The trees of the massive jungle rose to an almost overwhelming height of one hundred feet tall, easily towering over anything that had been seen by the small group of explorers before. The thick and lush growth all around made their progress slow and dangerous as the underbrush could easily conceal any number of deadly predators. Not to mention, poisonous insects, sinking pits of loose dirt and sudden drop offs of cliffs just to name a few of the dangers. The air was humid due to the region the jungle was located in. All around was the buzzing of flying insects and every now and then the sound of cursing and slapping as the explorers would swat at the swarming bugs trying to find a respite from their biting and blood sucking pestering.

The group consisted of no more than four members. Three of them where from a university sent to explore the deeper parts of the jungle, while the fourth member was of the local population sent to be their guide and translator for any of the forest dwellers they might run into. The guide was a five foot tall lithe Iguana whose scales where several shades of bright blue, red and gold. His large eyes seemed to move independently from one another giving his face an odd, off balance look, as well as making him very awkward to talk to face to face.

The youngest member of the group was a 19 year old tiger whose frame was more on line with a runner or swimmer than anything else. A small patch of fur at the top of his head was dyed an unattractive green color and was set with so much product that it stuck up in spikes. A strange fad the younger ones where in the habit of doing as some form of teenage/young adult rebellion against the older generations. He carried a hefty looking pack on his back that jingled and clanked slightly with each of his steps. His fur clung tightly to his body due to the heat of the day. His tongue hanging from his mouth akin more to a canine than a proud feline.

The second member of the group was a tall, almost freakishly so, black furred wolf. His body was well built, packed with tight muscles that easily carried his own large pack filled with supplies and other things. Over his left eye was a set of three spiked piercings along with a ring pierced through his nostrils. Bright golden green eyes shown with an intelligence that not many would associate with someone of his build and species. A bright red bandanna covered the right side of his face tied behind his right ear. A hole was cut into the fabric to allow his eye an UN-unobstructed view. Many at the university speculated about the garment wanting to know why he wore such a thing, the wolf never saw fit to tell, letting everyone believe it to be an odd fashion statement. Although the strangest thing about the wolf's appearance was the set of sharp looking white horns that protruded from the crown of his head. This above anything else had drawn several eyes from those around him. An odd sight to behold for none had ever seen a canine of any kind with a pair of horns.

The fourth, and final, member of the team was a large bear who easily surpassed the other three in girth rather than height. Weighing a hefty 350 plus pounds. The bear clearly was the oldest member of the group. His brown fur was streaked with lines of grey most heavily around his mouth and chin giving him the appearance of a goatee. His thick black lips always had a slight curve downwards giving him the appearance of always being in a fowl mood. Unlike the tiger and wolf, the bear carried nothing more than a simple backpack. He walked just behind their guide, showing clearly that he was the one leading the other two. His massive chest thundered with his heavy breathing as he followed behind the iguana, his eyes gazing from the path before him down to a worn and torn map and compass.

The group trudged through the jungle in relative silence for several hours stopping only on occasion to drink from their water cans and relieve themselves. It was during these moments that the young tiger would set to start complaining loudly about everything from the heat to the soreness of his feet. The other three had long ago grown tired of his constant complaining and had taken to ignoring him whenever he got started on a new tangent. It wasn't until the sun had almost set behind the horizon that the group arrived at a small clearing set on top of a large cliff over looking a good section of the jungle below. Stretching his long and gangling limbs the iguana took a deep breath of the thick evening air and dropped his own small pack of supplies onto the ground.

"Well set up camp here." He said his voice slightly on the higher side of the spectrum.

With a series of small grunts and groans the other three set their bags down, the wolf's and tiger's making considerably more noise when they hit the ground than the bear’s did. The three took several minutes to stretch and rub their sore shoulder muscles along with popping their backs and necks to work out the kinks from the long journey. The bear quickly instructed the other two to begin setting up their tents while he got to work mapping out the next leg of their trip.

With a crisp Yes Sir from the wolf, and a muttered whatever from the tiger the two got to work. It didn't take longer than thirty minutes for camp to be set up. While the two set about making the tents and the bear sat cross legged to chart their course, the iguana had ventured a few yards back the way they had come, collecting dried branches and leaves to make a small fire. Within the course of an hour the camp was set up and a decent sized blaze was burning in the center of the small circle of tents.

With a sigh the wolf stretched and removed his sweat soaked shirt hanging it over his tent to dry in the warm evening air. His well formed chest and carefully sculpted abs where easily visible through his sweat clinging fur. Bar piercings also gleamed from his dark nipples as he used an old towel to dry himself. Taking a spare moment he even adjusted the tightness of his bandanna making sure it was securely tied behind his ear and even around one of his horns keeping it in place.

"Why do you wear that?"

The question rang out in the silence, making the wolf sigh softly turning to look at the young tiger who was once more watching him. It wasn't the first time the tiger had asked the question and the wolf was sure it wouldn't be the last. Between that and asking about his horns it was all the young feline had really said to him during the whole trip.

"Keeps my face pretty." He replied mockingly, yet another in a long line of snarky replies he had given the tiger.

The tiger let out a sarcastic laugh before removing his own shirt and drying himself off. "You know, if you're wearing it because you think it makes you look cool or something then you're wrong." The tiger said after another moment of silence. "Everyone thinks you're just trying to be mysterious or some shit so people will be more interested in you."

The wolf let out a soft chuckle. "Oh yes, cause that's what I need. Some kind of oddity to make myself stand out from everyone else and get their attention." His voice took on just a hint of a growl. "Not like I have anything like that going on for me naturally." He said, running a hand over one of his horns before glaring at the tiger.

"Settle down, you two." The rough voice of the bear growled out before he motioned for the two of them to join him. With a last glare at each other, the two came to stand slightly behind the older bear, who began pointing to several things on the map before him. "This is where we are now," He pointed to a series of bumps meant to indicate the small cliff they where on, "and this is where we need to get to." He pointed to a location close to the center of the map set in the middle of a dark green swath of the jungle.

"That's a long fucking way," the tiger whined, "Why the hell do we need to go there?"

"Do you ever pay attention?" The wolf growled. "That's where the ruins are suppose to be, you know? The whole point of this trip? The thing we've been researching for the past six damn months!?"

Even the old bear sounded annoyed with the tiger. "I would've hoped that you would of been paying more attention to this whole expedition, Trever. After all, your father paid a lot of money to the university so that I would take you with us."

The tiger grumbled to himself about how it wasn't his choice to come along and that he was being forced to join in on this just so his father could brag about it later. The other two ignored him and returned to the map.

"In any case, for thoughts of you who don't remember," The bear cleared his throat while the wolf gave Trever a glare filled with ire, "there we hope to find the remains of a lost tribe of ancient dwellers of the jungle. With any luck some of their structures and culture might‘ve survived through the years. We may be able to find out more about the religion they practiced there."

"And we care about that because?" Trever asked brushing off some dirt from the fur on his arm, he looking very annoyed that the dirt had dared to mark up his usually perfect orange and white fur.

"Because ya little shit," the wolf growled, "things like that are important to anyone with half a brain!" With a huff the wolf moved to stand in front of the bear. "Doctor Stark, is it really needed for him to be here? It‘s obvious that he doesn't care at all about why we are here or what we hope to find. He's just going to get in the way of our work. He wasn't even in the top percent of your class like Victor and I are. He has no right to be here."

The tiger let out a loud hiss. Not because of what was being said, he agreed that he had no business or want to be there, but because the wolf was talking about him as if he wasn't there. He wasn't used to not getting his way, and even more so not used to being talked down to. "Fucking mutt, you can't talk about me like that! Do you have any idea who my father is?"

"No one gives two shits about who your daddy is!" The wolf yelled clenching his fist ready to throw a heavy punch right in the tiger‘s stupid face.

Before the two could come to blows, a loud bellowing roar erupted from the bear and he surged to his feet. The action caused the other two to stumble back and fall onto their rears. Even the iguana jumped with fright, even though he was on the other side of the camp.
"Now listen to me both of you!" Dr. Stark growled loudly. "I agree this situation isn't ideal and if it had been up to me, Victor would be here with us instead. However, this decision was not mine to make, it was the chancellors' and there isn't anything we can do about that." He stood there breathing heavily, his massive chest rising and falling quickly. It took several minutes before he calmed down enough to speak again. "We all need to make the best of this situation. Trever, just pretend for a few more days like you care about your collaege courses and when we get back I'll tell your father how helpful you where on this trip." The tiger growled slightly but nodded. "And Shade," He looked at the wolf who was picking himself back up off the ground, "try to not let this get to you. I know you and Victor are close and you wanted him to join us but there isn't anything we can do about it now. Once we make it through this when we work on our next assignment, I guarantee that you and Victor will join me."

The wolf grunted before nodding his head. Moving away from the other two, the wolf grabbed his pack and began to dig around inside it until he found a small metal box no bigger than a deck of playing cards. When he opened it, it showed a neat and tightly packed set of 24 little white sticks. Pulling one out he placed it between his lips and reached into his pocket to pull out a lighter. After a moment he took a long deep drag on the cigarette blowing out a thick cloud of smoke that faded into the air. As the nicotine rushed through his body he sighed as his mind began to wind down.

He knew that he only needed to put up with the tiger for another few days. Once they got to where they where going, which would take another day or so if they stayed at their current pace, then they would spend at most 3 days there, documenting what they found. Then it would be a two day trip back to the local city where they will hope on a plane and head back to the university. Finishing off his smoke, he flicked out the burning cherry before carefully slipping the used butt into a zip lock bag and stuffing it back into his pack. He might have the dirty habit of smoking, but he wasn't going to be a litterbug. At least, not in the jungle. Letting out another sigh, the wolf walked back over to Dr. Stark and got back to outlining the events of the next few days.

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Almost a whole day later, the group had arrived just a few short miles away from their final location. Not wanting to wonder into the site in the middle of the night, the sun was just about to set again. The group decided to make camp where they were and carry on the last two miles in the morning. Both Dr. Stark and Shade where eager to get to work inside the old civilization, but they both knew it would be best to wait.

Once there camp was set up and the sun had set, the group all gathered around the fire. The iguana set to carving something out of a stick with a small pocket knife. Dr. Stark was lost in one of his thick books he had brought with him. Trever was listening to music on his mp3 player and doing a great job of ignoring everyone and everything around him. Shade, meanwhile, was smoking his fourth cigarette of the day while staring into the fire and trying to ignore the glares the tiger threw at him every so often.

When the wolf was half way through his smoke, Trever apparently couldn't take it any more and ripped out his head phones and snarled. "Could you put that death stick out!?"

The bark of his voice cut through the formerly quite and peaceful night. The rustle of birds and a few other animals sounded out as his voice startled them into flight. The iguana paused in his carving while Dr. Stark lowered his book to eye his two students. Shade, on the other hand, didn't reacted to the tiger‘s outburst in any way other than to take a specially deep breath of the cigarette and blow the smoke out in his general direction of the tiger.

Trever dramatically waved his hand in front of his face and made a big show of coughing hard and wetly. "Unlike you, I like my lungs pink and healthy, if you want to kill yourself with that shit, then go somewhere else where the rest of us don't have to smell or be infected by it!"

'Oh god.' Shade thought to himself. 'He's one of toughs furs.' Taking another drag on the smoke the wolf tossed the butt into the flames of the fire letting the paper and cotton filter burn away into nothing. Letting out the cloud of smoke the wolf saw the tiger's eyes light up slightly as he thought he had bullied the wolf into doing what he wanted. With a mental smirk, Shade pulled out another cigarette and lit it blowing the smoke out directly at Trever.

A high pitched feline hiss came from Trever's mouth as he stood up baring his sharp teeth and spreading his hands out to his sides extending ten wickedly sharp looking claws. At the same time the wolf stood to his full height, his dark fur absorbing the light of the fire. A low snarling growl rumbled from his chest as he pulled back his upper lip showing his own dull but still lethal teeth.

Before anything else could happen, however there was a soft high pitched whistling sound followed by four soft thumps. A sting of pain erupted from Shade's neck and his hand instantly reached up to the spot. His fingers hit against a long hard object protruding from his neck. His eyes began to blink rapidly as a foggy haze began to cover everything around him. With a tug and slight wince he pulled the object from his neck.

Bringing it close to his eyes he saw a small wooden dart with a sharp pointed tip. A dark drop of red blood coated the tip. His head began to spin and the world tilted on its side. Before he fell, Shade heard the sound of three other bodies hitting the ground. Taking a few shaky steps he felt the world rush around him. He was out before hitting the ground.

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Waking up was a slow and painful process for Shade. His head felt like a nest of angry hornets where buzzing around inside it and he couldn't rightly remember what had happened. His first thought was that he had drank too much and passed out, but as he slowly regained more of his senses, he realized that wasn't true. He had been blacked out drunk before, and waking up while painful wasn't like this. His mind still felt foggy but slowly he was able to bring his mind back into some kind of order.

They had been in the jungle, around a camp fire. What had happened next, he wondered. He could remember staring down at the tiger and then, nothing. A blank black void of nothing. Letting out a long slow breath, Shade tried to focus on the task of waking up. His eyes opened a crack and a dull throbbing light shown brightly making him grunt in discomfort. Fighting through the pain, however he forced his eyes open more. The world was a grey blur of moving shapes and dancing light.

'Wha? What's going on?' He thought trying to focus his vision. Slowly the world began to come into focus. The dancing light was from countless burning torches and brazers. The torches where staked into the ground and set along the outside of several stone buildings. Blinking away the last bits of fog, Shade tried to make sense of what he was seeing. 'Where the hell am I?' He wondered. 'And where the hell are the others?'

A hard jolt brought his attention to the fact that he was moving. Turning his head around he saw what looked to be four large muscular panthers carrying him on a large ornate sheet of stone. Trying to move, Shade found that both his arms and legs where secured to the stone slab by thick ropes. The panthers‘ fur was jet black with a shine of purple to it, their large muscles bulged under their flesh and fur. All four looked to be about seven feet tall and close to 300 pounds if the wolf had to guess. They didn't speak or even look at him.
The gentle rocking of the stone slab as they walked threatened to lull him back to sleep again, but he fought against it. His mind was starting to clear more and he began to remember a very important detail. 'I had been shot with some kind of dart!' He remembered. 'It must of had some kind of sleeping agent in it. Did they do that?'

The question seemed silly, who else would shoot a dart into his neck but these strangers. Stretching his head as far as he could, Shade saw that the panthers where completely bare, not a scrap of clothing on them. It was then, after a particularly hard jolt, that Shade realized something else. He was naked too! Looking down along his firm muscular body the wolf saw that not a single bit of his clothing was still on him.

"Wha? Whats going on?" He asked out loud. "Who are you? Why am I naked?"

Silence. Pulling and struggling against his bonds, Shade tried to pry himself free. All that ended up happening was him wearing himself out faster. With a grunt and light thump, he rested back on the stone letting the large panthers carry him on to whereever they where going. The rocking, again, threatening to lull him off to sleep. This time he didn't fight, he felt his eyes close and felt himself drift off.

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Shade began to stir once more, this time, however, waking up wasn't very difficult. Opening his eyes he tried to stretch and work out the kinks from his sore muscles. It was then he remembered that he had been bound to a stone slab cause the bindings where still on him holding him in place. Before he could reach any more than what he had already done, another figure came into view. He gasped seeing the faces of Dr. Stark and Trever. The two where a welcomed sight to the horned wolf, even the annoying tiger.
"Dr. Stark, Trever, thank god its you!" He said happily. "What's going on? You gotta untie me!"

The two gave each other small fearful looks before the bear sighed softly. He moved slowly bringing his large paw down onto Shade's chest. The wolf gasped as a sudden intense wet cold spread over his chest. Looking down he saw the old bear had a large wet cloth in his paw and was carefully running it over his black fur. "Dr. Stark," Shade said annoyed, "what the hell are you doing?"

On his other side the tiger had another wash cloth and began doing the same thing to the wolf's abdomen. While bending over to run the wet cloth over his right shoulder Dr. Stark put his mouth close to Shade's ear. "I'm sorry son, they’re making us do this. We've tried to fight back but when we did..." His voice trailed off for a moment.

"They killed the guide." Trever hissed out throwing his rag down and out of sight. A loud splash rang out from the bucket of water that the tiger had obviously been using to wet the rag.

Shade's eyes widened with fear. "They... they killed him?"

The bear nodded and lowered his own rag back into his bucket of water. "Yes, and I fear a similar fate for the two of us should we try anything further." His voice was filled with sorrow, regret and...shame? Shade laid still for a time wondering why his teacher would feel shame. The sorrow and regret he could understand, but why the shame?

"Stark," He said evenly, he was dropping all formalities given the situation, "what is going on? What aren't you telling me?"

The bear paused on bringing the rag back to his chest. The cold water soaking into his fur. Trever had picked that moment to busy himself with washing Shade's legs and foot paws apparently skipping over his crotch for obvious reasons. "Shade..." He said softly. "These appear to be the inhabitants of the lost city we had been trying to find, apparently there not as dead and gone as we first thought."

"No fucking shit..." Trever mumbled to himself, washing up the back of the wolf's long muscular calf.

Dr. Stark went on as if he hadn't been interrupted. "Do you remember what we had studied about them in university? Their culture and religion?"

The wolf nodded as the bear started to wash his neck. A cold pit of dread filled his stomach that had nothing to do with the water soaking his fur. "They worshiped an eternally hungry dragon god who was said to almost wipe out their people with his hunger. But when they said they would worship him, he agreed to just one living sacrifice a year to sate his hunger and the rest of the year he would sleep."

The bear nodded as he ran the wet cloth over Shade's face and head. It was then, as the cold water soaked into his face that the wolf realized that he wasn't wearing his banana. His face was fully exposed. He noticed the bear being careful about not looking at the area around his eye. He noticed then that Trever was also making sure to not look at his face at all. They could see what he worked so hard to cover up. Closing his eyes for a moment he sighed regretfully.

"Not a fashion statement." He said softly referring back to the argument he had had with the tiger a few days ago. The whole area around his eye was bare of any fur, the exposed skin was bright angry red and covered in bubbling welts and scars. It looked as raw and painful as the day he had first gotten it.

Dr. Stark to his credit kept his face calm of any surprise or shock at the sight. Clearing his throat he spoke even lower than before. "I've been able to pick up small bits of their speech. Our notes on their tongue is off by quite a bit but some is correct. And from what I can tell," he paused, "there wanting to sacrifice you to their god."

Shade felt like he had been drenched from head to toe in ice water. Even though he had expected as such to hear it confirmed was another matter. "But... but they are suppose to sacrifice to their god at the start of summer." He said. "Its almost August!"

Stark gulped heavily and his beady eyes jerked up at the sound of approaching foot steps. Lowering his eyes again the bear began to scrub his wet cloth over the wolf's body harder than before. Trever likewise did the same. Shade pulled against his bonds until the newcomer came into his limited view. Towering over him was a massive muscular panther. His bulging fur and bloated yet firm belly was covered in rich dark fur, streaks of white were painted into it and he had a large bone pierced through his nose. A necklaces of what looked like knuckle bones hung from his neck and around his waist right at the center of his crotch was a dull white canine skull tied to his waist by two thick strips of light brown leather.

His voice was like thunder to the bound wolf as he was forced to look up into the burning golden eyes of what he assumed was the village chief. His jaws parted, exposing large fanged teeth and a blood red tongue that ran over his lips lightly. When he spoke, his voice was rough and hard to understand, like rocks in a blender. Shade couldn't make out every word, like the bear had said, their notes on their speech was off by a fair amount. But he did hear the words, god, sacrifice and abomination.

Shade tried to figure out what the chieftain meant by abomination when suddenly, the guy had hopped onto the slab of stone and crouched over him. His body easily outweighed and out bulked the wolf's own by several hundred pounds. The panther crouched low bringing his large nose close to Shade's face. He could feel the pull on his fur as the panther took several deep breaths of his scent. Then, without warning, his big paws reached up and gripped the wolf's horns in a vice like grip.

Shade howled in pain as the panther began to pull on his horns. Tears streamed from his eyes and his head felt as if it would explode. Then with a loud crack the panther ripped the horns from his head leaving behind only jagged stumps that only just poked out from his head fur. Shade almost blacked out from the pain. Above him the panther looked at the horns in his hands, snorted then tossed them into the fire that was blazing near by. His voice barked out a few loud commands and next thing Shade knew, his slab of stone was being lifted up and carried off by the four muscle bound panthers from before.

Shade blinked his eyes over and over trying to clear his vision of the tears. His head was killing him and he was sure he could feel some blood running down his head. He was cold and wet, the night air not helping to warm his body. He felt his slab of stone being carried for several minutes while all around he could hear the sound of dozens, if not hundreds, of others joining in on the procession. By the time he had cleared his vision and his headache faded a bit, his stone slab was being placed down. He tried to look around but the only thing he could see made his heart stop.

Before him was a massive statue of an anthro dragon. It was carved out of a dull grey stone.Two fine like appendages stood out from the side of its head, like ears while a third fine stood up from the middle of his head and ran along to the back of his head. On either side of that fine where two massive horns that tapered off to very sharp looking points. Massive bat like wings protruded from his back, folded slightly, but very prominently displayed all the same. At the tip of its long snout was a smaller yet just as sharp horn poking up and curved back like a dagger. It was sitting in a large stone thrown which made its massive belly bulge out round and bloated as if it had just finished eating an entire buffet of food. Massive four toed clawed feet where attached to large legs with bulging muscles and where spread wide apart, showing off a hefty set of stone balls and a massive cock with a good amount of over hanging foreskin covering the head.

Shade gulped hard, and had to remind himself that it was only a statue. Not real, although even with that sense, apparently he was to be sacrificed to it. They would more than likely kill him anyway. He tried again to pull against his bonds but it was no good. A low growl reached his ear and he turned his head enough to spot the large panther chief looking down at him with anger in his eyes. An odd moment of clarity came to Shade, he looked back at the stone statue and then focused on the pain in his head from his broken horns.

'They think I was disrespecting their god by having horns too?' He thought to himself.

The chief jumped up onto the slab of stone, his massive tree trunk legs on either side of the wolf as he began to speak to the gathered crowd before the alter. Shade only caught one or two words but it obviously wasn't good. A roar of anger rose up from the crowd followed by a series of heavy drum beats and an odd chanting. The chief lead the chant, still standing over the bound wolf. The whole affair continued for several moments until a loud rumbling sound filled the air.

Slowly the chanting stopped but the drums continued. The rumbling grew louder and more violent and Shade's eyes were drawn past the panther over him to the massive statue. A loud crack ripped the air at the same time as a massive fissure opened up on the belly of the statue. More cracks quickly appeared and a blazing glow began to shine from the stone eyes. Crumbling rocks fell from the statue as the whole thing was now covered in cracks.

Then with the force and sound of an explosion, the whole statue erupted sending dust and shards of rock in all directions. Shade coughed trying to clear the dust from his nose and mouth. Slowly the dust settled. The sound of shifting rang out and above him the panther chief moved off the slab and bowed down onto one knee, his eyes fixed on the ground.

A mighty roar ripped through the air and the wind began to howl as the light from the fires dimmed. The clouds that had covered the dark sky instantly parted, showing the shinning crescent moon and star filled sky. Shade's eyes went wide and his heart beat picked up as fear gripped him. The stone statue was gone, but in its place resting in the massive thrown was a giant dragon that looked exactly like the statue had. The only difference was that now it was living and breathing. Its massive chest and stomach moving in and out as it filled its lungs with the warm night air. The grey stone was no more and the Dragon's scales where a mix of colors.

A dull grey/black along most of its body with the exception of its chest, which was a bull yellow surrounded with a border of white. Its lower jaw shared the white color along with most of its massive shaft, palms of its hands and what looked to be the souls of its massive feet. Blazing golden eyes shown with an other worldly light as it slowly looked around. Shade tried to not draw attention to himself, but quickly found the beasts eyes locked onto him.

Shade couldn't bring himself to look away. Even when he felt a strange and vast presence touch his mind. A moment later a painful probe speared into his mind and began to sort through all his memories and experiences. It was over just as soon as it started but the pain was so great it felt like it had taken days. As the mental probe faded away a voice with all the force of nature behind it rang out. Not out loud, more like in his head. From the gasping from around him he was sure he wasn't the only ones who heard it.

"Who disturbs my slumber?" The voice rang out. Each word was drawn out and slow but carried with them the weight of the world.

Beside the wolf, the panther spoke out loud answering the question. Shade still didn't understand the speech. A low rumbling growl came from the dragon and it shifted slightly on it stone thrown, its massive stomach letting out a loud gurgle as it made its hunger known.

"A wolf bearing my horns?" The voice rang out, its eyes still fixed on Shade. He felt his chest tighten and his tail curled between his legs.

"Please!" He called out. "I meant no disrespect! I was born with..." Shade began to defend himself but a massive roar cut him off as the dragon opened his mouth wider than a truck. His mouth was filled with razor sharp teeth and his large slobber soaked tongue was bigger than even the panther chief. The wolf hadn't even thought to wonder how the thing spoke or understood his tongue. The dragon's massive hand rose up and made a sweeping gesture sending out a pulse of intense energy which had Shade closing his mouth and unable to open it again.

The dragon‘s stomach let out another rumbling growl, saying once again that it was hungry. The creature put a massive paw on his gut and rubbed it for a few moments. It seemed to be thinking. For a long while no one moved or spoke. Finally, the dragon‘s eyes glowed more intently than before. Its jaws parted slightly and a long river of thick drool dripped from his jaws and fell onto his belly.

"Prepare the sacrifice!" Its voice boomed like thunder.

Before Shade knew what was going on, several smaller panthers where crowded around him. They all had large jars in there hands. The smell of sweet and spice filled the air. As one, the group began to scoop out large handfuls of honey and spices. Without pause, they started to smear the mixture onto his body quickly covering his black fur with the sticky golden goo. It didn't take long before Shade was completely covered.

The crowd moved away and even the chief left the alter. The dragon's nostrils flared as it drew in the smell of honey, spice and wolf. It rubbed more of its dripping drool into his gurgling belly. With the sound of dozens of trees falling, it rose from its thrown. The thing now standing at full height seemed to tower over forty five feet in the air. Its massive stomach, while firm, hung low and fat. It jiggled with the slightest movement. A long thick tail swung behind it and its massive wings stretched out exposing their bat like membranes. Massive balls swung like wrecking balls as its car sized cock hung over them, its foreskin dripping slightly with god knew what.

The ground shook as the creature took one massive step closer, easily dwarfing everything and everyone around. Shade was now almost directly under that massive thing‘s stomach, the dangling balls and shaft several feet above his honey soaked head. The dragon slowly crouched down, its massive hand reaching down and lifting up the stone slab as if it was nothing more than a piece of cardboard. Shade could feel gravity pulling on his body as if he was going up the first hill of a roller coaster. When his assent stopped, he found himself at eye level with the mighty dragon god. One of its golden eyes was bigger than the wolf's head.

He gulped and tried to beg once more but found his mouth still stuck shut with whatever power the creature possessed. A gust, like from a hurricane, washed over Shade's body. Had he not been bound to the slab, he was sure it would of‘ve pulled him right off it and he would of‘ve fallen to his death. A low pleased rumbled came from the dragon as its massive slobber soaked tongue poked out from between his lips and noisily licked over them.

"Been a long time, since I've had wolf." It said, an eagerness to its mental voice.

Its jaws parted and it's tongue snaked its way out from between his jaws. Hot and humid breath washed over the wolf, making him cough and gag violently at the pungent smell. As he watched the thing get closer, he tried again to pull against his bindings. The tongue pressed against him with all the force of house resting on his chest. He gasped, unable to breath as the slobber soaked muscle slowly moved up along his body.

When it pulled away, he was covered in rancid slobber and honey, since some of it had remained clung to his fur. The large tongue retreated back into the dragon's mouth and it smacked its lips several times and hummed, enjoying the taste of its treat. The tongue came back out and ran over the wolf half a dozen more times before all the honey and spice had been licked from his body. Shade was left soaking wet in slobber and panting heavily trying to catch his breath.

A loud snapping rang out and Shade found that he could now move his hands and feet. Trying to take advantage of the freedom he rolled to his side and flung himself off the stone slab. He knew that a fall from such a height would kill him, but he rather die like that then endure whatever torture waited him at the hands of the dragon. A smile came to his face as he felt the wind rush past him. The smile faded as he jerked to a halt only ten feet bellow the stone slab.

A hard tug and he felt himself lifted back up to float in mid air in front of the dragon's glowing eyes. It opened its jaws wide and roared right in Shade's face, spit and slobber flew out from the massive cavern leaving the wolf's ears ringing. Darkness descended over Shade's body. He opened his eyes just in time to see the dragon's massive jaws closing down around him. He hadn't noticed that while the beast had roared it had moved its head forward making him hover inside his mouth, right over his large pulsing tongue.

The teeth snapped shut with a loud snap and the moment they did, he fell face first onto the slobber soaked tongue. Shade hadn't been laying on the tongue for more than a few minutes before the massive thing began to ungulate. It bounced him up and down, more and more slobber filling the hot chamber. Arching up, the tongue pressed him against the roof of the dragon's mouth, only to let him fall back down with a wet splat! He was tossed around carelessly, like a child playing with its food. Shade constantly feared that he would end up between the razor sharp teeth and chewed to a bloody pulp, but it never happened.

Finally, after several long hellish minutes, the tongue arched and the wolf began to slide over the wet thing, heading right to the deep, dark purple throat. Using his claws, Shade tried to fight the pull of gravity. He dug in the claws of his hands and feet trying to climb away from the pulsing throat. The sound of rumbling and gurgling came up from the flesh tunnel, the stomach calling for its meal.

The whole cavern tilted backwards slightly, adding to the gravity, pulling him back. With his jaws still sealed shut, he couldn't call for help or scream, even though it wouldn't do any good to do either of those things. After a series of hard kicks, Shade found his feet dangling over nothing. His eyes widened in the darkness. He was at the opening of the throat.

A booming chuckle filled the cavern. In front of him, jagged rays of light shown brightly from between the dragon's opening jaws. A gust of fresh air hit Shade in the face. Just out side the teeth, he could see the awestruck faces of the panther people. He thought he also saw the horrified faces of Dr. Stark and Trever, but he couldn't be sure. Lifting his right arm out, he stretched as if trying to reach for the freedom just outside the jaws of the massive beast.

A loud gulp rang out. Time seemed to slow. He felt the hot flesh of the throat close down around his feet. A pulse rippled through the tongue as it arched just enough to block his view of the outside world, but still allowed light into the flesh chamber. He slipped back, his bare stomach gliding smoothly across the slobber coated tongue. He let out a pitiful whine. The throat closed around his waist. Another pulse, another gulp. He sunk faster, time starting to speed up. The dripping uvula dangled above his head. His finger tips barely scraping against the slick bottom of the dangling thing. Tightness around his throat and face. Darkness.

The sound of wet flesh sliding over his head and ears filled his mind. Loud, squishing and slurping along with the heavy beating of a drum that Shade was sure wasn't a drum but the beasts massive heart. Another gulp increased his descent. He finally felt the seal around his mouth vanish for all the good that did. He yelled, trying to scream for help but all he got in return was a mouth full of slobber and slime. His body was completely soaked making his passage even smoother. No matter how much he struggled or fought, there was nothing to be done.

After a few moments that felt like years, Shade felt his feet breach a tight ring of muscle. The area beyond was more spacious than the throat was. He could wiggle his feet and toes more easily. The rest of his body quickly followed suit. As he slipped through the opening, the wolf let out a yell of fear as he fell down several feet before landing with a wet splat on the fleshy undulating floor of the dragon god‘s stomach.

The chamber around him gurgled and pulsed wildly as it sensed he presence of the meal it had just been given. Even though it had been feed just a few short weeks ago, the stomach‘s hunger couldn't easily be satisfied while it was awake. Shade tried to stand up to find his way out, but with the constantly pulsing floor, he couldn't keep his footing. His body began to get covered in a new thicker slime that seemed to weigh him down until he could hardly move more than a crawl.

Despite being inside the dragon's stomach, he had no trouble breathing which, unfortunately for the wolf, meant that once digestion started, he would be awake for the whole thing. Letting out a sorrow filled howl, Shade flopped fully onto his stomach. His body not having the energy to keep moving. As the chamber filled slightly with digestive juices, he felt a slight tingle begin to spread over his body. He vaguely became aware that his fur had fallen off leaving only his bare flesh, exposed to the unyielding mercy of the dragon's digestive system.

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A massive grin spread across the dragon's muzzle. Patting his massive belly, he let out a loud belch that rang out through the jungle. Licking his lips, he wished that he had more to eat. His hungry eyes falling on the gathered crowd. He knew it would be all too easy to just break the deal he had struck all those years back. Back when he was just a simple demon and not a god. Back in the glory days when he was shoving squirming meals into his maw and down his gullet by the hand fulls.

He had given all that up, agreed to one sacrifice a year in exchange for the worship of these jungle tribes. Their worship gave him power, made him a god. It was a decent trade, but sometimes... His stomach rumbled again as it started to slowly digest its meal. He knew that if he didn't go back to his stone slumber, he wouldn't be able to keep from devouring one or two of the panthers before him.

Without word or warning, he sat back in the massive thrown that had been carved for him. Shuffling his wings into a comfortable position, he rubbed his bloated belly one last time. As he looked out over the crowd of his worshipers, his eyes landed on a caged bear and tiger. He smirked and licked his lips. At least he knew what he would be having when he woke up next. Hopefully by then, either the bear or tiger would be fatter.