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I finally got around to writing a story I thought of a year ago. This Series will have vore themes, but not always contain actual vore. This will also have perma vore in that someone that gets digested is digested, but that shouldn’t be too common. I hope this series will make you laugh, make you cry, and overall I hope you enjoy it. This series will focus on relationships between predators and their friends they view as prey.
Description continues after story.
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“Why did I have to leave tonight!?” I said to myself. “If he told me I needed to be at Tradore by morning I would have left this afternoon, so I wouldn’t have to pass the Mound at night.”
“Considering how dangerous it is around here, I probably should stop talking… I should probably stop talking to myself in general, but who else am I going to talk to.”
The dirt road to Tradore was covered in enough freshly fallen snow to cover at least a quarter of a wagon wheel, making the journey very difficult, especially for a fennec like me. I was in no real danger of getting lost as I had made this journey many times, but the show was well over my knees and not a single cart, horse, or anthro had been down this road sense the snow let up earlier in the day, leaving no reprieve as I dredged onward, in my thick, fur lined clothes. They were a strange garb for a creature to wear, but necessary for a desert creature, such as myself, to keep from freezing their tails off.
“I don’t care how much it costs, I’m buying a pair of snowshoes for the return trip,” I thought to myself; deciding it was now defiantly too dangerous to speak allowed for the time being. And danger was present. In an instant, my heart jumped, eyes widened, back straitened, and body stiffened, all before immediately crashing back down as I realized what had terrified me more than anything else in my life.
“It’s just a snow covered bush,” I said grabbing his heart with my right hand. “Hah heh hah heh hooow,” I breathed. “That looked so much like a wolf. Hah.”
“Oof” I suddenly felt a large weight hefted onto my pack knocking me face first into the thick layer of fluffy fresh snow. My vision went white, then black, then slightly blue. The weight of the unknown thing was still holding me in the snow, making it almost impossible to breathe. As panic set in, I flailed my arms and legs; creating the world’s most uncomfortable snow angel. After what felt like forever but was only a few moments the weight lifted off my back and became a force lifting my left arm and flipping me over. I now found myself snout to snout with my greatest fear, a gigantic wolf. She was as white as the snow she shoved me into, her eyes were a soft gray that got darker near her pupils, creating the illusion of a tunnel, one with no escape, and right above my nose, sat her own, like a lump of coal in the fresh snow. It drew attention both to and away from her exposed fangs.
She had me. I was laying on my back and she stood over me, I couldn’t over power her, I couldn’t slide away, I couldn’t even stand up, and if I tried anything those fangs sat poised over my face, and for her it was a short journey from my face to my throat. There was nothing I could do she had me. My life was hers, to end or to spare, it was hers. What could I say? The thing I feared, was standing over me, the moment lasted for a lifetime, until a bit of humor bubbled past the fear and I spoke, “I don’t suppose you’re a snow covered bush too?”
She tilted her head slightly in confusion, “No? It is your lucky night, but not that lucky”
Now it was my turn to tilt my head in confusion, but I lacked the courage to say anything else.
Understanding my confusion, she answered the question I didn’t ask, “It’s your lucky night, because there’s a strong chance that I don’t eat you tonight.”
Even though I already knew she would eat me, the confirmation was still terrifying.
“Do you want to be my new Aliment?” the wolf asked seemingly unfazed by the near one-sidedness of this conversation.
“Your what?” I replied curiosity and confusion temporarily surpassing my fear.
“My Aliment. It’s a kind of companion I guess. You’ll live with me, we’ll joke, tell stories, become friends, when the winter ends we’ll go on long journeys together, and one day… I’ll eat you.”
“One day?” I managed to ask before my fear conquered me again.
“If you prefer I could eat you now and help put your mind at ease?”
“No!” my fear now forced me to speak, rather than silence me.
“I had a feeling you would. Don’t worry it really is a lot of fun. There’s still a lot you have to know, but I have something I have to do so I’ll tell you what I can while we walk and I’ll fill in the rest another time.” She stepped back and said, “Get up, and walk with me.” She turned towards the Mound and looked back at me until I stood and walk to her side. Then she walked what I’m sure was slow to her, but still meant she had to occasionally pause to let me catch up. As we walked we spoke and I found my voice again. “What’s your name?” she asked.
“Malic.”
“My name is Silvia.”
“Nice to meet you Silvia.”
“Well… that’s not true, is it?”
“I guess not.”
“If it isn’t true by spring, one of us must be doing something wrong.”
“…”
“Anyway, I suppose the first thing you need to know is: don’t run from me. If you run from me, I’ll be forced to hunt you down, and eat you.”
“Ok, no running got it. It’s not like I could out run you anyway, your legs are as tall as I am.”
“Oh, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to run, it would just be a mistake to try and take them. You’ll be left alone to do what you need to do. For example, over the winter you’ll be responsible for smoking meat from my kills.”
“Will that include…?” I trailed off; too afraid to even say it.
“No. I won’t give you meat from your own kind to smoke. Really, I don’t eat your kind often, and when I do, I won’t bring anything back for you.”
“Ok, good.”
“In fact, the next time I eat your kind, it will probably be you,” she said in a cheerful way that raised my hackles, but before I could respond, her demeanor changed. She stopped walking, her head, ears, and, tail all drooped, and she said in a quiet voice, “That’s not true.” We stood there in silence for a moment of eternity before she continued. “You’re main task for the winter is to prepare for the summer as much as you can. You’ll be in charge of organizing my things, and trading for things we need or want. You can do this almost any way you want. After all, it’s your life on the line.”
“What do you mean?”
“Aliment means nourishment. When we go on a journey we’ll each have packs of supplies, and we will usually have chances to resupply on the way. But when the food runs out, I eat you next.”
“…”
“Don’t worry too much. If you do a good job and have a bit of luck you’ll only satisfy my hunger so we can finish the trip without me getting hungry.”
“Well, as long as you’re not hungry.”
“You won’t be hungry either. You don’t need to eat as much as I do, and you’ll probably have other things on your mind than your empty belly.”
“Like your full belly?” I managed to joke.
“You’re going to do fine here.” With that we really were here. We were standing on top of a small hill overlooking a small half bowl valley. The other side of the valley was the rounded mountain known as the Mound and at the bottom of the valley a round opening with light shining out of it. “Welcome to your new home.”
“So this is where the entrance is.” Silvia turned to me with a look of curiosity. It was my turn to explain something while we walked. “Everyone knows this is where the great wolves live, but no one really knows where the entrance is.”
“We don’t really try to keep it secret.”
“I suppose that most anthros avoid this place, so having an entrance that can’t be seen from a distance is hidden enough.”
“Well, we’re to the left and four dens up, but stop at the third den; I need to talk to someone.”
“Alright.” It was strange. I was still afraid, but this was already starting to feel normal. I could speak my mind without fear of retribution, but I was still sure that feeling won’t last.
“Silvia!” called a male voice from in the third den.
“Did you find Beth!” a female voice followed. “Oh…”
“Jasper, Amber, this is my new Aliment, Malic.” Jasper was another great wolf, with a coat of grays and whites, and Amber was an anthro wolf with a golden red coat sitting next to Jasper, his Aliment no doubt. Even sitting Amber was almost as tall as I was.
“It’s nice to meet you Malic,” Amber said with a smile that didn’t make it to her eyes. Sorrow had fallen over the small room like a shadow no one acknowledged. I didn’t understand; how could I be the happiest one here?
“Come on,” Silvia insisted, “my den’s just up here.”
“Ok, well bye,” I said, but they didn’t reply.
“Here we are,” her den was just like Jasper and Amber’s. It was a moderate sized round chamber with two loose wooden doors in the back, and a lantern sitting in an indent between those doors. Silvia continued to speak in a low somber voice; listing sentences as though her mind were too full of other things to fit more than one at a time. “You can put your pack and lay your bedroll wherever you want. I have to go back out. You can put the lantern out when you want… and you can look around, but don’t go too far, and don’t leave the Mound,” her voice lightened before falling again, “I don’t want to hav… Never mind.”
“…”
“Anyway, I’ll probably be back later tonight. Goodbye.”
I wanted to say more, to try and comfort her, but I still didn’t know what was wrong, and the heavy mood crushed my words to a soft, “goodbye.”
I set down my pack, unbuckled my bedroll and lay it out near the wall between this den and Jasper and Amber’s. I was finally able to take off my winter clothes, and give my ears some room. I piled the winter clothes under the lantern; it seemed like the best place to let them dry. I then sat down and was completely alone. This somber mood I didn’t understand had grabbed onto me, and drove away my thoughts. Only trivial things made it to my mind. The den was surprisingly warm considering it was winter, the den was carved into the stone, and that lantern was the only source of heat I could see. The flickering lantern light made interesting waves of shadows of light that moved across the rough walls, and highlighted the delicate paw prints in the dust of the floor. I sat there thinking and staring for minutes or hours, one feels like the other.
“Mind if we join you?”
“Hm”
“Mind if we join you?” Amber repeated.
“No, not at all.” Jasper walked into the den, turned around, and lay down with his back to the opposite wall fore paws in front of him, and hind paws lying one over the other. Then Amber sat down in front of his belly, spun herself around and planted her paws on the other side of his hind paws and leaned herself against his neck. She was sitting as though he was her personal comfy chair and he seemed to not even acknowledge that she was there. The two of them made a strange and perfect pair. She seemed oddly comfortable around someone that eats her, but, even though I was still scared, I admit Silvia was already growing on me; just a little. “We just wanted to see how you’re doing.” said Jasper.
“Alright.”
“The first day can be kind of hard,” Amber noted. “We thought we would come by and give you some advice and maybe answer some questions.”
“Or just be someone to talk to,” Jasper added.
“Thanks. Why don’t you start with some advice?”
“Well, you want to make sure you always pack enough food on trips,”
“Jasper,” Amber said in a giggly voice while turning to look at him and playfully pushed his neck. “It’s his first day and the middle of winter, I’m sure he’ll figure that out before he needs it. Why don’t you let the actual Aliment give advice on how to be an Aliment?”
“Well,” Jasper replied in an exaggerated voice, “I’ll have you know I have many years of experience with Aliments.”
“Experience eating them.”
“Well, what else are they for.”
“You…” “Hey!” I introjected, “Thanks, but this isn’t helping me.”
“Sorry,” they reply in unison. It felt weird having a great wolf actually apologize to me. I spent most of my life being afraid one of them would take me; I never thought they would treat me with respect if they did. It seems like a little thing, but that bit or respect made me feel a lot better.
“Amber, do you have any, more immediate, advice for me.”
“First, don’t be afraid of her.”
“What?”
“I know it seems a bit weird now, but you’re her Aliment, she’s not going to hurt you, and you’re not really in danger until you go on journeys together.”
“That being said, the first couple of weeks are the most dangerous for an Aliment,” Jasper added. “This is when any problems are likely to show up.”
“Problems?” I ask.
“Maybe you can’t do one of the tasks important to being an Aliment, maybe you and her have conflicting personalities, basically anything that makes a long term relationship impossible.”
“You mean like her eating me?” I quip.
“Eating you is alright, it’s digesting you that makes a long term relationship difficult,” Amber jokes back.
“I’m impressed that you can already joke about getting eaten. Normally, new Aliments are too scared to do that for weeks.”
“And he has years of experience with Aliments.” Amber adds. She and Jasper turn to look at each other. She squints and sticks her tongue out at him, and he responds by opening his mouth and engulfing her snout. She pulls away and glares at him and he smiles and licks the tip of her nose, causing her to look away and wipe her nose on her arm. “Jasper!” She says in annoyance.
“You started it.”
“You two really are a strange pair.”
“Thank you,” Jasper responds. Amber is still wiping her nose. “That reminds me of a good piece of advice I can give. Did Silvia tell you not to run away yet?”
“Yes.”
“There is a kind of exception to that rule. You see, if she eats you on a journey, you’re her Aliment, if she eats you here, you’re her dinner. If you think she’s gonna eat you as a meal, you can run, but you can’t leave the Mound.”
“So, why is that allowed?”
“It’s not technically allowed, but it’s generally accepted, and I know Silvia agrees with it. The idea behind not being allowed to run away is that you’re trying to not be an Aliment anymore, but if your Devourer decides to have you as a meal, then running away means you’re trying to stay an Aliment, as long as you don’t try to escape the Mound while running away. And besides, your running away will either give us time to change our minds, or we get a chance to chase you down before we eat you, and that can be a lot of fun. So there’s no real harm done in the end.”
“No harm done, really?”
“Well, I mean you running away wouldn’t hurt Silvia, but she may still hurt you.”
“Thanks Jasper, that’s really comforting.”
“Glad I could help.” He replied with a big smile. Now I was the one squinting at him, but I didn’t dare stick my tongue out.
“By the way, you mentioned something about a Devourer?”
“Oh yeah, um, why don’t you take this one Amber? I don’t want to do all the talking.”
“Sure, I, um… Why do we call you Devourers; besides the obvious?”
“I guess I never did tell you that; did I? Well it’s something I know from my years of experience.” He said with mock pride. Now we were both squinting at him. “It’s been around almost as long as we’ve been calling creatures in your position Aliments. It was originally a jab to remind us that no matter how close we get to our Aliments, in the end that’s what we do, we devourer them.” He closed his eyes and looked toward the floor, and I thought I saw a tear reflecting the lantern light. He paused for a moment before continuing, a soft sadness still clinging to his voice. “We didn’t have any other term for ourselves in that sense so it kind of stuck. Of course some Aliment have thought Devourer is a bit harsh and used other terms, but that’s the main one that always sticks around.”
“It does seem a bit harsh,” I said.
“Well, Aliment basically means food so we call you food and you call us eaters. I admit that does seem fair.”
“Yeah, I guess it does. Maybe we should start calling you food instead.”
“Ha, you start doing that and Silvia may just have to prove you wrong.” That got a small laugh from all of us. This had been a strange and scary night, but sitting in a small group talking and laughing together felt good. I felt like we were old friends.
“It’s getting late; I think we should turn in for the night.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”
“Alright, goodnight.”
“Hey Amber, thanks for all the advice and information. It really helped.” Now she was squinting at me.
“Goodnight,” said Jasper with a chuckle. The two of them walked back to their den, and I got up to put out the lantern for the night and went to bed.
Sleep didn’t come easy. I had a lot to think about from today. I made new friends today. I didn’t spend much time with Silvia, but I think we’ll be friends. She’ll kill me one day. My life will never be the same. What are these new sounds? Why can’t my ears just turn off? When will Silvia be back? Will she even like me? She’s friends with Jasper and Amber and they like me. They do like me, right? They weren’t just being nice, were they? I need to get some SLEEP. Hm, I hear someone coming, what are those other noises.
Silvia entered the den, in the dim light I could see her large belly hanging down. It made a cacophony of wet noises as she walked that mixed with muffled screams and pleas to create a chorus that I wished I couldn’t hear. She slumped down on her side near the opposite wall from where I was, causing the chorus in her belly to come to a crescendo. I couldn’t help but think that that will be me one day; Stuck in the same belly, hearing the same noises, maybe making the same fruitless please. Wait! What’s that other noise? I didn’t hear that before. Is that… whining? It is, and not from her belly, either. Silvia’s …whining?! Why’s she still sad? She has a full meal; I would think that would make her happy. What have I gotten myself into? If sleep had been hard before, it was harder now. These new question rattled around my head harder than the old ones, and those noises wouldn’t just stop. Damn my ears. “I need some, ahhh-hhaaaa, sleep.”
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I hope you enjoyed the first part. I’m not sure when I will get around to the second. Please leave feedback; it’s greatly appreciated. I’m also curious, I had never heard of the world aliment until I was looking for a title for this. Has anyone heard this before, because it seems to be an almost dead word as far as I could tell?
The Cover is here
Description continues after story.
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“Why did I have to leave tonight!?” I said to myself. “If he told me I needed to be at Tradore by morning I would have left this afternoon, so I wouldn’t have to pass the Mound at night.”
“Considering how dangerous it is around here, I probably should stop talking… I should probably stop talking to myself in general, but who else am I going to talk to.”
The dirt road to Tradore was covered in enough freshly fallen snow to cover at least a quarter of a wagon wheel, making the journey very difficult, especially for a fennec like me. I was in no real danger of getting lost as I had made this journey many times, but the show was well over my knees and not a single cart, horse, or anthro had been down this road sense the snow let up earlier in the day, leaving no reprieve as I dredged onward, in my thick, fur lined clothes. They were a strange garb for a creature to wear, but necessary for a desert creature, such as myself, to keep from freezing their tails off.
“I don’t care how much it costs, I’m buying a pair of snowshoes for the return trip,” I thought to myself; deciding it was now defiantly too dangerous to speak allowed for the time being. And danger was present. In an instant, my heart jumped, eyes widened, back straitened, and body stiffened, all before immediately crashing back down as I realized what had terrified me more than anything else in my life.
“It’s just a snow covered bush,” I said grabbing his heart with my right hand. “Hah heh hah heh hooow,” I breathed. “That looked so much like a wolf. Hah.”
“Oof” I suddenly felt a large weight hefted onto my pack knocking me face first into the thick layer of fluffy fresh snow. My vision went white, then black, then slightly blue. The weight of the unknown thing was still holding me in the snow, making it almost impossible to breathe. As panic set in, I flailed my arms and legs; creating the world’s most uncomfortable snow angel. After what felt like forever but was only a few moments the weight lifted off my back and became a force lifting my left arm and flipping me over. I now found myself snout to snout with my greatest fear, a gigantic wolf. She was as white as the snow she shoved me into, her eyes were a soft gray that got darker near her pupils, creating the illusion of a tunnel, one with no escape, and right above my nose, sat her own, like a lump of coal in the fresh snow. It drew attention both to and away from her exposed fangs.
She had me. I was laying on my back and she stood over me, I couldn’t over power her, I couldn’t slide away, I couldn’t even stand up, and if I tried anything those fangs sat poised over my face, and for her it was a short journey from my face to my throat. There was nothing I could do she had me. My life was hers, to end or to spare, it was hers. What could I say? The thing I feared, was standing over me, the moment lasted for a lifetime, until a bit of humor bubbled past the fear and I spoke, “I don’t suppose you’re a snow covered bush too?”
She tilted her head slightly in confusion, “No? It is your lucky night, but not that lucky”
Now it was my turn to tilt my head in confusion, but I lacked the courage to say anything else.
Understanding my confusion, she answered the question I didn’t ask, “It’s your lucky night, because there’s a strong chance that I don’t eat you tonight.”
Even though I already knew she would eat me, the confirmation was still terrifying.
“Do you want to be my new Aliment?” the wolf asked seemingly unfazed by the near one-sidedness of this conversation.
“Your what?” I replied curiosity and confusion temporarily surpassing my fear.
“My Aliment. It’s a kind of companion I guess. You’ll live with me, we’ll joke, tell stories, become friends, when the winter ends we’ll go on long journeys together, and one day… I’ll eat you.”
“One day?” I managed to ask before my fear conquered me again.
“If you prefer I could eat you now and help put your mind at ease?”
“No!” my fear now forced me to speak, rather than silence me.
“I had a feeling you would. Don’t worry it really is a lot of fun. There’s still a lot you have to know, but I have something I have to do so I’ll tell you what I can while we walk and I’ll fill in the rest another time.” She stepped back and said, “Get up, and walk with me.” She turned towards the Mound and looked back at me until I stood and walk to her side. Then she walked what I’m sure was slow to her, but still meant she had to occasionally pause to let me catch up. As we walked we spoke and I found my voice again. “What’s your name?” she asked.
“Malic.”
“My name is Silvia.”
“Nice to meet you Silvia.”
“Well… that’s not true, is it?”
“I guess not.”
“If it isn’t true by spring, one of us must be doing something wrong.”
“…”
“Anyway, I suppose the first thing you need to know is: don’t run from me. If you run from me, I’ll be forced to hunt you down, and eat you.”
“Ok, no running got it. It’s not like I could out run you anyway, your legs are as tall as I am.”
“Oh, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to run, it would just be a mistake to try and take them. You’ll be left alone to do what you need to do. For example, over the winter you’ll be responsible for smoking meat from my kills.”
“Will that include…?” I trailed off; too afraid to even say it.
“No. I won’t give you meat from your own kind to smoke. Really, I don’t eat your kind often, and when I do, I won’t bring anything back for you.”
“Ok, good.”
“In fact, the next time I eat your kind, it will probably be you,” she said in a cheerful way that raised my hackles, but before I could respond, her demeanor changed. She stopped walking, her head, ears, and, tail all drooped, and she said in a quiet voice, “That’s not true.” We stood there in silence for a moment of eternity before she continued. “You’re main task for the winter is to prepare for the summer as much as you can. You’ll be in charge of organizing my things, and trading for things we need or want. You can do this almost any way you want. After all, it’s your life on the line.”
“What do you mean?”
“Aliment means nourishment. When we go on a journey we’ll each have packs of supplies, and we will usually have chances to resupply on the way. But when the food runs out, I eat you next.”
“…”
“Don’t worry too much. If you do a good job and have a bit of luck you’ll only satisfy my hunger so we can finish the trip without me getting hungry.”
“Well, as long as you’re not hungry.”
“You won’t be hungry either. You don’t need to eat as much as I do, and you’ll probably have other things on your mind than your empty belly.”
“Like your full belly?” I managed to joke.
“You’re going to do fine here.” With that we really were here. We were standing on top of a small hill overlooking a small half bowl valley. The other side of the valley was the rounded mountain known as the Mound and at the bottom of the valley a round opening with light shining out of it. “Welcome to your new home.”
“So this is where the entrance is.” Silvia turned to me with a look of curiosity. It was my turn to explain something while we walked. “Everyone knows this is where the great wolves live, but no one really knows where the entrance is.”
“We don’t really try to keep it secret.”
“I suppose that most anthros avoid this place, so having an entrance that can’t be seen from a distance is hidden enough.”
“Well, we’re to the left and four dens up, but stop at the third den; I need to talk to someone.”
“Alright.” It was strange. I was still afraid, but this was already starting to feel normal. I could speak my mind without fear of retribution, but I was still sure that feeling won’t last.
“Silvia!” called a male voice from in the third den.
“Did you find Beth!” a female voice followed. “Oh…”
“Jasper, Amber, this is my new Aliment, Malic.” Jasper was another great wolf, with a coat of grays and whites, and Amber was an anthro wolf with a golden red coat sitting next to Jasper, his Aliment no doubt. Even sitting Amber was almost as tall as I was.
“It’s nice to meet you Malic,” Amber said with a smile that didn’t make it to her eyes. Sorrow had fallen over the small room like a shadow no one acknowledged. I didn’t understand; how could I be the happiest one here?
“Come on,” Silvia insisted, “my den’s just up here.”
“Ok, well bye,” I said, but they didn’t reply.
“Here we are,” her den was just like Jasper and Amber’s. It was a moderate sized round chamber with two loose wooden doors in the back, and a lantern sitting in an indent between those doors. Silvia continued to speak in a low somber voice; listing sentences as though her mind were too full of other things to fit more than one at a time. “You can put your pack and lay your bedroll wherever you want. I have to go back out. You can put the lantern out when you want… and you can look around, but don’t go too far, and don’t leave the Mound,” her voice lightened before falling again, “I don’t want to hav… Never mind.”
“…”
“Anyway, I’ll probably be back later tonight. Goodbye.”
I wanted to say more, to try and comfort her, but I still didn’t know what was wrong, and the heavy mood crushed my words to a soft, “goodbye.”
I set down my pack, unbuckled my bedroll and lay it out near the wall between this den and Jasper and Amber’s. I was finally able to take off my winter clothes, and give my ears some room. I piled the winter clothes under the lantern; it seemed like the best place to let them dry. I then sat down and was completely alone. This somber mood I didn’t understand had grabbed onto me, and drove away my thoughts. Only trivial things made it to my mind. The den was surprisingly warm considering it was winter, the den was carved into the stone, and that lantern was the only source of heat I could see. The flickering lantern light made interesting waves of shadows of light that moved across the rough walls, and highlighted the delicate paw prints in the dust of the floor. I sat there thinking and staring for minutes or hours, one feels like the other.
“Mind if we join you?”
“Hm”
“Mind if we join you?” Amber repeated.
“No, not at all.” Jasper walked into the den, turned around, and lay down with his back to the opposite wall fore paws in front of him, and hind paws lying one over the other. Then Amber sat down in front of his belly, spun herself around and planted her paws on the other side of his hind paws and leaned herself against his neck. She was sitting as though he was her personal comfy chair and he seemed to not even acknowledge that she was there. The two of them made a strange and perfect pair. She seemed oddly comfortable around someone that eats her, but, even though I was still scared, I admit Silvia was already growing on me; just a little. “We just wanted to see how you’re doing.” said Jasper.
“Alright.”
“The first day can be kind of hard,” Amber noted. “We thought we would come by and give you some advice and maybe answer some questions.”
“Or just be someone to talk to,” Jasper added.
“Thanks. Why don’t you start with some advice?”
“Well, you want to make sure you always pack enough food on trips,”
“Jasper,” Amber said in a giggly voice while turning to look at him and playfully pushed his neck. “It’s his first day and the middle of winter, I’m sure he’ll figure that out before he needs it. Why don’t you let the actual Aliment give advice on how to be an Aliment?”
“Well,” Jasper replied in an exaggerated voice, “I’ll have you know I have many years of experience with Aliments.”
“Experience eating them.”
“Well, what else are they for.”
“You…” “Hey!” I introjected, “Thanks, but this isn’t helping me.”
“Sorry,” they reply in unison. It felt weird having a great wolf actually apologize to me. I spent most of my life being afraid one of them would take me; I never thought they would treat me with respect if they did. It seems like a little thing, but that bit or respect made me feel a lot better.
“Amber, do you have any, more immediate, advice for me.”
“First, don’t be afraid of her.”
“What?”
“I know it seems a bit weird now, but you’re her Aliment, she’s not going to hurt you, and you’re not really in danger until you go on journeys together.”
“That being said, the first couple of weeks are the most dangerous for an Aliment,” Jasper added. “This is when any problems are likely to show up.”
“Problems?” I ask.
“Maybe you can’t do one of the tasks important to being an Aliment, maybe you and her have conflicting personalities, basically anything that makes a long term relationship impossible.”
“You mean like her eating me?” I quip.
“Eating you is alright, it’s digesting you that makes a long term relationship difficult,” Amber jokes back.
“I’m impressed that you can already joke about getting eaten. Normally, new Aliments are too scared to do that for weeks.”
“And he has years of experience with Aliments.” Amber adds. She and Jasper turn to look at each other. She squints and sticks her tongue out at him, and he responds by opening his mouth and engulfing her snout. She pulls away and glares at him and he smiles and licks the tip of her nose, causing her to look away and wipe her nose on her arm. “Jasper!” She says in annoyance.
“You started it.”
“You two really are a strange pair.”
“Thank you,” Jasper responds. Amber is still wiping her nose. “That reminds me of a good piece of advice I can give. Did Silvia tell you not to run away yet?”
“Yes.”
“There is a kind of exception to that rule. You see, if she eats you on a journey, you’re her Aliment, if she eats you here, you’re her dinner. If you think she’s gonna eat you as a meal, you can run, but you can’t leave the Mound.”
“So, why is that allowed?”
“It’s not technically allowed, but it’s generally accepted, and I know Silvia agrees with it. The idea behind not being allowed to run away is that you’re trying to not be an Aliment anymore, but if your Devourer decides to have you as a meal, then running away means you’re trying to stay an Aliment, as long as you don’t try to escape the Mound while running away. And besides, your running away will either give us time to change our minds, or we get a chance to chase you down before we eat you, and that can be a lot of fun. So there’s no real harm done in the end.”
“No harm done, really?”
“Well, I mean you running away wouldn’t hurt Silvia, but she may still hurt you.”
“Thanks Jasper, that’s really comforting.”
“Glad I could help.” He replied with a big smile. Now I was the one squinting at him, but I didn’t dare stick my tongue out.
“By the way, you mentioned something about a Devourer?”
“Oh yeah, um, why don’t you take this one Amber? I don’t want to do all the talking.”
“Sure, I, um… Why do we call you Devourers; besides the obvious?”
“I guess I never did tell you that; did I? Well it’s something I know from my years of experience.” He said with mock pride. Now we were both squinting at him. “It’s been around almost as long as we’ve been calling creatures in your position Aliments. It was originally a jab to remind us that no matter how close we get to our Aliments, in the end that’s what we do, we devourer them.” He closed his eyes and looked toward the floor, and I thought I saw a tear reflecting the lantern light. He paused for a moment before continuing, a soft sadness still clinging to his voice. “We didn’t have any other term for ourselves in that sense so it kind of stuck. Of course some Aliment have thought Devourer is a bit harsh and used other terms, but that’s the main one that always sticks around.”
“It does seem a bit harsh,” I said.
“Well, Aliment basically means food so we call you food and you call us eaters. I admit that does seem fair.”
“Yeah, I guess it does. Maybe we should start calling you food instead.”
“Ha, you start doing that and Silvia may just have to prove you wrong.” That got a small laugh from all of us. This had been a strange and scary night, but sitting in a small group talking and laughing together felt good. I felt like we were old friends.
“It’s getting late; I think we should turn in for the night.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”
“Alright, goodnight.”
“Hey Amber, thanks for all the advice and information. It really helped.” Now she was squinting at me.
“Goodnight,” said Jasper with a chuckle. The two of them walked back to their den, and I got up to put out the lantern for the night and went to bed.
Sleep didn’t come easy. I had a lot to think about from today. I made new friends today. I didn’t spend much time with Silvia, but I think we’ll be friends. She’ll kill me one day. My life will never be the same. What are these new sounds? Why can’t my ears just turn off? When will Silvia be back? Will she even like me? She’s friends with Jasper and Amber and they like me. They do like me, right? They weren’t just being nice, were they? I need to get some SLEEP. Hm, I hear someone coming, what are those other noises.
Silvia entered the den, in the dim light I could see her large belly hanging down. It made a cacophony of wet noises as she walked that mixed with muffled screams and pleas to create a chorus that I wished I couldn’t hear. She slumped down on her side near the opposite wall from where I was, causing the chorus in her belly to come to a crescendo. I couldn’t help but think that that will be me one day; Stuck in the same belly, hearing the same noises, maybe making the same fruitless please. Wait! What’s that other noise? I didn’t hear that before. Is that… whining? It is, and not from her belly, either. Silvia’s …whining?! Why’s she still sad? She has a full meal; I would think that would make her happy. What have I gotten myself into? If sleep had been hard before, it was harder now. These new question rattled around my head harder than the old ones, and those noises wouldn’t just stop. Damn my ears. “I need some, ahhh-hhaaaa, sleep.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
I hope you enjoyed the first part. I’m not sure when I will get around to the second. Please leave feedback; it’s greatly appreciated. I’m also curious, I had never heard of the world aliment until I was looking for a title for this. Has anyone heard this before, because it seems to be an almost dead word as far as I could tell?
The Cover is here
Category Story / Vore
Species Wolf
Size 120 x 120px
File Size 26.7 kB
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