29. Expedition
After profusely apologizing to the shrimp faced crew member she had almost killed, Celia was led to the dining hall of the ship. Or as it was easily recognized as, the half dead dragon's stomach. A half dead dragon that she was pretty sure was very much connected to Meroc. In fact it may have been a clone of him, only half dead and missing a pair of wings. Which was another thing that Celia tried not to think about. That she was going to eat in the stomach of the very dragon who had placed a mark upon her not even…
Well she wasn’t sure how long ago that was. Only that it was, as far as she was concerned, very recent. Which, importantly gave her much to think about. Like that Jonas had been stalking her on behalf of the Giant Meroc kept mentioning. And if this Giant was anything like the eccentric dragon Celia wanted nothing to do with them, and by proxy wanted nothing to with Jonas.
Who she could only hope was no longer stalking her. A worry that persisted with her all the way to the "dining hall" proper, where she found Haet and the rest of his crew all sharing a hearty meal. A meal that mostly consisted of giant chunks of meat with bones inside of them, as well as a few monster corpses.
And as soon as she saw the grand feast on display, it was like all thought for her ceased. She only came back to herself in the midst of choking down the grey corpse of creature the size of a tiger and shaped like some horrifying fusion between a beaver and a roach. Which really should have grossed her out more than it did. But all her reasonableness had been buried under a thick layer of hunger.
A very, very thick layer of hunger. It almost felt as if she hadn’t eaten in at least a whole day, maybe even two. Which for her, meant she was near unfathomably hungry. Body once again taking on a metallic aspect of sharpness as she gorged on anything within reach.
She wasn’t sure how long she was like that, only that when she finally woke from her hunger induced trance, half a dozen members of the ships crew were staring at her. Included in that number were Haet and Dreg. The latter looking disgusted, while the former merely looked… astounded. Which would’ve been enough to make Celia’s cheeks burn a violent shade of red even if she wasn’t knee deep in a pile of meat and stuffed like a pig being readied for the slaughter. Nor did it help that she was mid chew with even more food in her other hand.
Food she promptly finished off before climbing out of the food everyone else had been eating out of before she arrived.
"Sorry." She half whispered, a hand on the back of her head as she did so. Staring, decidedly, at the ground. Or at least she would’ve been were it not for her protruding middle blocking her view of it. "I was, uh, a bit… hungry."
"Haet see that. But Haet understands, would be hungry too if sleep for three days."
The words hit Celia like a slap to the face.
"Three days! What do you mean three days? That doesn’t make any sense. Wait! Are we still in the city, I thought you guys were about to head out on an expedition?"
"We did. And boss brought you too. Consider it your initiation."
And Haet nodded along like it was the most reasonable thing in the world.
"You part of crew now." He said.
Celia ignored him. She was in her own mind now. Brain racing as she thought about her one goal.
Find the ocean and get back home. Before she was made fertilizer for whatever was going on. Before she became more of a monster than she already was. And that meant moving fast and alone and not wasting time on whatever this expedition was. She didn’t have time for it. Something she almost yelled out at the immense scorpion man in front of her, but was first interrupted by her stomach beginning its rapid digestion. Prompting her to burp as her body grew just a little bit bigger, mostly in regards to width.
Followed by a screen she quickly dismissed.
Slot(s) gained!
Slots open: 7
"Can you take me back? I have some things that I need to do, that are kinda important to me. So please tell me you can-"
"No." Haet said, shaking his head. "Sel'ci move of own volition. Takes to next hunt, takes home after hunt finished. Only way back."
Celia almost punched him. She would have and was still thinking about it when the whole ship, Sel'ci as it were, was shaken. Everything, herself included, jolting at the sudden disturbance. Causing the lesser members of the ships crew to fall to the ground. Including Dreg, who fell straight into Celia knocking the both of them over and toward the ground.
Unfortunately, the ground was tilting. Going vertical as the Dragon seemingly turned about mid air. And with that came a shift in gravity. One that pulled Celia, along with Dreg and several other members of the crew plunging downward. Down toward the now opening mouth of their flying dragon ship.
A sight Celia watched with wide eyes. Looking on in near exasperation as the jaws of the great beast slowly opened up as if it were preparing to let loose a mythical blast of fire. Instead, all the came out it’s mouth were several members of the crew, Dreg, and herself. And their release into the open air gave them an excellent sight of the world all around them. From the distant, very distant, mountain they had come from to the forest below, as well as the glint of the ocean in the far distance.
Which held Celia’s attention as if it had put her in a trance.
Up until something larger than an 18 man tram whizzed by her head. Enormous insect like wings buzzing like the winds of a great storm. A swarm of half eagle, half wasp monsters attacking their ride with all the ferocity of a mother bear in defense of her children. Which was to say, with an unrelenting sort of fury that few creatures possessed. Attacking with clawed limb, stinger, and jaws.
Besieging the zombie of a dragon from all sides, ignoring its feeble attempts at fighting back.
But that was the least of their problems. Or at least hers. No, the much bigger issue was the fact that she was falling like a rock through the sky. Approaching the ground far too fast and from far too high. Arms flailing about as she screamed, trying to do anything at all to prevent the inevitable.
"Calm. Battle no place to panic." Dreg said, calmly soaring through the sky behind. Albeit at a much slower pace.
Celia took that as official proof that she was fat. A minor matter in the face of her all but certain doom. Which was somehow more aggravating than the knowledge that she was going to die.
"Oh yeah, and what am I supposed to do then?" She yelled back.
"Focus. Look out for approaching enemies. You could do that."
"Ok, but how is that gonna help me?"
She didn’t hear his answer. And was instead hit, head first, by one of the giant eagle wasps. The impact knocking the air out of her as a pair of giant mandibles tried biting at her legs. Emphasis on try, as her earlier binge had left her a razor sharp edge of metal and hunger. Sharp and strong enough to resist the wasps initial attempt at trying to make a meal out of her and causing it to bleed yellow ichor in her stead.
Yellow ichor that burned her skin on contact. Pain eliciting a yelp out of her. But she didn’t let that stop her from doing her best to make the most out of the situation. Which, in this case was to try and climb atop and hitch a ride.
A plan that immediately encountered quite a few issues.
The first being that she was still just as sharp as her dad’s favorite kitchen knife. So, when she pressed and grabbed onto the eagle wasp, she instead simply pushed herself into its insides. Which was where she encountered her second problem.
The eagle wasp wasn’t all that hardy, dying almost as soon as one of her hands made it about a foot deep into its brain. Which, granted, was probably true for a lot of things. But that was where her third and greatest issue arose.
As she was now falling again.