Chapter Text
Laios didn’t recognize the monster, it was fast, and large, but its main body was hidden somewhere he couldn’t locate. Blue tentacles that all ended in different shapes emerged from the walls and wherever there was a gap in the stones beneath the party’s feet.
Laios tried to analyze the creature, slicing off limbs that got too close. He quickly determined that it was looking for something. Its tentacles seemed to be able to see somehow, and each one acted fairly individually, was it possible that each one was an individual monster?
And then one of the blue things managed to wrap around Chilchuck, lifting him into the air. Laios launched himself forward without a thought, slicing through the appendage. As Chilchuck fell the short distance to the floor a tentacle wrapped itself around Laios and lifted him up, Laios tried to turn and slash it with Kensuke, only for Kensuke to be ripped out of his hands by another tentacle that seemed to split into what could almost be fingers at the end.
Marcille let out a shout of fear, Laios twisted his head and saw that her staff had been knocked away, Senshi chopped through several tentacles with his ax as he tried to reach Marcille. Laios attempted to bite down on the tentacle holding him hostage, but it had no give, it was like biting thick leather.
Senshi was captured and his ax dropped out of reach, and Laios felt his heart stop in his chest as Chilchuck started cursing, Laios tilted his head, and yeah, they were all being held up in the air, far enough off the ground that getting their weapons was nearly impossible.
He tensed as a new tentacle examined him, it seemed to be checking…his height? Laios frowned, he needed to figure out how this monster worked before anyone died.
Once it was done, it moved over to Marcille and started examining her as well. New tentacles sprung up and started pulling Laios’s armor off, Laios squirmed, trying to prevent his defenses being removed, but he couldn’t break the grip the monster had on him.
The tentacle that was examining Marcille moved on to Senshi, and then finally Chilchuck. Laios winced as the last of his armor was removed and dropped onto the floor of the dungeon. The creature tugged at his shirt consideringly, as if debating if it was armor too, before it tugged it off with frightening dexterity.
The tentacle examining Chilchuck finally seemed satisfied, it slipped away, vanishing into the wall. Something was off about this whole encounter…
Then a new tentacle appeared, it had some kind of sucker on the tip, which latched onto Laios’s forehead and began to glow. Laios thrashed for a moment, a last-ditch effort to escape, only for the light to somehow pour into him, settling under his skin for a moment before vanishing. The tentacle then retreated, leaving Laios panting from his attempts to break free.
Then Chilchuck was being dragged over before his small body was slammed into Laios, knocking the air out of both of their lungs.
The monster seemed to be deciding something, comparing the two of them somehow, why was it doing that? What goal could be accomplished with two adventurers? Was this unique to how it interacted with humans or would it have attacked a group of smaller monsters the same way?
Laios was yanked out of his thoughts by a tentacle approaching his face again, this one didn’t have anything special about it from appearance alone, but…
It wrapped around his jaw and pried his mouth open, Laios made a startled sound and tried to bite down on it again but could get his jaw closed. Laios growled in frustration, but it sounded weak without being able to move his mouth properly.
The tentacles were moving Chilchuck again, who had started thrashing wildly as if he’d realized something, but despite all of the cursing, if he’d made some sort of connection he wasn’t sharing with the group.
Their only hope was that Marcille could pull off a spell right now despite being restrained.
And then the top of Chilchuck’s head was being pressed against Laios’s open mouth.
What.
Laios blinked…what was the monster trying to do? Chilchuck wasn’t going to fit in Laios’s mouth, but clearly the monster had forced his mouth open for a reason—
And then impossibly, Chilchuck’s head began to push into Laios’s mouth. That wasn’t possible!? How was this happening??! Laios tried to use his arms to push Chilchuck away, but they were too firmly trapped by his sides at this point.
Laios made a panicked sound as the entirety of Chilchuck’s head was somehow shoved into his mouth by the monster. Chilchuck was kicking his legs wildly, the only part of him free to move at this point.
Laios could hear Marcille screaming something, but his mind couldn’t parse out her words, the panic in his chest was like a loud buzzing in his ears as he felt something large enter his throat.
This had to be a nightmare, right? This couldn’t be real?
Laios felt frozen, he wasn’t choking, he could breathe just fine, he wasn’t ripped apart by what was happening, impossible thing after impossible thing. This monster was somehow manipulating reality.
Chilchuck’s voice suddenly slammed into Laios’s brain, rattled around inside of his head.
“Laios! FUCK! FUCK! This isn’t happening!” followed by dozens of swear words in half-foot.
Laios felt something wet drip down his cheek, oh, he was crying. It didn’t feel real, none of this felt real. Maybe he would wake up and he wouldn’t have failed everyone so badly—
Chilchuck was now as much inside of Laios as he was outside. Laios hadn’t swallowed even once, but that didn’t seem to matter. He could feel Chilchuck’s weight shifting, moving lower in his chest.
Laios whimpered.
In seconds his stomach began to feel heavy, full and it hurt like he’d over indulged, not like an entire person was being forced down his throat. Nothing hurt. Everything should hurt.
Slowly the rest of Chilchuck slid down into Laios’s middle, the skin of his belly taught around its new cargo. Without the tentacles restraining him, Chilchuck squirmed, he didn’t thrash oddly enough, Laios’s mouth was released and it snapped shut without his say-so, his jaw exhausted from being forced open for so long. Surely if Chilchuck kicked hard enough he could break free? Laios doubted his organs were strong enough to contain a living thing as large as a half-foot.
Laios tried to move as he found himself being lowered to the ground, but the world felt foggy. He was full, way too full.
His belly was swollen and heavy, and he could see Chilchuck shifting beneath his skin.
The tentacles released him, and Laios found himself lying on the cold floor of the dungeon. His whole body ached.
Laios whimpered, closing his eyes, he could hear noises that he assumed were Marcille and Senshi panicking, but he couldn’t do anything. Laios realized vaguely that he was falling asleep, although passing out might be the more accurate term. Something inside of him felt like it was glowing golden, like it was wrapped around Chilchuck who was safe and warm and protected…
Laios had the odd thought that that wasn’t true, but the weight in his belly dissuaded him from that notion, of course Chilchuck was safe, Laios was holding him inside, protected by layers of flesh and muscle…
Somehow, even behind his eyelids, the world went dark.