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Chapter 02 - Eggday Surprise (All Aboard)

The ship continued to lurch and splash against the choppy waves on the open ocean. Ceylon remaining leaning over the railing of the ship, the deck of which was constantly shifting under her paws and talons, a side effect of Shiazo's influence. The grasses and mosses that lined each surface were in a persistent state of flux, growing and shrinking regularly to adapt in order to best absorb the sunlight. This gave Ceylon some time to relax a bit, allowing the rest of her crew to do their duties.

In reality, they had such a small crew because so much of the work was done by Shiazo controlling every rudder, sail, and repair. All Ceylon and Leera had to do was tell the ship where to go and how to get there. Beyond that, most of the rest was automated aside from combat, which needed to be handled manually. Something Ceylon tried to avoid but accepted as inevitable. This worked really well because it freed up a bunch of time for the captain to explore her culinary side.

Cero and Anax were originally hired as cooks but they weren't the best at it. They were both great at cooking up potions but weren't too good at preparing meals or mixing stews. Ceylon spent a lot of her time in the kitchen when the ship was on auto pilot, messing with the ingredients and making the most of what was there. She was very much so a gryphon of precision and efficiency. It was very important for her to not see any food go to waste, utilizing every ingredient to its maximum potential. Something exceptionally challenging on the ocean when they could go weeks or months at sea.

In truth, it was mostly just for herself. Four of the ten members of the crew were snakes and didn't have any desire to eat or sample flavours. Leera, Yetzer, Cero, and Anax all would eat a big meal before departure and that'd last them weeks or months, easily. Even if they started to feel hunger, they could operate well enough just off basking in the sun. Furthermore, Shiazo and their symbiotic partner didn't eat, as they were fully nourished by photosynthesis. Styreks was semi-feral and mostly just ate any scraps or meat that was going bad, since he had no discerning taste.

That left Ceylon, Foxi, and Fidget as the only crew members that enjoyed a good meal. Good enough. It meant their reserves went a lot longer, they could go on more epic journeys, and with some chill-crystals in a sealed container, meat and other food could be frozen for months on end. Their ship, as time went on, was less like a seafaring vessel and more like a vacation home on the water. Well, aside from when they needed to go ashore to collect loot or if they ever got into any sort of conflict with the Farshores. And while the Farshore menace was getting worse with each passing week, it was still pretty rare to cross paths with a foreign ship on the open water.

The Ijimulian Archipelago was made up of tens of thousands of islands, the straits between and around them were virtually infinite and the chances of two ships meeting each other were insanely low. Not zero, but low. Even with a fleet's worth of vessels cruising around, looking for treasure thanks to word getting out about ancient relics and artifacts littering each and every island.

All said it meant that Ceylon had plenty of spare time to do whatever she wanted at any given time. And this time, now mostly satisfied by having laid an egg and stuffed it in Fidget, she headed back below deck for some post release food. Nothing special, just some roasted potatoes, steak, and asparagus. Yes, that was a pretty basic meal on the Spirit of Dalonia. Stew was always an option, but really a sort of last resort in case nobody wanted to cook. They had one of those forever-pots that was always over some heat, always getting mixed up with new leftovers, and regularly getting topped up.

Cooking was a bit of a task on the ship, though. Since all the wood of the vessel was linked to and comprised by Shiazo's presence, they had to carve out a stone stove and metal grates specifically to be insulated in a way it didn't burn them. They felt pain all over, and the last thing they needed was a roaring fire in their guts. So naturally, Ceylon put in a bunch of extra effort to make sure the heat of the ovens didn't directly touch the wood of the ship. It was hard, but they did actually end by routing the exhaust out the front, forked into two horns on either side of the bow-mast so that when she cooked all the fumes and smells billowed over the entire deck from front to back.

Once below deck, however, Ceylon got accosted by a snake's body laid out across the mossy floor, a segment raised up to trip her. It was Leera with most of her body sticking out their personal quarters' door, tail end curled up and cute with head still beyond the door. The moment Ceylon nearly tripped over her body, Leera wrapped a coil around the gryphon's neck like a lead to tug her inside.

Ceylon begrudgingly declined. It was uncommon for Leera to take command like this, but Ceylon was remarkably hungry and her little tryst with Fidget left her feeling weak in the knees despite being heavy in the belly with the three remaining eggs. The serpent partner of hers was rather passive most of the time and only initiated if she had something planned or was in season, but that wasn't enough to keep the gryphon from a delectable meal. Even when in season she usually waited for Ceylon to make a move; it was clear the captain had some fun in her future once her belly was full.

She grabbed Leera by the tail and unfurled her from around her neck. This was the best way to deal with a constricting snake. "Sorry babe, got some needs I gotta take care of."

Leera whipped her tail back around to wrap around Ceylon's neck a bit tighter, tugging a bit harder as she stuck her head out the door to their quarters, flicking her tongue. "You sure of that?" She then reverse-slithered her hindquarters up near Ceylon's face so that her cloaca was exposed right next to the gryphon's cheek. Its glistening, cherry pink flesh pushed out and drooled fluids down her belly scales. "Because I can think of a few other needs you might need to take care of, first."

There was a moment's pause as Ceylon seriously didn't know what she wanted to do. She was hungry, but an opportunity to play with an amorous serpentine partner was not one she got to enjoy all too often. While still partially coiled around the neck, she rubbed her belly, felt a groan emerging from deep within her, and sighed. "Alright, but no endo vore today. I'm 'real' hungry and I need food." Once she made her ultimatum and her partner agreed, she let Leera tug her into their quarters. Once they were both inside, she used her tail maw to grab the handle of the door and close it gently behind them.

Inside, Leera slowly released her constrictive grip around Ceylon's neck and shoulders to pull herself into a coil on the bed, deliberately positioned so that her head was resting right where her body ended and her tail began. The same place where her cloaca opened up, gently gaping to visibly gasp with desire to be filled. As a snake, she was exceptionally ravenous at both ends; Ceylon probably could have crawled into her entirely without much resistance, forming a huge bulge as the gryphon's form distended her flesh beneath the scales.

But that wasn't what Ceylon wanted. Not today. She had eggs to lay and a belly to fill. Still, while it wasn't what she actively pursued it didn't stop her from dive-pouncing her partner and pinning Leera to the bed. Well, 'pinned' as a a bit of a misnomer. Any snake could easily slither and slide out from just about any situation, Leera included. She allowed herself to be pinned under Ceylon's fluffy weight, forcing her tail end around so that her cloaca was in the exact right spot.

"Wow. Someone's definitely in the mood." Ceylon quipped, gape grinning a bit as she grabbed Leera's hind end, thumb on the underside of her tail to curl it up and peel back her ventral scales. She paused only a moment before diving right in, pressing the crest of her beak sideways into Leera's horizontal slit, tongue probing deep and tasting the tangy depths of her partner.

At first it was just to keep Leera happy, to make her feel desirable and sexy despite not normally caring about that sort of thing. But the moment Ceylon felt that tangy serpent flesh on her tongue, her mood shifted significantly. Her pupils dilated and her neck feathers ruffled as she pressed in even deeper, beak opening up Leera like a speculum to get as deep as she could. This left a bulge in Leera's lower belly, distending the scales and parting them and stretching so thin the underlying pink flesh was semi-transparent, darkening as Ceylon's black beak plunged into her.

Leera's entire body writhed in place, rolling and twisting while somehow not moving at all. Each motion braced her body so she could push her slit down over Ceylon's beak, eagerly grinding as her flesh swallowed the gryphon up bit by bit.

Ceylon almost lost herself to the moment, grabbing Leera with both talons as her wings spread and covered the bed as though she was hiding her prey. With a firm grip on Leera's tail end, she buried her face a bit deeper, nuzzling and licking and gaping her beak to really knead and stretch the flesh around her. She was careful to not let the hook of her beak catch on her serpent partner's inner folds, but she was deliberate in using her crest and cere to rub and grind against the posterior internal wall.

All of this meant that Leera's hyper-elastic flesh had no problems dilating and stretching to wrap around Ceylon's beak, forehead, and the rest of her skull, the cloaca opening gliding over the gryphon's ears and neck feathers all the way down to her shoulder, soaking them and lubricating them with ease on the way. Before long, her ventral scales came to rest where Ceylon's neck met torso, tail trailing down gryphon spine to rest between the wing shoulders and twin clits on either side grinding on collar bones. She was pretty small compared to Ceylon, her girth being thinner than Ceylon at the belly, which meant that she had a gryphon-head-shaped bulge in her.

A bulge she happily flexed and constricted around, her abdominal and pelvic muscles tensing up to stiffen and remove definition while squeezing tight. If it had been a cock inside her, that sort of expert squeezing would have milked it dry within seconds.

Which is exactly why Ceylon found herself shuddering in delight, her whole body experiencing a series of tremors starting from the base of her skull all the way down to the tip of her tail, the pangs of pleasure coursing through her loins and leaving her weak at the knees. She nearly collapsed right then and there, as her entire body from beak to toe could feel sexual pleasure the same way any cock or cunt could. She couldn't help but roll off the bed in a heap of sopping wet feathers and fur, her pussy drooling a slimy egg-birthing fluid all over her thigh, and Leera's pussy still wrapped tight around her head and neck, having swallowed her all the way to the shoulders.

Leera's pelvic clenching quickly got the better of her, though. Sure, her flesh was stretchy and malleable beyond what most would deem normal, but the sensation of gryphon feathers tickling her insides brought her to an equally quick climax. She clenched, Ceylon shuddered, the pair of them grinding and writhing against each other made both enjoy it more, and with an audible pop and squishy series of spattering spurts, Ceylon's head was ejected from the snake's tail end, leaving Leera gaping wide with her arousal fluids drooling over either side of her cloaca and onto the floor.

The floor which was still all part of Shiazo's collective form. The wood and moss and grasses that kept the entity alive with sunlight. The living ship that absorbed all fluids and used them to fuel its actions. Between Ceylon's egg-birthing fluids splashing on the deck and Leera's pussy juices cascading out, it seemed to awaken the ship's extensions, drawing a series of small vines up to grow between Ceylon's toes and wrap around Leera's many coils.

Leaves and flowers sprouted from the vines as they emerged from the deck, growing in place and coiling around Ceylon's ankles while slithering up her hind legs. This anchored her in place in much the same way Fidget had been tied down to the deck and railing of the ship. And just like Fidget, no hole was safe.

The vines did stop right as they reached Ceylon's hips, squeezing tight enough to actually hurt a bit, holding her in place. At the same time, Leera managed to slither and escape from the vines that were attempting to wrap around her. She had no problem escaping bondage, as her body was basically pure muscle and could alternate between being rock-hard stiff and squishy enough to pass through gaps less than a quarter as thick around as her body at its thickest point.

But it was Ceylon who was lost in orgasmic delight. She'd been weak and quaking in pleasure ever since her head was squeezed out of Leera. The trails of pleasure that coursed through her body had triggered an ovi-based labour, as her abdominal contractions squeezed the eggs in her womb, making the shells grind against one another to create a deep vibration sensation. The feeling of eggs grinding inside against each other and teasing her cervix made her toes curl and her pelvic muscles clench, amplifying the whole situation in a cycle of stimulation and response that kept her on the plateau of pleasure, constantly chirping and growling to herself.

Despite attempting to keep mostly to herself, Ceylon couldn't help but lay her chest to the ground and hoist her tail up over the small of her back in a mating pose, hind legs gently bent and spread with her clit winking and meaty lips drooling her arousal down both her inner thighs. Even without any prying from the vines or Leera or Ceylon's own front talons, her lips parted and gaped in a slit, revealing her deep pink insides.

It wasn't just random, though. With another body-rocking burst of pleasure, she arched her back and one of the eggs inside her descended through her pussy, popping out of her womb and sliding through her passage with ease to land with a plop and a thud on the floor between her hind legs.

The added coating and blast of her fluids on the floor coaxed more vines to emerge, growing from their spot while slithering up her body. This time, they started at her chest and wrapped around her belly to end up teasing at the base of her tail, threatening to enter her rump.

Between the remaining eggs inside her grinding, the lingering sensation of having laid one, and the vines exploring her body, Ceylon was pretty happily enjoying all that happened to her. So lost in pleasure that she didn't even notice when Leera got out of her own orgasmic funk and returned to focus on what was going on.

Leera had slithered over to behind Ceylon so she was coiled around the gooey, soaked egg. From there, she raised her head up to be at the gryphon's waist level. There, she could see right down her partner's pussy all the way to her womb, as the gaping chasm was preparing to have another egg pop out and slide through to join the first one. However, Leera was feeling a little devious; a little more adventurous than usual.

The serpent pressed her snout right up against Ceylon's lips, plugging up her opening while wrapping her tail around the gryphon's vine-covered ankle for leverage. She wriggled, squirmed, and slithered her way in deeper, scaled body slipping past Ceylon's soaked pussy lips with ease. The shape of her head meant that she could not only burrow deeper but also grind and caress each and every wall on her way in deeper; she was eager to please Ceylon on this day, so she wasted no time and spared no effort in pleasuring the gryphon's depths.

Her entire body slithered and writhed in waves both vertically and horizontally to make her scales grind against every internal wall. She tried going in circles to achieve the same effect, each motion resulting in air entering and escaping the gryphon's meaty vulva every time. She tensed up her body to be firm to probe deeper, then relaxed to let Ceylon's walls collapse around her and squeeze tight in orgasmic bliss, nearly forcing her out.

Before long, her snout reached cervix and she had no problem nuzzling and burrowing past that tense donut leading to her partner's womb. The moment she felt her cheeks lurch past the opening, she twisted her neck in such a way that she anchored herself in place and proceeded to pull the rest of her body in after her.

As Leera found her way into Ceylon's womb, the gryphon's eyes remained wide and her pelvic muscles were tensing erratically. Part of this was always a bit uncomfortable; it didn't matter how many times she hosted partners in her womb, that cervix breach was always uncomfortable in a way that was both painful and the most deeply pleasant ways. It was a strange dichotomy of pleasure and pain, one perfectly accentuated by the vines that continued to slither up her thighs and anchor her to the deck of the living ship. It was both immensely pleasant and deeply discomforting.

Yet the mental stimulation of it ensured that all of it translated to a poignant pleasure that coursed through her body. She pushed back, relaxed her loins as best she could, and only gently winked her clit as Leera's body was slurped up into her. She felt each and every scale as it passed by her lips and through her canal, Leera's ventral scales pausing to kiss her clit before also joining the rest of her.

The pressure of eggs and Leera in her womb gave Ceylon a visible bulge and added a weight to her depths that was hard to describe. Leera was a lovely size, but she was normally a lot bigger than this. Twenty to twenty-four meters or more long. On this day she was merely half that, yet the laws of physics ensured she still weighed the same as her full bodied version. Transformation magic didn't suddenly remove mass, so she was considerably more dense and heavy than she appeared.

This meant that her entire body pressed down hard on Ceylon's anterior wall and the floor of her womb. This meant that every single motion inside her was amplified to feel like a full-sized Leera was writing and shifting about inside her. This meant that the square cube law was doing octuple duty on her pussy, clit, womb, and every ripple of flesh in and between each part of her.

It also meant that it didn't take long at all for Ceylon's body to endure another contraction, this time a full-bodied tension that squeezed her womb, the remaining eggs, and Leera far beyond the point of comfort. Despite it not being inherently pleasant, the mental stimulation matched by the physical sensations meant that it was all pleasure. Every bit of it kept Ceylon riding high atop a wave of euphoria that cascaded up and down her spine, each wave centralizing in her womb.

But for some reason, the egg wasn't coming out. Her cervix had closed and sealed up the moment Leera slurped up past it. This was normal, that part of the anatomy usually tensed up after penetration in her. Gave the male an opportunity to deposit and get out. But in this case, she still had eggs to lay and Leera forcing herself inside was throwing it all out of balance.

Leera was not going to let this pass. Inside Ceylon's womb, she curled up and adjusted her body, juggling the remaining eggs between her coils even within the tightly constricting walls. Before long, she was able to adjust one of them to be aimed outward, its pointed end dilating the cervix as both she and Ceylon pushed at the same time.

With a glorious pop and squelch, that second egg burst from Ceylon's depths to slide past her canal and emerge from her lips with little to no resistance. It was followed by a thick and gooey strand of birthing fluid that was so viscous it remained bridged to Ceylon's clit even as the egg came to rest beside the first one, even going so far as to keep its position when she started winking and her lips began quivering in post-orgasmic relief.

There was no relief. Leera was still resting heavily in her womb and there was at least one more egg inside. Fortunately, Leera was able to handle it with ease; she coiled up inside again, using her tail end like a coil that aimed the remaining egg towards the entrance to her womb.

Things looked like they were about to conclude when the ship's vines had an intense reaction to the addition of the extra-thick birthing fluid. They absorbed as much of the mess as possible, forcing the vines to grow and slither their way even farther up Ceylon's hind legs and around the base of her tail. At the same time, the egg burst from Ceylon's womb to make its way down her canal only to be stopped as the pointed end crested her lips.

The egg wasn't stuck, but it wasn't coming out. Ceylon's clit winked in delight, tensing up her muscles in just the right way to keep the egg from bursting out of her and landing with a clacking thud next to the other two. She held it there as the vines continued to explore her, fixating on the situation as each and every vine found its way into her one way or another.

First, the two vines that had crawled around her torso starting at the chest and wrapping around her tail base found her plump rump hole, the tips both slithering into her as more leaves emerged and the vines pried her flesh apart, gaping her booty in the process. They didn't just stop there, they continued to grow deeper and deeper, both of them exploring her bowels deeper than she thought possible, twisting and parting her guts from within.

Then another one made its way up her thigh and tried to burrow itself into her pussy, forcing itself in between the flesh of her lips and the shell of the egg. The pressure made it seem impossible at first but then it seemed to find just the right angle, worming its way past the egg to join Leera inside Ceylon's womb. All the while, more vines were emerging to hold Ceylon down, to keep the gryphon in place and unable to pull away. Even if she did, the vines had grown so deep into her bowels and pussy that it'd feel like she was being flipped inside out.

Of course that wasn't all. More vines emerged, sprouting quicker than the first volley. More of them wrapped around her hips and started prying on her pussy lips, like they were trying to nestle into her and force the egg out of her. Three vines in her pussy, two in her rump, all of them growing with a steady pace that filled her up, more leaves sprouting and their length naturally exploring her.

But then one final vine found its ultimate destination. As it wormed its way between the egg and her clit, it slithered up her anterior wall and found her urethral opening hidden under a flap of flesh.

The moment she felt this one, her eye twitched and she curled her toes, snapping off one of the vines at the root before she regained her composure and silently apologized to the ship. She knew Shiazo didn't mean to hurt her; in fact they hadn't, she just wasn't expecting it.

With each passing second, the pressure that filled her urethra as the vines invaded her mixed with the squeezing from the vines in her guts and the other ones joining Leera in her womb quickly proved to be too much for her to handle. She'd been actively clenching her loins to keep the egg inside her but crowning between her lips, but this was not something she could maintain. With one final pop, that last egg burst from her and landed with a clack and a splat on the other two eggs, leaving her gaping all the way to her womb where Leera continued to squirm and coil around the invading vines.

Ceylon was anchored in place, her entire body taken over by the floral invaders that had slithered their way so far up her backside that she could almost taste them in the back of her throat. The harsh friction of vines in her slowly collapsing canal was both irritating and overly pleasant, while the second vine that forced its way into her bladder just made her want to relieve herself.

And that was the end of it. All that pleasure had been sustained for an extended period and she was exhausted. The eggs were out of her, Leera was coiled up within her, and it was time to move on. She was satisfied, but had no more energy or fluid to spend on further pleasure so she got up to all fours and pulled herself away from the tangle of vines that had grown around the clutch of eggs, wriggling out of the bonds and leaning away from them to let her body weight do the work.

As expected, the sensation of having all those vines being tugged out of her felt like she was being turned inside out. The ones in her rump had to unfurl inside her as she leaned away, while the ones in her womb were released without much friction given how slithery Leera could be. It was the ones in her urethra that really made her grunt and curl her toes to cope. That really did feel like her bladder was being yanked out of her all at once.

Fortunately, the moment the leafy vines were plucked from her depths - all three passageways - she felt a gush of fluids escape her and land on the eggs, giving her that sense of relief.

The liquid was absorbed by the deck, helping the knotted nest of vines to move like tentacles and form a weave around the three eggs, holding them in place. They'd been pried from Ceylon's flesh, and now they were going to do something with those eggs but had no idea what that was.

Ceylon collapsed on the floor between her bed, the book shelf, and the nest of eggs, chin on the ground and hooked beak digging into the wood of the living ship. "S-sorry." she apologized, knowing her beak must of hurt Shiazo. All she could do was twist her neck so that she wasn't digging furrows into the deck.

A moment later, she hear a rustling as the vines all grew a multitude of leaves, completely smothering the pile of gooey eggs. While the shells were firm and would not crack normally, Shiazo's form was able to break them down and use the nutrients to fuel their continued existence. Sustenance could come from many sources for Shiazo, from the sun itself to traditional feed and fertilizer.

Nothing was wasted on the Spirit of Dalonia. No resource or nutrients lost. If the crew didn't get it, the ship would; as weird as that sounded. Pretty much every aspect of most sailing vessels required a level of efficiency that just wasn't needed ashore. Every grain of rice mattered, every drop of water. From the constantly cycling ingredients in their never-ending pot of soup to the reuse of fabric and leathers from clothes to ship repairs, everything was reduced, reused, and recycled if possible.

This was only the beginning of their adventure. After a half-hour power nap, Ceylon was woken to the sound of knocking on her chamber door. She'd passed out on her bed, belly fat and stuffed to the brim with an exceptionally heavy and dense snake inside her. With that much weighing her down, she felt the only thing she could do was relax before letting her partner out. Still, upon hearing the knock at her chamber door, she couldn't help but shuffle in place loud enough to be heard.

"Captain, we have an issue." It was Fidget, having clearly heard the captain's motion and response. Despite the urgency in her voice she was hesitant to enter the chambers, knowing that Ceylon was likely having some fun. Before the captain could ask, she clarified. "It's another ship, and it looks pretty messed up! Not only that, but, well, you'll see."

This was of course quite rare, so Ceylon got to all fours, shook herself off, and prepared to act like a captain for once. Even if the co-captain was still coiled and heavy in her womb. "Aye! I'll be on the deck in a moment! Don't wait for me!"

"Heard, captain! Do be quick, it looks dire." She offered a salute that couldn't be seen but Ceylon could swear she felt. Then she disappeared back above deck to join the others.

Ceylon grunted to herself as her belly growled in protest and her womb churned her serpent partner inside. It was terrible to still be hungry and yet so full at the same time but she had a duty to attend to. Part of her wanted to leave Leera inside her womb, the weight of the snake a constant source of stimulation and arousal, but she knew she needed to be smart and safe about it.

She arched her back, lifted her tail, spread her hind legs, and took in a deep breath before pushing down with every one of her abdominal muscles while strategically relaxing her loins to clear her birth canal. Her cervix twitched and a coil of Leera's body breached, dilating her all the way to her lips. With another push - one that was resisted by the serpent that didn't wish to come out - every bit of Leera was forced out, accompanied by buckets worth of gooey gryphon slime. Leera was reborn right there next to the eggs, in a thin amniotic sack that had already begun to form around her.

With one full-bodied slither, Leera burst the sack and had the fluids gush out and onto the floor to be absorbed by Shiazo. Then, when she flicked her tongue a few times, she glanced up at Ceylon with a look of dismay. She was warm and comfortable inside, and she knew Ceylon loved it. However, the psychic link formed between them during the process had allowed Leera to emotionally infer that something was happening and that Ceylon wasn't ejecting her for no reason.

So when the gryphoness offered a lick and darted off, Leera understood, letting the captain do her job. She soon slithered after at a more leisurely pace.

Chapter 03 - Creatures of the Depths

Upon emerging from her quarters, Ceylon was greeted by the vision of a ship in crisis near the edge of the horizon. But it wasn't just any crisis. The frigate, though massive and incredibly powerful, was at the mercy of a series of monstrous peach-coloured tentacles emerging from the depths, each one wrapped around and woven between the different ship features like the rigging and the railings, its grip so intense that it looked like it would be dragging the ship under with it! Most importantly, all three masts had been snapped in half, rending the ship dead in the water.

The source of the tentacles could not be seen below the surface of the water beyond a nondescript dark cylinder but Ceylon knew it to be a kraken attack. Kraken were titan-sized hybrids of octopus and squid, eight to twelve tentacles each as much as a hundred meters long. That was the sort of thing said to live in the abyss, and it wasn't just a special exception or one of a kind but instead one of a lost species of kaiju creature. The Abyss of the Depths was a mysterious and uncharted land, a perfect circle of emptiness in the middle of the Ijimulian Ocean, but stories still told of giant versions of the most dangerous creatures ever seen.

Sharks bigger than the largest ships, leviathan whales hundreds of meters long, krakens with tentacles big enough to grab a whole fleet of ships at once, floating islands that were actually just crabs, and worms big enough to eat all the others combined were among the purported beasts that made the area so dangerous.

Ceylon had heard these tales before but this was the first time she'd ever seen a kraken in person before. It was bigger and more intimidating than she expected yet they were still so far away from the ship in question that it was little more than a dot on the horizon. Her eyes and the eyes of the navigator that had spotted it were keen enough to see clearly what was happening.

"What do we do, captain?" Fidget asked while peeking through a telescope to get the sort of view Ceylon had with the naked eye. "Do we avoid it? See if they need help? I don't see a flag so I have no idea if it's one of us or one of them."

"Honestly, I think we need to get a bit closer, we need to see more about what's going on before we make a decision. If it's one of ours, we do all we can to help them out even if the chance of success is low. If it's a farshore vessel, I'd be content watching the carnage from afar and plundering after. I'm patient." The others on deck kept their positions, each barely within earshot when factoring in the sloshing of the waves and the groan of the wood of the ship.

That was when an avatar for Shiazo formed at the base of the bow-mast, a cat-sized rendition of the drake's prior form. This was how they spoke. "So are we heading directly towards the kraken, then? What if there are more hiding below? Can we risk that?"

"Veer slightly starboard, make it look like we're not going to approach them head on just in case. And as for the kraken, well, everything I know of cephalopods tells me a creature of that size wouldn't be hunting in packs, especially not this close to the surface. And between myself and the rest of the crew we have the agility and magic to escape should that become a problem."

"Aye, captain!" Each and every member of the crew affirmed in unison.

Yetzer remained high in the crow's nest, coiled around the mast as a look out. Cero and Anax hung off the rigging, ready for action. Foxifly and Fidget got to the bow of the ship, even with poor Fidget heavy with a single egg in her womb. Ceylon got behind the wheel, which was mostly just there to give Shiazo information. The ship itself adjusted its sails, unfurled more rigging, and started using its three rudders to swim forward, aided by the wind.

What was once a tiny dot in the distance quickly approached them as they stayed the course. Eventually, only a few hundred meters out - just barely within cannon range but still not close enough to be in danger of the kraken that was gripping the ship from bow to stern, the eight tentacles all clenching so tight that they could hear the creaks and cracks from The Spirit of Dalonia.

Still no flag to be seen and no way of knowing if this was worth risking their lives. Sometimes a ship needed to be left well enough alone, but other times that ship needed assistance. The problem was deciding whether or not this was a friend or foe. Ceylon and her crew were good people but they had no interest in helping those who would hurt them. They were good people, they weren't saints.

"So what's the plan?" Fidget asked again once they were close enough to get a better look and make a properly educated decision.

Foxifly hovered down from her place in the rigging. "Been trying my best and I can't see a flag anywhere. No declaration of alliance at all. The mast is half submerged, but there doesn't appear to be a flag there, either. Either it was torn off by the kraken or they were hiding it. Either way-"

Ceylon interrupted her. "I think it might be best for me to go. Alone. I have a bad feeling about this but I can glide from our mast to theirs and make it back with a bit of magic. I don't want anyone else to come with me, in case it's a ruse. In case it's a well-laid trap. I just don't feel right risking it."

"How could this be a trap?" Anax asked, still hanging off the vine rigging, her tail interwoven with the many loops and patches. "That's a kraken, and it's not an illusion. Nobody can control them."

"Not that we know of. Just trust me. I have a gut feeling about this." Ceylon assured her crew. Though it may have just been the emptiness she felt having not yet eaten and recently emptied her womb of snake coils. "If I give a signal, unload the cannons at the ship or escape as fast as you can. Red for attack, blue for retreat. If it's a trap, well...look, I don't exactly know how to say it. I just have a feeling. Heard?"

"Aye captain."

"Good, I'm going to investigate on my own. Foxifly, you may join me if you want but I don't think it's needed." Without saying another word, Ceylon leapt up to start climbing the mast, quickly making past Yetzer and into the crow's nest. The vines whipped around like tentacles to create a perch along the railing, which Ceylon used to leap into the air and spread her wings, catching a misty updraft of salty sea gusts rebounding off the hull.

Ceylon was able to use all her wing power to glide over the open ocean, her keen eyes scanning the surface to search for anything of significance below. She glanced back to see that Foxifly was not joining her. This was fine, as it was potentially dangerous and her insect wings may have lacked the lift to get her over the water and if she fell in, that could be the end of her. Ahead, the other ship was being squeezed tight by a half dozen tentacles, attempting to tug it down into the abyss with it. Fortunately, the ship was broad and had great stability so its buoyancy kept it afloat even with the weight of the kraken pulling it down.

On the flight over, Ceylon had to keep her focus split in every direction to ensure nothing caught her off guard. She had to keep an eye on the ship ahead to see if any significant details emerged. She had to glance back to not only make sure no other creatures attacked the Spirit of Dalonia but also in case someone else decided to fly over with her. She also had to keep her eyes scanning the open ocean below her to see if she could see any other creatures or dangers.

She fortunately saw nothing. Only black. The abyss was absolute; there was nothing below them even at the edge of the depths. For most of the ocean, Ceylon's keen aquatic avian eyes could see to the bottom. It was a solid kilometer or more to the bottom; the naked eye of most couldn't come close to seeing through that much water but Ceylon was uniquely equipped for water hunting and could actually see the bottom in most places over the oceans of the world.

The Abyss of the Depths was so much deeper than the rest of the ocean it was a blank void of nothing to her trained eyes. A perfectly circular anomaly in the dead center of the Ijimulian ocean. And they were sailing over it. Foolish. Still, they had a ship to save or loot. A ship that was getting a rather snug hug from a half dozen tentacles each the girth of the mast or thicker.

As Ceylon got closer she saw a rather large quadruped dragon on deck, their scales a vibrant and deep teal similar to the colour of pure ademane. They were swiping their tail at the tentacles to keep them at bay in between swipes of their claws, chomps with their maw, and the release of what appeared to be a pure ademane breath for defense. Ceylon didn't have the time to decipher what was going on, but from her vantage in the air flying by overhead, she assumed it to be a non-elemental attack akin to physical magic, the aggressive breath of mist that created force that kept things at bay and destroyed anything in its path.

This was an admirable skill, one Ceylon wished to ask about in the event both she and the dragon survived this ordeal.

As she was flying over, the dragon saw her out of the corner of their eye; this distracted the dragon long enough for one of the tentacles to slam down on them, pinning them to the deck as the many suction cups started tugging on their scales.

Ceylon felt responsible for this, so she angled her wings and dove in an attack formation, twisting and turning in the air to dodge through the tentacles, eventually striking the one that was pinning the dragon down by dragging her claws and talons over its backside.

The tentacle reacted violently, releasing the dragon and swiping upward. Ceylon anticipated this and did a barrel roll to avoid it before landing on the deck. She turned to the dragon, all fours spread out for stability and eyes glancing around to keep a tight profile and ensure no other attacks happened. "Can you fly? I can get you out of here!" Each of the tentacles kept their grip on the ship, but the tips all aimed towards the two of them in the middle of the deck.

"Yeah I can fly, but I don't think that will help." The dragon said. Their voice was deep but feminine, even in the danger they found themselves in. "The kraken isn't exactly going to let us go."

"I'm sure it's fine. My ship is incredibly fast and - Look, if you can fly we can escape. Don't have time to explain the fine details."

The dragoness was about to say something when two tentacles slammed down where they were standing, forcing them both to dodge to the side. Ceylon leapt up, kicked off the railing, and then whipped her tail with a burst of physical magic to force the tentacle back. This gave them both a moment as the crackling of activated ademane sizzled in the air. Before they could speak again, all six tentacles released their grip from what they were holding and attacked them in unison.

Some of them jabbed forward, others swiped and slammed down. It was clear the beast was very keen on capturing them both; how it was able to detect them without eyes above the surface of the water was not clear but it managed to do so. Each and every tentacle seemed to track them even as they dipped, dodged, and dived away from the threat, redirecting in the air to get shockingly close each and every time. One managed to swipe Ceylon's wings, causing her to tumble mid-leap and adjust in midair, landing on all fours like a cat.

"What do you mean? I think details could be pertinent right now!" Ceylon shouted while ducking another tentacle that swung by her head.

The dragoness leapt over a tentacle of her own,rebounded off a railing, and got in close to Ceylon so that the pair of them were in the middle of the deck. There was no cargo anywhere, all knocked off and sinking to the depths of the abyss. With them shoulder to shoulder, she swiped over Ceylon, using her tail as a whip to fend off another tentacle attack. "This is my fault. You can't just attack a kraken, they need to be enticed away."

"How does one do that? Ask politely? Offer it a treat?" Ceylon shouted. Then, upon looking around and seeing that there were no other crew members on deck, came to a realization. "Actually, scratch that. Looks like you already fed it some snacks. Am I safe?"

She was about to respond with snark when a tentacle slammed down between them. She pounced and dug her claws into it, biting down as hard as she could while exhaling a magic breath attack that tore through the flesh of the tentacle, ripping it up and obliterating bits of it. Impressive.

But the moment she let go, preparing herself for the next attack, the torn bits of flesh mended themselves, flaps merging back up and healing instantly. Within seconds, the tentacle was back to its former self, completely restored. That was when it managed to grab her around her front legs, gripping both wrists and squeezing them together. It was about to drag her into the depths when she managed to use her tail to anchor herself down by the shattered remains of the mast behind her.

Ceylon was starting to panic. She continued to duck and dodge and flip over the tentacles but she wasn't getting information from the dragoness, not in a timely enough manner to actually escape. That, and the tentacles had some supernatural healing abilities, better even than Shiazo and the Spirit of Dalonia. For this reason, Ceylon internally justified the use of the psychic powers she possessed. She did all she could to limit her use of them, since she found it to be unethical and something only a terrible person would do without permission. However, she needed to find out what this dragoness meant and how they would fend off the kraken.

With a bit of focus and just the right moment of hesitancy from the tentacles, Ceylon was able to probe the dragoness's mind. Her name was Xymedra and she had actually summoned the kraken with pheromones in an attempt to control it. That was as deep as Ceylon could go, because Xymedra had some intrinsically powerful magical defenses against this sort of thing. Much like her abnormally strong magic breath, she was impressively shielded from Ceylon's psychic invasion.

If they weren't under attack and very short on time, Ceylon may have been able to break through and learn what she needed. They were not that lucky. In the few seconds Ceylon had to probe Xymedra's mind, she'd already opened herself up for an attack from the tentacles. One managed to entwine with her tail, constricting it and tugging it to draw her from her telepathic concentration.

She shook her head and yelped a bit, prepared to fight back when a dozen more smaller tentacles all slithered over the side of the ship, maybe more. Perhaps a dozen on either side, each one weaving between railings and slats and bollards to clench tight and make every board on the ship groan under the stress of a kraken's hug. It sounded and even felt like the ship was about to snap in half, and the sheer volume of tentacles smothering the vessel made it clear that either they were under attack from a pod of them or that they had far more tentacles than previously believed.

Ceylon was able to unravel her tail from the grip of the kraken but that didn't stop more from slithering up to her and teasing her ankles. The dozens of other tendrils emerging from around the ship all splashed and swiped around, soaking the deck of the ship with foamy sea water. "Xymedra, now's the time to tell me how to get you out of here or I'm going to have to abandon ship!" Ceylon warned, barely able to dance her way away from the probing grip of each tentacle that got close to her.

Xymedra narrowed her eyes when she heard her name; she knew Ceylon must have probed her mind to get that information but didn't dwell on it. She also knew she'd kept the gryphon out of her deeper thoughts. "At this point, you just got to let them win."

"Excuse me?" Ceylon paused, just long enough for the tentacle that had entwined with her tail to find the opening to her tail maw, wedging it open in the process. She needed more information but a very superficial sweep of Xymedra's emotion and mind made her believe the dragoness to be telling the trut. Ceylon didn't understand what she meant, but she accepted that the solution to the problem was to give up. Not her usual go-to response but she had no other ideas.

Which was good because just as she was weighing the options, another tentacle side swiped her, pinning her neck to the deck and wrapping around her torso to hold her in place. More of them came up to entangle Xymedra's tail, hind legs, wings, and upper body at the same time. They may have been able to wriggle out and escape if need be, but Ceylon could feel the sincerity coming from Xymedra so she chose to trust her. Perhaps not the smartest thing to do in most situations as she wasn't necessarily right about her advice, but she did hold the beliefs sincerely.

That was enough for Ceylon to relax and stop struggling. She glared over at Xymedra with a scowl. "You'd best not be lying to me. I-" she was about to make a particularly scathing remark when she felt two tentacles invade her from the backside. One forced its way into her tail maw, forcing all three of the jaws to splay out wide while another aggressively jammed its way into her cunt in a single fluid motion, the tip curling in her womb with little to no resistance. She'd have likely had better defenses had she not just taken her serpent mate in her womb earlier.

Xymedra grinned, locking eyes with Ceylon as more of the tentacles reached her hindquarters. One of them grabbed her tail and hoisted her up so her hind legs were raised off the deck, the other tentacles keeping her chest and front legs pinned down. Not just one but two of the thicker tentacles slithered around her haunches and tail base, using the leverage to wiggle and force their way into her. Both of them parted her lips at the same time, distending her flesh and plunging deep into her. The twin tentacles rotated and twisted, the clearly defined bulge pressing out against her lower belly as a third smaller tentacle tried its best to wedge in between the first two.

The first tentacle that was slithering deep into Ceylon seemed to catch, the salty water of the sea that splashed on her washing away what lingering lubricant remained on Ceylon's lips and the tentacle's gooey skin. Since she was trying her best to adhere to what Xymedra was telling her to do, she reached back and grabbed her pussy lip, prying it to the side to expose more of her plump inner flesh, ensuring that there was only the slick skin of the tentacle grinding against her soft inner folds.

Of course that didn't account for the suckers that dragged over her clit, plucking her flesh and grabbing onto her every fold and slick bit of skin. Had she not been mildly terrified it would be incredibly sexy, having something so thick and powerful force its way into her. The tentacle was similar in girth and strength as Leera, with a very familiar pattern of muscle contractions and relaxation with the one major difference being the presence of the suckers where Leera's belly scales would have been otherwise.

It also was quite different when more tentacles slithered up near her and added to the first one. Another smaller tendril found her tail hole, though squished between tail base and the distended rim of her dilated pussy, easily lubricating her and plunging through her bowels with expert precision. The one in her tail maw forced itself deeper, widening her tail girth threefold half way down its length, all while yet another one nestled in between the largest one in her pussy and the small one in her rump en route to her womb.

All the while, Xymedra kept her devious grin and her eyes trained on Ceylon as all three tentacles invaded her pussy, each one getting deep enough and coiling around each other to form a thick bulge in her belly with very little room for imagination.

Then, all at once, the thickest tentacle in Xymedra and the thickest one in Ceylon both had a single, massive bulge pass through them starting at the source and coursing through their length to stop at their entrances. The extra pressure made Ceylon wince, then shudder in delight as the bulge started to grind against both clit on the outside and her most sensitive spots just beyond her plump lips. The moment she was able to relax a bit and let the tentacles do what they wished, she began to contentedly enjoy what was happening. As always, the bigger the better and few things were this thick or dexterous.

Xymedra appeared to be having a similarly euphoric experience. She was arching her back and leaning into the tentacles as the bulge teased her opening. She even went so far as to wiggle her hindquarters and throw her head back as the bulge forced its way into her. A deep, trilling growl escaped her gullet as she finally relaxed, each of her limbs drooping down with no further will aside from a handful of claw twitches and muscular contractions.

At the same time, Ceylon felt the bulge force its way into her in a similar manner, sliding through the innards of the tentacle so she felt the pressure but none of the friction as it got squeezed directly into her womb. Since her uterus was also linked to her tail's passage, the pressure forced the tentacle from her tail maw in a gush of glorious slime while the tentacle in her tail hole caressed the object through the walls of her bowels and womb.

The moment both had been given their deposit, the tentacles slowly receded from them and from around the ship. Many of them slowly unfurled from their grip and slipped back into the water, while the ones wrapped around them let go and left a gooey trail along the deck.

Finally, each and every tentacle that was inside them slowly plopped out like a horse cock post orgasm, limp and shrivelled, leaving both Ceylon and Xymedra gaping in their absence. The very tips hooked on their lips from inside for a split second to keep their pussies open for a bit longer as their respective wombs sealed up.

In the last moment before her passage closed, Ceylon slipped her own front talon into herself to feel what was left inside her; it felt like an egg, one even bigger than the ones she'd laid in her quarters that morning. It left her belly bloated and her womb without even the slightest bit of room left over, her cervix sealing up as she let her finger pull away.

The last tentacle to exit her was the one that had been snaking its way through her guts. The moment it lurched out of her and broke contact, every last one of the remaining tentacles got yanked over the side of the ship as the kraken bolted away, returning once more to the depths that it called home. The resulting riptide spun the ship around, nearly capsizing it before having it find peace.

This left both Ceylon and Xymedra huffing and panting heavily, wombs full and passages all various levels of sore and tender from the ravaging they received. Ceylon crawled over and struggled to all fours before addressing the dragoness, noticing a black hat with a cross of bones on it. She shuddered as a bit of pleasure coursed through her. Once she regained her composure, she looked down at Xymedra. "You have some explaining to do, I think."

Xymeda got to all fours and stood tall, showing herself to be a full head and shoulders taller than Ceylon. "I need to explain nothing. The kraken is gone, that is all that matters." Her voice oozed confidence and arrogance in equal measure.

Ceylon glanced around with a raised eyebrow and a lowered ear. "Really? I saved your tail and you're going to give me attitude? Look at this mast, this ship is going nowhere. Even if it wasn't snapped in half, where's your crew? Do you want me to leave you and yours here alone, floating helplessly towards the abyss?"

"No, of course not. Don't be a fool." Xymedra countered. She took a few seconds of her own to glance around before sighing heavily.

Before Xymedra could say anything more, Ceylon's expression softened. "Okay, we'll tow you back to shore. For a price." Normally she'd have done that for a fellow NLF member just out of the goodness of her heart, but the cross bone flag and Xymedra's demeanour altered the situation a bit.

"What price?" Xymedra asked.

"Information." Ceylon answered. "What just happened? Do I have to be worried about this egg inside me? How did you-" she stopped herself before she lost herself to a torrent of inquries.

Xymedra reluctantly nodded. "I can do that. There's a lot to explain, really. But for now, let's get out of here. I think you know as well as I do that this area is not safe. We should focus on that."

Ceylon looked her up and down, not sure how to respond. She wanted more information before going forward but she did agree they needed to get moving if they were to make it away from the Depths of the Abyss safely. "Aye." Was all she could say with a hesitant tone before taking action.

She then flew back to her crew and informed them of the plan. They used some vines that Shiazo conjured to tow the larger ship, then put forth all of their energy to get as far away from the abyss as possible. Only once Ceylon could look down into the ocean and see the bottom was she confident halting the journey to shore and approaching Xymedra for more answers.

While the ship remained in motion, Ceylon and the rest of the crew sat Xymedra down in the middle of the deck to figure out what she was talking about and what had happened.

"Alright, That was rather fishy and a little weird, but now that we're more or less safe. I think you need to give us some answers." Ceylon started. She tried to keep her posture firm and authoritative with the egg in her womb but was finding it rather challenging. "You seemed to know a lot about what to do with that kraken, and not even I am familiar with the creatures of the depths. So cough it up."

Xymedra offered a sinister laugh. "You have no idea, none at all."

"No, that's why I expect answers from you." Ceylon countered. The rest of her crew stood by.

"Well, the short version is that we were researching ways to entice and control them using pheromones. Turns out, all we could do was attract the horny ones and they wouldn't go away until they were satisfied. Where do you think the rest of my crew went? We tried controlling the krakens and not everyone was able to handle the eggs like we were."

Ceylon growled. "That's it? You could have told me that while I was trying to save you!"

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that. The look on your beak was priceless!"

The captain of the Spirit of Dalonia needed to control herself to not lash out in anger. Once she had composed herself, she calmly looked Xymedra dead in the eye with a warning. "We're going to take you ashore with your ship, but you'd best be willing to pay for the danger you put us in and I hope for your sake that you've got some valuable cargo. Do you still have the pheromones you used?"

"Yeah." Xymedra answered; she looked like she was about to say something more but held her tongue. Suspicious, to be sure.

"Go get them. We'll figure out what we're going to do with them once we're ashore."

"Aye. Captain." There was clearly more to Xymedra's compliance but Ceylon didn't want to engage any longer. The dragoness's confrontational attitude was not reassuring, and a handful of little things she said and did made Ceylon wonder if she was working with the enemy. Either way, the primary focus at this time was getting to safety, making it to port, and parting ways.

Until then, they had a few days to learn to get along.