Pryvani gently stroked the small figure in front of her. “Zhan, are you sure about this? You don’t have to tell me this part, I can guess more than enough about what happened to you on my own based on my previous dealings with Trell.”

“No.” The little man shook his head, emboldened by the presence of his Goddess protector. “No my lady. I need to do this. I need to tell what happened to me. I feel it is the only way I’ll ever be able to heal from it.”

Pryvani sighed but nodded with an encouraging smile on her face. “All right. But if at any point you need to stop, do so. And… I’ll be here the whole time.”

She gently stroked his face with her finger. “No matter how much it hurts me to hear it.”

*.*.*.*.*.*

Zhan gazed fearfully into the clouded hazel eyes of the giantess who held him in her grip. He tried to talk to her, to ask her what she planned on doing with him, but fear stuck his throat and prevented him from speaking.

Not that it mattered; the giantess didn’t seem particularly interested in speaking to him either. She secured him tightly in her fist and all Zhan knew for the next several minutes were her slightly sweaty fingers pressed against him from all sides.

After what seemed like an eternity, her hand finally opened and Zhan found himself in what looked like an enormous home.

The giantess who held him captive cleared her throat and Zhan whirled around to face her.

“So… my little friend.” The giant woman purred softly. “What do they call you?”

“I’m… I’m Zhan.” The human muttered. “What… are you?”

Trell blinked. “Oh, what a rude way to phrase the question. My name is Trell, little one. You would do well to be a bit more… respectful… in the future.”

“I… I’m sorry. I mean… well, you aren’t the Goddess as near as I can tell… and you obviously aren’t human, so… Um…”

“Goddess?” Trell brow knitted in confusion. “Oh! I see. You’re one of the little doll people that live on this rock.”

“I… suppose…” Zhan muttered, rubbing the back of his neck.

“One of Pryvani’s little toys…” Trell purred. “And you made it all the way up here… that’s very interesting.”

“I c-came to find the Goddess…” Zhan stammered.

“All this way to find your goddess…” Trell murmured softly “…And yet, you found me instead.”

“W-well…”

“But that’s okay!” Trell carried Zhan over to her counter and dropped him roughly on top of the wooden surface. “You and I can have lots of fun together.”

Her fingers pulled at his clothes, ripping them from his body. “You won’t be needing these anymore, though.”

Zhan curled up into a ball, trying to cover himself from her gaze. A shadow fell over the disoriented human and he looked up just in time to see a large cylinder of glass fall over him, trapping him underneath. His ears popped from the sudden pressure change.

The giantess had trapped him under a drinking cup.

“Hey!” Zhan banged a fist against the clear surface. “Let me out of here.”

Suddenly he found an enormous pair of brown eyes looking in on him. “Don’t worry sweetie.” The giantess whispered softly. “I’m just going to go freshen up a bit and then we can play okay? Don’t go anywhere.”

Zhan’s heart pounded in his chest. His suspicions that he’d fallen into the grasp of some demonic entity had all but been confirmed. His only chance to survive was to pray for the Goddess to deliver him. He knew she wouldn’t let him die at the hands of this… monster.

He continued to bang fruitlessly on the glass until he felt the tremors rising underneath his feet that singled the return of the giant woman. It wasn’t long before a shadow fell over his prison. Pale fingers each as long as he was tall grasped the glass and before he knew what was going on, Trell had turned over the glass and deftly caught him with the side. He tumbled to the bottom, landing painfully on his back.

“I’ve been awfully rude, haven’t I?” Trell’s voice echoed down the glass. “After all, you’re my guest. Would you care for a drink?”

Through blurry eyes Zhan looked up at the opening to the glass to see the mouth of an enormous bottle hovering above him.

Then, the bottle tilted slightly and a pale pink liquid cascaded to the bottom of the glass, pooling around him. It smelled heavily of alcohol. Some of it splashed in his face and burned his eyes. The longer Trell poured, the higher the water level got. Soon he was floating above the bottom of the glass

“Stop!” Zhan shouted, beginning to panic. “Stop this please!”

The giantess chuckled darkly, “Oh little insect, I haven’t even started. Don’t quit on me until I’ve had some fun, at least.”

“You can’t do this to me, you demon!”

“Demon?” Trell smiled delightedly. “I’ve never been called that before. I’ve been called plenty of other things… very well. I can play that game.” She raised the glass to her lips.

Zhan’s eyes grew wide and he let out a panicked yell as her plush lips gripped the edge of the glass and gallons of the alcohol rushed past him and into her mouth. He was certain he was going to fall into her mouth as well but at the last possible second, the glass tilted forward and he fell back into it with a splash.

Zhan kicked furiously until his head broke the surface of the liquid and he was able to breathe again. The alcohol stung his eyes and nose and it was a few seconds before he was able to see again.

“Goddess, save me…” Zhan mumbled to himself while fighting to keep his head above the surface.

“Goddess?” Trell laughed sardonically, before taking another sip of her drink, sloshing Zhan around again. “There’s no way that spoiled little princess is going to be helping you, little man. If anything you should be praying to me for mercy.”

Zhan steadied himself against the side of the glass while he tried to catch his breath. The one good thing was that every time she took a drink, it lowered the level of the liquid in the glass. He could just barely feel his toes graze against the bottom. One more drink and he’d probably be able to stand.

Assuming she didn’t swallow him first.

“Pray to you?” Zhan spat defiantly. “I don’t care if you kill me; my faith in the Goddess is absolute. She will deliver me from this torment you’re inflicting.”

Trell burst out laughing at the valiant display. “You think this is torment? Oh my dear little rodent this is nothing.”

“Well, you might as well kill me then, because I will not forsake the Goddess.”

Trell smirked and swirled the contents of her glass idly. “Very well. I accept your challenge. You won’t die little one. That I will promise you. Not until you give up your faith.”

She raised the glass to her lips and upended it, sending its contents tumbling into her mouth.

Zhan fought for air inside the mouth of the giantess as she idly swished him about her jaws with her drink. Before he managed to get his bearings her tongue surged up underneath him and pressed his body against the roof of her mouth. A second later the liquid around him drained into her throat and he fell back onto her tongue, gasping for air and shuddering from fear.

He was only given a half a second to collect himself before he was upended, pushed through Trell’s lips and endured a free fall into a frigid liquid.

The shock of the fall and the sudden temperature change stunned him. He was paralyzed from the cold, staring up at the surface but unable to reach it.

Suddenly an object dropped into view next to him. It was a long thin rod that hooked him under his chest and lifted him to the surface.

He emerged from the ice cold fluid with a gasp, clinging to the rod to support himself as he struggled to take a few gasping breaths.

When his head had cleared, he looked around. He was in the glass again, only this time it was filled with a light blue watery substance and several large cubes of ice. Looking up, he saw Trell’s face peering down at him with a cruel smirk. She held the rod he was clinging to in her long delicate fingers.

“I hope you don’t mind that I made you another drink!”

“Let me out of here!” Zhan shouted. “Please stop doing this!”

“No, I don’t think I’ll be doing that. The only way I’ll stop is if I can kill you. And I told you, you don’t get to die until I tell you you can die.” She raised the glass and took a sip, causing Zhan to bang into several blocks of ice painfully.

When Trell lowered the glass again, she took the stir-stick she’d been using and hooked it under Zhan’s body lifting him out of the freezing cold drink.

Zhan gripped the rod with all his strength, which wasn’t much, while Trell lifted him to eye level and considered his weakened and shivering form.

“So what’s it going to be, little one?” Trell purred, her warm breath washing over him. “You ready to give up your belief that your ‘goddess’ will save you?”

Zhan lifted his head and looked her directly in the eye. “N-Never.” He shivered. “I’ll never do that.”

“Hm.” Trell shrugged. “More play time for me then!” She dumped him back into her drink.

When Zhan broke the surface once more Trell grasped the rod in the glass and began stirring it casually, sending Zhan spinning into a vortex of alcohol and ice cubes.

Trell lifted the glass to her lips and drank again. Zhan crashed into her barely opened lips and the liquid rushed past him, until none of it was left and he was crushed between her mouth and the ice.

Trell’s tongue snaked out of her mouth, scooped him up and dragged him back into her maw. Once inside, her jaws clamped shut again and her playful tongue began batting him against her teeth. His horrible ordeal was punctuated by the giggles rumbling up from her throat.

The only good thing was at least he was getting warmed by the humid air inside her mouth. The tongue pushed up against him roughly, shoving him none-too-gently through her lips and out into the open air.

He fell down the length of her body and landed with a dull thud on the floor below, right next to her boots.

He lay there for a moment, stunned and winded before he managed to push himself unsteadily to his feet.

“Still alive, little man?” Trell asked, looking down on him from above. “Good. It’s not time for you to die, yet.”

“I don’t care what you do to me,” Zhan gasped. “I will never give in to you.”

Then her boot dropped down right in front of him.

Startled, Zhan fell back and rolled away as the displaced air from underneath her boot blew past him, bringing with it the smell of leather and dirt.

“Good.” The Titaness smiled cruelly. “Don’t you understand? I don’t want this to end easily for you. I want to break you. I want to reduce you to a sniveling shell of a creature that will willingly lick the dirt from the sole of my boot just to make the pain stop. I want you to suffer, for no other reason than it would amuse me. I want to toy with you until you beg me to release you, and then I will toy with you for a little longer beyond that. That is what I want.”

She raised her foot again and slammed it down even closer to him. “Better run!”

Almost in a blind panic, Zhan pulled himself to his feet and dashed away from the giantess, not even sure which direction he was running.

WHAM! Her boot appeared in front of him and he barely stopped in time to avoid it, he tried to turn and run in another direction, but her foot pivoted on her heel and struck him, sending him sprawling.

Before he could get up, he felt a weight settle on top of him. It didn’t crush him, but pinned him to the ground. He could feel the tread on the bottom of her boot digging into his back.

“You’ll have to do better than that.” Trell admonished gently rolling him underneath her foot. Then, just as quickly as it had arrived, the boot on his back lifted away.

Zhan pulled himself to his feet and ran as fast as he could, away from the towering woman. Trell didn’t bother giving chase, just watched him in mild amusement as her little toy futilely tried to escape from her.

Finally, after letting Zhan run for almost a full minute, she crouched down low and sprung up with as much power as she could, leaping high into the air and sailing over Zhan.

Zhan watched in amazement as the gigantic figure jumped effortlessly into the air and flew overhead. She pivoted in midair and landed directly in his path, the force of her bulk landing in front of him knocking him to the ground.

He landed on his back, knocking the wind from his lungs again. He lay there, stunned and groaning until through bleary eyes he saw the sole of her boot hovering above him.

“Ready to end it?” Trell asked sweetly. “Just say the words, my little pet, and it will all be over.”

“N-no…” Zhan gasped, barely able to breathe.

The boot fell with a thud, right next to his face.

“Good boy.” Trell whispered mockingly. Her shadow fell over him as she reached down and took him in her grasp, lifting him into the air once again.

“Time for a new game then.”

She carried him over to the far wall of her apartment where a large wooden rectangle was hanging. Using strips of adhesive, she taped him with his legs and arms spread to the center of the board.

“Are you familiar with the game ‘Spikes’?” Trell asked mildly, as she dug a small wooden box out of a cabinet nearby.

She opened it and removed a handful of metal pieces. “It’s played with these-” She held up what looked like a small metal disk with three sharp points jutting out and equidistant from each other around the rim. “The object of the game is to throw these so they stick into the target- which you’re stuck to, by the way. The player scores points based on where the spike sticks.”

Faster than Zhan could see her hand flicked and a split second later, one of the disks was stuck into the board just above his head.

“I happen to be an expert at the game.” Trell smirked and bent down to pick up another spike. “Want to play?”

Zhan trembled in fear but refused to say anything. He didn’t know why he was being made to suffer this way, but he knew in his heart the Goddess would save him. Until that happened, he would just have to endure.

“Not talking anymore, huh?” Her hand flicked again and another spike landed right beside his eye.

“Wow. That was really close wasn’t it?” Trell cackled. “I’m surprised you didn’t soil yourself on that one. Good job.”

Flick. Zhan just had time to see the spike flash in the overhead light before it landed just below his feet.

“Hmph.” Trell pouted. “That wasn’t a very good shot at all. Oh well, two out of three isn’t bad.”

She stepped up to the target and Zhan found himself suspended at her eye level. She began to casually remove the spikes from the board. Then, she leaned her face in real close to him. Zhan watched, horrified, as her lips opened and her long tongue slithered out and worked its way up his body, leaving a trail of slime in its wake.

“I can taste your fear.” Trell whispered, her lips practically rubbing against his face. “Did you know that? Fear adds such a delicious flavor to a human. I relish it.” The tip of her tongue darted out and swirled around his face before retreating again behind her sinister grin.

Then, her head pulled away and she skipped back to her original position at the other end of the room.

THUD! THUD! THUD! In rapid succession the three spikes flicked from her hand one after the other. Before Zhan could even blink he found one on either side of his head and the other imbedded between his legs.

Zhan trembled in shock at how close he’d come to dying. More than anything, that had shaken him to the core. He felt a warm wetness as his body gave out and he soiled himself.

“Hey there we go!” Trell giggled when she noticed what he’d done. “I was beginning to think I was losing my touch.”

Roughly she reached out and pulled him from the target board, leaving some of his skin behind on the adhesives that had held him there.

Callously Trell carried him over to the sink and doused him under a spray of ice cold water, shocking him back to awareness.

“Well fortunately for you, I’m getting rather bored of our games. Now normally, that would mean I’d just kill you and be done with it… but I am a lady of my word, after all. So…”

She pulled a wireframe cage out of her closet and threw Zhan inside. He landed roughly on the floor of the cage and curled into a ball protectively.

Trell locked the door of the cage and hung in above the ground on a tall pole. “I guess this means we’ll get to play some more later.” She grinned.

Zhan shuddered and fought the urge to vomit. Fortunately for him, she left and he was able to pass into blissful unconsciousness.