By : OtakWho

Such was the city of Narshe, a world on the cusp of the industrial revolution which had been seeing technology along for these past years at an astounding rate. Steam billowed from pipes which jutted out into the cobblestone streets as the lights in the windows dimmed in time with the setting of the sun over the mountain rage which the commune nestled in. Those who worked the stores were turning the signs in their windows from the inviting OPEN to CLOSED, children were being pecked upon their foreheads by their loving parents while the covers were pulled to their necks, and the volunteer guards who kept the peace on the streets and in the mines were changing shifts.

None of this mattered to Terra Branford.

The fact of the matter was that the blonde haired woman behind the control panel had no idea that her name even was Terra Branford, much less what the people of Narshe were involving themselves with at the moment. The only thoughts occupying the soldier's mind were the usual pressure and velocity checks of the fearsome Magitek Class Vehicular Armor which she piloted, and the occasional checks toward her co-workers who followed closely behind in their own suits of armor. These mechanical monstrosities were quite a peice of work in their own right, the bipedal robots lurching forward like ungainly chickens beneath the bulk of their cockpits, the pilot of each open to the chill air which permeated this frozen land as the three Imperial Soldiers approached the unwitting city of Narshe.

"She's unnerving." Vicks murmered practically under his breath into the microphone that let the pilots speak to one another from Magitek to Magitek, the shadowed eyes beneath the standard issue brown imperial helmet locked upon the female soldier leading the way toward the city they were to investigate. Not that he was lax to keep an eye on their.. unstable partner, for she was quite easy on the eyes.

Blonde whisps of hair flew about a face that could have just as easily belonged to a porcelain doll while the majority of the strands were confined to a ponytail, which gave a clear view of the gleaming band of metal wrapped around Ms. Brandford's forehead. The slave crown - a memory wiping device which was currently fueling the amnesiac woman's thoughts toward nothing more than loyalty toward the empire's goal. Of course, Vicks had seen the slave crown often enough as to pay it no consequence, particularly since his eyes invariably led him to watch the pilot in another manner, eyeing the generous chest that Terra had been endowed with and the manner that it strained against her form-fitting crimson armor in the chill air. One portion of him wondered how she didn't seem cold, while the other portion simply didn't care.

"But you know how she performed in the tests, Vicks. She destroyed nearly one hundred soldiers in the span of a few minutes. We wouldn't have any leverage against them without her." The crackling voice which came through the intercom on his Magitek brought Vicks from his reverie for a moment as Wedge replied to his muttered comment, and he was forced to nod to that point. Their goal was to find if there was any truth to the rumor of an Esper, an ancient magical beast, lying frozen in the mines which ran around Narshe like an anthill. Of course, all negotiations with the government of the mining town had failed, so it was force that they needed.. and the young woman in the other armor was that force.

"I know, I know.. she's still unsettling." And I can't stop watching her, Vicks added silently to himself. As odd as her choice of attire may have been for practical purposes, he had to admit he rather liked what he had chosen to call the "armored leotard" she wore. Not only did it show off that perfect chest to great advantage, but it hugged to each dip and curve on the way down, the slim stomach and waist with just a hint of indulgence to it, snugly fitting to her nether regions below, and leaving those lengthy, smooth legs bare for anyone to watch. Those who were caught watching often wished that they hadn't however..

"We are here." The intercom shut off almost too quickly at the end as the soft, female voice flowed to the ears of the two soldiers, before the lurching armor came beneath the glow of the lamps which indicated that yes, they had reached Narshe. And this is where things simply.. got ugly.

Those who made their daily wages protecting Narshe surely wish they had called in sick that day, for it was little more than a slaughter when humans were pit against the robotic monstrosities that were the Magitek Armor, the steam powered legs crushing those unlucky enough to have fallen in it's path into a steaming crimson streak in the snowy stones below, while great beams of energy erupted from the cannons of the vehicles, vaporizing the soldiers who bullets ricocheted from the massive armored tanks. On and on this seige went, the three pilots forcing their way into the mines, through further guards, and all the way back.. until a single man looked up at the three as they stopped, and the old coot smiled.

"Betcha imperials think yet pretty smart, don'tcha? Betcha think yer gonna get the Esper, don'tcha? Well, we'll show ya!" The obviously senile man merely grinned spottily upward toward Vicks as the soldier responded with a glare tossed down at the man, before canting his head in the direction of Wedge and Terra. Just before he would give the suggestion that they just plow on ahead, it appeared.

The last line of defense of the great city of Narshe dwelled within the mines of course, and the guards waiting within surely knew this for the smug manner in which the smiled at the briefly shocked expressions on the faces of Vicks and Wedge, though the controlled woman's face remained a puzzling blank. For from the further recesses of the cave there came a great, slurping noise before the spined shell of the creature could be seen, the overgrown Whelk slithering over so many stones and skulls of those who had tried to pass it's defenses before. Of course, the giant snail had not reckoned at the force of the Magitek armor.

"Let's blow this escargo back onto it's platter, you two!" Wedge cried out in glee at the first real challenge they had faced in this frozen city. He lived for the thrill of adrenaline pumping through his veins, the fights who's outcome were uncertain. His own bipedal monstrosity moved into place as Vicks' moved in the opposite direction, and Terra remained perfectly centered before the bursts of energy went flying from their vehicles in a multicolored stream, centered on the monstrous snail which stood in their path. They should have been counting on it, then, when the Whelk's head retreated into the shell which absorbed the electrically powered energy.. and returned it to the three with manyfold increased strength. 

It was much later before a pair of beautiful green eyes opened on their own accord, having a hard time adjusting to the darkness which surrounded them on all sides. The last thing the blonde soldier remembered was a loud explosion.. a laughing face.. a large thing.. a lot of snow.. hundreds of soldiers dead.. memories throbbed into her head rather painfully, a disorienting blur of things from the past and things that had only transpired just before her unconciousness. Slowly, Terra Branford placed her palms against the rough rock underneath her to push herself up in a sitting position. It was taking her a rather long time to adjust to the fact that her Magitek armor was lying smoldering behind her, along with two others, but eventually she realized that whatever it had been that she had been fighting had obviously overwhelmed them.

"Vicks.. Wedge.. where are you?" Her soft voice echoed out against the recesses of the cave as she sought out her two companions from the empire, slowly grabbing hold of the cave wall next to her to pull herself to her feet. The frigid air that permeated everything in this region was harshly apparant against her skin as she slowly woke herself up, and realized that no matter how well armored she had been before, the armor of her outfit had been mostly destroyed in the carnage of the destruction of the Magitek armor. Her perfect breasts that Vicks had always enjoyed staring at when he thought she wasn't looking were thrust bare into the freezing air, pert pink nipples standing at attention, and it wasn't long before the motions of her body had knocked what little remained of her clothing to her feet, revealing each lovely inch of her body to the harsh cold which surrounded her completely. Of course, the brainwashed woman didn't care about her nudity so much as she did about the absence of her fellow soldiers and the destruction of their vehicles, so with a stumbling step she began to move forward into the darkness just a little ways, hands rubbing at the sides of her body in a desperate attempt to keep warm. Unfortunately, it wasn't long before the throbbing in Terra's head caught up with her, and she fell to the ground with a cough.

If a man were lost in the caves as well, the sight of the collapsed young woman would have been more than enough to warm him right up no doubt, her long legs splayed beneath her perfectly and that well rounded arse jutting just slightly into the air as she tried to push herself back up to her feet. But it wasn't a man that found the former imperial soldier, much to her chagrin and terror. The Whelk that had destroyed their vehicles reared up before her with an expression in it's snail-like eyes that made it seem almost like it was laughing smugly at the woman's predicament before it. The cold having gotten to her so thoroughly, it was hard enough to move as it was, so that all she could do was stare for a moment before the Whelk moved forward toward the fallen woman. It's great head reached downward, and there was barely any time for Terra to try and crawl away and scream, managing to only get herself turned around before the Whelk opened a gaping hole in the slimy face that must have been a mouth. The humbled soldier managed to get to her hands and knees on the stone, moving forward a few feet before with a feeling of dread in her stomach, she felt the most immensely sticky sensation she had ever felt on her dainty feet.

Glancing over her shoulders with eyes wide in terror, the brainwashed girl just stared at the sight of the great snail gulping inward, forcing her to watch as calves became encased in the sticky mouth and were ever so slowly pulled even further inward. It was almost as if the monstrous creature was teasing her, like it knew that she had no way of fighting back, and so was taking it's sweet time with it's newest meal. Terra of course had yet to have any idea that she would be finding her two partners all too shortly. Still, she was nothing if not a fighter, and the blonde's beautiful body arched sensuously off of the stone floor as she pushed herself up on her palms and tried to crawl away forcefully enough to pull her feet back out of the monster's mouth. Unfortunately, even her above average strength couldn't match the suction that had gotten ahold of her, and the bend of her knees became hopelessly stuck in the gooey saliva of the monster before it reared it's head back, lifting her completely off of the ground.

Refusing to go down without a battle, Terra's long legs started to kick inside of the goo that was the Whelk's mouth, the luscious limbs doing anything they could to inflict pain, but she might as well have been trying to kick a rock for all she did, and it wasn't long before that perfect little ass was as stuck in the glop as the rest of her lower body was, the gluey fluids engulfing her untouched sex with abandon. Still, the woman writhed as she was ever so slowly sucked downward, her upper torso heaving back and forth as she shoved her hands downward into it's mouth to try and pull herself out, and only ended up getting herself even more stuck like that, unable to do anything more than wiggle about in that manner which made her perky breasts bounce right up until the point where they too became stuck in the Whelk's mouth. And with another forceful lunge upward.. ..Terra did absolutely nothing except grit her teeth in frustration, anger, and terror, eyes widening before her entire body disappeared into the Whelk's body.

The luscious form sliding down through the jelly-like body of the Whelk was now a sight to see, arms and legs squirming uselessly against the sticky insides, still wide eyes staring out at the dark cave.. she hadn't noticed the transparent body of the Whelk until now, she realized. She also realized that she was no longer cold. However, she then realized nothing else as the burning in her lungs overtook her brain, and Terra Branford closed her eyes for the last time, before the Whelk's body had even finished pushing her into the stomach, where so much untouched flesh became mere nutrition for the beast, melting away into the digestive juices.

---

"GAME OVER" The screen tauntingly proclaimed to the small boy who sat in front of his television screen, throwing down the controller of his Super Nintendo angrily. He had been so sure he could have beaten the Whelk! But every time he attacked the shell, it just hurt him until all three of his animated party members had fallen down, and the screen of failure had appeared. Maybe if he had known that the Magitek armor had the ability to heal the other ones, he would have done better, but the boy was only frustrated instead.

"What a stupid game. I'm going to try this one instead.." He muttered, swapping out the cartridge for a fresh one..