“Mama Terra! Mama Terra!”

The young woman blinked out of her reverie, turning to glance at the young boy who was sprinting up to her. “What is it?” she asked.

He stared up at her. “There’s a—a—a monster outside the village!”

Suddenly alert, Terra rose, green hair whipping. “Show me.”

Thankfully, it proved to be nothing—no, less than nothing. Just a feral chocobo scavenging around. The children of Mobliz cowered around her as she shooed the creature away with a small fire spell. “Mama! Mama! You did it, mama!” one of them cheered as she walked back. Terra smiled down at her.

‘Mama’… How long had she been watching over these little ones? Some months, she suspected, yet the title still rang unfamiliar to her. This stark, barren World of Ruin was a desolate and fearsome place, devoid of light and hope.

She tried to bring joy to the little ones in her orphanage, tried to make them feel safe and loved. But the fact was that all of them had lost their parents, had seen desolation on a scale unimaginable. How could they recover from that? How could Terra bring them hope when she didn’t feel any herself?

“I’ll just go out and make sure there’s nothing else around,” she told them, smiling. “You all stay inside, where it’s safe.”

They nodded in unison. “Yes mama!”

Smiling despite her malaise—she had to be strong and brave for the children—Terra shouldered her saber, readied a fire spell in her hands, and wandered out into the wastes.

Truthfully, however, she doubted the necessity. There hadn’t been many major monster attacks. Even the beasts of the world had been annihilated by the sundering. The World of Ruin was ruined indeed; a poisoned, wilting planet doomed to fade away. Was it even worth bringing up the orphans in such a world?

She slapped her hands to her cheeks, trying to force herself out of such a pessimistic mindset. Of course it was worth it. Of course it was! It had to be!

The emotion lanced through the young woman like a spike and she gasped. Oh… it was happening! Sometimes when she lost control of her emotions, she… she…!

Her inner reservoirs of power boiled over, the magic within growing wild and untamed. It swept through Terra and she cried out; her clothes faded away into starlight, her svelte form sprouted pink and purple fur. Her hands and feet became pawlike, growing long, clawlike nails. Her ears enlarged and grew pointed, like a wild predator’s, and her canine teeth lengthened into small yet noticeable fangs. Her green hair grew long and unadorned, whipping around her, and shared the color of her fur.

The newly-transformed, monstrous Terra howled a screech into the dry air, surrendering to her inner, bestial nature, and then she raced away into the wilderness.

---

There were more races than just humans and moogles that walked the earth. The espers—wild beings of pure magic—had sequestered themselves away at the edge of the world. One day, decades past, a lonely woman had found herself half-dead on their doorstep. She was saved by them, fell in love with one, and bore his child.

Thus, Terra: a human with esper blood.

She hunched over on a slab of stone, panting from exertion. Her innate magic power snapped through her, coursing like a river. She had always struggled to control it, and when her emotions flared, it whipped into a frenzy and swept over her, transforming her from her human state to her esper one.

Though her friends—whom she desperately hoped were safe and alright—had told her that her form was nothing to be afraid of, she knew better. Humans were fearful and would judge her monstrous form as, well, a monster. She hadn’t let the children see it, and hoped to never scare them. If they knew their ‘mama’ was a monster…

She staggered sideways, her body whip-tight. The magic in her wanted to explode. She had gone far afield from Mobliz, miles at least; though she was in no danger of the children discovering her, she hoped they weren’t afraid that she had gone missing. She would return as soon as she was able. For now, the half-esper girl was content to hide in the wild, riding out her transformation.

Struggling against her wild instincts, Terra finally arched her head back and howled, the bestial noise echoing over the wastes. And as the sound died, she was astonished at a new development:

Something howled back.

Her eyes widened. The voice of the responding howl was unlike her own; it was deep and guttural and commanding. It was the voice of a monster.

Whatever it was, she couldn’t let it attack the village. Whether she was beast or not, she had to protect the children…!

Summoning her power, the esper girl flew off into the wastes, tracking down the source of the noise.

It was a behemoth.

She touched down on a ridge overlooking it. The creature was as she remembered; she’d encountered a few on the Floating Continent. They were enormous beasts, part bear, part bull, part dragon: standing the size of an elephant, with rippling predatory muscle under amethyst-dark fur. Talons and fangs and a spiked tail provided physical might, and a wild, dust-brown mane gave it a leonine quality. They were among the most feared of monsterkind.

Terra’s heart hammered in her chest. She couldn’t let this thing threaten the children. Yet could she take it on? She shook her head. It wasn’t like she had a choice. Locke, Celes, Cyan… all her old companions were gone, lost in the scattering of the world. She’d likely never see them again. She could only rely on herself—herself and her feral strength.

Readying her magic, Terra let loose a bestial howl, the sound ripping from behind her fanged teeth. She pounced off the ridge, prepared for anything—or so she thought.

The behemoth turned and she expected it to explode into violence. Instead, it chuffed and pawed at the ground. It howled again, a reflection of the sound that had lured her here, and up close, Terra could tell what she had missed before: this wasn’t a predatory noise. It was low, baying, sad, mournful. The creature wasn’t belligerent. It was grieving.

Almost without realizing it, Terra let her magic die. “What…?” she asked. She had never expected a behemoth to act in such a way. Pawing the ground again, the creature approached her almost hesitantly, tail whipping behind it as it moved. Terra felt a whisper of ambient magic in the air; behemoths were one of those wild creatures who could control the elements. Though she’d only ever seen them put their magic to destruction, this one’s power remained formless, pressing against her own will. It was almost like it was trying to tell her something.

Normally, perhaps, Terra would have dismissed these impulses. But in her current form, she couldn’t help but find kin in this creature: a magic-wielding, purple-furred beast, similarly lost and trying to find its place in a shattered world. Breathing in, Terra let her mental defenses fall and probed her own magic out to meet the behemoth’s.

As their wills mingled, she was met with a series of images: the behemoth, a half-grown pup, making its way into the world. Fighting, hunting, exploring. It found another of its kind, a female. And it—no, he—courted her in the mating ritual of their species. They bonded, and mated, and she gave him a pup of his own.

And then—ruin. Overnight, the world changed and was devastated. The chaos was incredible. And when it was over, the behemoth was left… alone.

All alone.

The images ended and Terra staggered back. She felt tears peppering the soft fur on her cheekbones. “You… you lost them. Your mate, your child,” she said, her voice a whisper. The behemoth arched his head and unleashed a baying howl again. “I’m… so sorry.” She approached him and somehow, each knew the other meant no farm. She laid her hand on his hide, their fur mingling. “I lost some of my own as well. Friends, but they were the closest family I had. Now there are children who call me ‘mama’ but I have no idea how to be what they need. I’m no mama…”

After a moment, she felt another probing sense of will from the creature. She opened her mind to him—and received a message she never could have expected.

Phantom images of his muzzle against her cheek, of her lying in the dirt and passionately moaning, of her breasts aching with milk, of her pink-furred tummy stretching lovingly over new life budding within.

As the images ended, Terra staggered back with a gasp, astonished. The message was clear: You’re no mama… but you could be.

Terra shuddered. She… she was compatible with this creature. She knew it. She could feel it. Not from her human side, but her esper side. It was an instinctual, almost animalistic thing. She just knew she could bear his offspring.

Part of her expected the behemoth to just try and take her right then and there. But she glanced at him and saw that while he was wanting, he was also respectful. There was no point in claiming a mate in such a way. No point in adding a little more sadness to a world already so bleak.

Terra swallowed. She… she should have been repulsed by this. Appalled. This was a creature. A monster. That wanted to not only have sex with her—it wanted to mate with her. To impregnate her with nonhuman offspring.

Nonhuman offspring… wasn’t that what I was to my own mother? Terra thought. She fell in love with my father, a being of wild magic, and bore his child. And she was pure human. I… am only part human. The rest of me is like him—bestial. Wild. Apprehension was melting away in her, replaced by a quiet, almost reluctant interest. Perhaps it was her esper half saying this, her own inner monster. Perhaps the human Terra would never do this. But I… I’m more than just human, aren’t I? Scarcely believing what she was doing, she reached out a hand to stroke the behemoth’s muzzle. It made a sound almost like a purr, rumbling and deep; something she more felt than heard. To understand motherhood. To ease the emptiness. And to bring something, anything new into this World of Ruin… Terra the esper will do what Terra the human never would have.

She stroked his fur again, and whispered, “Breed me.”

With a happy growl, the behemoth pushed his face at her. His head was almost as big as her whole upper body, and Terra half-gasped, half-laughed from the way even that small gesture made her stumble back. He was so strong… At the sound of her laughter, the creature cracked its muzzle and a long, hot tongue slid out to push against her breasts. Terra moaned from the feeling. The pressure against her chest kindled an ember of need inside of her, and she could feel nipples stiffening under her fur. The tongue dragged up to her face and Terra opened her mouth; the very tip of the behemoth’s tongue pressed against her. She suckled against it, slurping it in. “Mmmm… mmmrph,” she moaned between sucks. The creature’s tongue was far too large to efficiently fit inside her mouth, but even the tip was delightful. She sucked against it with a regular, insistent pressure, the warmth of its mouth seeping into her.

After a half-minute or so of that, she stiffened and moaned as another pressure met her lower lips. The behemoth had curled his tail down between her legs and was rubbing the upper part—which was broad and muscular and devoid of spikes—against her womanhood, more or less in time with her own sucks. Terra moaned again, harder, as the sawing back-and-forth motion took that earlier kindle and made it a fire. She could feel her pussy growing wet with desire, slowly winking open, and the juices were starting to sop about. Her fur was getting sticky.

From the corner of her eye, she saw the behemoth’s limbs move. A paw the size of a shield pressed against her back and the pressure brought her even closer. “Please,” she murmured against him. “Please, please.”

Finally, the behemoth pulled his head back from her, breaking their kiss. A long, shining string connected the two of them. He stood on his hind legs, like a bear would. He stepped back and she saw it: his cock.

She’d seen smaller forearms. It was enormous, bright red at the base before trailing to a quieter pink at the tip. She’d been forced to try her hand at animal husbandry over in Mobliz to keep the children fed, and it reminded her of a cross between a horse’s cock and a cat’s: broad-tipped and with a flare like an equine’s, yet mantled in soft, barb-like spines all down it. An absolutely massive, furry sack squatted behind it, and the musk—which drove her esper half wild—chased away all the doubt in the world.

Stepping almost hesitantly close to it, Terra cradled the giant monster cock, eyes wide. For the moment, there was no barren landscape, no World of Ruin. There were no doubts, no fears, no hang-ups, no grief. There wasn’t even any human concern. There was only the two of them… two monsters, having met in a chance encounter, bringing pleasure to each other’s bodies and new life into the world.

Terra opened her mouth and lapped at the side of the enormous cock. She played her tongue about the spines, making the behemoth churr and tense, and traced her tongue up to the broad, flaring tip. She circled it, shivering from the raw taste of him, wild and earthy, sometimes pressing teasingly against his firmness with her tongue. Before long, she heard him tense and grunt, and she could feel the tension in the cock under her mouth—and then a bead of pre ballooned at the head.

The fluid was unlike anything a human could have produced. It was both dark and clear, the color heavily tinged with purple that seemed even deeper than his coat. It gleamed almost pearlescent underneath the orange-red light, and immediately the scent of his arousal filled the air. It was stronger and sharper than a human’s could have ever been, a luscious and sweet scent that reminded Terra vaguely of sweet spice in a market stall.

Moving delicately, the half-esper slurped up the bead of pre. It settled in her mouth like a treat, washing over her tastebuds with a cacophony of flavor, and she gulped it down eagerly, shuddering as it slid down her esophagus. The material was viscous and clingy, sticking to parts of her throat and the roof of her mouth and leaving an aftertaste that lingered like a held note at the end of a pianist’s solo.

The monstrous pre settled in her gut and set her afire, and she gazed up at the behemoth for a moment before swallowing dryly. She kissed the broad, flat head of the creature’s cock. Them, scarcely believing what she was doing, she reached down between her own legs. Her loins were sopping wet, her fur sticky, and she played about her womanhood for a few seconds. The act made her moan, the behemoth looking on in interest. After she withdrew her hand, she offered it to him. He bent his muzzle low and sniffed it for a moment, and then lapped her hand free of juices. He chuffed and shuddered and blinked and did not look displeased.

Terra didn’t know what she expected next. She vaguely entertained a notion of bending over like a bitch in heat, his weight over her as he rutted her into the dirt. Instead, the behemoth reached out and with tender gentility, hoisted her up in his paws.

The half-esper’s breath caught as the behemoth angled himself back, using a massive boulder to lean against as he arranged himself in a partially-reclined sitting position. He cupped Terra against himself and the young woman’s breath was shallow as she felt the massive cock rubbing against her back.

Looking up, her gaze met the behemoth’s, and she instantly knew that he was going to let her set the pace. A smart idea, considering the difference in their sizes… and a downright gentlemanly act in such a place as the World of Ruin. She swallowed.

She leaned against his warm chest for a few minutes, feeling her body rise and fall with his deep breaths, his massive paw stroking her fur. His cock never diminished in size, still pressing against her back. She could feel more pre dribbling down onto her, making a mess in her fur.

A note of hesitation held in her. Ignoring the fact that the behemoth was far, far bigger than anything she had ever imagined inside of her, there was the last lingering fear. Was she really going to do this? Bear a monstrous baby? Carry bestial offspring? Could she…?

Glancing up again, she saw the behemoth looking down at her. The beast sniffed at her, shook its head, and then withdrew its paw from her body. The message was clear: If you wish to leave, do so. I won’t stop you. Perhaps he would find another mate in the World of Ruin, a female of his species. Perhaps not; perhaps Terra was his only chance. But even so, if they would consummate, it would only be because she wanted it as badly as him.

And understanding that about him made up her decision. Large and furred and formidable though he might be, such a creature had no business being called a monster.

She rose but instead of stepping away as he might have supposed, Terra reached back to his cock and angled it in such a way that it lined up with her puffy, needy womanhood. Her breath was shallow and she could feel her cheeks burning underneath her fur. The broad tip nudged against her and she moaned.

She… she wanted this. Even ignoring the breeding aspect of it, she was a young woman… she had needs. And here was a willing partner. She… she wanted this!

And devoid of doubts, she swung her hips low.

Her slickness and her naturally puffy pussy made his entry perhaps as easy as it could be. There was a firm pressure between her legs, and then gradually she yielded to him, his broad equine tip pushing inside of her. Immediately, Terra was spread wider than she had ever been, indeed wider than she thought possible; choking out in sudden, unexpected bliss, she collapsed against her bestial lover, quivering against his fur.

The beast’s paw returned, settling comfortingly on her back, and she keened from the sheer closeness of him. His chest under hers, his paw on her back, his cock spreading her wide… they really were unified, weren’t they? She squeezed around him and almost saw stars as the sensation threatened to overwhelm her, and she felt his rumble as a pleasing avalanche underneath her.

But he had barely even entered her. It was only his tip. After a few minutes of holding inside of her, the behemoth slowly rolled his hips up. Terra’s voice broke as more and more monster cock plumbed her sweet depths, her entire body nothing but jelly; she kneaded her paws, cat-like, against his body and mewled when his broad tip massaged her inner walls, spurring pleasure from her in a way that she had never thought possible. It hurt, but it was a deep, almost blissful ache, one that bled into a low, animalistic pleasure that was somehow more addicting than if it had just felt good. And it seemed her esper form had blessed her with the ability to accommodate specimens larger than her. She stretched, but it was never problematic or distressing, and she knew that if they took it slow, their lovemaking would leave her with no problem worse than a sore cunt.

His exotic equipment was both a blessing and a curse. His massive cock was as big at the tip as it was at the base—bigger, perhaps, thanks to its flare. This meant that she never had to worry about being spread any wider, but also meant there was no gradual easing of it the deeper he went. She had no choice but to accommodate him at full size right away. Inch after inch, the behemoth’s massive cock ground into her, and her voice was intermittent and high, her gasps stuttering like staccato. It was the most overwhelming, the most encompassing, the most wonderful experience of Terra’s life.

She squealed as a tiny ridge met her lips and slipped in, stretching her even farther; his medial ring. He was halfway into her…

Sweat peppering her forehead, Terra glanced down and marveled at the state of her body. His cock was visible as a small distention in her loins and tummy; nothing obvious or obscene, probably something you wouldn’t notice unless you were looking for it. But if you were looking for it, there it was—a swell to her lavender fur that was impossible to explain away.

He slid in more and more, and after minutes of gradual progression, Terra mewled in shock as a sharp, intimate sensation touched her. His cock had met her cervix. “Th-that’s… as far as it goes…” she panted. He rumbled underneath her, seeming to understand. She glanced down again. She hadn’t managed to fit his whole length, but two-thirds was nothing to sneeze at considering how he absolutely dwarfed a human.

She squeezed around him again, the feeling making her eyes water as she cooed with delight, and he chuffed again in appreciation. Steeling herself, she clenched again—again—

Oh, it was heaven.

She slumped against him, feeling him inside of her, her whole body stretched and aching. Part of her never wanted to let him go; she didn’t want this to end. Part of her wanted to just be a monster’s pleasured, weary lover forever…

But of course, this was only the first step. After a few minutes, the behemoth rumbled in warning, and then he gradually started slipping out of her. The sudden emptiness was one thing, but it played second fiddle to another sensation she had all but forgotten about:

The barbs.

They had slipped in pleasantly going in, so much she had paid them no mind, but going out? Suddenly a cacophony of tiny prods and whispering kissing bites were needling the inside of her pussy, and it was all too much for Terra. The deep ache of his occupation was being replaced by the momentary sharpness of his barbs teasing her interior, and the abrupt swap in sensation overwhelmed her. She collapsed against his chest, sobbing incoherently in bliss. Oh gods, it hurt and yet it felt so good… how could anything feel this good?

“Please, don’t stop,” she whispered against him, her voice so hoarse that even she could barely hear it. But he seemed to get the message.

She tensed as his medial ring passed her again, more and more of him sliding out; then abruptly he stopped, held for a moment, and slid in again.

The needling of the barbs was gone, replaced again by the ache of being stretched, but she parted ever-so-easier this time, and he slid into her more confidently—a long, single stroke. What had taken minutes before was done in one, and again Terra whimpered as his broad flare pressed against her cervix. She clenched, his paw pushed her against in appreciation, and then he slid out once more.

And he never really stopped after that.

She was content to let him do as he willed. Though her esper body was far more malleable than a normal human woman’s, she was still tremendously smaller than him, and could do little more than surrender to his hugeness, riding the sensation of being rutted by a massive beast. Terra didn’t mind at all. The behemoth… he was a lover unlike any she had ever imagined.

His pace picked up gradually, yet inexorably. He never rushed her, yet his slide out was shorter than the last time, as was his slide back in, always moving just a touch faster… it wasn’t long before, well.

Before the behemoth was rutting her.

He bounced her up and down on his lap, her face wide and exhilarated, her mouth open in invitation, tongue lolling, tears of absolute bliss streaming down her cheeks. His hugeness stretched her body and made her bulge; his paw gently held her up. She would be unable to keep upright if not for his assistance.

She was an esper, a warrior, a soldier, a hero who had spat in the face of the empire—and at the moment she was the helpless, submissive lovemate to a massive animalistic creature, her body little more than a vessel for his cock, and she wouldn’t have it any other way. Her doubts were long since vanished. He slammed into her and she cooed; he slipped out, his barbs dancing against her, and she mewled. Her body was his and she loved it. She loved making love with him.

But of course, that wasn’t the only thing they would make together.

He slammed in once more, his cock knuckling against her cervix, but then he grunted and held there. He tensed, and Terra knew the moment had come.

“Seed me,” she mouthed, her voice so hoarse that she could barely muster the energy to form words at all. “Seed me, breed me, I—I need—”

The behemoth tensed again, harder this time, and a howl ripped its way out of his muzzle. Terra knew it was going to happen a half-second before it did—

He came inside of her.

The sudden sensation of his seed inside of her was hot and lovely, and she gasped as she felt his cum flooding into her. His howl maintained, echoing over the wastes, and the pink-furred esper arched her back and, finding her voice, joined him, both of their voices mingling in a mutualistic, triumphant celebration of lovemaking and childmaking, two beasts who had just bred. She clenched again around him and felt his barbs and that was enough; her own body spasmed out of control, fluttering and seeping with juices as she came, too, and Terra had just enough control left to crane her neck up to the behemoth and whisper “thank you” before she allowed herself to spiral into blissful unconsciousness.

---

She woke with him still inside her, the behemoth dozing on his back, one paw holding her close. His voice sawed with slumber as his chest rose and fell, carrying her body with her. Oh, she ached… she had never felt so thoroughly weary. It was delightful. It was everything.

Wriggling her hips to slip the behemoth’s half-flaccid dick out of her, Terra winced as it popped free, the sudden absence surprising. The creature snuffled in its sleep but didn’t wake.

Heaving a ragged sigh as their mingled juices trailed out of her, Terra nuzzled back against him and returned to sleep.

When she woke a second time, it was to his movement. She blinked awake as he gently lifted her off of him and set her to rest against the stone he’d used to support himself. She smiled happily up at him as he bent low, his broad snout sniffing first at her loins, then at her tummy. He seemed satisfied; he met her eyes, then parted his muzzle and gave her a long, warm lick on her cheek. Terra laughed, cupped his muzzle in two pink-furred hands, and gave him a kiss back.

“Thank you,” she repeated. She didn’t know how to fully express herself. He had given her so much: a moment of pleasure and satisfaction, displays of tenderness, even a measure of confidence and acceptance with her feral half. None of them were things she had expected to find within the World of Ruin. She felt happier now, more confident—and that was a gift beyond measure. “Thank you so much.”

Snorting with satisfaction, the behemoth rose and plodded away. Terra watched him go. She found that she didn’t feel betrayed by his departure; her esper half understood intrinsically that this was just the way of things. The males sometimes nested, but not always—and he seemed to understand that he couldn’t follow her back home to Mobliz. She didn’t hold it against him. In fact, he had already given her so very, very much.

Weariness and echoes of pleasure strumming through her, Terra leaned back against the stone and dozed off once more.

---

The sky was burning red-orange the same as it always did when she woke, and she felt a tiny something deep inside of her, an almost invisible, budding whisper. She smiled down at her stomach, still flat—it wouldn’t remain that way for long. There had never really been any doubt that the behemoth would impregnate her; it was something she had known intrinsically. She found herself both nervous and excited at the prospect.

But that was enough. She’d been away from Mobliz for a good while at this point—at least a full day, maybe two. The children would be worried. “Right,” she said, and she rose and winced only a little bit. “First, I need to be the Terra they’re used to.” Summoning her inner power, she commanded her body to revert to its human state.

It did not.

The power fizzled out without changing so much as a string of fur, and Terra blinked. While she didn’t have the best grip on her transformation, it had been some time since she had assumed her esper form, and her emotions weren’t raging. She should have been able to change back. She—

A tiny whisper of a twinge sang in her gut, and she understood. She had been impregnated as an esper—she would carry it as an esper. Transforming would endanger her child, and so she would have to hold off until she carried it to term.

Terra rested one pawlike hand on her stomach, suddenly feeling ill-at-ease. The children of Mobliz… she couldn’t just abandon them for months while she carried the behemoth’s offspring. Even if she were to hide at the outskirts of the village and chase away any wandering bandits or monsters, they would still feel abandoned. She couldn’t do that to them, not after they’d lost their parents. Even spending a day or two away from them was probably pushing it.

She swallowed. Fear gripped her heart, but she had no choice. She… had to do this.

The children had to know the truth.

---

She returned to Mobliz on foot, walking like a woman. Her fur hid any impropriety, being at least as good as any simple article of clothing. She could see the lookouts the children posted with their wide eyes, heard mumbling cries of alarm, saw the scatter of activity as the children hid. She tried not to feel upset. Her esper form scared her, sometimes, too.

When she made it to the middle of the village, Terra sat down cross-legged. “Children!” she called out. “You don’t have to be afraid! It’s me!” Though she at times stumbled over the words, her tongue pressing against her fanged teeth, her voice was more or less the same. “Children, please, it’s Terra! It’s—it’s mama!”

Her words echoed and died and for a despairing half-minute, Terra wondered if they would fear her forever. But then, small, wide-eyed faces poked up over peeling windowsills and from underneath overturned carts. “Mama?” one awed girl asked.

Relief broke into her. “Yes, yes—it’s me!”

One by one they filtered out, uncertain at first, yet coming in a larger and larger trickle, their eyes wide. They gathered in a ring around her, an arm’s reach away, each of them too uncertain to approach her directly.

Until one small boy took a trembling step forward and reached for her hand. Terra caught it and felt him tense at her touch. “Mama?” he asked. “You have… fur?”

“That’s right,” she said, smiling despite her uncertainty. “I do.”

The other children, emboldened by the first one’s bravery, also stepped in. Inquisitive fingers poked at her.

“But… why do you look like that, mama?”

Terra sighed. It was time to come clean. “There are creatures in this world called espers,” she said. “They’re like monsters, but also people—powerful beings. They have magic, like in fairy tales. One day, a woman fell in love with an esper…” She smiled at them. “They were my mommy and daddy. I’m part human, like you saw, but I have an esper side too. I tried to hide it from all of you so that you wouldn’t get scared, but… I’m stuck like this for a little bit. I’m not sure how long, a year maybe. But please, rest assured. It’s still me. The same Terra.”

“What happened to you?” one of the children asked.

“Well… I’m going to have a baby,” she said.

The children around her gaped and then looked at her with even more interest, wide-eyed. “Really?” one of them asked.

“Really,” she affirmed with a smile.

One of the older girls giggled. “Then I guess you’ll be a mama for real.”

A smile blossomed in Terra’s heart. “I guess so.”

---

Despite everything, life in Mobliz returned to normal. Terra chased off inquisitive monsters and led the children in agricultural pursuits and animal rearing. The sky burned orange, the ground spat dust. The World of Ruin spun, just as it had before.

Yet there was change of a sort in the village. The children, who already relied on Terra for so much, were even more invested in her. She would almost always find herself swamped with wide-eyed followers, the children whispering in interest. What’s more, some of the ones who were more morose and withdrawn slowly began coming out of their shells. They would speak with the other children, join in on the chores, even run off and play. Smiles were present and unfaked, and fewer children wept for the family they had lost.

As a tiny weight began to bud noticeably within Terra, she reflected that perhaps the same recognition that had settled on her had settled on them as well. She had internalized the World of Ruin as a place of sterility and death, where the last lives would quietly die. Yet as her child ever-so-slowly grew, a truth began to dawn on her: that it wasn’t the end. That they could rebuild.

One morning a month or so after her encounter with the behemoth, Terra woke with a groan, feeling slightly queasy. She glanced down and for the first time really appreciated the curve of her stomach. It was modest, all things considered; as if she’d had a particularly large dinner. The pink fur that cloaked her did even more to disguise it. But the fact was that it was there: an indisputable sign that life could still grow.

Running her fingers slowly over her stomach, Terra smiled at the feeling of fur playing on fur. “Do you know what you are, little one?” she whispered down to it. The tiny weight in her tummy seemed to settle in response. “You’re hope.”

As the months crawled on and Terra got bigger and bigger, the children began stepping up their share of the chores. It was small things at first, one of the older kids insisting they could weed the garden or milk the cows. The oldest girl taking it upon herself to brush the livestock free of flies. As time went on, the kids did more and more, without even having to be asked. Terra was touched when she realized they were sparing her the energy she needed to nourish her baby.

And it wasn’t for nothing. She grew quite quickly; she should have expected it, given the size of the child’s sire. But by the time she hit four months, she was as big as a normal woman might expect to be in her sixth or seventh. Her pink fur was beginning to stretch thin over her stomach, and sometimes she had to spend hours quietly resting in the shade, heaving a sigh as her child’s activity and growth left her feeling weary in that way that only came with motherhood.

The children were excited and fascinated with her, of course, and sometimes she let them feel her tummy; they would squeal with delight when the baby inside kicked or nudged against them.

“I can’t wait to meet them!” one little tyke said, looking up at her with wide eyes.

Terra smiled. “I’m sure they can’t wait to meet all of you too,” she said. “My baby’s so lucky, to have so many brothers and sisters growing up!”

Another kid bounced on the balls of his feet. “Will they have pretty pink fur like yours, mama?”

The sentiment touched her. She gasped, tears coming to her eyes. “I… I don’t know,” she answered. “Maybe. I… I hope so.”

As her pregnancy progressed, Terra found herself more and more languid, more weary. She was about the size of a normal woman at full-term when she hit seven months; a little past eight and she looked ready to deliver twins.

When she hit the ninth month, her stomach enormous and round and lush with the life within, something inside told her that she had a little longer to go. This wasn’t a human baby, after all. She wasn’t sure what it was, to be honest—but she was ready to greet them all the same.

Just starting into her tenth month, a clamor rose up through the village unlike any they had ever seen. Terra rose with a start; she sometimes spent whole days sleeping, and even when she was up, her stomach strained and her breasts—which had grown well over a full cup size—ached sweetly throughout the day. But she was not so gravid as to avoid protecting her children.

As cries of ‘monster’ rang through Mobliz, she summoned her magic and flew to the outskirts in seconds. As she touched down, the lookout pointed a trembling finger. “Th-there!” he said.

Terra looked and started. The massive purple shape a mile or so off could only be him.

A smile touched her face. “It will be alright,” she said. “I’ll handle this.” She flew off into the wastes.

Her child’s father turned to greet her as she touched down. He padded forward on all fours, dipping his massive head low. She reached out to sweep her hands through his mane. “I missed you too,” she murmured, and planted a kiss on his muzzle.

Snorting, the behemoth nuzzled her, and then his massive tongue dipped out and licked a long stripe on her swollen belly. The little one inside squirmed, and the behemoth chuffed happily at the feeling of his child pushing out to meet him.

“Our little one doing well,” Terra said. “Healthy. Active. In fact, they’re so big and so active it’s actually making it hard to live day-to-day!” She put on a look of faux indignation. “This is your fault. What do you have to say for yourself?”

Snorting again, clearly having none of it, the behemoth nuzzled her once more and pawed the ground, tail swishing lazily behind him.

Giggling, Terra just ran her hands through his mane as she leaned on him. Their fur embraced, their mutual warmth seeping into one another. “Thank you,” she said. “For that gift. For showing me that there’s more to this world than despair. For what this child means to me and the others back in town.” Down in her womb, their child spun happily.

She pulled back and gave a sad smile to him. “I can’t follow you,” she said, and the behemoth lowed mournfully. “I’m sorry. My place is in the village with the children, and I don’t think you would like it there.” Even as gentle as he was, he was a wild thing, made to wander. Village life would sap him. “But that you came back means so, so much. And you can still visit us… and who knows? Maybe in a few years, we can give our baby a sibling.”

The behemoth licked her again. He seemed to like that idea very much.

Terra kissed him again. “Goodbye,” she whispered, “my love.”

---

Her baby was born a month later. The delivery was long but uneventful, and both mother and child came through it healthily. And when it was finished, Terra was the proud mother of a new daughter.

She looked like her father in miniature, a small cub with rippling muscles, a long tufted tail, tiny nubs of horn on her head, paws. But her build and makeup were far more human, leaning towards bipedalism, and the few times the newborn cracked her eyes, they gleamed with a human’s intellect. And her fur… her body shared the same pink as her mother, and her mane was green.

Terra loved her more than anything in the world.

Hours after the birth, when both mother and daughter were rested, Terra leaned back in weary happiness as her daughter’s mouth tugged insistently at her chest. The little behemoth was hungry for milk, and Terra would have to give it to her. The hut was dark; the children had posted a watch. They knew to leave her alone.

“You are beautiful,” Terra told her daughter as the little mouth drank and drank. “I hope you understand that.” She reached out one fur-clad finger to toy with a tuft of green mane. “Look at the two of us. I am the daughter of a human and an esper, a union of magic with the tangible world. And you… you are the heir to my legacy and to a monster who was one of the kindest souls I ever met…”

She glanced out the small hole that passed for a window in her hut. The vermilion sky blazed as it always did. And yet, there was something encouraging about its hue.

“Like mother, like daughter,” Terra whispered. “You’re like me, a child of two worlds… you have so much to live up to, little one. I’ll be there to help you. I believe in you.”

Her daughter’s paws kneaded against her breast, the pressure lovely as more milk was squeezed out. “I’ve decided on a name for you,” said Terra after a moment. “It’s a name I heard once from a far-off land. Ashia. Do you know what it means?”

Ashia couldn’t respond, of course, only suckle and purr and nuzzle her mother.

Tears misting her eyes with happiness, Terra cradled her closer. “It means hope.”