Legend's Truth

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Legend's Truth

It was a warm sunny day and Albert lay on the sand of the beach sunning himself.

Wearing only shorts and sandals he'd come to this isolated spot for a little peace and quiet and got far more. The scenery was lovely, stark rising cliffs in places, mostly covered in vines and creepers, lush grass running right up to the cliff edges, and the slight hills that cover the area. The sea seen from this view was also beautiful, the sun lowish behind him, sending shadows from the cliffs over the waves.

Sighing Albert realized most of the day was gone, but it had been wonderful. He toyed with the idea of staying to see what this place looked at under starlight, but his time was limited, and tomorrow he'd have to get back to work.

With reluctance he got up and picked up the towel he'd been lying on and headed back to his truck. At least he knew this place now, he'd definitely be back.

Then he stopped. Was that crying?

Standing there still he strained to hear it again. Yes, there it was, off to the left. He was about to call out, but something stopped him. Instead he walked quietly over to the bushes there and carefully looked over them.

Down in the little gully on the other side lay a shaking bundle of clothes.. no, it was a child!

"Are you O.." he stopped as the figure jumped from his voice and looked up. It wasn't a child, it was an old lady... maybe. the face was slightly wrong somehow, pointed, and in this light it almost looked like there was a fuzz over it. She stared up at him, obviously terrified, then her fear dimmed and she squeaked up in a voice that was anything but old. It was quiet, muted, but beautiful, sort of whistling.

"C... can you help... PLEASE! My time is almost upon me." she stared into his eyes and he saw her shudder involuntarily.

"My god... of course.. Come on, I'll take you to the nearest hospital." He leant over to help her up, but she shied away from him, stumbling back into the gully in her fear.

"NO!.. please, just do as I say, my... OOOHHH!" he gasped as smoke puffed from her mouth at that last statement. He reached down and took hold of her arm while she shuddered, and he gasped. Her flesh was burning!

She pulled back from his grip quickly and he saw a burnt looking feather flutter from her sleeve.

"No, just.... when it is... done, you must promise to eat the remains, all of them, as soon as possible... please! It doesn't matter how, but it must be all. Then drink as much water as you can and rest. I beg of y.. you, my final wish!"

She coughed and stuttered, and another puff of white smoke left her lips. He could see a heat haze rising from her body now, and even the cloth around her seemed to be crisping.

"You can't be serious? Remains? I'm no cani... Oh my god!" he gasped as licks of flame burst from around her eyes, from her nose and out of her mouth. What was happening?

"Pl...*cough* ease! It's imperi..*splutter* tive I...IIIIIAAARGHGHHGH!" and before Albert's eyes she burned.

He staggered back as a wave of heat shot up from her, there was a *WOOF* of hot air, followed by a few feathers, but very little flame as her features dimmed and curled in themselves. Thankfully he couldn't see much more than that as her body curled inside the darkening clothes she was in. Slowly the bundle of cloth caved in, collapsing to nothing at all, smoldering. By some miracle the clothes hadn't caught fire at all! Then he saw the puddle of water beneath her rapidly evaporating in the heat. She must have wetted the clothes before hand.

As the sun slowly set behind him he stood there, staring, unable to do anything. Eventually he nervously bent over and opened the cloak she had been wearing and found only brownish powder inside, hard and crisp, and smelling almost like incence.

Again he froze there, staring. Slowly the last few words she had said went over and over in his mind. He couldn't believe what she'd asked him... but over the next few minutes he slowly realized he had to follow her wishes. The pleading look in her eyes had been just too much to resist.

Carefully he bent over and curled up the corners of the cloak, careful to scoop all of the powder up. There wasn't a lot of it, considering it was all that was left of her, maybe a four pounds at most. He tipped what there was of it in her shoes into the cloak and bound it all up to carry back home. This was getting too much for him.

He stopped as he saw several feathers on the ground where she'd lain. He guessed she must have lined her cloak with them, why he didn't know. maybe most had burnt up when she'd gone as the cloak had none in now. On impulse he reached down and picked up one and stuck in stalk first in his mouth, twirling it like a cigarette.

His trip back home was... unnerving. He kept getting flashbacks of her visage just before it curled out of sight. It should have been racked with pain, but instead looked pained, as if dreading something else. What could have been worse than what had happened he couldn't imagine... then he realized, she had been afraid he wouldn't keep his promise! Was that it? It made as much sense as anything else.

Staggering back to his house, alone in the dark, he realized he must have waited quite a long time out there after the woman had..... well, whatever. It was an hour later than it should have been.

He stopped in the kitchen and dropped the bundled cloak on the table and let it fall open. Again he stared at the contents quietly. This time he stopped himself before it went on too long and nervously he reached down and took a small pinch of the 'stuff' and raised it to his lips.

Quickly, before he could change his mind, he tossed it into his mouth and swallowed. Although he screwed his face up, his features soon relaxed. It wasn't as awful as he expected. It wasn't charcoal as he'd thought, but did have a bitterness to it. He didn't think he'd manage to eat it all like this.

He drove the thought of what it was from his mind and instead started getting items out from the cupboards and testing them. He tried tomato ketchup, mint sauce, strawberry desert sauce, but eventually decided on putting a fair amount inside two thin, small, slices of bread. They were small enough to swallow whole, just, so the bitter aftertaste didn't stay with him.

Slowly he sat down and began to cut bread thin bread slices into quarters, then made sandwiches by the dozen. This would take a while.

For the next hour he sliced, cut, filled and swallowed a great deal of sandwiches. His stomach strained and he had to fight down the instinct to throw up, his bloated belly stretched taught. Relentlessly he struggled on, working down the last few sandwiches. Eventually he ran out of bread and looked at the small pile of powder remaining. Remembering what the woman had said he took a glass of water and tipped it in and swallowed it down. It still tasted bitter, but wasn't too bad like this. She was all gone now, his promise was fulfilled... well, nearly.

He staggered, standing by the sink. He managed a couple more glasses of water, but his belly felt like it would explode. He couldn't manage any more. He sat down hard on the chair nearest the sink and panted. It was then he felt it, a stirring inside him. His already tight belly strained, churned and moved, almost making him throw up that moment. He held it though, with difficulty, one hand on his mouth, the other on his belly, holding it tightly to ease the pressure.

As his gut churned he felt a kind of tingling, spreading slowly out from there. Slowly he felt the pressure ease, his belly's tightness lessening, till he relaxed, finding he no longer had to fight the bile building inside him. Looking down his belly still looked hefty, slightly swollen out, he could feel it almost feeling normal, then... empty, no. Damn, he was thirsty, his mouth became parched in seconds.

Staggering once more to his feet he set the tap on full and carried glass after glass to his lips, gulping fiercely, but his mouth stayed dry. In impatience he leaned to get his head under the tap, finding it awkward somehow, but not really noticing or caring why. Instead he drank and drank.

As he gulped he felt tightness again, but odd, different. His belly still twitched, as if the contents were fighting to get out, but it seemed to be settling. The tingling however had poured through his whole body, still there in the background, feeling very weird in his head, almost like a pleasant kind of headache.

After what seemed like hours he felt the fearsome thirst begin to ebb, and eventually he found he could let the tap go. As his senses returned he realized his feet weren't on the floor!

Tipping back off the sink he stared down at his belly. It was truly huge! He had been laying on it while he had been drinking and it's size had lifted him from the floor! It looked as if he were 9 months pregnant with sextuplets! Surprisingly it didn't slosh quite like water, more thickly, as if it were soup in there. Maybe the water was mixing with the... powder, somehow.

This time he didn't make it to the chair, his tiredness was getting to him and he collapses were he was, his legs crossed beneath his enormous belly. As he sat there, resting against the cabinet behind him. Slowly he felt something a little different within him, first faint gurgling, then slow, strong movements, swaying his gut from side to side. The churning died away, but this new jerking movement came more often.

Sitting there he wrapped his arms around his belly and held it. He could feel it pulling, twisting, changing shape somehow. Inside something was forming, something huge, and it wasn't sitting still!

It took several more minutes before the changing slowed down. His belly no longer looked round, it had bumps all over it, regular, and it reminded him of something, though he couldn't think what. It still moved jerkily, but less violently, just nudges from inside, and he could see the lumps bulge and move beneath his skin.

"Ohhh, what's happening to me!" he mumbled, clutching his belly. He got his answer fairly quickly.

His throat caught again, and he felt himself heaving once again, straining to be sick. This time he couldn't stop it, but it didn't seem to be working. The tingling was still pervading his body, like it had gone to sleep or something, and now seemed to be concentrating in his stomach and neck. Slowly something edged around, twisted inside him. He could see lumps sliding from left to right across the taught skin of his belly, sliding and shifting inside.

Then there was a hefty lunge. His stomach tried to stretch up and down, elongating. Then it pressed inwards a little and his throat caught. Something was jammed into his gullet from below. He suddenly tipped to his left side and felt his stomach heave, thrusting something huge and solid up his throat.

He felt it twist, uncurling and stretching inside him, then felt wriggling at the back of his throat, then pushing into his mouth. Soon scrabbling somethings edged over his tongue, stretching his mouth wide. He looked down in terror, not knowing what he'd see. Beautiful delicate hands were not what he expected!

The two hands, definitely female, slid from his mouth, pushing and struggling out, but they seemed almost golden in color, and tickled his mouth. Staring at them he saw a faint sheen of... fur? on them. Inside he felt something wider heaving into his throat, surging upwards.

'My god, I'm throwing up a woman!' he thought to himself. But wondered if that was true. As the arms followed the hands he saw what were unmistakably feathers on them, wings stretching from the thumbs and back, folded and matted up from his saliva, but definitely wings.

He was amazed that none of this had hurt yet, his stomach twisting and churning, stretched unbelievably, and now his throat and mouth stretching wide, still painlessly. Slowly arms slid out, wriggling to be free, and what he assumed was a head and shoulders followed them up, jamming into the back of his throat. He couldn't see how they'd fit out, but his mouth just kept stretching wider. The arms pulled apart as he neared their base, then a face pressed against his tongue, sliding forwards. It turned from side to side, wriggling in the tight confines of his mouth, and he was sure he felt moaning inside him.

That was when he felt the lumps in his neck, large, spherical lumps on whatever was inside, roughly chest level... he got the idea soon enough, and just the idea made him stiffen in his shorts. The 'woman' heaved up, and he saw her face... no, beak! edge out from between his lips! Her head was covered in golden feathers, and looked more birdlike than human, but the eyes were definitely human, and the mouth actually twisted in a smile. How could a beak bend like that?

Then he heard her pant and moan fully, her beak finally free of his body. He felt her hands scrabble down his body, grasping him, finally holding onto his sides firmly and heaving. He felt a sloshing at the back of his throat, and soon smooth, feathery balls of flesh rolled onto his tongue. He tasted deliciously sweet sweat from he body as she shivered and twitched. As his tongue curled under her breasts he heard her cry out.

"Oh god yes! Oh Thank you!" She uttered, her eyes screwed tightly closed. He looked down to see her shoulders edging out, her wings slowly unfolding around her, His tongue again curled over her sweet flesh, coated in slick feathers, downy beneath, and slowly they oozed over his teeth. He could feel the nipples through the feathers, and when they scraped over his teeth he felt her shudder and scream. Her whole body jerked and spasmed and she collapsed (what of her was outside him at least) on the floor, panting.

As she relaxed he heaved and felt her breasts plop out from his lips. With a struggle he heaved her body out of him. She was smaller than a most women, probably a little under 4 foot tall, but looked to be full-grown, not a child in shape. He could feel his breath getting tight and struggled to pull her out before he suffocated. His efforts suddenly stuttered as he felt hands on his shorts.

He suddenly felt the zipper pulled down and buttons undone and smooth velvety hands shot down inside his underpants.

"Mmmphll!" he managed as she stroked him. He furiously tried to bring her up, feeling her hips wedge up to the back of his throat, her soft downy belly heaving on his tongue. Then he felt another stroke on his member and his own hands shot down to grasp hers, trying to pull her off him.

He felt himself trying to pant, but his lungs had no outlet. He heaved at her hands and managed to pull one free just as he felt her body slip a little out of his mouth. With a wet slurp her hips slid into his mouth and settled on his tongue, her body resting on her side as he was, curling down to his hips. Just as he struggled to heave her second hand off him she shifted suddenly, surprisingly. He lost his grip and suddenly she was grasping his wrists with her hands. Then his eyes went wide as she sucked his manhood into her beak. A slight roughness as her beak opened wide, moving over his front and rear as his crotch was shoved up against her cheeks, then he felt tightness as her throat constricted on his shaft.

He moaned, then felt her moan as his own throat pulsed on her thighs. He struggled to free his hands, but soon lost interest in this as his ardour took hold. Even though his lungs strained, he heaved and bucked his hips against her mouth as her slender feathery legs slipped and wriggled out of his throat.

Struggling she pulled herself out even as she sucked on him. Her calves pulled, jinked, then only feet kicked briefly on his tongue, the last taste of her sweet sweaty feathers, and she was clear, his mouth and throat returning slowly to normal size.

"*GACK!* ak, Oh my...OOooooOOOHH!" He managed, as she curled over, her jaws pushed down further, her top beak shoved tightly in between his buttocks, her lower sliding over his belly, and her throat started to massage him as she gulps furiously. It doesn't take long and he surges, pumping into her as she gulps.

Exhausted, the both of them hold their position for a little while, then collapse apart to the floor. Albert leans up, panting a little, and is surprised that there seem no stretch marks on his belly.

"How...*pant* h..what happened?" he managed, staring at the.... bird woman? Difficult to say, but whatever she is she is definitely beautiful.

She slowly licked her lips, swallowing a few times, smiling at him.

"I'm sorry I didn't have time to tell you everything before, but thank you from the bottom of my heart for bringing me back. I thought that was my final time!" She slid up alongside him and rested her silky feathered head on his chest.

" 'Before'? You mean, you're... that woman I met outside? But you.... how?" he ran out of words, trying to understand. Partly he already accepted, but his conscious mind just couldn't grasp it.

"I'm sorry, introductions are in order. My name is Isrip. I'm a pheonix, one of the few remaining.... and yes, before you ask, the pheonix from legends, though the legends do get things a little mixed up. We aren't reborn after being consumed by flame, we're reborn after being consumed AFTER being consumed by flame... *chuckles* as I think you just found out. A long time ago we were a species, but then in a war the remaining males died out completely. We only survive by resurrecting the few that are left. I'm over
four thousand years old now, though a lot of that is spent hiding."

She stopped, waiting, but he just stared at her. She licked her lips, obviously getting a little nervous again now.

"Well, anyway, we need someone to consume us to let us rise anew, and it's getting more and more difficult to find anyone willing to do the deed... or that we can trust to do it without trying to sell us to some bazaar or something *sigh*"

This seemed her limit and she stopped again and sat there, waiting for a response. He just sat staring back at her.

The pause stretched out, and eventually it was she who broke the silence.

"S...so I've offended you haven't I? I'm sorry, I was just trying to.. to.. Oh I'm sorry. I'll leave I.." Then she stopped as his hand grasped her arm.

"Don't go, please. I... was just... well I've never seen anyone as beautiful as you before."

They sat there staring at each other, then collapsed into each others arms, Isrip sobbing tears of joy on him as she rested. At last she had a home again, while it lasted. Maybe in a few decades she'd have to find another home, but these next few years would be good, she knew it.