Eclipsed by Nervous Breakdown and ilbv
Eclipse woke from his slumber with a loud, ground-shaking yawn. He was in his cave, and the morning sun was rising. With a great stretch, and another yawn, Eclipse stood up on all fours and started licking his chops. "Time for some breakfast..." He muttered to himself.
Exiting his cave, Eclipse was greeted with a view of a lush green forest. As Eclipse walked through this forest, he noticed for the first time that, because of his scale color, he blended in well with the trees. "Huh... Never noticed that before." Eclipse said with a chuckle.
Eventually, Eclipse came to a cliff that overlooked a wider expanse of forest. From this vantage point, Eclipse would be able to see any potential meals. It was here, that Eclipse decided to wait.
Far off in the woods, a wood cabin constructed by humans was slowly waking up to the morning as well. The ground trembled a bit and roused the four humans sleeping in their bunks. “Huh, is that an Earthquake?” one of them asked. The others groaned as they stirred. One human, ilbv, sat up in his bottom bunk and put his feet on the floor. “I don’t feel anything anymore.” The guy on top, BJ was leaning over his rail, “I swear I felt an earthquake.” he said sincerely. The other human on the other top bunk lifted his comforter off and sat up, his name was Chris. “I felt it too; I guess its cause we are up higher.” The guy underneath Chris, Max, pulled his blanket over his head. “Would you bozo’s shut up, I’m trying to get back to sleep.” ilbv looked at his clock, “its 9:30”. “My point exactly, too damn early.” Max grunted and he turned on his side.
The four humans were all spending some time out of the busy city scene and enjoying some woods time. ilbv opened the kitchen door and stepped into the crisp air. “What a beautiful morning.” he thought.
BJ jumped down from his bed and dressed, Chris was pulling on his shirt as BJ left the bedroom. He climbed down the small ladder and put a few more logs in the fireplace. The morning was cold and fresh, the windows had misted up and BJ went over to clean them. He saw ilbv standing outside in his PJs and smiled. “It was nice of him to ask me along.” BJ thought. “I hope Thunder is getting along well without me.” Thunder was BJ’s Horse, but that has practically nothing to do with this story.
Chris came down the ladder and opened the cooler, “I’ll get to making breakfast.” he said and pulled out a carton of eggs. “We’ll need a fire, I’ll go make one.” BJ offered and out he went. ilbv saw him exit and went over to him. “Making breakfast? he asked smiling. “Chris is, I’m making the fire.”
ilbv stooped and helped BJ, as the flames crackled on the wood, the smoke rose up to the sky. It could probably be seen from far away.
Eclipse saw the thin column trailing high into the sky. It was far away, but not far enough for that it would be an inconvenience for him to fly there. Eclipse knew the forest well, and from where the smoke was rising, it was not in a densely populated area, meaning that it was probably a camper. Hopefully for Eclipse, a couple of campers.
"It appears someone else is making breakfast. Maybe I should visit them..." Eclipse said with a chuckle. Spreading his wings out, Eclipse flapped them in order to take off. Each flap of the wings created great shock waves that resonated through the air. Eventually Eclipse was in the air and flying low over the treetops. As the column of smoke got closer and closer, Eclipse reduced his speed gradually.
When Eclipse came upon the clearing with the cabin in it, he landed heavily with a ground-shaking thump.
ilbv and BJ lifted their heads as what seemed like sonic booms shook the tops of the trees. Not a breath of wind was blowing. ilbv looked at BJ. “Is that…?” Suddenly the ground trembled viciously and both humans toppled off their feet. Inside the kitchen, Chris was pinned down as a beam came loose from the ceiling and struck him. Max had been shaken out of bed. “What the hell!?” he roared. Max pulled on his jeans and went to where the ladder was but it had fallen over in the shaking. “Chris, you down there?” he called. Chris moaned, “Yeah, you alright?” Max scoffed. “Yeah, after surviving a tremor like that. Would you be so kind as to get me the ladder?” There was a silence, then Chris coughed, “No can do. I’m kind of stuck at the moment.”
ilbv and BJ sat up, both were still on the ground. BJ looked all around. “That was a pretty scary earthquake” he muttered. ilbv nodded in agreement. “At least the cabin is okay” he said. BJ didn’t say anything back. ilbv turned to him and saw BJ had gone ashen grey, almost white. His eyes were wide in fear and ilbv looked where BJ was, and felt his blood drain.
A humongous green dragon was looking at them from only a couple hundred feet away, it was in a ready-to-pounce position.
When he saw the humans in the clearing, Eclipse smiled , "Well well, what do we have here? Two little humans. Making breakfast are you? You mind if I have some breakfast of my own?" he said maliciously.
ilbv swallowed and BJ made a small squeaking noise that barely exited his lips. Chris and Max had heard the voice of the dragon also but it had been muffled and was unintelligible. “Who the hell is that?” Max wondered.
ilbv shuffled backwards a little and BJ was still rooted with fear to the spot. “Bj-Come on!” ilbv whispered desperately. BJ’s eye’s shifted to ilbv and he took a nervous breath, then slowly slid backwards no less than half an inch, so painstakingly slow that ilbv couldn’t tell if he was moving at all. His heart was pounding very fast. ilbv looked up at the dragon, it was still there, still staring.
Eclipse stared hungrily at the two humans before him, a bit of drool escaping his maw and landing with a wet splat on the dusty ground. He could have lunged forward and eaten them both in a heartbeat, but he didn't. Eclipse liked to play with his food first.
"Well humans. You make me a lucky dragon. Not just one, but two! And I don't think you realize how well humans taste." Eclipse said as he took a heavy step forward and leaned in close. His colossal tongue, easily dwarfing the size of either of the humans, moved out of his mouth and licked at his lips, licking his chops. "I can't wait to feel you squirming in my gut. I can't wait to feel all of your flavor on my tongue." Eclipse took another step forward.
Eclipse wouldn't be upset if the two humans ran into the forest right now, because he would have enjoyed giving chase. It would make the catch all the more satisfying. But if they were too scared to move, that would be fine as well. Eclipse slowly moved forward, taking heavy steps that were nothing to him, but covered a lot of ground to the humans, and opening and closing his one good eye repeatedly. He was getting closer, taking his time.
ilbv moved faster and backed right up against the door, he was groping for the handle. BJ was moving back too, but he was too slow for ilbv’s liking. “BJ move it!” he said through clenched teeth. BJ was staring up at the dragon with glossy eyes. He was terrified but at the very same time very intrigued, almost fascinated with the dragon and his determinations.
To Eclipse, one of the humans that was eying was smart, retreating to relative safety. The other human however seemed to be under a spell of sorts, entranced by Eclipse's massive presence.
ilbv clutched the door handle and slowly turned it. “Wh-Why do you want to eat us?” ilbv asked, his voice shaking. As the dragon continued to get closer, BJ had his butt on the first step of the porch and the dragon was only twelve feet away!
Eclipse looked at the human who had spoken, the one who was relatively in control of the situation, and spoke in a deep and powerful voice. "Because," Eclipse said, "I am hungry. And you are not that high on the food chain."
With a smile, Eclipse shot his arm out quickly and grabbed a hold of the human who seemed rooted to the spot, unable to move. Grasping the human firmly, Eclipse brought him up closer to eye level, and looked at him with his eyes, one normal, the other scarred and forever blinded. Shifting his gaze to the human who Eclipse did not grab, Eclipse rather sloppily licked his massive tongue up the human in his hand, enjoying all of the flavors.
BJ drew in his breath as the dragon seized him and pulled him away from ilbv and general safety. The fascination was gone from his eyes and he became utterly frightened in the grip of a very powerful beast. The dragon could have crushed him to paste, but instead it licked him with its large tongue and tasted him. BJ shivered as the saliva was cold and icy.
ilbv watched in stunned fear as BJ was hoisted into the dragon’s clutches. He had been a second to late from grabbing BJ by the shirt tails and yanking him into the house. “But we…we’re humans!” ilbv shouted. “Humans don’t taste good, we…we…Dragon’s don’t eat humans.” ilbv desperately tried to convince the dragon to put BJ down.
BJ nodded along with ilbv and looked into the dragon’s good eye. “Yes…please Mr. Dragon-” BJ began, but the dragon cut him off. “My name is Eclipse, not that it matters to you fleshlings”. The dragon’s voice was menacing and full of desire. BJ sputtered, “Please don’t eat me…uh Eclipse. Please, I’m not very good, even the dogs don’t lick me. I couldn’t possibly be worth eating.”
Eclipse laughed loudly and deeply, shaking the trees and the ground, "Really? You actually used 'I don't taste good'? Why do they always say that? It's not like you would know what you tasted like, and trust me, you do taste good." Eclipse leaned in close and licked the human in his palm again. "Now," Eclipse said opening his maw wide, "have a nice trip."
With that, Eclipse popped the human into his mouth and snapped his jaws shut. He began running his tongue over every inch of the human, tasting everything he could. Moaning, Eclipse marvelled at how well humans tasted. Then, abruptly, Eclipse threw his head back and swallowed the human in one massive gulp. The human created a slight bulge as he travelled down the neck, and Eclipse exhaled in pleasure.
“BJ!” ilbv yelled as the dragon tossed his friend into its jaws. ilbv put his hand over his own mouth in horror. BJ widened his eyes as the dragon tossed him in and he landed softly on the tongue. As the jaws snapped shut behind him, he rolled over and tried to pry loose, but the tongue merely moved him away and savoured him.
The sound of Eclipse swallowing was loud and frighteningly powerful. ilbv watched in frozen terror as BJ slid down into the dragon and disappeared inside.
Eclipse looked down at the other human and pointing said, "You're next."
ilbv turned the door knob, “To hell I am!” he said firmly. With that, ilbv swung the door open fast and turned around it. Then he slammed it shut and slid the double dead bolts. “A lot of good that will do.” he muttered.
Chris looked up as ilbv entered and gestured to him as if to ask “What the hell is going on?” ilbv put his hand to his lips and mouthed, “What happened to you?” Then he shook his head as if scratching that and he pointed at the door with a panic stChrisen face and mouthed, “There’s a dragon out there! It ate BJ!” Chris’s eyes bulged and he tried to free himself from the board that was pinning him. “Help me!” he hissed. ilbv ran over to Chris and began to pull. “Hey Shitheads!” came a loud voice. It was Max! He was still on the top floor, completely unaware of what was happening, was yelling at the others to bring him the ladder. ilbv and Chris looked at each other in fear and then both felt the hair on the back of their necks stand on end at the same time. They both looked at the window, where a huge eye was looking in on them. “AHHHHHH!” They both yelled. It was pointless to be quiet; all three of them had been discovered.
Eclipse smiled as he looked into the house; there were three of them inside! This meant that his breakfast just became bigger. Eclipse realized that he could very easily pull the roof off of the small building and grab his prey inside, popping them into his mouth like pop corn. Instead, Eclipse decided that he would have a little fun with his new found friends. He looked down at his belly. He could feel the movements of his still living prey. However, he still wasn't full.
Placing a few pats onto his belly, Eclipse said loud enough so the human inside of him could hear, "Don't worry my little snack. Soon your friends will join you."
Walking over to the window again, Eclipse reached a finger forward and flicked the window, shattering it into a million pieces of glass and not even scratching his scales. Looking in again, he saw the humans.
Smiling, he said, "Humans, your friend is getting lonely inside of me. I know there are three of you left in there, so I'm giving you a choice. Convene amongst yourselves and choose someone to send out. That one person will be consumed by me and will join your friend in my gut, and the other two of you will not. I will leave after that. Now, don't keep me waiting."
With that Eclipse stepped away from the window and walked over into the clearing and laid himself down, waiting.
ilbv and Chris were quivering with fear. Upstairs, Max had thrown himself to the floor and crawled under the bed like a frightened child. ilbv looked at Chris, almost with betrayal in his eyes. “No…don’t leave me here!” cried Chris, he was panicking. ilbv stepped back and went to the wall right beside the window, flattening himself against it, ilbv slowly moved along the wall and looked up and out of the smashed window. The dragon was looking over the cabin as if it was one of the trees. ilbv saw the dragon’s stomach wobbling and bit his lip, fearing for BJ’s life.
BJ himself was half terrified and half mystified. As Eclipse has swallowed him down, BJ was thrust into the gullet of the dragon and swallowed almost gracefully. He slid down the tube and was deposited into the gooey stomach. He must have made the stomach spring outwards because he could feel the dragon’s strong paw rubbing under him. The stomach made squelching noises and bubbles were glopping everywhere in the warm goo. BJ sloshed over to the stomach wall and leaned sat back against it. Taking in his surroundings, BJ saw that the stomach was as large as his mini van and could easily hold more food. Looking up, BJ saw the opening of the throat and he listened to Eclipse’s heart and lungs. The stomach lining swayed with the movements of the powerful beast drawing in his breaths. “This isn’t too bad, but I hope the others manage to escape”. BJ thought.
ilbv pulled himself away and slid to the door that lead to the root-cellar of the cabin. “ilbv! Help me get out of here!” Chris pleaded. ilbv contemplated, but then he hurried back over to Chris and began to pull hard. Suddenly the cabin creaked and moaned. ilbv looked upwards. What was going on? “The dragon must be getting impatient! He’s crushing the house!” ilbv said to Chris through clenched teeth.
“Hmm... They're not answering...” thought Eclipse.
Eclipse moved forward to the house and began leaning against the house. He felt and heard the house creak and moan as the house strained against his weight. Moving one his hands up, Eclipse punched forward into the side of the house. The one side of the house exploded into a rain of small splinters. Leaning down again, Eclipse put his head into the hole in the side of the house that he had just created. Scanning his eye around, he tried to locate the small humans inside.
"Where are you guys? I want to play?"
As the wall exploded, the beam pinning Chris jarred loose and cut him. ilbv pulled and the two of them flew backwards away from the hole. ilbv and Chris hurried over and hid behind the tall back of the sofa. They held each other shivering like frightened animals.
Meanwhile, the jarring shaking had wobbled Max off the ledge and he crashed to the ground with a thud, right in front of the hole.
"Well well, just my luck." Eclipse said as he watched another human drop right in front of him. With a toothy grin, Eclipse lunged forward with his jaws and grabbed the new human in them. The human was half inside of his jaws, and half out, making his flailing little legs stick out of his teeth quite comically.
Retracting his head from the hole in the house, Eclipse moved back into the clearing. Flipping his jaws up, the human went flying out of his mouth and up into the air. The human reached the apex of his flight and then began to fall. The human came falling down straight into Eclipse's waiting jaws, landing with a wet splat on Eclipse's tongue.
Max looked around wildly. “Where the hell!?” he cried. He struggled inside the confined space and rammed himself against the teeth, He went for another go but slipped on the wet tongue.
ilbv shuddered as he heard Maxs muffled screams and Chris looked like he was about to be sick. Blood was dripping from his arm where the flying debris and glass had sliced him. ilbv gasped. “That dragon is going to smell the blood! We need to try and wrap it up and hide the smell!”
Eclipse enjoyed the feeling of his prey struggling on his tongue, and chuckled slightly at the futility of his endeavour. After a few seconds of tasting, Eclipse tilted his head and let gravity do most of the work. He felt the small human on his tongue slide down close to the throat. Eventually, he entered it.
Gulp.
Eclipse made his gulp loud and wet, and quickly sent the struggling human into his belly to be with his friend.
Turning his attention to the remaining two, Eclipse sniffed the air. Faintly smelling the scent of human blood, Eclipse realized that one of them must have cut themselves on something. Now, because of the blood, he would be able to follow them anywhere. With a smile and a chuckle, Eclipse started skulking around the house, belly swaying from side to side with every step. He circled the house, gnashing his teeth, occasionally roaring, and being generally intimidating. He was waiting to see what the human's next move would be.
Max slide down the tight throat and landed on top of BJ. “Ow, will you watch it?” BJ muttered. Max tried to stand up but the “floor” was slippery and moving like he was standing on a waterbed. He fell to his knees and looked at BJ horror stChrisen. “Where the hell are we?”
BJ rolled his eyes, “I think it’s some kind of volcanic torture chamber. You idiot, we are in the stomach of a dragon. A Dragon!” BJ punched Max’s shoulder. Max instinctively wailed BJ back. BJ was flung into the side of the squishy room and bounced back as the stomach recovered and pulled him back into itself.
A deep guttural laugh shook the stomach as it swayed back and forth. Max was almost hyperventilating. “Dragons aren’t real; this has to be a bad dream. Make it stop nerd!” Max shouted.
ilbv was biting his lip in desperation. Eclipse seemed to be toying with him and Chris. His dreadful roars and chuckles sent shivers up ilbv’s spine. Ruck was cracking his knuckles nervously and looking around wildly, as if the dragon’s head would appear from anywhere and consume him. “We need to escape, but we can’t go anywhere with that dragon waiting for us to come out, and I fear if we don’t do something soon, he is going to come in.” ilbv had said.
Chris titled his fingers, “why not split up? I run one way, you run the other?” ilbv soaked a facecloth and rubbed some blood off Chris’s arm. “That seems like a good idea, but that beast is massive. It will easily catch one of us, then return and catch the other even before breaking a sweat.” Chris raised his eyebrows, “Dragon’s sweat?” ilbv hit him. “You know what I mean.”
Once most of the blood was washed away, ilbv tossed the rag over the couch to the hole. “Maybe the scent will distract the dragon long enough for one of us to make a run for it.” ilbv said. Chris leaned against the back of the couch. “We need to get out of here, I can just see that dragon setting this house ablaze and either eating us raw, or medium rare.” This made ilbv actually smile, but the prospect of being slow roasted and sprinkled with salt, pepper and barbeque sauce did not exactly thrill him.
Eclipse had made another round of the house. ilbv heard the dragon’s gut gurgling, calling for more. Then a horrible thought came to him. ‘What if Eclipse does set the place on fire, BJ and Max will be burnt to nothing! They could already be dead! Dissolved into the dragon’s lava pit or something!”
BJ tried to stand, but he fell over just as easy. He leaned up against a part of the stomach wall that was constantly churning. BJ yelped and flinched back. “What bozo?” asked Max, who really didn’t care. He was leaning on his elbow and had his eyes shut. BJ crawled away from the wall, “That part of the stomach is hot, like it’s made of fire.” Then he understood. “This dragon can probably breathe fire, so that is it’s fire sack, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was full of lava.” BJ said excitedly. Max looked at him with one eye. “You like being in here or something nerd?” BJ blushed a little but not enough for Max to care for or notice. “It is terrifying really.” BJ said, but he wasn’t sure he meant it.
The feelings of his prey moving in his gut pleased Eclipse, and he decided that it was time for more little humans to make the trip down his gullet. Moving forward towards the house, Eclipse leaned against it, placing both of his massive claws on the roof. With one swift and clean motion, Eclipse tore the roof of the house clean off, a terrible ripping sound filled the air.
Leaning his head down into the house, Eclipse studied the layout, learning all of the nooks and crannies. Moving his head around, Eclipse said, "Where are you my little snacks, I've got something to show you..." Eclipse sniffed the air again, once again smelling the distinct smell of human blood, and turned to look to where the humans were hiding, waiting to see what move they would make.
ilbv and Chris converse very quietly, “Let’s make a run for it while the dragon is at the front of the house. There is dense forest in the backyard; we might be able to escape.”
“What if he sets the place ablaze?” “We just keep running, what choice do we have?”
The humans looked at Eclipse’s beady eyes, looking for them! “Dude, he is watching us! There is no way we can escape!” Chris hissed.
Suddenly both ilbv and Chris were aware for the giant claws that glided right above the couch they were hiding behind like a mother-ship. Both humans stopped breathing.
Eclipse moved his claws through the living room, idly shifting furniture around. Squinting his lips together, he started whistling a merry little tune. As his claws came across the couch, he grabbed it and moved it to the side, removing the two humans' hiding place. "Well-well, what have we here? Two little humans hiding from little old me. Can I ask you to just jump into my slimy maw now, just so we can speed this up?" He opened his maw and lowered it to the two humans, taunting them.
Time for planning was gone, it was swallowed up just as ilbv and Chris were about to be. Both humans rolled away and backed into a corner. The couch was crushes in the grip of the dragon. As Eclipse slid further inside, his large body slowly obliterated the house around him. ilbv saw his large gut slide across the floor as the dragon’s back ruptured through the ceiling and into the loft. Wood rained down and clattered all over the floor. ilbv covered his head, Chris stared on, watching everything.
Eclipse had the humans cornered and as He pulled more of himself into the house, he slowly began to rise to his feet and break through the house, like he was hatching from an egg. The walls moaned and began to fall over. Eclipse drew himself closer and finally sat himself down in the ruins. The entire cabin had collapsed except for one corner. ilbv and Chris were pressed against the weakened wall, with no escape as Eclipse sat right in front of them, lifting his head high as if to snuff at them from his height.
ilbv saw the stomach moving as BJ and Max wobbled around, trying to escape. Eclipse licked his lips and growled. Chris looked at ilbv with his eyes, while keeping his face toward the dragon. “What do we do?” he asked desperately. ilbv looked up the wall he and Chris were pinned against. There was a cracked window still standing as well. In one move, ilbv reached up his elbow and shattered the glass; blood tChrisled from a minor gash. ilbv stood up and swung through the window. “Come on Chris!” he shouted. Chris turned and began to step through the window as well, his knees caught the sill and he tripped. Half of him hung out, facing the woods, possible safety. He back half, from his waist to his feet were hanging inside the corner, facing the hungry dragon. “Help!” he cried. ilbv reached for Chriss hands, it felt like it was in slow motion.
Eclipse chuckled as the humans tried to run and escape through the window. Casually, Eclipse reached forward with his massive talon and grabbed the one that had gotten stuck on the window, pulling him away from the building he was attached to. The other human tried to grab him and help him, but was too late as Eclipse struck faster.
Raising the squirming morsel up to eye level, he brought his tongue out of his mouth and planted a wet and slobbery lick on the human. "You don't taste as good as the other ones..." Eclipse mused. Shifting his gaze, he looked at the last human that had escaped him and said, "You look much tastier." With that, he popped the human in his hand into his mouth like a piece of popcorn, taking special care not to swallow. Instead, he merely let the human wallow in saliva and sit in his maw as he awaited his fate.
Chris screamed and the sound echoed inside the mouth. Eclipse moved his tongue and rolled Chris around enjoying the torment he was inflicting. “You do have some flavor, so you’re consumption will not be in vain.” Eclipse murred through his teeth. Chris was slipping all over the place, he could grab hold of anything. The dragon’s teeth were shiny with goo and so was the back of the throat that seemed to widen up as he slid closer, ever so slowly. “ilbv, run!” Chris screamed.
Inside the stomach, BJ looked up. “I think the dragon has Chris in his mouth.” Max looked up too. “Damn beast!” He shouted, punching the stomach wall. “What the hell did we do to this guy to get us turned into food!?” BJ shrugged, I have no idea. Dragons are natural predators; they eat whatever is smaller than them I guess.”
Eclipse felt his belly rocking around as Max through a fit, but he mere laughed deeply and rubbed his distended gut, it gurgles and bubbled in wondrous response.
Chris was trying to crawl forward, toward the front of the mouth, and he was making little progress.
ilbv was watching Eclipse mull over the taste of Chris, not sure if he was any good at all. ilbv took those few seconds to slowly back away and hide behind a tree. Then he began to run. ilbv ran as hard as he could, his life depended on it. ilbv was about twenty feet away from where Eclipse was when the dragon noticed what was going on.
It was when Eclipse noticed that the other human was beginning to run away that he finally swallowed the third human. Flipping his tongue up, the human was thrown into the back of his throat and almost immediately swallowed, one quick and powerful swallow. The human was down the throat in almost no time, entering his stomach in a mere few seconds.
"Don't run little man." Eclipse shouted as he started moving after the running human. His stride was long, so Eclipse was more than able to keep up with him merely walking. He could have easily caught him in a heartbeat, but Eclipse wanted to toy with his final a bit and savour him before finally eating him.
He kept up this pace, keeping just enough distance behind the running human so that he kept running, thinking that he was making good distance and might actually get out of the situation, but not so much that the Human felt like stopping either from giving up, or from exhaustion. Playfully, Eclipse reached out with a claw and nearly grabbed the human, hopefully scaring him.
While all of this was happening, Eclipse felt his gradually filling belly sway back and forth as the three humans were tossed and tumbled about inside of him, making his belly large and distended.
As Chris plunged inside the stomach, he collided with Max and fell on top of BJ. “Jeez dude! Do you mind!?” BJ muttered under Chris’s stomach. Chris rolled off and sloshed in the warm flesh of the stomach walls. “Sorry man, I…uh…nice to see you.” Chris tried to be funny about it. Max scoffed, “Shut up.” Chris rolled his eyes and prodded the wet flesh. “Have you guys even tried to-” “Shut up!” both Max and BJ shouted. “Of course we have been banging away!” said Max. “But this beast is determined to keep us in.” added BJ. Chris didn’t care, he tried to crawl up the stomach wall and reach the oesophagus that was just out of reach. He rammed himself into the walls as Max and BJ looked on, unconvinced.
ilbv almost dropped dead of fear when Eclipse had reached out for him. “NO!” he cried. His running was pathetic and he knew it. What was worse, ilbv was now scared that the dragon would step on him for trying to run. “No..he wants to eat me.” ilbv kept saying to himself. He looked over his shoulder and Eclipse was right there, not showing any signs of slowing down. ilbv looked down at the hanging gut of the dragon, it contained his friends, and soon he would be joining them, there was no doubt, it was now only a matter of time. “Please!” ilbv shouted as he ran, “Please spare me! Don’t eat me!” ilbv felt his heart thumping in his throat, his sweat was salty and he felt an almost blood like substance in his throat. ilbv swallowed the phlegm that was gathering in his throat and coughed. He spat as he ran, a string of drool trailing behind him, with Eclipse right on his heels. What a joke ilbv must have looked to the beast that could have over taken the frantic human with one step. But…why wasn’t he? Surely ilbv would already be going down Eclipse’s throat, but no, he was still trying to run…trying to escape. It seemed that now, he was only a toy. “A..a-a ch-chew toy?” ilbv wondered. Was Eclipse just going to tromp him and bite ilbv all over like a dog would a toy? With Eclipse however, the sharp teeth would puncture ilbv like a grape and kill him, was that was Eclipse wanted? Questions like these kept ilbv moving and he never felt himself tire, the adrenaline was far too much.
It was so great in fact that ilbv didn’t realize that he was running uphill, and by the time he realized it, he was doomed. ilbv dashed through a bush and stopped dead. He was at the very edge of a large precipice. “That’s got to be at least two hundred feet!” ilbv swallowed.
Eclipse’s large stride indicated that he was right behind ilbv. ilbv turned his head slowly over his right shoulder, breathing heavily. He knew…the chase was over.
Eclipse was standing there, proudly. His front claws flattened the bush ilbv had dashed through only moments ago, and his massive tail swung like a cat’s, ready to pounce. It made the air whoosh around it. ilbv saw the stomach wriggle and wobble, he even heard it gurgle. Eclipse had his teeth bared; his eyes blazed and were full of satisfaction. He looked like a hunter who had just cornered his kill, and really…he had.
ilbv bit his lip and looked back at the cliff…he swallowed. “If I have to go, I might as well go as quickly as possible. If Eclipse gets me it’s a slow and painful death.” ilbv thought this over and over at lightning speed. Then he blinked, wiped a tear and looked back at Eclipse’s swollen belly. “I’m sorry you guys!” he shouted. Then ilbv jumped.
Seeing the human leap off of the cliff honestly surprised Eclipse. The human obviously thought that he would be able to leap to his death, and in one final act of defiance, deny Eclipse the satisfaction of a full meal. Eclipse wasn't going to have that though.
Quickly, and with unprecedented agility, Eclipse used his powerful leg muscles to launch his massive body forward, covering the distance between him and the cliff in a heartbeat, and plummeted down off the edge. The human was in free fall, going quickly towards the ground where he would be killed on impact. Eclipse squinted and sped up, swooping down as fast as he could.
When Eclipse plucked the human out of the air, he almost crashed into the ground. He avoided this at the last second though, managing to flap his wings and turn the nose dive into a glide. He caught the human in his talon, holding him tightly in his scaly fist. As he casually glided away and landed in a clearing, he moved the human in his grip and dropped him in front of him, roughly on the grassy ground. "Now now, don't want you dying on me little human." he said.
“Ohhhhhhhhhh myyyyy goooooddd!” were the words uttered by BJ, Max, and Chris as Eclipse’s stomach followed the rest of his body and plummeted off the cliff. The rest of their breath was sucked out of them, so they all clung together as they lifted off the fleshy bottom of the stomach.
ilbv himself was as quiet as a the air, and he became part of the rushing of it as he came down faster. He did scream when the dragon had grabbed him and knew then he was doomed. It was bad enough he had run, but now…he had been caught!
As his body rolled on the grass, he was sore and weaker than a waterlogged dandelion. He was on his front, face in the grass. ilbv inhaled the sweetness of the soil and dew afraid he would never smell them again. He was before a domineering beast who had wanted to save him for last, and now he was.
Looking down at the human below him, face down in the grass. Eclipse smiled, running the blunt side of one of his claws along the back of the human. All the while saying, "There-there little human. You put up a good fight, but there really was no chance of you escaping me."
Moving the claw underneath the human, Eclipse flipped him over so that he was on his back and facing him. Moving his head down so that he was almost touching the human, Eclipse exhaled from his nostrils all over the human and said, "Tell you what little man. Since you've been such good fun prey thus far, I'll give you a choice. You can either walk willingly into my maw..." He opened his maw wide to give the human a good look at it and continued, "and there will be no pain. Or, you can struggle and try to run again, and then I'll chew, and you'll meet your friends in pieces." He stared down at the human in cold seriousness.
ilbv gulped, a sensation the dragon would be doing to him soon. ilbv wobbled onto his knees. “W-w-wouldn’t for your final vi-victim…you want to be the one to make it last as long as p-p-po-possible?” ilbv was quivering and he knew running was not going to be happening, but he would never willingly give up, especially after all he had gone through.
If Eclipse wanted to eat him, he would have to do it without a willing participant, but ilbv wasn’t going to run anywhere, so the dragon couldn’t back out on his promise of no pain. ilbv made a promise to himself not to struggle. He was caught and there was no way out, and those teeth seemed a horrible way to go.
Eclipse pursed his lips and cocked his head. "Hmmm... Long and drawn out you say?" He raised his eyes and looked down at the human. "I'm interested as to what you mean by that, do explain." Eclipse had originally planned to just eat the final human and call it a day, but this new proposition interested him.
"To tell you the truth, I was just planning on eating you, but if you have a better idea then tell me?"
ilbv swallowed, he was trembling and to the dragon it must have seemed completely delicious. A terrified human with nowhere to go, Eclipse’s mouth was watering heavily. He was breathing deeply, full of longing and an urge to gobble him up right then and there. He half closed his eyes and he felt his throat shuddering and craving that final morsel.
“I-I don’t know.” ilbv stammered, he wiped his brow and winced up at the dragon. The sun was shining and it nearly blinded him.
Eclipse snarled and whipped his tail around and coiled the tip around one of ilbv’s legs. He yanked the human off the ground and opened his jaws, ilbv was dangling over Eclipse’s huge mouth upside down. He let out a small yelp and it made Eclipse close him mouth, only to shine his teeth instead. “Naa, I’m not going to eat you that way…or maybe I will later.” Eclipse growled. ilbv felt blood rushing to his head and he was getting weaker. Eclipse swung his tail around, flinging ilbv like a rope. ilbv was barely able to contain breakfast.
Fortunately Eclipse only swung him twice and then dropped him unceremoniously to the grass where ilbv collapsed into a lump of human. He was barely able to get to his feet before Eclipse pushed him over with a swipe of his paw. ilbv was on his back, his chest raised and he was leaning on his elbows. His face was petrified with terror.
Eclipse growled low and quietly and advanced like stalking cat. He placed one razor talon on ilbv’s fragile chest. ilbv felt his organs scream. “Oh how I could rip you open and make a meal of your viscera.” Eclipse purred, thinking the idea over. He pushed harder and added a second talon to ilbv’s chest, the weight was slowly crushing ilbv, thank goodness the soil under the grass was soft. “Lucky for you, human blood is most foul; your skin is so much more succulent.” The dragon’s head was right over ilbv and he could see the teeth, they were all glinting. Eclipse licked his lips slowly and the sound was so loud and slimy that ilbv gulped and felt his throat gag. Eclipse pressed his snout against ilbv’s face. “You are mine.” he whispered it so quietly that it was the most terrifying thing ilbv had ever heard. He wanted to scream.
Eclipse smiled at the human's misfortune, soaking up the fear that he was putting off. He continued staring at the human for a while before growing bored. With a sigh, Eclipse said, "Well, I guess that since you can't think of any better idea... Time for food." Eclipse plucked the human off of the ground and flung him upwards. For a few seconds, the human was suspended in mid-air before falling straight into Eclipse's jaws. The dragon wasn't planning on eating him just yet, he wanted to toy with him first.
When the human landed in his maw, Eclipse caught him with his tongue, pressed him up against the palate of his mouth, and began to lick him all over.
ilbv’s stomach dropped and he wasn’t able to make any sounds past a deep grunt that was sucked out of him with the fall into the slimy mouth. Eclipse had his mouth open as he pressed the human against the roof with his spongy tongue; it was so wonderful to have the outside world laugh the human in the face before it would be closed off from him by the slamming of those razor sharp talons that Eclipse called teeth. The tongue rolled over ilbv and squished him, as if trying to make him turn into a paste that could be licked off like peanut butter. ilbv was crying only a little, he seemed to finally accept what was inevitably going to happen to him, there was no escape, he had tried, and failed…all ilbv could do know through the blur in his eyes was to look at that gorgeous forest outside, and the shining sun and the blue sky, the sparkling lake just beyond…it was all no longer to be for him.
Deep inside the belly of Eclipse, the others were talking and trying to come up with a plan. “I say we crawl back up his throat when the beast is asleep.” said Chris.
Max shook his head, “The thing will just wake up when it feels us crawling around and swallow us again!” BJ pointed to the entrance to the small intestines, “We could crawl through there and see if we can escape some other way.” he suggested. Chris looked horrified, “If we go in there, we will be digested!” “So what’s your clever idea?” BJ retorted at Max. “I wish I had a knife, I’d have sliced us out so easy.” “yeah, well we don’t have a knife.” Chris grumbled. “So then it looks like we are royally screwed.” Max huffed.
There was a silence and then BJ looked up, “Say, do you think ilbv is okay?” The others looked as well, “I’m sure he will be joining us any time now.” said Max glumly. Chris sighed, “I have to agree with you, this dragon can run, there’s no way ilbv could have escaped it.”
After having sufficiently licked the struggling human all over his mouth, Eclipse decided that he was finished. He lowered his skull to the ground and opened his mouth, extending his tongue so that ilbv tumbled out into a heap on the forest floor. He leaned down to the small human and opened his maw again and said, "You do taste good, little human, but I'm curious. Tell me what you can do for me; persuade me to not eat you just yet. If you can, I won't eat you now. If you can't, you'll be joining your friends down my gullet where there will be no chance of escape."
Eclipse reached forward and grasped the human in his hand and shoved him hard against the scales surrounding his belly. "Do you feel that, do you hear that, do you see that? Those are your friends. That is where you will be going if you displease me."
He dropped the human back onto the grass and said, "Now, I'm waiting."
ilbv was sprawled on the grass, sopping and shiny. He wiped off the goo from his chest, arms and legs and managed to dry his hair. He sat up and looked at Eclipse with that same weak fear. “Please…Don’t Hurt Us.” he said weakly.
Eclipse licked ilbv and smacked his lips. “Not. A. Problem.” He said softly, then he lunged forward and scooped ilbv into his maw, tossing his head back and swallowing ilbv whole.
The human wiggled weakly as the throat took him down and ilbv could feel Eclipse’s satisfaction emanating throughout his entire body. The dragon had won. He had eaten all of them and now was their captor.
“Humans were meant to be eaten.” Eclipse thought to himself, tracing his mouth with his tongue. “I relish the thought of when I get to do that again.” he thought.
Inside the beast’s belly, ilbv slid on top of Chris and looked sheepishly at his friends. “Well I guess that’s it huh?” he said quietly. Max folded his arms, “If only one of you had a knife.”
“Yeah let me whip one out of my socks.” Chris scoffed. BJ just hugged his knees and hung his head. “So…are we going to be digested?” he asked worriedly.
ilbv patted BJ’s shoulder. “I am sure we will be okay bud, Dragons do need to eat to live, but I think Eclipse won’t hurt us.”
Meanwhile the great Dragon took to the skies, his belly hanging low and wobbling a little when he dove or took sharp turns in the air. The dragon felt like he deserved a long rest after consuming such a challenging meal. He landed back in his cave and lumbered over to his sleeping spot. Laying out and stretching, Eclipse rubbed over his swollen gut and licked it. “Have a good nap my morsels.” he said with an evil chuckle. Then Eclipse himself lowered his head on his crossed front paws and slept deeply.
It was unfortunate for him that he had not seen or smelled the four large figures standing at the entrance of his cave. All standing tall, their muscled arms were in combat positions. A hoof clomped the stony ground and a snort breezed the air while a dull growl began to rise out of a throat.
These four had come on a rescue mission. Nothing would stand in the way of The Wolf, The Wolfox, The Horse, and the Minotaur. THE END
