The Tempest Within - Part 3
By Enmesarra

It took Odra slapping Meron’s face before she surfaced from beneath an ocean of shock and guilt. Her limbs felt heavy, as if she’d been fighting the tide for hours. She’d been drowning in the thought of losing Falerina. She’d watched the satisfied smirk on Unsere’s face. All she wanted now was to give over to the demoness and join her lover in deformed helplessness. At least they’d be together.

“What do we do, Captain?” Odra said, nearly a shout.

“Huh?” Meron grunted.

“Captain, we’re still in danger. What do you want us to do?”

“Nothing. There’s nothing we can do.”

Odra knelt down, pressing Meron against the steel wall. “Captain, she’s gone. We can’t change that. But she isn’t your only responsibility. You have a crew and a ship to protect. I know how you feel, but we have to keep going.”

Meron snarled. “How could you possibly know what I feel like. She was everything to me.”

Odra’s face turned red, a mixture of anger and sorrow. “Because Garret was my lover,” she said softly.

Meron flinched. She’d never known those two were involved. Garret had been one of the first to fall under Unsere’s power, his body remolded horribly. Meron recalled the flopping mass on the ground, hardly more than a swelling of tentacles and a vagina for a face. Only the stretched out griffon tattoo where an arm had once been marked the man for who he’d been. She still remembered those brown eyes staring up at her while his moist slit of a mouth tried to form words.

“I’m sorry,” Meron said. “I…I just…”

“We understand, Meron, but we need you now. We have to stop this.”

“You’re right. But how?”

A woman she didn’t know, but recognized as a former hostage stepped forward. “Why don’t you start by asking her?” she said, pointing toward the cowering Dr. Brinn.

Dr. Brinn glanced up, “Sasha, shut up. Now.”

“Not a chance, you arrogant cow. You got us into this. I heard you talking to Falerina!”

Meron’s ears perked up. “What about Falerina?”

“She told her that the demoness, Unsere, came out of a demon-bell,” Sasha explained. “If she did, then it’s probably still here on the ship.”

Meron stood up, grabbing her saber. She pointed the weapon at Dr. Brinn, “Is this true?”

Dr. Brinn looked from face to face for help. She found little sympathy, even from her closest colleagues. She sighed, resolving herself to her fate. “Yes. I brought it on board. But she wasn’t supposed to get out. Not here. Not now.”

“I’ll put off throwing you in the brig for smuggling until later. But right now, you’re going to tell me everything, starting with the bell. If Unsere was that dangerous, why the hell would you take her demon-bell?”

Dr. Brinn wiped her nose. It had been to bleed again and had swollen to the size of a tomato. “Because I wanted to control her. Question her about the past. I needed to know more about the ancient world.”

“And considering Unsere’s obvious compassion and patience, how did you expect she’d kindly pass this information over to you?” Meron tapped the flat of her weapon against her leg impatiently.

“Because I’d also discovered the original binding spell that the adventurers used to trap her inside the bell. From its translation, I developed a rune sequence that would restrain her inside the bell, only allowing her to come out in her immaterial form. A simple protection spell could keep her from feed on me, and thus escaping.”

Meron scratched her head. “Then how did she escape this time.”

“My assistant undoubtedly awoke her and Unsere feed from him, stealing enough power to materialize.”

“Steal what?”

“She feeds on negative emotions, in particular humiliation.”

Meron tossed a handkerchief to Dr. Brinn. The professor dabbed her bleeding nose. “So,” Meron said, “Could you do this rune sequence still? How long would it take?”

“A matter of fifteen minutes or so, with a few common magical ingredients.”

“Do you have access to them?”

“Yes. Why?”

“Because I want you to trap her.”

Dr. Brinn shook her head, “She’s still to strong. The instant I reactivate the bell, she’s know and try to stop us. And even if we do succeed, she’d be ethereal for only mere moments before she fed off another crewmember. She already has a larder, so to speak, to feed from just beyond this door.”

“But if we kept her away from people long enough?”

“She’d reenter the bell and hibernate.”

Meron smirked. “Well then, get to work. I’ll meet you in the cargo hold.”

Dr. Brinn blinked, “But…”

“No ‘buts,’ just do it. I have a plan. Odra, take her below. Make sure she gets started.”

Before Dr. Brinn could protest, Odra picked her up and carted her off. A solid cuff to the head kept her prisoner quiet.

Meron chuckled for he first time since this began. She actually thought this might work, crazy as it was. “Jasper?”

The young man stepped forward. “Yes, captain.”

“I want you to make sure no one is between here and the cargo hold. Don’t try to stop Unsere when she breaks out of the galley. Just let her go by. Understood?”

“Yes, Captain. We’ll hide well enough.”

“When she’s gone, tend to the… transformed.”

Jasper licked his lips, blushing with nervousness. “Of course.”

Meron squeezed his shoulder, then went to the intercom. After ringing twice, she finally reached Karl. She explained everything that had happened in short order. And then, she told him of her plan.

Falerina lay in an ocean of freaks. Most were long friends, now unrecognizable with their deformations. The others she’d met only briefly, but her heart went out to them nonetheless. None should have been changed in such a horrid manner, twisted into something so bizarrely sexual and unnatural. And she knew she would join them any moment now.

She wondered if Meron could love her when she was no longer human.

But if she’d been in the same situation, Falerina would have made the same choice. Meron was her everything. She could never have let anything happen to her. She’d smiled with triumph when Odra dragged Meron to safety. Now all she had to do was live with that choice. Despite her grim future, she found it surprisingly easy.

Unsere crossed over to her, looking very proud of herself. “So, little one, you’re the good captain’s pet?”

Falerina spat in the demoness’ face, “Just get it over with. Your taunts bore me.”

Unsere wiped the spittle from her porcelain cheek, her mouth twitching. “Very well then.”

She reached up with her claws, lifting Falerina into the air with an invisible force. Falerina’s limb were pulled outward, bound, until she hovered only a few feet in front of the demoness. She could feel her skin tingling like a thousand ants were crawling over it. She closed her eyes, offering a small prayer for her salvation.

Unsere chuckled, forcing Falerina’s eyes open with a twist of her wrist. “No cheating girl, I want you to see this. All of it. Since your precious captain will not be my ship’s mascot, you will take her place.”

The violet glow coiled around Falerina’s lower body. Immediately, she felt herself being pulled and stretched like salt-taffy. Her entire torso grew and grew until her belly and chest pulled downward until her legs touched the floor. Her folded up bonelessly as more weight was placed on them, until they lay on the floor. More and more of her body coiled and flopped on the floor like fleshy dough until she’d grown over fifteen feet long from the chest down. Finally, after another five or more feet of body length were added, the stretching stopped.

Before she could become accustomed to her huge body, Falerina felt her legs begin to wither and shrink. They pulled back into her body, her feet shrinking into a fat pair of sensitive nipples. Her thighs swelled up and became rounder, until she had two, perfect breasts were her legs had been. They now formed an odd tail for her worm-like body. Bumps began to sprout from her ‘belly,’ running upward from the tip of her tail to beneath her human breasts in parallel rows. She grimaced to see the familiar circles of brown aureoles form. The nipples at their center swelled up obscenely, each the size of her fist. From the way they moved and twitched, Falerina realized they had become her new legs, like those of a caterpillar. Between each, a wide, hairless vagina opened up like a mouth. She could feel the movement of her legs stimulate them, making them wet. She could only imagine what actual walking would feel like.

Unsere bent down, rolling Falerina over. She tried to fight, but couldn’t move her arms. “I don’t think you’ll need these anymore,” the demoness laughed. She placed a claw on each of Falerina’s upper breasts, squeezing them. Falerina cried out in horror and humiliation as Unsere tugged and pulled, making her breasts long and tapered. Their pert shape disappeared as they grew longer and thinner. A lattice of veins appeared beneath them, and the nipples grew swollen and mushroom-shaped. Pleasure began to course down them, unlike she’d ever experienced. They stiffened in Unsere’s hands, as a pair of testicles emerged beneath them. The demoness thumbs parted the tiny slits at each tip, coated the bulbous hoods with a generous layer of precum that oozed out. Falerina whimpered, revolted by the pleasure this strange sensation gave her. The breasts that Meron had once lay her head upon had become two, thick cocks.

“Mrmmm,” the demoness purred. “Once I’m done here, I may take you as my own pet. You’ll beg me for my touch.”

Falerina squirmed and wriggled like a huge worm, trying to get away from Unsere. “Never!”

She tried to push the demoness away, but her arms felt odd and numb. She turned her head just in time to see them undergoing the same transformation as her breasts, only on a grander scale. Her hands contracted and became swollen cock tips, the fingers swallowed up beneath purplish skin. The bones in her arms melted away, the flesh taking on the same vein-like appearance as her new breasts. When she could move again, her arms had changed into two massive penis-tentacles that flopped on the floor uselessly. Tears began to fall as she realized she would never hold Meron in her real arms again.

Unsere’s claw caressed her check, wiping her tears away. The demoness raise the tear to her mouth, suckling her fingers as if a babe upon a breast. “Scrumptious! Your suffering is so delightfully sweet.”

“Screw you,” Falerina spat.

“Still some fight left in you. Well, let us get rid of that annoying mouth shall we?” The claws snapped down over Falerina’s face, squeezing.

Falerina cried out, trying to pull away. But she had little strength to do so, finding it impossible to break the clutching fingers. All she could do was wait to be warped once more.

Oddly, Unsere did not do so. Instead, the demoness let her go and glanced about the room with a perplexed look. As Falerina watched, Unsere’s eyes narrowed, then opened with surprise. For the first time since she’d seen the demoness, Falerina saw fear on the creature’s face.

“It appears the good doctor and your annoying lover have found my bell. I will have to deal with them once and for all promptly. They’ll ruin everything.”

For a moment, Falerina felt relief. Meron was going to save her. She smiled despite her horrific circumstances. Unsere noticed this and snarled. Her hand squeezed Falerina’s cheeks together, filling the girl’s flesh with transforming magics.

“Oh don’t worry, my dear,” Unsere chuckled. “Your little bitch girlfriend may be setting my plans back a little, but I still have more than enough time to give you one last goodbye present.”

Meron heard the galley bulkhead explode in the distance. The metallic clatter echoed through the halls like a dinner-gong. The sound made Dr. Brinn lift her head up fearfully, staring over her shoulder at the stairwell. The colored chalk in her scrawny fingers trembled, almost falling.

“Get back to work, professor!” Meron growled. “There’s still time.”

Dr. Brinn nodded, steadying herself. “Of course, of course,” she muttered, busily scrawling another set of runes around the demon bell.

They’d moved the bell into the center of the cargo hold, leaving it in plain sight. Meron wanted Unsere to see it right away when she descended the stairwell. With luck, the confines of the cargo hold would lead her right to it. And then antiquation would be the demoness’ downfall.

Dr. Brinn scratched another set of runes on the floor in chalk. The others around her in three complex circles glowed with an inner light. Whatever magics the bell had, they were returning to life. Even from her hiding place, Meron could feel the electric charge pulsing from it in invisible waves. No wonder Unsere could sense what the pair were up too.

Meron rechecked the safety latches, assuring herself that they were off. She smiled to herself, knowing that Dr. Brinn’s fear came not only from what was coming for them, but where she was sitting. No matter. This would be the only way to save the ship and its crew from eternal servitude to Unsere.

“Done!” Dr. Brinn announced. “The bell should begin pulling her in now.”

Meron nodded. The air began to fill with green and violet lights that swirled around the bell. According to Dr. Brinn, the luminescence came from Unsere’s collected energy being siphoned away into the bell. Within moments, the demoness would become totally insubstantial and not long after that, her entire spirit would be drawn into the bell once more; trapped forever with any luck. Meron’s plan would see to that.

The Amaterasu shuddered as the wind began picking up again. The storm’s fury would rip the airship apart if this didn’t go quickly. For the first time, Meron questioned the wisdom of her idea. Although a life as a freak didn’t appeal to her, having the ship collapse around her was an equally unpleasant consideration. However, her doubts became mute when a violet bolt of light stabbed out of the darkness, blinding her.

Dr. Brinn, busy collecting her magical tools, caught the bolt full in the back. She cried out, falling to the floor, writhing in agony. Her limbs began to shrink even as Meron watched on.

“You might think you’re clever, my dear professor,” Unsere said, stepping from the shadows. “But you will serve me as a paper weight for your interference.”

Dr. Brinn’s cries became slurred as her lips scrunched up and her jaw turned mushy. Her teeth disappeared as the insides of her mouth inflated and her nose sank back into her face. Her glasses rose on her nose as it completed its transformation into an engorged clitoris. Even as her mouth turned into a vagina, the sides of her head blossomed out. Hair and ears disappeared as four, fat breasts took shape; changing her head into a ball of tit-flesh. Her limbs were gone by now, pulled inwardly until she had nothing more than a potato-like torso. This also segmented and shrank, splitting into six fully formed breasts. Her original genitals sealed over, leaving behind only her clit, which thickened and stretched. It took on the shape of an elephantine cock that pushed its way up through her new breasts, inch by hideous inch. She shook and twisted what was left of her head, but to no avail. The cock’s purple crown parted the labia of her vagina-mouth and slip inside. Dr. Brinn squirmed on the floor helplessly, forced to suckle and milk her own penis.

Meron groaned in horror, but not only because of what had happened to Dr. Brinn; after all, this was HER fault. Instead, she was terrified by where the woman had fallen. As much suffering as she’d caused, the woman didn’t deserve to die for her crimes. The plan was in serious jeopardy. She needed rescuing and there was no way Meron could be in two places at once.

“Come out, come out wherever you are,” Unsere chimed, walking into full view. “I know you’re here captain. I can smell you. Come out now and I’ll go easy on you.”

“Like you did Dr. Brinn?” Meron shouted, reluctantly shifting position.

The violet wave struck just behind her, charring the floor. “Oh yes. I’ll just kill you instead of keep you as a plaything. I must applaud your tenacity, but it ends now.”

Meron slowly crawled toward Dr. Brinn, hiding behind crates as she went. Unsere had entered the clearing at the center of the cargo hold. With each step, the demoness got closer to the bell and Meron’s little surprise. Of course, she now stood only feet away from the twitching Dr. Brinn. She risked another taunt, “I’m not the one running out of time, bitch. Just look at yourself.”

Unsere paused as Meron watched her from between two crates. The demoness appeared hazy, as if seen through a fog. The bell had obviously drained her of considerable strength and substance. And Unsere knew it.

“I’ll deal with this spell, and then I will deal with you. When I do, rest assured that you will replenish my losses ten-fold. You may as well enjoy your humanity while you still have it.”

Unsere walked over to the bell, examining the runes inscribed on the floor. “Damn you,” the demoness whispered. Her ghostly hand passed through the floor when she tried to erase the runes, leaving the chalk mark unhindered. “Damn you both!”

With Unsere distracted, Meron leapt over the crate and bolted toward Dr. Brinn’s prone form. She scooped the professor up in her arms like a football and sprinted for safety. Unsere screamed behind her, trying to follow. The runes flared up as the trap activated, creating an impassable ring of flame around the demoness. Her shrill cries shook the cargo hold. She staggered away from the flames, pressing her back against the bell. Unsere’s body began to dissolve into mist, her arm evaporating into vapor.

Meron ran across the cargo hold, knowing full well that the barriers wouldn’t hold for long; even with Unsere in her weakened state. In the short seconds it took her to get back to her original hiding spot, the flames were already dimming. She set Dr. Brinn down and reached up for the controls.

Unsere growled and hissed, the air around her crackling with violet energy. “The instant these pathetic runes fail, I will eat your soul, bitch!”

Meron tightened her grip around the metal handle. Its cool surface filled her with a sense of satisfaction. Her plan had come to fruition.

“Tell me something, Unsere,” Meron snickered. “Can you fly?”

“What are you talking…” Unsere began, then stopped short as Meron yanked down on the handle.

“About?” Unsere finished as the cargo hold’s floor opened beneath her. Used to load the heaviest items, the service trapdoor opened directly to the world beyond. Unsere’s eyes met Meron’s for a half-instant before gravity and the storm swallowed her and the bell whole. The demoness’ scream grew distant as she plunged ten thousand feet to the hungry ocean below.

Thanks to her orders, Karl had directed the Amaterasu back out to sea; a risky maneuver, but a necessary one. Meron counted on Unsere’s antiquated nature would prevent her from recognizing the danger right beneath her feet. Now she and her demon-bell would sink to the ocean floor; consumed by the crushing darkness. The chance of a human every finding the bell now was too small to calculate. Without anyone to feed off of, Unsere would simply return to her eternal slumber, safely locked away in her crystal prison.

Meron resealed the cargo hold before the storm could damage the ship. After instructing Karl to change course, she picked up the squirming professor and headed to the galley. Feeling the Dr. Brinn’s breasts against her, Meron shivered with dread. If this had been the professor’s punishment, what would Falerina’s be? Would she even recognize her lover when she saw her?

Meron found the human crew tending to the Changed. Many were crying, others were comforting the victims. But what words of tenderness could one say to people so… transformed? Everything seemed hollow and awkward.

Odra met her at the door, the woman’s face pale. “Captain? Is /it/ gone?”

“Yes. She won’t bother anyone again. I hope.”

“Good,” Odra said, trying not to look at the whimpering professor.

“Is she?” Merons started, feeling the words catch in her throat.

“Yes, madame. She is waiting for you. I… well…”

Meron saved her friend from further embarrassment, speaking quickly. “Thank you. For everything. Can you help Dr. Brinn please? I’ll go talk to…”

She handed the professor to her friend and walked into the galley. The room was a horror show of transformed and freakish flesh. She walked between the normal and the twisted, looking from face to face for the woman she loved. If it weren’t for the hair and eyes, she would never have known the creature cowering in the far corner was Falerina. Meron gulped softly, her eyes drifting down the twenty-foot worm /thing/ that had once been a timid young woman.

Falerina looked up with her dark eyes that were puffy from crying. Meron knelt down, brushing the woman fox-colored hair back from her face. She tried to smile, finding it hard. Falerina was incapable of such and expression any longer. Her beautiful mouth and pert nose had been stretched out and melded together into an enormous cock. A solid pair of testicles hung down from where her chin had been. Her ears were pressed back against her head, now tapered and furry like a fox’s.

Falerina’s body shifted and coiled with serpentine grace, trying to pull away from Meron. She obviously didn’t want to been seen like this. It broke Meron’s heart. Before her lover could pull away, she put her arms around Falerina’s neck.

“I love you,” she said, and meant it.

Falerina’s cock-mouth made a sad moan. Meron just leaned in and kissed it, pressing her face against Falerina’s. “I do. No matter what. We’ll make it through this, my love. That’s what people do. They weather the storm. Together.”

The storm passed into memory.

Eight weeks later, the Amaterasu set sail on a crisp, ice-blue morning from the port of Wao. Meron stood at its wheel, coaxing the bulky vessel out over the crystalline ocean. She felt the cool breeze on her cheeks and in her hair. Despite the chill, she felt warm and elated. This was what it meant to be alive.

At the helm, the Mikkas were making the necessary adjustments to speed and talking with the crew via the intercom. Meron still felt odd calling the woman ‘the Mikkas,’ but after the Storm, there was little else that she/they could be called. Another of Unsere’s victims, Mikka had been split into two identical torsos. Their shared lower half had become squid-like, a tangled mess of penis- and vagina-tentacles. Having had their arms transformed into breasts, the pair used their tentacles to operate the controls. Unlike some, they’d accepted their change and even found it useful. With all the extra limbs and another head, Mikka now did the work of two helmswomen. Hence, ‘the Mikkas.’

“Karl?” Meron said, stepping back from the wheel. “Can you take over from here? Come around the cape and head due south for Tzill.”

Karl, having survived the Storm unchanged, patted her back and took over. “Aye, aye, Captain. Say hello to her for us will you?”

“Of course. If you need anything, you know where I’ll be.”

The trio, Karl and the Mikkas, laughed amongst themselves happily and returned to their work. Meron descended into the Amaterasu and headed for her cabin. She passed by several crewmembers, both new and old. They’d taken on new people since the Storm, many she’d yet to learn the name of. In addition, all of Dr. Brinn’s students and fellow professors had made the Amaterasu their new home. Meron made a mental note to get to know each and every one of them better. Later.

She hadn’t had the time in the last two months. She’s been two busy overseeing the reconstruction of her airship. Damage from the storm needed repairs and the interior needed to be refitted to accommodate its Changed crewmembers. Most stayed on with only the worst having to be taken in by Regena. However, councelling and help from Regena members had allowed the ship to be redone to accommodate everyone’s needs; no matter how bizarre they’re transformations.

Dr. Brinn’s contributions had made all the difference. Rich and well connected, the professor had given much of her life’s saving up for the cost of refitting the Amaterasu. Meron believed it was the woman’s penance for what she’d unleashed. She’d also inspired the change of the Amaterasu’s main purpose. With libraries, laboratories, and extra state-rooms, the airship had been transformed from a cargo ship into a state-of-the-art science vessel. With stipends from universities and other investors, the Amaterasu now traveled in the name of research and study rather than for profit. Meron welcomed the change, enjoying the chance to add something to the world rather than simply moving crates around.

Meron reached her new stateroom and slipped inside. It was dimly lit inside, with little more than a burning oil lamp illuminate the interior. After the Storm, Meron had moved her quarters to a large chamber, renovating an old storeroom into a comfortable place to live. The rear quarter of the room was dominated by a mattress. On it, a bulky form shifted slightly.

*Meron?* came Falerina’s mental voice.

“It’s me dear,” Meron said aloud.

Falerina lifted her odd head, its shape softened by the darkness. A Regena member had provided the Changed woman with a mind-speak spell, allowing her to talk with thoughts rather than her nonexistent mouth. The concept of having Falerina in her mind comforted Meron tremendously. She owed Regena much.

Meron stripped from her work clothing and crawled into bed. Immediately, Falerina’s body slithered around her like a warm snake. A penis-tentacle stroked her belly, teasing Meron with its warmth. In response, Meron kissed one of Falerina’s nipple feet and drank in its musky smell.

*I take it we’re on our way then?*

“Yes, my angel. I wish you could have seen the morning sun. It will be a great day I think.”

*Next time, Mer. So… you must be tired.*

“A little,” Meron admitted. She’d been up all night and the night before that getting the Amaterasu ready for its first voyage since the Storm.
“But they won’t need me for awhile. The trip to Tzill will take several days. I want to spend most of them with you. I can sleep later.”

*Really? You’re not… ashamed of me? I worry.*

Meron sighed softly, knowing the pain her lover felt at her Change. But instead of answer in words, Meron crept closer to her lover’s body. Her hand slipped down, teasing one of Falerina’s many vagina’s with soft fingers. She planted several kisses on the woman’s cock-mouth, licking its shaft and balls. It shifted to her touch, Falerina’s huge bulk trembling with need.

“I love you, Falerina,” she whispered into Falerina’s neck. “Nothing will ever change that.”

She pulled the covers over them and began the first, blissful day of the rest of their lives together.