affirmed, "but you should be less humble." She snorted heavily in a way that shook the whole of her globular form. The fat that rose over and behind the crown of her skull wobbled like the surface of a dark sea in a maelstrom. "In fact, I am currently considering elevating your position."

"You're what?" Belynda gaped before she could stop herself, then looked in mortification at her own outburst. "...I mean, I thank you for your confidence in me," she added demurely. "I confess that I am ignorant of what I might have done to earn such an honor."

Then Cinder wore an odd expression for a moment, her eyes staring off into the middle distance and glinting oddly. But the moment passed swiftly as she trained her sharp gaze back on the bloated Blue. "You doubt my judgement?"

"Never!" replied Belynda immediately, shaking her head vigorously enough that it was uncomfortable for her chubby cheeks and her own well-developed dewlap.

"Now there's a good drakka..." said the Empress condescendingly, nudging her chin into a fold of her fat-clotted neck. She raised a claw and examined her talons briefly; save for the black flesh cresting over her wrist and the sausage-like quality of her digits, they were flawlessly groomed and polished as always. Mana sparkled between the thick claws, making Belynda jump slightly were she sat. "You should trust me when I say that my designs are falling into place quite nicely and I think you'll appreciate your place in them..."

Belynda pressed her lips tightly together. 'Falling into place?!' she thought with apoplexy, 'The empire is on the verge of collapse!' Before she could think, the Blue blurted, "But what about the war?"

"War?" The Empress murmured as if in genuine curiosity. Her eyes glinted momentarily and she quickly lifted her head a little. "Oh, the war, yes..." she drawled. "That will be taken care of soon as well. You have more important things to concern yourself with, Belynda, darling."

It was a conscious effort not to say more. Belynda could not believe what she was hearing. Dragonkind's once sweeping influence had been reduced to a single city with the advent of the mana leak. All the elder dragons had been forced into a deep hibernation from which they might never awaken, all save Empress Cinder, of course. And here was that same dragoness telling her not to worry when their entire species was in danger of being hunted to extinction?

"W-what things might those be, Mistress?" asked Belynda as her voice wavered slightly with suppressed anger at Cinder's careless attitude.

The Empress did not seem to notice the slight break in the Blue's facade. "You'll like this..." she said dramatically and paused to gesture towards a pitcher of yougurt-based fruit smoothie with a single fattened claw. Manipulating it easily with her thoughts, the Empress chugged the entire container down her gullet in the span of perhaps three seconds. As she levitated it back down, a thrall zoomed out unbidden to where her fattened chest spread over the ground and wiped at the corners of her mouth which dripped pink slurry. As if all of this had been as casual as taking a dainty sip of water, the Empress continued, "I have chosen to make you my new Heir-Apparent!"

The handsomely dressed thralls around the two obese dragons clapped their gloved hands together formally before Belynda could even respond. "You're... what?" she asked, unsure she had heard correctly. The Heir-Apparent was the next in line for the throne and was a hugely important position for the stability of the empire.

"I know it's a lot to take in on a moment's notice," said the Empress without missing a beat. She waved her fat foreclaw in a flourish, the fat on the foreleg waving loosely like a sack of beans while her elbow was practically absorbed into her still-more-abundant upper arm flesh. "But I've given the matter a lot of thought and you are definitely the best fit for this change."

Belynda honestly did not care much for Perfectus, the current Heir-Apparent, who was a useless layabout with zero ambition who pretty much everyone agreed would be a disaster if he ever sat upon the throne. However, her own ascendancy seemed perhaps even more potentially disastrous. "E-Empress, I don't mean to question your decision, but I... I'm so inexperienced. I'm only 108 years old!" she stammered. Needless to say that compared to the Empress's own purported ten millennia, she was still practically a hatchling.

Cinder waved her fat claw dismissively, however. "Belynda, my sweet, haven't you realized that age isn't the guarantor of power or wisdom that it once was?" She reached up with a claw to scratch inside the skin fold along the inline of her lower jaw, then she made a cutting motion with the same hand. "Perfectus is scarcely into his fifth century, but he is already beginning to slow down; to succumb to the mana leak." And she was right about that as the crimson drake was well known for his eighteen hour 'naps.'

It was a depressing fact that as a dragon aged and became more powerful and magical, their internal dragonsoul eventually could not supply their own body's demand for mana. As the mana leak became progressively worse, the maximum age at which a dragon could remain operational decreased seemingly every year.

The Empress went on, "No, young blood is what we need to turn to now." She gave Belynda a significant glance. "Of course, you will need to look the part also. In fact, we need to begin grooming you for your new position right away."

Belynda rubbed the scales at her throat self consciously with a claw. "I understand that I'll need to hold myself to a higher level of professional grooming, Empress." she swallowed and thought, 'I'm going to need more than just Francis and a few extra thralls!' She began to wonder if perhaps Bellas knew a professional groomer and scale-shaper, but again Cinder interrupted her thoughts.

"There's that," she said with a wave of her paw, "But more importantly... how should I say this?" she tapped the side of her heavy throat fat with a flawlessly manicured talon. "You need to be bigger... much bigger."

"Bigger, my Empress?" said Belynda with an utter lack of comprehension. In addition to weighing more than a couple dozen of the Blue's entire plump body, the Empress was taller and longer than any dragon alive. However, Belynda knew of no means by which a dragon could accelerate their growth, even before the mana leak.

"Bigger..." Cinder confirmed in a lower tone and on her back, her fat flushed wings moved for the first time since Belynda had entered the garden. Despite being more than three times as wide as proper, the black dragon's wing span still easily encompassed her engorged frame and, moving like a pair of long-fingered hands, she stroked the long phalanges across her bovine flanks, clearly indicating her substantial girth.

The Blue gulped again. She had already started receiving jokes from Corobus about how heavy she had been getting lately, damn that overfed lizard! How much worse would it be if she was fattened to anywhere near resembling the Empress herself? Granted, trying to 'keep up' with the Empress had become the latest fashion trend in the palace over the last century and a number of dragons had met with greater or lesser degrees of success... but Belynda had never been taken with the idea of so drastically modifying her body for the sake of appearances... even if it just so happened she liked a nice meal every now and then.

"Bigger..." Belynda echoed, but the Empress did not respond, clearly growing weary of the repetition. The Blue cleared her throat. "I... suppose I can put more of an effort in at breakfast and dinner," she said unsurely and raised a wing to indicate her well padded side; though it was still nothing like the collosal slab of meat that extended from Cinder's own flank, so massive it rested on the ground beside her on its own.

"Oh, but that's simply won't do, Belynda," tutted the Empress. "I need you looking the part as soon as possible which is why I shall begin training you shortly."

Belynda could scarcely imagine what this 'training' might entail, but suddenly her stomach was not settled so easily within her as it had been. Never in the entire century of her life had the Blue ever considered disobeying her leigelord, so it did not really matter that Cinder had become six times the dragoness she had known in childhood nor did her own reservations about becoming six times the dragoness she currently was. "As you wish, Empress," said Belynda meekly, lowering her head until her chin squished against her excess neck fat. The prospect of actually following through on Empress Cinder's wishes did not hit her fully until later, however.

Cinder seemed satisfied with that. She gestured again with her hand and a glistening suckling pig rose from its silver platter and flew threw the air until she bit it in half deftly, smearing the side of her snout with honey and grease, much to the chagrin of the hurrying attendant who rushed to mop up the inside of the Empress's multitude of neck rolls.

Even as her mouth was half full, she said, "Mhph, having a public function at noon on Solaris Day. You will be at my right side at the banquet." For the first time since she had started this outrageously large meal, she belched and had to have her mouth and chins wiped again, "Use the time between now and then to make yourself presentable..." She raised a foretalon and waggled it up and down, in doing so making the remaining half of the pig waggle its arms at her reproachfully, "...and don't skimp on meals! I expect you to be at least a stone or two heavier next time I see you." She winked at Belynda and stuffed her eager maw with the remaining pig. Even as she chewed, the black dragon's belly emitted a groaning sound redolent of rocks grinding together and about three times louder than any belly noise the Blue had ever produced.

'Well, at least the Empress isn't completely bottomless...' thought Belynda to herself, though it was a slim kind of satisfaction as the Black had already eaten three or four times what she had managed and was still going.

"I will do everything in my power to make myself worthy of your selection," said Belynda, that being the only thing she could say, but with just over forty eight hours until the Solaris Day banquet Cinder had mentioned, there would be only barely enough time to get herself up to the court's high standards.

When the Empress didn't respond, instead choosing to forcefully cram a large jellied mold filled with fruit and marshmallows down her gullet, Belynda took her last words as a dismissal. This was reinforced by the fact that Bellas had appeared beside her right claw, ready to perform his function as a valet in escorting her out. When the Blue began walking, she had to suppress her gorge again as the contents of her tightly packed stomach moved around, but she handled it with grim faced determination. Without looking at the elf, she said, "Bellas, I trust you'll assist me in following through with the Empress's command?"

"Naturally," said the elf cockily as we walked by the guards and out of the garden. "I've already taken the liberty of recruiting Dur'Reckt the scale-shaper of the north-wing. He will see you at three-bells this afternoon," said Bellas smoothly as ever, then he added more ominously, " I will inquire as to your dietary requirements from the Empress when she is... less preoccupied."

"Th-thank you..." said Belynda shakily, the trepidation she felt at the prospect of deliberately overeating only growing as more time passed. Suddenly she wanted only a plump golden shoulder to lean on and confess all her problems and conflicting emotions to, however, she was unsure how Corobus would react to her sudden and inexplicable promotion since he was a junior heir as well, 14th in line for the throne, or had been at least.

Bellas led her back up through the confusing maze of palace corridors to the east wing where Belynda's residence were. There, he left her in a spa and the company of familiar faces both dragon and thrall.

"I will return in time for your scale-shaping," was the only thing he would tell her before departing. Sometimes, Belynda thought that elf was rather full of himself for being a slave. However, as she settled down for a long and detailed manicure as well as the first of several needed scale polishing sessions, she had to admit that it might be nice to pamper herself a little bit. She'd been spending a lot of time with her nose shoved in books lately. After an hour had passed, however, Belynda still felt uneasy and she replayed Cinder's words in her head over and over. 'Bigger... Bigger... Bigger!' A terrifying image entered her mind of herself bloated beyond recognition as she tried in vain to budge her massive body even an inch. When she opened her eyes in shock, she was surprised to have dozed off, but even more surprised to see that a familiar golden face had joined her in the spa.

Spa Talk

Corobus was lounging just a few feet away from her, displayed in his full, rotund glory, scales shining impeccably as always. Around him was an entourage which included an elf of ambiguous gender plucking softly at a harp strings as well as two young dragonesses who couldn't have been older than forty or so. One ruby, and one pink.

"When did you get here?" Asked Belynda indignantly, though she was actually more than a little relieved to see his huge, golden ass after her interview with Empress Cinder. Funnily enough, after having spent some time in close proximity to Cinder the Black, Corobus looked quite trim now.

"Why do you ask?" Drawled the dandy and he made a mock biting motion with his flawless white fangs. "Did I sneak up on you?"

"I suppose my meeting with the Empress took a lot out of me..." Belynda confessed, leaning her head on a soft foreleg. Around her soft sides, the Blue was still being rubbed down with damp clothes and brushes and buckets of water by the familiar thralls of the east wing; the bath she had received earlier had done well for daily hygiene, but she needed a detailed clean job as a base for the undoubtedly lengthy polishing and scale shaping process to come.

Corobus, for reasons Belynda could not begin to fathom, seemed to have been waiting for her to awaken, for he chose that moment to heave himself up, grunting with the considerable effort required, and padded over to a space across the large central pool from her. There was a smaller oval shaped pool there and as the Gold lowered his ample form into it, water overflowing the edges copiously and draining into the larger pool through a series of channels cut into the floor for this purpose. He spoke as thralls began dumping suds and hot water in buckets into Corobus's pool.

"Do tell, darling." He flipped onto his back so that his large tummy made an island in the center of the tub and began to play with the end of his long tail. "It's not every day that you're summoned for a private council with Empress Cinder."

As Belynda decided how much to tell Corobus, the harp player and the groupies moved over to fawn at the drake's shoulders.

"This is something which I'd prefer us to discuss in private, Corobus. If you'd oblige me." Belynda stared at her long time friend in the eyes, transmitting worry through the gleam in her irises. The golden drake seemed to understand.

"Dears," He said to the dragonesses. "Do be kind, and let me and Belynda have a private chat." He looked to the elf. "Same to you, Mim." The entourage grumbled, but did as Corobus asked of them, and soon the Blue and the Gold were alone.

"Heh." Snorted Belynda. "Who were those dragonesses?"

"Oh, a few babes I'd serenaded with my poetry. They were like putty in my claws." he raised one of his paws from the water and made a grasping motion with it. "Did you see the ass on the pink one? A swear most of her body mass is in those cheeks. Practically buried my whole head between them."

"Corobus..."

"It was like having warm pillows all around me. And at the same time the red one was doing this thing with her mouth that-"

"-Corobus!" Belynda said sharply before her ears caught flame.

"What?"

"We can talk about bedroom frolicing anothertime. I need to talk to you about Cinder." Corobus sighed and waved his paw dismissively. "Very well. What's bothering you?"

"She's asked me, or well, not so much asked as told me I'm to be the new Heir-Apparent." Said Belynda

"Ancestors!" Yelped the Gold as he sat up in the pool, splashing water everywhere. "Really? Well, congratulations are in order then, Bendy!" He began to clap delicately with his wet paws and long polished talons.

"Heh." Belynda giggled sheepishly. "I'd thank you, if that was the end of it..."

"Oh? There's more?" asked Corobus, raising a scaled eye-ridge.

"Yes." Belynda dipped her head and stared at the ground. Corobus recoiled slightly, head tilted.

"What'd she ask you to do?"

"She..." Why was this so difficult for her? "She wants me to get bigger."

"B-b...what?" Said Corobus, his eyes growing wide. There certainly was a difference between chasing after the new palace fashion trend on one's own and actually being ordered to participate in rank gluttony.

"Yes. She wants me to start putting on weight and getting much bigger. And not in the sense of keeping with her, erm... fashion. She wants me to... look like her." The last bit was the most difficult to get out for the blue drakka, despite how she respected her empress's power and position.

"Oooh... Oh!" Corobus blinked as he stared blankly at Belynda. "You don't mean..."

"Yes, Corobus!" Said the overweight Blue, pointing her snout at him, unable to help observing how the Gold's island of soft tummy fat wobbled as he moved but never seemed to dip below the surface of the water. "She told me explicitly that she wanted me to... to start eating more immediately."

The drakka's uncomfortable expression must have been obvious because the Gold took more than a moment to respond, and when he did, his expression was more somber.

"And... you're not okay with this...?" His tone was honestly questioning. There were more than a few layabout dragons about the palace for whom weighing as much as six or more dragons put together would not be a major hassle at all if it meant earning the title of Heir-Apparent.

Belynda looked askance and shook her head slowly, noncommittally.

"I... I'm not sure..." The Blue held her wings close about her rounded, soft body, then realized she had to open them again for the servants to continue brushing her hide. "Actually, I do feel pretty strongly about it." She admitted. "I might like the occasional buffet here and there, but deliberately stuffing myself..." She shivered visibly. "That's clearly too much, but I have a duty to obey Cinder's wishes." She looked across to the rotund Gold pleadingly, as if he would suddenly have the answers she sought.

"Duty, sch-muty." Laughed the Gold, sticking his long tongue out at her. "You do you, girl!"

It was such a blithe, disrespectful comment on this serious situation, Belynda could not help but laugh, shaking her padded flanks and making the thralls to either side back up a step.

"You're not taking me seriously!" Belynda pouted and would have splashed water at the flippant young drake if she had not been pinned in place by the thralls attending her.

"Of course I do, hun!" Said Corobus, waving his golden paw at her. "However, I think you're looking at this in an all too negative light. I'm sure you really don't want to become such a blubber butt, though consider what this'll mean for you." The dandy waggled his scaly eye-ridges at her. "You'll gain much higher standing in the royal court. Think of all that you could do with that power."

"I..." Belynda stopped short, staring blankly at her pudgy companion. "I'm not sure..."

"Sure of what, Bendy?"

"How much I'd be able to do. From the sound of things, Cinder wanted me to be eating all the time."

"Oh pssh!" Snorted Corobus. "Does Cinder eat all the time? No." He raised an artfully shaped talon. "Only most of the time. Surely there'll be times to go out and delegate and pontificate all matters you want to talk about."

The Blue raised a claw to counter Corobus' statement, knocking aside a thrall in the process, but stopped short with her jaw agape. Belynda considered the statement for a moment.

"Oh." She exclaimed upon spotting the disheveled polisher. She brought the claw down to let them resume working once again.

Belynda had to admit that Corobus had a point. And there were so many things she wanted to do! The war against humanity in the wake of the slow death of magic was not going well at all and not a small part of that was due to incompetent leadership both in the field and right here in the capital. Why, if she were Heir-Apparent, her political capital would skyrocket. There would be many people who would listen to her; generals would listen to her! Though she would still not be able to directly contradict Cinder, and likely most of these half-imagined discussions would have to take place at the banquet table.

However, in spite of all of that, this was her own body they were talking about! "Ok, Corobus," She said, leaning her jaw on her chin, the long handled brushes going up into the cleft of her wing-pit now, "You have a point, but let me ask you this, what would you do in my position?"

To his credit, the Gold did at least appear to give the matter some thought. He leaned back in the curved-bottom pool, letting the end of his elegant tail stroke the underside of his jaw as he hemmed and hawed. "Oh... I'd definitely become the palace's newest golden blimp!" He sneered.

"Corobus!" Belynda scolded with open jaw. "Just a minute ago, you were telling me to follow my own heart in this." The Blue was forced to roll onto her side as a thrall prodded her shoulder with the head of his long brush, but Belyna continued to glare across the pool at the drake.

Corobus fanned himself with a thickened paw, the water was now steaming with all the boiling water which had been cast into the smaller pool. "I did, and I also said that there are large advantages to the position regardless." He stared levelly across at his friend of over 100 years, "Besides, are you sure you even know your own heart in this?"

At that, Belynda could say nothing. She was indeed conflicted, which is why she wanted to consult with Corobus in the first place. 'That fickle fop of a dragon!' she thought to herself unfairly and she knew it.

Normally, such a promotion, inexplicable as it was, ought never to be questioned and there was no doubt in her mind that she would do a far better job at it than the useless and entitled Perfectus.

'But the cost...' She thought forlornly, still unable to square her thoughts as she unconsciously ran her claw down the padded side of her body. She was already severely obese, unable to feel any but the last of her ribs even under firm pressure, though Corobus might have had nearly a thousand stone on her in his own corpulent glory. They were not even talking about a thousand stone, however. Cinder expected her to at least triple her current weight, if not add even more. 'Urgh! This makes no sense!' Belynda huffed to herself and of course it didn't in the larger sense. No one knew why the Empress had allowed her frame to grow so out of control starting after the mana leak had become apparent a century ago.

"I swear, are you trying to be even more useless than usual, Corobus?" Said Belynda at length, though mostly to save face.

The golden drake took the barb in good standing, placing a paw on his fatty chest below the surface of the water.

"My dear, I've made an art of being useless." Then he recited:

How the summer day is hot and long,

Perfect to laze inside and smoke my bong.

Belynda snorted. She had not heard that one before; the drake must have made it up on the spot. Before she could make a proper retort, however, the doors to the spa opened. Belynda opened her mouth to expel the lavish Gold's entourage again, but it was not the female groupies but rather Bellas the elf and in tow was a rather grim looking orcish thrall with a broken tusk.

"Mistress Belynda, might I introduce Dur'Reckt..." The elf started pompously, however the orc just stomped over to the Blue's forequarters and without preamble began examining her face, or more precisely the way the scales there laid, spreading over her snout and plump cheeks.

"Eh-grah..." the orc grunted without ceremony as he scratched at the few grey whiskers sprouting from his square, "This is going to take some work." He reached up to run a rough hand over the smooth scales of the Blue's jaw.

Belynda however, flinched back, closing her wings tight around her body. "You could be a bit more circumspect, Orc." She harrumphed, but inside felt even more self-conscious about her un-shaped scales.

The orc shrugged. "You're the one in need of a rush-job." He crossed his arms, "I usually ask for a two-week notice and then at least five days for a full shaping." He threw his arm back, bicep bulging as thick as Bellas' thigh, sticking his thumb back at the elf. "But I'm told this is an emergency."

Belynda baulked, snapping her jaws shut on further words for the upstart slave. Dur'Reckt was a legend in the palace, after all, sought after by all the who's-who's in the upper wings but she really needed to look her best for the Solaris Day Banquet. "Very well. Get to it then." She huffed and lowered her head.

The orc nodded, and began examining Belynda in a more thorough fashion. He touched the scales of her face, which were among the smallest and most delicate on her body. Still their diamond shapes overlapped like snake scales, a few of their stiff, elongated ends sticking out from the curves of her skin almost like thick hairs. "Hrmm, yes..." muttered the orc under his breath several times, and more than once he stepped back, seeming to frame Belynda's face in his sights.

Abruptly, Dur'Reckt clapped his hands together with a noise almost as startling as the weapons humans used to murder dragons. "Right! You idiots get in here, fall in line!"

From outside the doors of the spa stomped in a motley crew of six or seven thralls of mixed races. In their hands, they carried assorted cloths, rags and tins of some waxy substance.

"Start with a basic polish, shoulders to tail like usual..." The orc started before yanking a cloth out of the hands of a clearly startled human. Dur'Reckt twirled it in one hand a moment and then whipped it forward with a resounding crack against the back side of the man he'd taken it from. "...and make it snappy!"

Obediently the polishers moved into position about the round hills of Belynda's shoulders. The orc, however, reached up and wrapped the waxy-scented cloth around one of her small curving horns projecting backwards from her skull. As he began to pull the cloth back and forth rapidly, he said in a surprisingly soft voice into her ear,

"No time for the delicate stuff, Mistress, but we'll have you looking your best in time for that Banquet." And the orc gave her an exaggerated wink which Belynda could not help but feel slightly charmed by, in spite of his earlier standoffishness.

"Th-thank you." Belynda managed as she settled down to be properly pampered for the first time in a very long while.

Very shortly afterwards, Corobus clamoured out of the pool, obviously struggling to heave his massive weight out of the steeply sloped sides of the round-bottomed pit and equally obviously using magic to assist himself much as Belynda had earlier in the day. Ribbons of water cascaded off his quaking fat rolls as he joined his concubines.

"You're leaving, Corobus?" asked Belynda, trying not to sound too concerned, though had to admit that the amorous and feckless drake's mere presence had bolstered her morale significantly.

"I'm afraid I must, Darling." Said the drake, feigning sorrow before shaking like a dog which caused his very large and low-slung belly to slosh this way and that magnificently. He dried himself more fully with magic, and added with a sneer, "And you can't expect me to just sit here and watch Dur'Reckt himself work on you; I'd get too jealous!"

Belynda stuck her tongue out at him, then added more thoughtfully, "I still haven't made up my mind about what we were talking about earlier..." Belynda thought she ought to at least try to be a little circumspect, even though it would be impossible to keep a secret of this magnitude for very long, not with thralls constantly underfoot and overhearing things. "I think I'm going to have to get a third opinion."

Corobus raised his thick eye-ridges in curiosity, but he too understood the need for privacy and so the presence of the high-level thralls silenced him in just the way Belynda intended. "Well... I doubt that they will have more sagely advice than Yours Truly." He said and flourished his wing like a cape before waddling to the door. There was giggling coming from the other side already and a harp started up, just on the edge of hearing.

"Take care, Belynda!" He called over his padded shoulder as he waved his tail at the Blue. "Hope to see you tomorrow night!"

Corobus disappeared with as much fanfare as he had arrived, the two young females almost immediately pressing themselves against his soft, wide frame. Belynda rolled her eyes. Really, if she hadn't known better, she would have never believed that the pretty Gold could be useful for anything other than self-satisfaction. However, it was really hard to concern herself with such things with strong little hands rubbing her soft sides and back until her scales all but glowed with warmth. Dur'Reckt used his file and grinder on her face like an artist's brush as well, always whispering into her ear how marvelous and stunning she would soon look. It was easy to droze in and out like this...

The Catacombs

Dur'Reckt and his crew of well-disciplined polishers couldn't finish their job all at once, of course. Belynda would need to return the following day to receive a second layer as well as a dusting of fine crystal which would add a dazzling glimmer to her natural shine. That would take all day, but the Blue was honestly not too upset about it. As flattering as the orc could be while working, it was easy to see that the thrall had earned his esteemed position as much with his tongue as with the skill of his hands.

That left only the rest of tonight to try to find the answer, or perhaps the strength inside of herself, to deal with the question of Cinder's order. Of course, technically, there was no question about it. The Empress had made that clear enough during their interview. That meant that turning down the position of Heir-Apparent would not only mean throwing the promotion back in Cinder's face, it would be disobeying a direct order. It would mean leaving the court and the palace forever.

Belynda could barely comprehend making such a monumental life choice. Since her egg was chosen by the Empress for grooming, she had lived in the palace, a sprawling and labyrinthine acropolis standing in the center of Drak'Theris. She had no idea who her biological parents were, and by custom they mattered very little anyways. Belynda certainly could not expect to come begging at their door now, even if she knew who they were and assuming they were even alive at this point.

The Blue did not want to contemplate life reduced to the status of the lowest laydragon in the city, or perhaps even conscripted to the warfront to be used as fodder despite her utter lack of combat ability. But equally, she did not want to picture herself as a mountainous heap of dragon-lard, her paws barely able to reach the ground for the pervasive fat of herself. Sure, the Empress did not seem to mind her current condition in the slightest, but daily she used more magic than Belynda could manage in a year. If she ever were that large, she would be trapped, almost totally unable to move unless several dragons or Cinder herself decided to help her. It seemed an... unenviable existence as well. Sure, it might take a while to reach such a stature, but on the time scale of hundreds, perhaps even a thousand years, it would not be very long at all until she was utterly unrecognizable; Belynda knew this already after seeing first hand how much weight a dragon could pile on in a single year if they were actually trying at it.

No, her mind was still a mess and she knew it, her emotions chasing each other around in her stomach like fireflies. She needed perspective and more importantly wisdom. But there was almost no one in the palace left these days who could give her either... at least no one who was awake, which is precisely why Belynda now padded down dusty and abandoned corridors into the deepest parts of the palace.

Below the ground level of the acropolis, there were no more windows save those balconies and landing platforms carved into the sides of the grand, rocky mound that was the epicenter of the draconic city. And there were no balconies for Belynda to see here, she was in the heart of the palace and after going down for what felt like a full hour, but could have only been a few minutes, she was sure that she must be below even the city level at this point. She took a turn at a nondescript and uncomfortably narrow opening which lead in a spiralling path into a pitch dark basement.

Belynda's superior night vision gave way to the complete velvety black and she was forced to call upon the heat of her dragonsoul to produce a simple dim light; fortunately for her, converting magical potential into simple energies like heat, light, and electricity were by far the easiest magics to work.

'Haven't been down here in ages...' Thought Belynda as she gratefully hauled her heavy self through the last part of her trek. In the back of her mind she was certainly not looking forward to the hike back upstairs to the east wing. It had, in fact, been almost a century, not since shortly after the Mana Leak had hit the world in full force, to the ruin of the magically blessed races, the ancient dragons most of all.

A sound not unlike Borlok's bellows began to meet the Blue's ears as she twisted sharply downward the last few steps, but this sound was vaster, deeper and slower than the crude leather machinery. It echoed off the old, grey brickwork. Somewhere a trickle was dripping.

Belynda found that she could not stifle a gasp as she emerged from the corkscrew passage into the deep chamber, the resting place for the mighty, the wise, and the hopelessly doomed. The Blue had been a fraction of her current size when she had last been down here - crying her eyes out as the Apocalypse seemed upon everyone then - however, that did not do much to lessen the impressiveness of the extremely large dragons who still slumbered here, unknowing to the passage of time.

Over a dozen of them slept here, carefully arranged against each other, in fact, all the dragons in the world over the age of 1,000 years, at least as far as anyone knew. Belynda touched each one gently as she passed them, feeling the coolness of their dry scaly skin, deep in fathomless hibernation. Eventually she settled before a cobalt blue drake and heaved a great sigh. She had been old enough at the time of the Mana Leak to know each of these dragons personally. They had been the heros and heroines of dragon-kind; wise, powerful and ancient. Of them, now only Cinder herself remained awake and active. In truth, the entire empire was now only a nation of children. 'No wonder we're losing...' thought Belynda miserably.

Aloud she said, "How're you doing, Mimrus?" And touched the cool snout with her forepaw.

The massive drake, over twice as tall and long as Belynda herself, taller even than Cinder, did not respond, of course. However, despite being unable to move for a century now, the death shroud did not hang completely upon the regal drake's features. A glimmer of life remained; Belynda could see it in the tone of his flesh, hear it in the slow, slow intake of breath, and feel it as his dragonsoul resonated with her own inner flame.

Belynda closed her eyes and set herself into a meditative trance. She had been working on this spell now for the better part of a decade, however, because of Cinder's intervention there seemed to be no more time to complete her thesis. With her eyes closed, the dragoness held the complicated metal construct that was the spell in her mind and began to feel more intensely the other dragon's magical fire resonating with her own.

The attunement proceeded without issue, she had gotten this far on many an occasion during her research. But she had never actually attempted contact before. She did not think there would be a problem now, she had been cautious until now because of the potential risk of damaging the ancient ones' minds, but in truth, there was just as much risk of her own mind being damaged. There was, after all, no way of telling the true state of their minds after all this time asleep and add to that the fact that they were to a one, legendary and powerful dragons prior to the Leak. 'I could be overpowered...' Belynda thought to herself as her flame and Mimrus's came into synchronicity. But right now, she desperately needed life advice. '...And the Mimrus I knew would never do anything to harm me or any other hatchling.' With that thought, Belynda steeled herself and extended the heat of her living dragonsoul to touch the cobalt drake's dormant one.

The fresh infusion of magic seemed to immediately invigorate the much larger drake's soul which drank it down. As Belynda fed it more of her own mana, she began to feel foreign thoughts brush against her mind. She should have already been aware of the other dragon's thoughts long ago, however, Mimrus was in such a deep state of hibernation that he was not even able to dream. Now he was, and Belynda's own consciousness seemed to shift, her mind's eye drawn... elsewhere...

Belynda was in a dream. She knew this and was still aware of her plump body sitting within the catacombs below the palace. However, now she was also flying through a flawless white cloudscape, not a scrap of land to be seen below the pearlescent, pristine hills and towers of fluffy white clouds.

In the first moments, as she saw nothing despite the vague sensation that her eyes were still closed, Belynda thought that her spell had failed, or perhaps even that the mighty dragon's mind had failed somewhere along the way from the long sleep and deprivation from ambient mana which once suffused the world. Then a large shape burst forth from the clouds nearby, no it was two shapes. Belynda recognized the imposing form of Mimrus, the cobalt drake's body nearly fifty feet long without even counting the length of the elegant whipping tail which nearly doubled that, however, she did not recognize the dragoness twirling with him through the air.

She must have been nearly as old as the ancient dragon for she was not terribly smaller than him, and she was flying so close to his lean body, so little space between them that their wings could easily have fouled each other's if they were not in sync...

'Oh... oh, dear...' Thought Belynda with just a hint of scandalous amusement as she realized what was happening. However, the sight of her childhood hero caught in the act, even an imaginary one, left her surprisingly scarred despite the rank debauchery in every corridor of the palace nowadays. Belynda turned her head away, however, even as she did, the world turned fuzzy, indistinct. The Blue felt her connection with Mimrus grow tenuous even as she continued feeding him mana from her precious reserve. Realization struck her.

'This is no dream, it's a memory!' Thought Belynda as she turned her nose back towards Mimrus, the heart of this tiny bubble universe that existed only in her mind and whatever was left of his. Belynda willed her dream form to wing its way towards the two spiralling dragons who soon interlocked, belly to belly. Their giggling and shrieks could be heard from a mile away, but Belynda ennured herself to it, having to face that even the great Mimrus was indeed only a being of flesh and blood.

Belynda, half the size of either of the two writhing dragons, found it difficult at first to keep up with their falling bodies, but quickly realized that she was not bound by physics in this memory. She willed herself down to their level and then matched their speed abruptly in a way impossible both for her lackluster flying skill and her own weight.

Mimrus was caught in the throws of passion, however and did not notice her, his breath was hot, forming vaporous clouds in the cool air. He gripped the female tightly in his claws, forcing submission from her with his superior strength. He growled fiercely as he pressed into her, both of their bodies falling through the air, not plummeting due to their trailing wings, yet their own massive bodies pushed the air aside as it tore at their large frames. He squeezed her and his partner squealed, but whether in delight or pain, Belynda could not tell.

'As much as you deserve a release from the touch of death, I don't have time for this!' Thought Belynda impatiently as she watched them for a couple long moments. Her mana reserves were draining fast, Mimrus's soul draining her like a barren desert aching for water.

"Mimrus!" she roared and then repeated herself as the drake continued to ignore her in his throws of passion.

Finally, he opened his eyes and looked at Belynda's scolding face with a mixture of displeasure, anger, and bewilderment. He looked as if he might snap at her and it truly would not be too much trouble for him to take a massive bite out of the much smaller dragoness, but instead, he spoke. "You were not here..." And with that, the scene melted away instantly.

Belynda next found herself seated comfortably upon a pile of dense cushions which took her weight, the surroundings somewhat familiar; she recognized this study from the east wing of the palace, though all the furnishings were all different, even the view outside looking down upon the city was altered from what she knew, the buildings taller than they were now, as Belynda recalled them before the Mana Leak. She came to the conclusion that this was the palace as it had been in some past time.

Mimrus sat across from her, his form as formidable as ever and his expression inscrutable. The atmosphere was as reserved now as it had been wild and passionate a moment before. "Who are you, Hatchling?" He rumbled, voice filling the room which he half filled himself with his huge body; the long tail, in fact, was slithering well out onto the balcony.

"I-I a-am Belynda." Said the blue drakka a little shakily. It was different now that Mimrus's attention was on her and clearly on guard now. "I was very young when... when we last met, but I was hoping you m-might remember me..." Belynda turned her head bashfully, almost tucking her snout underneath her wing pinion, but how could she not? Mimrus was a legend in his own right, all of the sleeping dragons here were.

Mimrus leaned his enormous head closer towards the other blue dragon. Belynda did rather feel like a hatchling as she looked up into a golden eye the size of a dinner plate.

"Blue hatchling... Belynda..." Said the titan slowly, humming the words. "...I think I would have remembered a hatchling as... plump as you are."

Belynda looked down at herself in embarrassment, hugging her wings about her round figure, trying to conceal her blubber and appear smaller. This was still a dream after all. Of course, even in a dream, her wing membranes could not hide the round bulge of her belly which was generous enough to rest on the ground along with her hind paws.

"Ohh..." Breathed the blue drakka shyly, turning her head aside. "But I haven't always been this big..." Then an idea struck her just as she was concerning herself with the discontinuity she felt seeing herself sitting in the east wing with Mimrus and the sensations of her body that told her she was still sitting at the bottom catacombs below the palace.

"Perhaps this will help..." She added, and she called upon memories now a century old. Her dream-self began to shrink, collapsing into itself. Belynda felt nothing of course, but in the dream, she could almost imagine herself getting lighter, her line of sight falling closer to the ground until she was as she remembered, a spry, bright-eyed dragonet of twenty five years, indeed barely more than a hatchling. When she spoke, her voice was more than an octave higher.

"Remember me now?" Asked Belynda as she channeled her younger self; it was not too hard after all. This had been by far the best time of her life, before the Mana Leak, before the fall of magic and the decline of her entire species.

Mimrus cocked his head the other way. Now it seemed like his eye was as big as Belynda's entire head and he could have easily made a snack out of her!

"Oh, you're that little one..." He rumbled. Belynda gave a little sigh of relief that Mimrus's mind did not appear to be too badly damaged by the long sleep. Mimrus seemed to be put at ease by his recollection and only now did he draw his head a little ways back and seemed to study the room around him. Slowly a glimmer of realization came into his eyes.

"We are in a dream..." He spoke in such a slow, stilted voice that Belynda could not be sure that this was not a side effect of not feeding him enough mana to think properly. However, he seemed to be mildly confused himself and was perhaps just setting things in order one piece at a time. He peered down at the tiny blue dragonet again, "Why have you come to me in my sleep, young hatchling?"

Belynda shuffled her tiny dream self upon the floor momentarily, actually twirling about in a circle like she used to when she barely outsized a pony. She knew she was running out of time, but she felt compelled to ask, if only for the sake of her research, "M-Mimrus, what is the last thing you can recall?"

The large drake pressed his thin reptilian lips together, brow furrowing, though whether in annoyance or concentration was impossible to tell. "I..." And then Mimrus did something shocking considering his legendary status in Belynda's mind. He hesitated. "...I honestly can't recall. It all seems so foggy. I remember something, like-" The old dragon trailed off.

"Like what, sir?" Belynda proded.

"Cinder." He said fondly, closing his eyes. "Oh Cinder. Such a wonderful lover. Sleek, muscular, with her head grounded in reality. And those wings of hers...gorgeous to see in the sky."

"Cinder's the last thing you remember?" Said Belynda with a cocked head. Mirimus opened his eyes, his horned brow furrowed.

"You say that with bafflement. Tell me, what's become of my beloved Cinder?"

Belynda gapped. She wasn't sure how one goes about revealing such information about Cinder's transformation, but as she sat with her maw open like a fish, she knew that it would take far too long to describe the century-long transformation she had witnessed not only in Cinder, but the entire palace culture she was a part of.

"Cinder is alive and... well." said Belynda hesitantly. "She's Empress now as all the other old dragons have gone to sleep..."

Mimrus raised a claw to clutch at the side of his head. "Empress...? Sleep...? Oh..."

Suddenly there were noises from the hallway outside the room we were in, the sounds of dragons speaking, but as both dragons turned their heads, the sounds were muffled, the shapes of dragons walking by foggy and indistinct. Belynda caught snatches of phrases, "...disaster in Falkreach..." "...thrall-pens broken..." "...revolution..." "...the end of magic..." "...extinction..."

Mimrus wore a pained expression as the ghosts moved past us, though whether it was due to the memories or the fact that he could not remember them more clearly was hard to tell. "It was the Mana Leak." said Belynda simply and allowed herself to resume her actual appearance, growing in size and bulk.

"How long..." The blue titan began, but he stopped himself, "...wait, don't tell me." he tore his eyes away from the young dragoness and looked sadly down at the floor. "I don't think I want to know." When he turned his eyes back to Belynda, his eyes burned with a renewed strength, however, "Tell me, though, Hatchling, are things improving? Is the magic returning?"

Belynda grimaced. "I'm... afraid not, Mimrus."

The drake lashed his tail, hissing in sudden agitation, "Then why have you disturbed me, Hatchling?!" He growled and added, "Do you think I enjoy considering the prospect of returning to my death-sleep?"

Belynda was hurt having her hero scold her, yet, empathized with him completely. She did not know how she would react being in such a helpless position herself, the next best thing to being dead, or possibly worse since his spirit remained trapped in his slumbering body. She turned her head away, feeling terribly sad, but as her mana reserves waned, she knew she had to at least get the advice she had come here for.

She turned back to him, saying,

"Mimrus, forgive me for awakening you like this, but I had to know if it was even possible to interact with you like this and also... I was hoping you could offer me guidance..."

Mimrus's eyes widened at her presumption momentarily, but soon softened. The huge dragon heaved a sigh and sagged, almost seeming to shrink.

"I suppose I should accept that this may be the remainder of my existence, even if I am forced to feed off of your mana like a parasite; yes I am aware of your crude little cantrip, Hatchling." He eyed her, taking in Belynda's corpulent form with a massive eye before waving his paw dismissively. "But if I can still offer my wisdom to the young, that at least may be a worthwhile service..." He leaned in while settling down upon the cushions. Even seated, his head towered above the dragoness. "Tell me what troubles you... Belynda." He said, adjusting to the reality of his situation with remarkable fortitude and pragmatism.

Belynda forced herself not to shudder with delight at the success of her communion with Mimrus and hurried through the basics of her situation, glossing over the extent of Cinder's changes and the rampant obesity and idleness among the upper echelons of their society as her mana reached critical levels.

"What an utter load of nonsense!" Mimrus snorted as Belynda began to pant lightly with the effort of maintaining their connection.

"I'm afraid it's the truth, Sir." Peeped Belynda. "I'd not disturb you if my concerns were not so dire."

The elder drake glared at Belynda, seeming to burn with ancient, fiery energy. "It is beneath a dragon to accept such a proposal, no matter the reward!" He said, voice filled with contempt. He gestured with his forefinger at Belynda, "You are already far too overweight, young drakka! If the magic is gone, I expect you will have difficulty flying soon, if not already based on how heavy you are."

Belynda winced, though she supposed she should have seen it coming. Before the Mana Leak, and before Empress Cinder, barely any dragons were seriously obese. A hundred years ago, she would have stood out as remarkably fat even if she was a lightweight now by palace standards. Also, she would not tell Mimrus that it had, in fact, been nearly a year since she had bothered to go out flying. She had assisted herself with magic even then and had put on more weight since.

"I'm... not so concerned about the privilege of being Heir Apparent, Mimrus." Said Belynda shakily, "Rather, I am afraid that disobeying Cinder's order will push me out of the palace entirely."

But Mimrus only snorted derisively. "If it is truly Cinder's wish for you to fatten yourself like a festival hog, then my old lover has clearly lost her mind." He shook his great head slowly. "Regardless, it is not the way of a wise dragon to acquiesce to another's will like this. We forge our own destinies!" He thumbed his deep chest with a paw. "This is a moment where you must forge your own life, Belynda."

"But I..." Belynda started, trying to tell Mimrus that she had no useful skills, she had been coddled and lived luxuriously her entire life, but instead gasped as the sharp pain stabbed at the core of her being, ice sharp. The heat of her dragonsoul was gone, all of her mana. She was now drawing off her life force itself.

"It's time for you to go, Hatchling." Said Mimrus sadly, "Live well."

Belynda couldn't argue, only gave the great Blue a last, longing look before she severed their connection and opened her eyes with a gasp.

The cool air of the gloomy chamber met her lungs, but otherwise nothing else had changed, but it had only been a dream after all.

"Urngh..." Groaned the dragoness as she clutched her head, a headache forming fast from exertion. Her body felt drained as well, as if she had been out jogging, or at least waddling faster than usual. Her mana reserves were completely gone and her flesh ached with its absence. It might be as long as a week before she replenished her reserves, unless Corobus was willing to give her a boost... And Belynda groaned again as she imagined all the long, long flights of stairs back to the east wing.

The dragoness reached out in the dark to pet the soft muzzle of the giant dragon in front of her. 'So much for consulting any of the others.' She thought gloomily and then realized that she was now in the deepest dungeon of the palace in complete darkness and not enough mana to even make a basic light. Cursing, she began to feel her way back out of the chamber the way she had come in, forced to use dead reckoning and stubbing her toes many times on the way back up.

The Party

Belynda slept for several hours before going to Dur'Reckt's salon to continuing her polishing and scale shaping. The fact that the thrall had his own parlor spoke volumes to his prestige and skill among the most notable dragons. But the thrall and his workers were swift in their work, and Belynda was polished and glittering within the hour. Her scales glistened in the fading sun so much that as she waddled she cast pepperings of blue light along the street and buildings she passed.

She caught the eye of many passing strangers, whom would let out a gasp and then stop and stare as she passed. How many of these were genuine awe at beauty, and how many were gasps at her being 'dolled up', she couldn't say. The dragoness continued onwards until the smells of roasted meats and expensive wines caught her snout. She came to a gated home, but the doors opened the moment she appeared to look confused. Naked thralls rushing to open the gate, hailing Belynda's name as she passed through.

There were many dragons on hand this evening, all of every color of the rainbow, and each seemingly fatter than the last. As she navigated down a set of stairs and into the garden, she couldn't help but stare at a pair of dragons so round it appeared comical. They were short in length, but large in blubber, leaving them spherical in shape and resting upon well padded carts. Yet still, like those gathered, they stuffed their maws with buttered lobsters, grilled steaks, honied chickens, and whole cakes.

"Ah, Bendy!" Came and all too familiar voice in the crowd, before Corobus came waddling up to her, breath thick with red wine.

[And That's all they wrote! ...For another two years!]

Queen to Be Thicc V2.0 Story Bible

By Shalion & Krown

World & Geography:

The world Rugaaria is a magical land inhabited by several species both humanoid and otherwise. The lands were long dominated by the magical species (dragons, elves and dwarves) into antiquity, each sequestered into their own lands and utilizing very different power sources for magic. They all, however, lorded over the non- and less-magical species, until about 100 years ago when the ambient mana began to leak out of the world for reasons yet unknown.

Drak-Theris: The capital of dragon controlled lands [In that series, dragons produced their own internal magic, but not really enough to sustain themselves past a certain size/power/age and relied on ambient magic to bouey themselves. Considering that we are talking about dragons ingesting demonic magic a lot, I think this makes a lot of sense for our story!] (that sounds cool. Perhaps that could work. Like, they're all able to use magic to do things, with the ability varying between dragons. And now, at long last, dragons are beginning to find trouble with accessing their powers. )

The city is situated on a large plain and in the center is a large, naturally occurring acropolis (a sheer sided stony hill of great height) pitted with many openings and landing platforms. The acropolis is the royal palace and houses hundreds of noble dragons and scholars as well as the accumulated knowledge of dragon-kind. The dragons of the palace lead pampered, spoiled lives; some having gluttoned themselves into obesity. The Empress herself most of all. They are extremely insulated from the ongoing war with humanity, and the civilian dragons of the city below only slightly less so. Magic remains strong in the capital while in the surrounding lands it is fading rapidly.

Thralls of multiple species, including humans, elves, and dwarves manage all of the menial labor. Even low class dragons are more akin to middle class with no dragon expected to do labor like tending fields or mucking out animal stables. As a result, more slaves live in dragon controlled lands of Drak'theris and surrounding areas than actual dragons. Eating thralls is generally frowned upon, but only due to its wastefulness and is only a social taboo with no law or formal punishment for man-eating dragons; though there are anti-cruelty laws. Many thralls, however, lead fairly fulfilling lives, sometimes becoming friends with their owners, but the lives of men and dwarves and to an extent elves pale in comparison to dragons, many of whom live for tens of thousands of years. Many generations of breeding humans, however, have led to a breed of humanity well suited to slavery and there would be almost zero chance of open rebellion save the waning of magic. Free humans actually look down on dragon thralls as a lesser kind of human and sometimes even slay them rather than try to free them from tyranny; though such a disposition varies from group to group, with some wanting to liberate the enslaved thralls, and others wondering if they can be brought out of generation upon generations worth of being enslaved and the mindset that has brought them.

Surrounding the city are massive farms managed by dragons with country estates who head thousands of thralls. Many of these dragons are much richer than common dragons who work in the city, but their nobility is still considered less than dragons who live permanently in the palace. These country dragons are resentful of their lowered social status, especially since they tend to possess more practical skills and knowledge than the pampered palace dragons.

There were once other major dragon cities, but these have all been mostly conquered already, the surviving dragons fled into the heart of their once vast territory. Humanity is encroaching on the last stronghold of dragon-kind with the waning of magic retreating to the outskirts of Drak'theris itself.

Elibas: The new heartland of humanity. It is located at the midpoint between the territory of dragons, elves and dwarves. It was once a nearly deserted bywater of little strategic importance to anyone until the magic began to fade from the land. As the magic, and the dominant species retreated, this area became a safe haven for rebellious and angry humans who built their own new city for themselves there, the first of its kind, and there they became industrious and developed their new arts and technology without the benefit of magic. With magic retreating to the homelands of the magical species, humanity's power grew into the void and they expanded in all directions, making war on slavers north, east and west, the sea only to the south. Only because humans were forced to make war on all fronts have dragons not already been defeated by overwhelming numbers of free men and former slaves.

In Elibas, there is constant research and experimentation. In addition to firearms and primitive steam technology, there is also alchemy where the magic of reagents is squeezed brutally out of the physical substance of once magical creatures and plants and combined with the growing knowledge of physical chemistry and medicine. Of all reagents, dragon flesh and bone is the most potent because dragons make their own magic, but also elf-trees and dwarf-stone are used and combined to make both potions for the benefit of health or industry. Alchemists are universally feared and reviled by dragon-kind.

The armies of Elibas are vast and they are always innovating their tactics and improving communications technology. The scales of dragons are now mostly insufficient to turn more than glancing shots from their matchlock muskets and there is rumor of more potent firearms termed "rifles" being distributed recently as well as more accurate field cannons which actually pose a threat to a dragon on the wing.

Magic: Dragons create their own magic internally as a form of metabolism. It is frequently referred to as their "fire" or even "Dragonsoul" by dragons themselves. A dragon's fire grows more potent over time, but as a dragon grows larger and more powerful over the course of their long lives, the strength of their fire usually becomes insufficient to their needs, resulting in ancient dragons' need to rely on ambient magic. Many of the oldest dragons have already succumbed to the lack of magic, forced into a state of hibernation where they were killed if they were outside of Drak'theris or else interred deep into the catacombs beneath the palace where they still sleep, unable to wake or communicate (normally).

Dragons tap into the 'heat' of their flame to cast magic and they do so generally with thought alone, no gestures or incantations required. However, a dragon may be required to have a significant understanding of formulation or mathematics which they must hold as an image in their mind to cast their magic, the more complex the task, the more arcane the knowledge required. All forms of dragon-breath are a release of their inner flame which all dragons can do innately even if untrained. After the 'heat' of a dragon's flame is used up, a dragon can still tap into their flame itself or 'dragonsoul' for additional power, however, doing so permanently harms a dragon's life force, impairing their future ability to generate magic and possibly even killing them outright.

Dragons and other magical creatures can sense ambient magic and other's magic as an 'aura' around them.

Elves and dwarves cultivate magic differently. When elves die, they become trees and their homeland is a forest composed of thousands of these ancient elf-trees which provide power for living elf-kind. Dwarf-stones are actually condensed mana which accumulates in the earth. Dwarves have devised means through the manipulation of leylines to 'farm' these crystals into specific points which they guard fiercely. The stones are then fashioned into powerful magical implements used as both weapons and for industry, but they run out of power eventually, like batteries. Both elves and dwarves have suffered greatly with the failing of magic. Elf-trees are growing silent and the dwarves are mostly running now on stored power which is no longer replenished at all.

Species:

Dragons: Dragons are reptilian, carnivorous quadrupeds with wings for a total of six limbs. They can live practically indefinitely and are immune to most diseases. Generally quick to anger and prideful, they tend to live in lower density than most other intelligent species and consider themselves above all other kinds of intelligent life, their economy relying almost entirely on slave labor to get by.

Dragons vary greatly in size depending on their age. Fresh out of the egg, a dragon begins life little bigger than a greyhound, however, they are mostly functional already and can fend for themselves immediately. This is because hatchlings are conscious in the latter stages of development in the egg and listen and absorb information before they hatch. They can, to a degree, control when they hatch, delaying perhaps for years, until an auspicious moment. The grooming and tending of eggs then is especially important in dragon culture as a dragon's formative years are actually before they hatch and eggs are traded between clans and groups as political deals.

By the time a dragon is 100 years old they average about 40 hands (13' 4") tall at the withers (shoulder/base of neck) and about 1000 stone (14,000 lb); if lean. About 20' long (nose to tail-head). Dragons are considered fully fledged at this point and their growth slows significantly but never fully stops. Males tend to be more brightly colored than females, but this is not a strict rule. Females tend to be heavier and larger than males on average for the same age. Clutch sizes can vary dramatically depending on the size of the female with larger females producing larger clutches.

Parentage is a loose concept among dragonkind with hatchlings being able to fend for themselves right out of the egg. Much more important are bonds of honor and inheritance, usually made among dragons who may or may not be related to each other.

Drak'theris, as a city of dragons, was founded on a principle of inheritance to prevent constant squabbling and thievery among the long-lived species. It is decided ahead of time who the owners of physical assets, including property, will be passed onto and the inheritors are honorbound to the living dragon until such time as they pass. Especially rich dragons like the Empress can afford multiple 'heirs' who are effectively honorbound servants until such a time as they pass from natural or unnatural circumstances. These 'heirs' however, are usually kept busy with tasks by the owning dragons since too much idle time can breed conspiritus thoughts and plots to gain an early inheritance. But assassinations are actually quite rare, honor being a deep cultural value among dragons.

Humans: Humans have no innate magic at all and exist as purely physical beings, This weakness has resulted in uncounted years of oppression from all other races, but recently has proven a strength with the waning of magic.

Elves: typical elven appearance. They reside in deep forests on the other side of an uninhabited mountain range from dragon-lands, to the north of Elibas. Elves can live to be up to 1,000 years old, but world weariness often takes them long before this. Elves don't die, though, so much as turn slowly to wood and then to trees that can live on indefinitely. The tree maintains the elf's consciousness in an altered state, usually more apathetic to the passing of time and absorb mana from the earth through the roots. Their minds can become still and silent, however, with the loss of magic in their tree form.

Dwarves: typical tolkien dwarf. They reside on the far side of Elibas from Drak'theris in the far east. As a result, it has been a long time since dragons have heard from dwarves. To the south of the dwarves, Elibas and Drak'theris is the sea. Dwarves can live to be about 400 years old, but are typically ancient and infirm by 200.

Demons: An extra-planar species who lack physical bodies and are composed of pure magic. They are immortal spirits who have a chaotic existence, constantly fusing, dividing and devouring each other. Their hunger is insatiable and they have little understanding or respect for individual life or consciousness. Individual demons exist only by devouring lesser spirits to maintain their individual identity in the whirling chaos of the void from which all demons arise. As such, lesser demons are barely conscious, grasping id's and mere fodder for the bigger demons, the greatest of which are incredibly ancient, even by dragon standards, and have god-like power. Contrary to most outward indications, demons are not inherently evil, but rather are incredibly disordered and their consciousness, such as it is, is inherently alien to physical and biological life. Contact with this chaotic magic, which is akin to 'eating' the demon itself since the magic is their entire being, has a corruptive and unpredictable effect on living beings.

Demons seek a physical existence largely to separate themselves from other demons and thus avoid being devoured. Because of their disorganized qualities, however, the flesh they take is likewise disordered and makes no logical sense. Simply existing physically drains a demon's inheirant magic and if they are by themselves long enough, smaller demons eventually run out of magic and die due to the lack of physical function of their bodies. Smarter demons can design bodies that actually function in a way that makes sense and thus have to expend less of their power to remain alive, but all require a source of willing flesh to work on as well as an entry point into the physical plane.

Characters:

Belynda: Green Dragon (F); 125 years old; quite plump at 1,500 st, 42 hands (14') tall.

Approx. Size Ref: https://tinyurl.com/yaqpsj6l

Approx. Ending Size Ref: https://tinyurl.com/y77tq3uy

Belynda is a bright young dragon who has been an heir to the Empress since hatching. She's lived her whole life in the palace, but is deeply concerned about the state of her nation and species. She has devoted her life to the study of magic ever since the Mana Leak began 100 years ago. She is soft of body, but her mind is keen and she has a will of her own. She is a steadfast and loyal friend and has a caring heart. When she meets Armand after nearly 80 years absence she doesn't actually recognize him at first, but feels a flutter of emotion after seeing his transformation.

Corobus: Gold Dragon (M); 124 years old; pretty fat at 2,400 st, 43 hands (14' 4") tall

Approx. Starting Size Ref:https://tinyurl.com/ycjr5mku

Approx Ending Size Ref: https://tinyurl.com/y9ooq3wh

Like Belynda, he has lead a pampered life, but he is far more indulgent of it than his 'egg-mate' Belynda and his body shows the results of it, however, in this indulgence, he is more like the rest of the palace elite than Belynda herself. Corobus' egg was chosen at the same time as Belynda's which makes him as close to a brother to her as can be in dragon culture. They are different in personality, yet close friends regardless. Corobus is vain and dandy-ish in his mannerisms as well as bisexual leaning towards outright gayness, a feature which is more a source of amusement and light scandal among long-lived dragons who do not mate for longer than a season at a time. However, there is a hidden kernel of strength inside the otherwise butter-soft and gossipy palace dragon. He would never leave Belynda to face danger alone. Upon seeing Armand, he immediately develops an intense crush on the lean drake.

Armand: Copper Dragon (M); 130 years old; lean at 950 st, 41.5 hands (13' 10") tall

Armand is from a line of country nobles and lived for a time at the palace and became close friends with Belynda and Corobus. As a youth, he was, if anything, even greedier and voracious of appetite than even Corobus and his waistline showed it. But soon after the Mana Leak happened, he and several of his line were sent to defend the outlying territory and now Armand is a veteran of about 80 years of losing combat. He is now lean and trim, fast rather than muscular as well as amazingly thrifty. Armand has starved multiple times and knows real hunger as well as seen dragons ten times his age killed either by human cleverness or dragon pride. He has night terrors, but is resolved to see dragon-kind through the current crises. He has resolved to set personal feelings aside under the danger is passed.

Astora: Light brown Dragon (F);180 years old; extremely obese at 4,500 st, 45 hands (15') tall.

Approx. Size Ref: https://tinyurl.com/yawfabn2

A modern dragon-mage of the young generation, Astora is energetic, clever and loves to talk, but her appetite is fearsome and legendary in the palace and she is not abashed to eat as heavily as the Empress herself in public. In fact, much of her thought is bent towards keeping herself adequately fed and even her study of magic has been turned in that direction.

Something of a savant and a genius in her own right, Astora has actually cracked the extremely difficult task of manipulating space-time to both teleport and slow time for her baked goods and roast hams. She also excels at developing magical solutions to dealing with her own extraordinary weight and girth.

Odhie: Dull silver Dragon (F); 220 years old; overweight at 1,250 st (Changed to slender White), 44 hands (14' 8") tall.

Odhie is a country noble dragon like Korovia, but has not spent nearly as much time at the palace as her far more obese friend. She is chafed by the social confines into which she was born, ever a second-class kind of aristocrat to those who can afford to live at the palace full time. She has rebelled mostly by turning inward with a slightly standoffish personality and an intense study of theoretical magic and mathematical models. She just happened to be visiting Drak-theris when Belynda came in search of dragons to help her investigate a potential lead on the source of the Mana Leak, the first such lead in 100 years. Though she is not fond of palace culture, like Belynda, Odhie is deeply concerned about the ongoing and losing war and the seeming inevitability of their defeat and extinction as a species. Though their physiques are the furthest apart, she develops a close friendship with the much heavier Korovia, with whom they had a written correspondence before they even met in person.

Perfectus: Crimson Dragon (M); 520 years old; heavily obese at 13,220 st, 55 hands (18' 4") tall.

The former Heir Apparent. A useless layabout who lacks ambition and lives a purely hedonistic lifestyle, not even bothering to write poetry. Cinder kept him around solely because he lacks the drive to attempt to assassinate her, and no one would want him to be Emperor should the worst happen to her. Sleeps on average 20 hours a day due to the mana leak and his growing physiological need for mana which his dragonsoul, though it has strengthened too over time, is no longer sufficient for supplying.

The Empress, Cinder: Black Dragon (F); 10,000+ years old. Super-sized at 48,000 st (336 tons), 80 hands (26' 8") tall; later is blob-like around 100,000 st (700 tons)

Approx. Starting Size Ref: https://tinyurl.com/ybnvf6op

Approx. Ending Size Ref: https://tinyurl.com/y7t2rzb9

When the mana leak began 100 years previously, Cinder felt it acutely, as if a heavy rain was falling all around her inner flame, her ship running aground on shallow water. Without ambient magic to feed on, her body felt heavy and she was more and more fatigued just like all the other large, ancient dragons. Rather than succumb to sleep, however, she looked desperately for other sources of power, any source. Eventually she succeeded.

She made cautious contact with beings from outside their plane of existence, naturally untrusting of alien beings, yet driven to desperation by the failing magic. She made a pact with the greatest of these strange beings and had to welcome a tiny black ember into her body where she has nursed it for a century. The black flame brought her the magical energy she needed to remain awake, however, it had certain... conditions of its own, chief among these was an intense surge in hunger that sat in her belly like a bottomless pit. At first, this cost seemed as nothing, but the fire did not consume the extra food she ate and her excess began to pad out her already large frame and then pad it out still further. Cinder found out belatedly that she would not be able to reverse this trend in her weight, but over the course of time, she grew accustomed to this cost as well, which still much better than being forced to sleep.

Over time, however, she grew more and more lax with her control over the black ember inside her belly, allowing more of it to enter her from outside of the universe and mingle with her own burning dragonsoul. She only became still hungrier and put on even more weight. Later she began to have extended conversations with the alien presence inside of her, teaching it about her world and learning strange and extraordinary things from it that altered her world view.

At the present time, there was almost as much of the black fire inside of Cinder as there was as of her original flame and it and her were mingling in their shared heat, making her more powerful magically than any other dragon mage alive. However, much of this power was needed simply to move around and support her massive, engorged frame which by now dragged heavily on the ground beneath her as she walked.

Unknown to Belynda or anyone else, about a decade earlier, Cinder began producing eggs, one after another; this came as quite a surprise to her as it had been multiple decades since she had been fit enough for a mating flight. These eggs she hid and thought nothing of them because she could detect no dragon flame inside them, they were 'duds' or so she thought. However, it is from these eggs that demons began to emerge physically into the world from the void.

Meanwhile the demon-lord began to whisper more and more loudly in her ear, telling Cinder of how she and all dragons would be restored to greatness, that she had nothing to fear and that her own power would soon be enough to crush all resistance; and this seemed true because year after year, she grew more powerful, bolstered by the black flame inside her. She only needed to wait and soon, quite soon, there would be a magnificent change. She only needed to reach a certain... critical mass, and everything would be made right. Her resistance having been broken down over the past century, Cinder listened and agreed with everything the black flame told her and she ate, and ate diligently.

It is the demon-lord who tells Cinder she should begin to groom Belynda into her likeness, but the reasons she is told to do this are not at all what the demon-lord intends.

Demon-lord "Mephistopheles": Dragon-like Demon (M?); 1 million years old; huge, muscular with a hanging belly; 20,000 st (140 tons), 90 hands (30') tall.

Ancient, cunning and manipulative, this ancient god-like being exists to dominate and consume others as he has countless demons and absorbed their power. The physical plane is a place where his power does not currently extend, therefore, he seeks to exert his will over it, and for no other reason than that is his nature.

While a dragon-egg is a suitable biological blank slate for many demons, the sheer amount of magic of this demon-lord is too much to house in such a small space. As such, without Cinder's knowledge, over the long years, he has constructed a body for himself inside the vast fat-filled warehouse of Cinder's abdomen.

Because he cannot free himself from Cinder's body without literally ripping his huge self out of her distended abdomen, he instructs Cinder to raise a protege whom is intended to also imbibe the dark flame and become a corrupted egg producing factory for demonic hordes.

He ends up having to tear himself out of his fat, slug-like dragon cocoon prematurely due to Belynda's intervention, however. And because he was nestling in amongst the fat of Cinder's body rather than her actual organs, Cinder is not immediately killed by his violent emergence. Cinder is then able to assist in slaying the demon's physical body, dispersing his spirit and sending its shapeless energy back to the void whence it came before she succumbs to blood loss from her torn open body.

Mimrus: ancient blue Dragon (M); 14,000 years old; 82 hands tall, 10,000 st.

An ancient warrior rather than a scholar, Mimrus is the oldest dragon resident at Drak'theris, and as such has succumbed to permanent hibernation due to the lack of magic in the air and soil. Due to his age, however, Mimrus' dragonsoul burns brightest among the sleeping dragons and for this reason, Belynda is able to contact him psychically as she mingles her flame with his in a reckless experiment.

Mimrus warns Belynda to be wary of the Empress' power which is unnatural to him as Belynda describes it. He tells the younger dragon that there may be more to her than what appears on the surface, but has no advice to give on the reason for the mana leak or how to keep dragons safe from the modern human threat.

Spire: Purple dragon (M); 420 years old, 60 hands (20') tall. An immobile blob at 50,000 st. (350 tons)

Approx. Size Ref: https://tinyurl.com/ya5lykfv

Spire is a large purple dragon the party encounters after learning of him from the village they rescue Corobus from. They wonder at his condition, as when they first see the shrine in the town, when Corobus places food upon it, the food vanishes. They've traced the source of the enchantment to the dragon, who, based on his girth, the party knows is the recipient of the meals, but quickly realize Spire is the victim of poor planning. He set several enchanted shrines about the land, where in the offerings of food placed upon them would be teleported into his belly. This has, over the years, resulted in him becoming hopelessly beached.

The party decides, while helping him isn't part of their quest, nor could they handle him and the ever fattening Corobus, they ought to at least put an end to the supply of food. And so after going about and either smashing abandoned shrines or disenchanting them, they return to the dragon. He reveals, after hearing them talk about the mana leak, that he's been detecting an irregularity for a while now, and they ought to investigate it.

Ozymandias: Blue Dragon (M); 1,200 years old; super obese at 65 hands (21' 8") tall, 29,000 st (203 tons).

One of the oldest dragons still active enough to conduct research despite the Mana Leak, Ozymandias is a respected scholar and considered one of the greatest minds in Drak-theris. However, he is proven to be incredibly timid at heart and far too fond of food and comfort to go on the adventure with Belynda.

Plot Outline:

Belynda is woken by a human thrall unusually early and receives news that the Empress has requested her presence for an audience over breakfast. Somewhat flustered, Belynda gets ready hurriedly with the help of palace thralls while wondering if the Empress has come up with a solution their nation and species is facing. This includes a hot bath, where she's scrubbed over by her thralls. Then polishing of scales, cleaning of teeth, and then a large breakfast.

Over a huge breakfast, the Empress, Cinder, is revealed as a gluttonous black dragon who seems oddly unconcerned about the impending doom of humanity who is nearly at the outskirts of the last dragon city. However, Cinder's authority cannot be questioned, both by law and the fact that she is the only dragon over the age of 8,000 years who has not fallen into hibernation due to the loss of ambient magic. She has declined to explain her fortitude so far to anyone.

Cinder, while eating copiously, explains that she wants to begin to groom Belynda to be her Heir Apparent, the foremost of her many indentured dragons, including Corobus. This is ostensibly a process that will take at least several years and bring Belynda's 'understanding' around to Cinder's point of view, after which she explains she intends to leave command of Drak'theris to her. Cinder does not explain what she herself will be doing once Belynda in in charge. But over the course of the conversation, it is made clear that Belynda is expected to dramatically 'adjust' her diet and physical condition. Belynda is incredibly unsure about becoming so much more obese like the Empress, and quite unsure what levels of obesity Cinder possess has to do with ruling an empire, but has almost never denied any request from her liege lord in the past. She -tacitly- agrees to begin training herself according to Cinder's will, but internally is filled with doubt.

She meets Corobus in a spa, her belly bursting with breakfast and trying to keep up with the Empress. The golden dragon is currently relaxing in a bubbling tub, dining on chocolate drizzled bacon, wrapped around beef, all the while being sung high praise by an elvish thrall, and a few passing dragons of lesser stature, on his golden color and shining scales. She explains the situation to Corobus and her reservations about not only becoming so obese, but also about having to adjust her whole personality to suit Cinder as an executor of her will.

Corobus advises Belynda that this is her own life and that she ought to do as she feels is best, even if it means throwing away her heir status and leaving the palace. Belynda inwards feels the truth of this, but is afraid since she has never had to earn her way in the world and has always had everything provided for her. She asks Corobus if he would ever leave the palace and he scoffs that he wouldn't as he scarfs a large snack and has his talons polished.

Belynda feels that she ought to get a third opinion and decides to act on a project she had been working on. She tells Corobus that she has been trying to communicate with the hibernating dragons beneath the palace for their wisdom and Corobus says that she ought to try, seeing as this may be her last opportunity before Cinder begins occupying all of her time.

(A small sightseeing tour occurs here where in the palace and its inhabitants are observed by Belynda as she makes her way down to the lower levels)

Belynda descends into the catacombs alone, down into the place where the ancient dragons were placed when magic began to fail and their inner flames alone were insufficient to maintain consciousness, despite their great power. Descending into the catacombs she passes other dragons attempting to do what she's doing, to no results. Around the slumbering dragons there's flowers, and heirlooms, and other paraphernalia which had belonged to them in the waking times. Belynda finds the oldest of the dragons who made it back to Drak'theris, a 14,000 year old male and renowned warrior by the name of Mimrus.

Belynda begins a dangerous experiment. It is dangerous because it entails mingling her inner flame with the inner flame of the sleeping dragon, which itself is much larger than her own, but any manipulation of her dragonsoul is inherently dangerous. Deep in meditation, however, she is able to commune with the sleeping dragon, who, naturally, is surprised to see her. Contact with the ancient dragon is extremely draining to Belynda, however, as he needs so much energy to even share a dream with her. She asks his advice, and though Mimrus explains he is not a scholar, he shares his opinion with her and he is likewise dismayed at the state of the world and of dragon-kind. He warns Belynda that he knows of no power which could keep the Empress awake when all others have failed and that it seems unnatural and dangerous to him, especially when he learns of her unusual appearance and her desire to make Belynda like herself. But he confesses that maybe it is related to how she is able to maintain her power, even if he finds the gross obesity distasteful. He tells Belynda to keep her eyes open, but honestly cannot think of a solution to the threat of humanity either. Belynda is left exhausted and crestfallen that even the wisdom of ancient dragons seems insufficient to today's problems. She walks slowly up from the catacombs and collapses in the library, her favorite sanctuary.

After a short time, she is awakened by Corobus. Night has fallen, or is near to falling. He tells her of a small private party he's going to, and wishes for her to join. She agrees, figuring that a party might lighten her spirits, and at once Corobus' thralls begin pampering and polishing her from tip to tail. Her brilliant blue scales sparkle and shine like Corobus' own golden, and together they walk/waddle to the party with tails intertwined.

At the small party, where a band plays, colorful lanterns are hanging, fountains trickle, they encounter many of the more noble class dragons and dragonessess, all of varying size and girth. There's a series of buffet tables all about the garden's grounds, which thralls are busting themselves to keep full; one elf finds themselves crossing in front of a frustrated, hungry dragon at the wrong time. In essence, and this is something Bendy begins to feel even more aware of given Cinder's recent words, is how hedonistic and gluttonous their society is. She recalls stories of when dragons were all fit and muscular, building cities and polishing claws themselves, and not with hominid help. This reminder is especially keen given her recent experience with the ancient Mimrus and his shared memories. She even feels a little uncomfortable in her own skin given that she is very much overweight herself and has hardly any muscle (for a dragon at least).

Over the course of the party, Corobus encourages Belynda to drown her concerns with an excess of liquor and not too reluctantly, Belynda cooperates. In the course of the drinking, Corobus recites some of his favorite poetry for his many admirers, among them is an extremely obese dragonelle whom Belynda has met before in her magical education but doesn't know very well. The obese dragonelle is Korovia, who, clearly drunk, sidles close to Corobus, admiring his golden scales even as she gorges continuous at a rate the servants can barely keep up with. It is not hard for her to encourage him to indulge his appetite along with her for a time. Meanwhile, Belynda continues to drink, slightly put off food at the display. Soon after, in a drunken haze, Belynda rouses to a sudden squawking from under her thick rump. She had not even realized she had sat down. She is forced to apologize to a miffed dull silver dragoness named Odhie who also seems familiar enough that Belynda ought to know her, but can't initially place her name.

Almost too drunk to stand, let alone fly, Corobus, who can handle his liquor much better, leads Belynda safely to her chamber, but she is woken early the next morning with instructions to again join the empress for breakfast. Belynda's insides gurgle uncomfortably at the thought of more food and drink, but she has no choice but to go.

The empress is feasting publicly as she often does simply to show off her 'physique' and gastrointestinal fortitude. The empress informs Belynda that this 'breakfast' is in fact more of a working brunch and that she will be expected to wake up much earlier and even during the night to keep her gorge up. In between polite conversation with very important noble dragons, Cinder teaches Belynda to focus her magic towards her digestion, both to minimize waste and speed her own growth, as well as emptying her belly for more food. The empress expects Belynda to reach her own extent of obesity in far less time than she herself did, in just a few years in fact. Belynda feels almost sickened as she does as instructed, actually forcing her body to get fatter with her limited supply of magic. It feels wrong somehow, definitely against what Mimrus and the ancient dragons would have done.

The steady feasting is interrupted by a messenger thrall, however. Belynda has been requested personally for a private meeting. Cinder is incensed that someone would take her protege away from her during a public function, and looks likely to eat the tiny messenger thrall who would have been little more than a mouthful for the giant dragon who is almost twice as tall as Belynda and over 20 times heavier. However, the messenger says that it is a matter of "national security" and even the empress does not have the power to counteract the order without cause. Belynda is reluctantly let go with orders to return for a 'do-over' at supper time. Belynda sighs, forced to use the Empress's spell to suppress a tummy ache as she walks.

Belynda is expecting to meet some stuffy general dragon, but the thrall takes her to their message sender, and she is surprised to discover it's Armand that'd sent for her. Many years had passed since she last saw her hatchlinghood friend, and the most notable feature, or rather lack of a feature, is how thin and fit Aramand has become. No more copper butterball, but a scarred dragon chiseled from stone and so very lean, closer to underweight than over.

The two share an embrace and have a long list of things to catch up on, however the copper has to cut the reunion short. He informs her he's been given temporary leave to seek out the source of the mana leak which has been plaguing the dragon realm. However, he needs a team of dragons who are in the know about powerful, arcane magics. He tells her that military dragons have come across a possible lead, but they need experts on the arcane and that they need to leave as soon as possible, though Armand can't tell Belynda exactly what it is right now.

Belynda asks why the Empress isn't in charge of organizing this effort and Armand looks abashed. He admits that the Empress hasn't involved herself in the defence in many years, but tells Belynda that too is a secret she can't spread. Because of the few letters they've exchanged over the years, Armand knows that Belynda is a student of magic. But also, he explains that he wants younger dragon mages on this team since they'll be leaving the comfort of the palace and exposed to hardships most of the older scholars have forgotten about.

Belynda is almost at a loss and on the verge of tears, however. Everyone she knows, including herself are soft palace dragons just like Armand just described. She doesn't think any of her fellow students would be up for a long flight close to the frontlines where the invading human armies are. She lies though, for Armand's sake, promising to get together a small team, but flees to her chambers where she collapses on her soft, decorative pillows, weeping for physical and emotional exhaustion.

Belynda then leaves to find Corobus, the only dragon she trusts enough to help her and also is such a gossip that he knows almost every dragon in the palace well. He is very interested in Armand's return and demands to meet him in exchange for helping her. Belynda sighs and agrees to the Golden's terms. Afterwards, they go on a series of short encounters.

They meet Ozymandias in his laboratory down in the city proper, a large stone building with a copper dome; he is is an old and immensely obese dragon. He immediately explains his experiments into the source of the mana leak, but quickly reveals almost zero progress and furthermore he is amused at the ludicrous idea of leaving the city. Perseus, Ozymandias' public rival likewise scoffs at the unnecessary danger involved in leaving the city. Belynda suggests to Corobus that they find other students like herself, but nearly all of them don't take Belynda or Corobus seriously at all.

It is Korovia who overhears Belynda's impassioned plea to an old classmate and barges in after she is shot down. She claims that she's not afraid to leave the city, but considering the state of the huge brown dragonelle's waistline, both Belynda and Corobus are very skeptical. Belynda actually feels the need to point out that Korovia is twice as fat as Corobus and she was not planning on taking him along either. Corobus reacts dramatically and both he and Korovia gang up on Belynda, forcing her to cave not just to Korovia, but surprisingly to Corobus as well, whom she had assumed would not want to come himself. And still, Belynda is sure that he is only making a scene just to be contrary and create drama.

Belynda is suddenly visited by Cinder's runners, and they inform her she's being summoned once more to Cinder's chambers, and that she is to come at once with no delay. She tells the party to meet her at her home, she'll return there after she's done dealing with Cinder's demands. Belynda arrives to find the Queen in a surprisingly good mood considering Belynda ditched her the previous day. Belynda suspects this to be due in part to the lavish assortment of dinner meals presented before her, though there is a hint of displeasure in the Queen's tone.

She basically tells Bendy, after asking how her night went, to plop herself down and start gorging, and to not stop until they'd cleared the table. Belynda obliges and starts eating alongside the Queen, who is devouring food in a most un-Queenly manner, belching, guzzling gravy, getting her scales soiled with food stuffs. Belynda believes this to be due to Cinder being in a private setting rather than public, yet still is off put by seeing Cinder behave like a slob.

Cinder eventually catches onto Belynda's slowed pace of eating, and demands to know what's bothering her. Belynda comes up with the lie that her friend wanted to spend more time together before they had to depart again, and only having the one day of reunion was filling her heart with sorrow. She goes onto say that it's affecting her appetite greatly, and so may affect her abilities to fatten up as Cinder wants her to.

So, with a grumble and a gassy belch, Cinder gives Belynda leave to spend an additional amount of time with her friend, though she must return within two weeks. Belynda bows to her Queen and makes massive promises about returning and doing whatever the Queen wanted. Belynda then leaves swiftly and returns to her chambers to find another dragon with Corobus and Korovia, Odhie.

The silver dragon gives Belynda some stern, bitter looks, and it's revealed that she's the dragon Belynda got drunk and had sat upon. Belynda of course apologizes, and Odhie accepts on the condition she not do it again, stating she doesn't need the structural integrity of her ribs tested anytime soon. Corobus makes the case that Odhie possess certain country-smart aspects, and would be a valuable asset to their cause.

It seems like these are the only dragons in the entire palace and maybe the whole city who are even willing to go on the mission, Belynda realizes. She hopes that Armand is not too upset with her when she leads him to their appointed meeting place later that evening before dusk.

It's clear that Armand prepared to outfit more than four dragons and himself as they meet in the landing chamber, but he sees from Belynda's expression that this is the best she could do and is understanding, but also harsh about the realities and hardship they will face away from the city. Corobus bumps into Armand, like in the first draft, and blushes hard in seeing the shape of Armand's body as he casually pushes the Golden's fat chest away from him. Belynda teases him

The dragons are outfitted with simple carrying harnesses and baggage, Armand taking on nearly twice his weight while the fattest dragons are equipped far more lightly. They launch into the twilight, but fairly soon, even with the lack of burdens, Korovia and Corobus are lagging behind in the air. Armand deals with them patiently, however, seemingly well aware of palace culture and its lack of emphasis on physical fitness. Most of the dragons can manage to fly - slowly- under their own power, but Korovia is so heavy, she is forced to maintain a levitation spell and after a few hours, she is running dangerously low on magic.

Armand maneuvers himself below the light brown dragon's wobbling belly and makes physical contact with her before performing a maneuver Belynda has never seen before. Through her perception, she can see Armand transferring his magical energy to Korovia, but at the same time, there is a pretty terribly exchange rate because even this only keeps her in the air for about another hour or so. Armand leads the party to a likely looking hill near a stand of trees to rest. They only made it about halfway to the destination, and unfortunately because of the mana leak, Korovia's magic reserves will take several days to refill on their own.

The fattest member of the group apologizes profusely for slowing everyone down. Armand teaches everyone the magic transfer technique, which is used relatively frequently on the front lines as it turns out. Even so, Armand wants everyone to march on the ground the following day with the hope that Korovia will be fit for another few hours of flight sometime that afternoon. Corobus admits to Belynda that he didn't think he could go much further himself and complains about 'deathly' exhaustion and Armand's 'slave-driving' attitude.

While camping that night Korovia reveals her pocket dimension of food, and provides everyone with much welcomed hot meals. Korovia reveals that this pocket dimension is bound to her dragonsoul, showing off a tattoo which is normally obscured by a heavy fold of flesh. Her pocket dimension is also bound to one other point, her farm near Drak'theris which manifests as a permanent portal in her pantry. Odhie laments the use of space/time magic to satisfy Korovia's overactive appetite, but admits at length that it is a handy camping trick. Belynda talks to Armand alone for a brief while, apologizing for not being able to find more qualified dragons and expressing her own feelings of inadequacies in the face of their declining civilization. Armand tries to comfort her, but they are interupted by an ambush from a small human scouting party.

The party receives unexpectedly serious injuries, but is able to repel the humans, slaying at least half of them. Armand leads the group on a march the rest of the night and explains that they'll likely be followed by the survivors. Late the following day, Korovia has received enough magic from the other dragons for another short flight and this takes them to the secure location of the imp corpse.

The entire area around the imp has been secured by the dragon military (think alien containment site). The imp was originally found by thralls of a local dragon-run farm. The thralls too seem to have been contaminated by strange magic the likes of which were completely unknown. At first, Belynda does not know what to think about the weird magic which appears in her mind like a black flame/ember. Odhie is useful in breaking things down on a theoretical level and providing context for the rest of the group. Belynda and Odhie work together to construct a scrying spell modified for demonic magic (for dragons this would be a mental construct, like a combination of mental state and mathematical equation).

This lets them perceive that the magic is chaotic in nature and twists everything it comes into contact with, explaining the effects on the thralls and why the imp's internal organs make no sense. Belynda explains to Armand that the imp appeared to function soley off of its magic, but cant explain where it came from in the first place. Using the scrying spell, Belynda locates a large mass of the same energy some distance away and feels responsible for leaving to investigate it. Armand agrees and arranges for an escort of military dragons to accompany them, even a couple to help support Korovia while in the air.

The group travels to the location of the strange energy signature, but are attacked by a large group of demon imps. The military dragons are surprised and the escort is needed to fight off the imps. In the chaos, Armand, Belynda and company plow forward, or are drawn in and find themselves in a localized pocket of warped space caused by the influx of demon magic from outside the universe. It manifests as a vast labyrinth in which the members of the party are faced with their own personalized torments which imbed themselves so deeply into the party's mind, that they believe them to be real.

For Belynda, she discovered herself having blimped into a colossal dragoness, so incredibly fat that she cannot wiggle so much as a toe. Thralls are almost constantly stuffing food down her open maw. The thralls, and the dragons guarding her, are all rail thin from lack of food. Cinder appears, but is considerably thinner than ever, almost normal. She congratulates Belynda on becoming larger than she ever dared dream, and then wishes the sapphire dragoness the best of luck in the kingdom before departing.

Armand has his own wartime horrors come to life right before him, seeing the party being slaughtered in many horrific ways, just as he'd seen fellow soldiers killed by humans. Korovia is placed in a land of famine. No food or drink to be had, and her magic fails her. As she waddles along she can visibly see herself thinning.

Corobus is placed in some divine court, with dragons and dragonesses fawning over him. They get him to lay belly up in a padded, bowl like dais. They pamper and caress him in such a way, he cannot help but let them; the magic of the maze letting him forget about the party and all things before, he now thinks this is part of the Queen's castle that he's stumbled into. The dragons begin to feed him meal after meal, but unlike Belynda's dream, he doesn't immediately gain fat. His stomach just continues to grow rounder and tighter. By the time he realizes how full he is and how it's starting to hurt, he's too heavy to get out of the bowl. The other dragons keep forcefully stuffing him.

It's Odhie that manages to break the spell. In her nightmare she turns into a dragon shaped pastry and is chased by a titanic dragon. She realizes it's all a fabrication when she realizes just how absurd this whole scenario is and choaks the dragon chasing her. She then manages to locate Belynda, then the two of them are able to break through the manifested walls - they try at first to solve the labyrinth only to realize it has no solution - to save the others from their nightmares.

The maze dissolves, leaving them standing in an open field on fire with demonic runes, however, the fire begins to spread immediately and the runes themselves are consumed. Korovia and Odhie protect the group with a shield from the flames while Belynda hovers over Corobus who is clearly in distress. Curiously, despite their experiences having been magical illusions, they each find themselves altered by their visions. Odhie keeps spitting up jelly. Belynda is considerably fatter. Armand has new scars. Korovia is remarkably thinner. And Corobus' belly is round and tight, which leads to him having a small break down about his nightmare upon realization he was going to be stuffed until bursting.

Feeling unsafe with the dark magic surrounding the area, the party moves along in search of a safer area to bed for the night, as well as take stock of their information now that their 'lead' had turned into ash and flame. They don't know where their military escort has gone, and Armand is reluctant to leave the more vulnerable dragons behind to try to contact them.

By the time the dragons bed down for a well deserved rest, Corobus has grown noticeably fatter, prompting Belynda to examine him more closely. At first, she cannot tell what is causing him to further soften and expand, though at the rate he he growing, it is difficult to see how he will be able to move by morning. During this time, Corobus speculates about an irregular sensation he feels in his vast, distended midsection and even suggests that Cinder may have something similar in her system. He comes to this conclusion based upon how energetic he feels, despite the decreasing mobility, and compares this with the Queen's own nature despite how much of a blimp she'd become. The others come to the conclusion that Cinder couldn't have come into contact with this black magic, given how she's never left the castle, and count her lackadaisical approach to the war as ignorance, not malevolence. Odhie finally decides to use the new demonic scrying spell on Corobus's tummy and there it's revealed that there is a black flame attached to the gold drake's dragonsoul. Corobus, naturally is alarmed at a demonic parasite attached to his soul and feeding energy into his body which, for some unexplained reason, is being converted to fat constantly. However, no one knows of any skills or techniques which might be able to undo the partial fusion, operating on a dragonsoul flame is dangerous in the extreme. Belynda falls asleep listening to Kororvia and Armand speaking about ways to move Corobus's titanic frame come morning.

Well before that, however, the party is ambushed by a large force of humans wielding newer weapons than the old matchlocks the other scouting party had. The group is overpowered quickly and forced to flee for their lives, leaving Corobus behind.

[Corobus PoV] Corobus sustains significant injuries during the battle, but his wounds mysteriously regenerate rapidly as a result of the black fire inside of him, even taking an execution style shot to the head. The soldier who shoots Corobus is taken aside and whipped by his NCO, however, as dragon prisoners are extremely valuable. Army engineers are called in to set up a rolling platform to transport the still-fattening drake's body weight. Rolling on logs which are laboriously moved to the front of a chain under the dragon, Corobus is rolled slowly to a human town further into the greylands. Corobus notices the magical pressure around him drop, but the black flame keeps feeding him a steady supply of magic which maintains his health. At the town, Corobus is amazed by the sight of iron tracks and a steam locomotive. There, he is also greeted by Elizabeth, the greatest alchemist/mage of Elibas, who was summoned quickly by telegram, though Corobus has no idea what that is. Corobus is loaded by crane onto the locomotive where he is hauled to Elibas.

Belynda is by herself after the ambush. She lands and has to spend a day tending to her injuries. She worries constantly about Corobus who she knows couldn't possibly have gotten away due to his handicap. After extracting all of the little metal pellets from her hide with her scant magic supply, Belynda laboriously flies around aimlessly, looking for her group mates, but she's hampered by her expanded obesity, which now matches Corobus's former size, and can only fly for a couple hours at a time. She sees a large shape in the distance and thinks at first it is Korovia, however, remembers that Korovia is now little more than half of her former extreme size and also that this new blobby shape is MUCH larger than Korovia ever was. It's Spire.

Belynda brings water to Spire who is extremely grateful since it's been over two weeks since it last rained. Spire tells Belynda his story about setting up an experimental human culture centered around dragon worship and the altar which teleports offerings directly into his stomach. Spire did not factor in the pace of human expansion and was abroad when he started putting on considerable quantities of weight. He almost made it back by the time he was grounded by his girth and has been stuck in this same place almost since then, continuing to pile on weight to his current blob-shape. Belynda feels uncomfortable and imagines Corobus in the same situation.

Before Belynda can decide on a course of action, she is found by Armand and Odhie, who swoop down and are generally shocked by Spire's appearance. They relate their tale of a weird human village nearby who worships dragons. Korovia is still there and taking advantage of their hospitality, her decreased waistline not having affected her old appetite. Belynda and the others fly back to the human village, but are not allowed to disenchant or even approach the shrine. Village members have taken advantage of technology given to them by Elibas, even if they have so far refused to forsake their old religeon.

Belynda speaks to the mayor-equivilant [name?], and offers to show him the 'god' they have been worshipping this whole time. It is a couple days' walk but Belynda feels that she needs the exercise. Along the way, Belynda talks with [name?] about human oppression...

To Do:

PoV chapter for Corobus. He interacts primarily with a human mage/alchemist who studies Corobus intensely

Main party was scattered and has to reunite. One of the members encounters Spire, another member winds up at his associated human village

The party helps Spire, and someone in the village helps the main characters launch a rescue attempt for Corobus

Corobus is mostly immobile and being subjected to experiments, the black flame lets him regenerate pieces cut off of him by the alchemist. From her, Corobus learns about human oppression, the dying lands which are drastically decreasing their food supply, as well as a possible explanation for the mana leak. An accident which occurred during a wizard's experiment to stop dragon's magic.

The party finds Corobus and the Gold is shoved into Astora's pocket space to allow him or others to escape.

Corobus and possibly other characters arrive at Astora's farm near to the capital. Astora cannot come through her own pocket space however and must fly back on her own.

Corobus takes advantage of the copious supply of food and Belynda tries desperately to think of a plan to confront the Empress, there is still only light evidence that she is corrupted by demons. Also Belynda needs to find a cure for Corobus who shows no signs of ceasing to get fatter.

As Corobus sleeps, he must resist the corrupting effect of demon magic

Belynda decides to confront the queen on her own and demand that she come clean, a naive plan, but she cannot think what else to do.

In an audience with the queen, she is now visibly corrupted with sickly green light in her throat and cracks forming in her scales, she is much, much fatter than before as well. The Empress readily admits to welcoming demons into the world and attempts to persuade Belynda that the demons are the salvation of dragon kind.

The empress overwhelms Belynda with potent magic and sandwiches her under her fat rolls, proceeding to have Belynda force fed.

By now, even the empress' guards are hesitant to obey orders, but Cinder is overwhelmingly powerful and they dare not disobey, though they tell Belynda they mean to help her, even as she is stuffed full of food and smothered under the empress' weight

The empress uses her own considerable magic supply to fatten Belynda for a time.

Demon eggs are hatching in the palace dungeons. They are unwittingly unleashed by a member of the party (hopefully corobus? Maybe he learns to use the black flame's magic like Cinder)

The dragons in the palace are all attacked by thousands of demons of various shapes and sizes. There is chaos and a general revolt by the guards

Members of the party, assisted by honest palace guards free Belynda

The empress attempts to fight back, but is overcome by sudden terrible abdominal pain

The demon-lord erupts from Cinder's huge abdomen, a fully formed adult dragon standing twice as tall than her, muscular but with a pot belly, and a raging cock throbbing for all to see; Cinder passes out from the shock. He is fantastically powerful both physically and magically.

He lords over Belynda, desperately wanting to turn her into his new cock sleeve, and begin turning the sapphire dragoness into a breeding factory, but realizes he is too large for her.

He casts a spell and begins adding the might of the other lesser demons to his own might, growing more muscular and pot bellied by the second; in turn causing their numbers to dwindle quickly. He intends to use this magic to enhance Belynda's size in order to make her mateable.

He manages to do so, as well as using his magic to keep Belynda and the others pinned in place. Mephistopheles then starts pulling himself atop the helpless dragoness, about to do the deed when he is interrupted by a blast of magic from Cinder.

Cinder is mortally wounded, but helps the party and palace guards defeat the demon lord

The rest of the demons are also put down, their strength having been weakened by the Lord taking most of their energy and numbers.

Depending on the cause of the mana leak, maybe some kind of solution or 'plug' is able to be found, or a general compromise to the benefit of humans and dragons

Corobus is intrical in both contacting Elibas through his contact/sympathies with the human alchemist (even though she tormented him), and also arguing for human rights. Belynda also backs him up on this, having seen the wrongs of enthrallment.

Belynda inheirates control of Drak'theris and dragon-kind itself, an armistice is made with Elibas in exchange for freeing the dragons' thralls. With the farms empty, some of the dragons of Drak'theris are forced to disperse while others are forced to hire laborers from Elibas at fair wages. There is considerable hoarded wealth in Drak-theris. There is a tense and uneasy, but stable peace. Dragon hunters still slay dragons in the wilds, but at least Elibas no longer turns its armies to their extinction. It is non-ideal, but there seems to be a future for dragon-kind now.

Belynda returns to Mimrus?

Belynda hooks up with Armand?

Corobus is either cured or his black flame is damped down to a manageable level, but he's permanently altered and blob-like. Korovia, much leaner now herself, finds herself attracted to the enormous Gold and helps him out with day-to-day tasks

Belynda, also having grown considerably fat from Cinder's force feeding, looks out over her city, at peace.