Anilak and Pavittre's Mesmeric Wayfaring

(Poor Bhoki... 😢

Excellently written)

Chapter 1: Power of the Payolashuu

After a fairly long day of mostly walking, during which Anilak had to carry Pavittre numerous times due to her sore feet, they at last got to Anilak’s goal – a river. It was fairly near the source, which was on top of a mountain in the jungle, so they’d been climbing uphill for the past few hours. The Great Jungle, as it was known to the surrounding human societies, was infamous for it’s near impossibility to clear or get rid of, mostly because of it’s versatility, which showed here as the mountain was covered by as thick a canopy, if not thicker, of that of the surrounding flatter terrain.
“Now then, Pavittre, you sshould also take into account that the ssteepnesss here givess uss a natural defence from predatorss.”
Anilak explained as the girl drank water from the river with cupped hands.
“You say that, master, but I haven’t seen any danger about.”
Pavittre replied uncertainly, sighing after having drunk her fill. Anilak chuckled.
“That’ss probably because I’m here, little Pavittre. Mosst creatures know not to anger me. Neverthelesss, there are thosse who dare to opposse me, so I recommend that you keep your guard up.”
Anilak explained. Pavittre nodded, satisfied.
“Right, then let’ss pick ssome fruit for your ssupper and then we’ll be off to bed. I asssume you can climb treess well?”
Anilak asked. Pavittre nodded eagerly, and leaped onto the nearest tree, shimmying up it rapidly.
“But what about you, master?”
Pavittre asked in return, sliding back down with one arm clutched around a bunch of bananas.
“Don’t worry about me, when I eat, nothing goes to wasste, sso I don’t get hungry for a long time. I’m no ordinary ssnake either, sso I can lasst longer than mosst of them.”
Anilak answered, before looking puzzlingly at Pavittre’s choice.
“You had bananas for lunch, too. You could have picked mangos, papaya, some nice grapes...”
“I like bananas, I love bananas!”
Pavittre interrupted him. Anilak sighed.
“Alright then. Jusst have ssomething different once in a while, okay?”
Anilak suggested. Pavittre pouted for a moment, but went back to usual mood soon enough as she asked Anilak where they would be sleeping.
“Well, it’ss ssafer to ssleep in the treetops, but that won’t be sso comfortable for you...”
Anilak said, and started coiling Pavittre from her neck downwards. To his surprise, she yelled and tried to pry it off. Of course, she was even weaker than Bhoki compared to Anilak so this didn’t achieve much.
“What’ss wrong?”
He sighed.
“Why are you coiling me?!”
She screamed.
“Becausse it’ss more comfortable – believe me, it’ss nice a-”
“NO!”
She interrupted him again, flailing to try and get out. He groaned, and started his spirals going, and took the coil away. She had had her eyes shut in effort trying to lift the coil off, so now they opened again onto his spirals.
“Whuh-...”
She began, but  had little opportunity to finish. In his annoyance, Anilak was running his spirals very brightly and very rapidly, and each wave hit Pavittre’s mind like it was being struck with a club. With Pavittre more pacified, he went back to coiling her from the neck down. Feebly, she tried to to lift her arms up to once again fight it away, and she tried to protest, but all that emerged from her mouth was:
“Uwaaa...”
As she exhaled, and her arms, despite the valiant effort, sank back down to rest at her sides. Her eyelids drooped as she gazed into the colourful spinning abyss, whilst the coils had quickly moved down to her belly. For her it went even quicker, the eyes soaking time and the surroundings up into it till just the spinning whirls in her head were there, and then her consciousness went, her eyes opened back up wide as they could, and a goofy grin spread across her face. Her entranced subconscious had taken over. In the meantime, Anilak had coiled her all the way down to her feet.
“Now, next time, you will remember only how good my coils felt once they were on. That way, you’ll be thanking me next time I make ssure you’re ssafe and ssecure for the night. However, you were a good girl for giving in quickly, so as a reward I’ll keep my coils loosser just this once. Try to get rid of that ressisstance too, it’s much eassier for you to give in as ssoon as possible when you’re not cooperating.”
Anilak said, making the loops looser around her.
“Yes masster.”
Pavittre answered in a flat monotone and copying his hiss, all the energy of her usual chipper voice gone as she nodded in agreement with Anilak. Anilak lifted her up into the treetops and rested himself on a branch.
“Now, go to ssleep.”
He ordered, passing his tail over her eyes. In the instant they closed, Pavittre was asleep.

Later that night, a small, pale, glowing creature was leaping noiselessly from tree to tree. It looked humanoid, adult and male, but smaller and with less definite features. It had hair that looked more like flame than hair, which hung down from it’s head to just below the shoulders. It gripped onto trees with just one hand, because in the other it held a flute. It was a small wooden item, with intricate carvings drawn into it, with inscriptions in a language few if any humans had ever understood. Every so often it paused and put it’s nose to the air, sniffing the cool night breeze. Before long, it came to what it was hunting for: a human scent. It was covered in the scent of a snake, but he still could not mistake that human scent anywhere. Well, to be more accurate, it wasn’t a scent as such – it was more like a soul-smell, or something like that. He approached closer, and saw that the snake coiled loosely around the human was not really a snake… It was one of them, those guardians of the jungle, created against creatures such as his kind. No matter though, he wasn’t planning to fight it, and it seemed to be sleeping anyhow. He leapt across to land on top of the coils surrounding the human. It seemed to be a girl, and one with a tasty-looking spirit too. He drew the flute to his lips, and started playing very softly. A thin but bright white strand emerged from the end of it, and then another separate strand, and then some more… Six tied her wrists, elbows and shoulders, and as they moved around in wiggly, unnatural motions, Pavittre’s limbs began moving of their own accord, pulling her body out of the coils and onto another light-strand, which connected with the top of her head and lowered her quietly to the ground. As the haunting song kept playing, more strands emerged to take control of the joints in her legs and hips. Two connected with her eyelids, and they found themselves opening. The weird light man peered into her  eyes, and it seemed that she had been hypnotized a little while ago, because some faint spirals were still running through them. Excellent, he thought to himself, and closed her eyelids again. He sat atop her head, and made her start running. She ran with a startling agility, deep into the night, whilst Anilak was left sleeping in his tree.

Just a few hours later, as the sun rose, Anilak woke up.
“Alright, time to get up ssleepyhead.”
He yawned, coming over to Pavittre’s cocoon. To his shock, it was empty. He looked around for any sign of her.
“Pavittre!”
He yelled, worried that he couldn’t see her around. He decided to inspect everything more thoroughly, and eventually found her footprints with her scent still present. Why on earth has she run off? he thought to himself as he immediately started following the trail. It probably won’t be too hard to catch her at least, Anilak thought, she can’t run that fast.

In the meantime, Pavittre was also waking up. She blinked, then felt her legs sore all over and  - she seemed to be running.
Blinking harder, she tried to rub her eyes, but her arms were swinging as she ran, and she couldn’t stop them, nor her legs. Was she still dreaming? No, the pain was most certainly real.
“What’s going on?”
She muttered to herself, exhausted from the running despite sleeping through it – though that had been on account of a heavy trance. An eery chuckle came from the top of her head. To her alarm, two small, pale hands (which seemed to be glowing, but it was hard to tell in the morning light) dropped down at the top of her vision and gripped her fringe. A small pale man swung down on them, hanging in front of Pavittre’s face.
“Awake, huh?”
It commented. Pavittre opened her mouth and screamed. Sighing, the little man let go with one hand, and pulled an ornate wooden flute out of it’s torso. As he played, Pavittre found her neck feeling like it was being strangled, until no sound was coming out of her mouth.
“Are we going to be quiet now?”
The little man asked. Pavittre nodded, and as she did so she felt her neck ease up and she could breathe again.
“Who – what are you?”
Pavittre asked hoarsely.
“I am a Payolashuu. We have lived here, in this great expanse of trees and other plants, for tens of thousands of years. We were here before the gods came, we were here when we saw the gods raise the humans up from foragers and give them rulership of the jungle, where before it was our domain. Now the gods are gone, and the humans have all but left the jungle. Their legacy remains in our weakness as a people, but we all believe that we will one day take over again. So we create settlements, breed and feed.”
He explained, tucking the flute back into his chest, where it passed into him as if into water, disappearing without a trace. He swung back up onto the top of Pavittre’s head, and she felt him sit down cross-legged on top. She tried to move her neck to tip him off, but her neck too was not obeying. She was out of breath and exhausted, to boot.
“Please… Let me stop and rest...”
She panted. She heard the Payolashuu sigh from up on her head.
“Alright.”
He replied. Pavittre heard him playing his flute, and she suddenly collapsed in a heap on the ground, since she wasn’t prepared to control her limbs again, and even if she was they were too tired and sore to keep going.
“Th… Thank you...”
She breathed, sweat dripping into her mouth as she spoke. The Payolashuu did not respond, and walked onto Pavittre’s forehead, now she was lying down on the ground.
“What are you-”
Pavittre’s question was left unfinished as she was interrupted by the Payolashuu’s feet descending into her head. He sank further in until he was no longer visible, and Pavittre’s eyes closed. When the reopened, her eyes were shining slightly.
“Well then, I’ll take over for a while.”
The Payolashuu’s voice came from Pavittre’s mouth. The Payolashuu stood Pavittre’s body up, and suddenly leapt into the air. Pavittre’s body, now being used by the Payolashuu, flew from treetop to treetop, going faster than before.

A few hours later, Anilak suddenly lost the scent and the tracks. He was filled with more concern now – perhaps another jewel snake took her to have for their dinner? Urgently he searched around for the faintest suggestion of a scent. He found many passing rodents, then looked through an assortment of birds who had left a little while ago, until he managed to smell just the slightest hint of Pavittre’ scent. Going right to the top of the tree, he could only just detect some of her scent on the very top. It seemed to be in the same line of direction as the tracks were previously, so Anilak resolved to keep going in the direction the tracks had been going and hope for the best. When I get her back, I’ll give her the nicest trance of her life, Anilak mentally noted to himself in consolation.

At first there was darkness, then, as she blinked, the darkness faded and she could see the orange evening sky. Pavittre found herself lying on her back, looking up at the clouds. Sitting up, she immediately knew something was wrong. There were – buildings – all about. She didn’t know why she knew what they were, as she had never seen one before, but somehow she did. Perhaps it was something Anilak told her about. She saw a woman – again something she knew about, and knew she was, but had never seen any others – coming towards her.
“Pavittre! It’s time to come inside!”
The woman called. Pavittre, deciding that in this strange situation it was best to do what the woman said, came over to her, and followed her into the house. In any case, for whatever reason she felt calm and unthreatened, and moreover the woman seemed vaguely familiar somehow. It was just one room, quite dark and smoky, with just two small windows in one wall. A fire was in the corner, with a hatch above it that was open. Even so most of the smoke didn’t go out of the hatch. The woman poured curry from a pot into two smaller bowls. Once again Pavittre found herself recognizing things she hadn’t seen before in terms of curry, windows, even fire. Sitting down on the dusty floor of the house, they both dug in. Once finished, Pavittre followed the woman up to the roof, where they lay down to sleep.
“I think father will be home soon, Pavittre.”
The woman said as they lay watching the sky darken.
“Father?”
Pavittre asked, less puzzled than she felt she should be.
“It’s just a feeling I have. In any case, it will be nice to be a family again.”
The woman replied, misunderstanding Pavittre’s tone of voice. Pavittre was once again puzzled – was this her… Mother? She wasn’t sure how the whole process worked, but she was fairly sure that actually she must have had human parents. She just didn’t remember them, presumably because it was too long ago… There was one way to be sure.
“I love you, mother.”
Pavittre said uncertainly.
“Me too, Pavittre.”
The woman replied. Soon after, the woman was asleep. A few hours passed, in which Pavittre was unable to sleep because she was trying to remember about her parents… If she thought hard enough, she just remembered Anilak teaching her how to do something, or Anilak telling her about something… But it was fuzzy, and an unclear memory to say the least. When she did sleep, she found herself awake in the same moment. No transition, no slipping in to sleep or blinking awake. One moment she was asleep, the next awake. She found herself having breakfast with the woman who seemed to be her mother, and then went into the village with her to sell their weekly produce. Just as a large man with a moustache came running up to the woman, everything froze. Pavittre moved her arm up and down experimentally. She could still move – but nobody else was. Not so much as a breath or a blink could be heard or seen. Pavittre wandered around a bit, looking at the different goods, until she was interrupted and terrified by a thunderous voice from the sky.
“We’ve arrived. You can take over again.”
It bellowed. Pavittre felt herself being sucked into the floor, and tried to grab onto something, but her hand passed through it. Her vision was fading, and she couldn’t feel her body, then… Her eyes opened, and she collapsed onto the ground. She looked around, and she was back in the jungle, near what might be ruins, but Pavittre’s eyes had closed from exhaustion before she could verify that.
“Where… Are we?”
Pavittre managed to ask. The Payolashuu chuckled.
“The ruins of a city. Back in the days when humans ruled this jungle. It’s a smaller one, some of the cities deeper in are truly impressive – good luck getting near those nowadays, though.”
The Payolashuu explained. Pavittre tried to reply, but could only sigh as she lay on the ground.
“Yeah, you stew in your sweat puddle there for a while.”
She heard the voice of the Payolashuu say. Then, a few moments later and a little further away:
“Greetings, brother… Oh, you’ve captured a human as well!”
“It was difficult, but yes, I did- but you as well?! This will bring untold glory to our family and clan. We may even find ourselves chieftans!”
“The feast of souls will be glorious and filling with these two… Imagine what the others will have, some ants and a wolf maybe, an elephant out of the better hunters…”
“We must return as quickly as possible.”
“Don’t rush too much, the two humans may need some rest to make sure their bodies keep functioning.”
“Mine seems all right, he didn’t have as far to come. He can help yours.”
Here, Pavittre heard something stand up.
“Alright then, I’ll just get her going again.”
Pavittre heard her Payolashuu say, and then heard two simultaneous flute melodies. She felt her body move against her will again, and opened her eyes to see the Payolashuu jumping up on her lap, have her extend and arm, and then lift him up to her head, and then she felt herself standing up. In front of her, next to a pillar where apparently he had been leaning, was a boy, perhaps a little older than her (not that Pavittre was a good judge of these things, not recalling any humans) with his own little Payolashuu on his head, with it’s own flute, which too was wood and ornate, but seemed to be made of a different wood and most certainly had different inscriptions on it. The boy was dark haired and tanned like Pavittre, wearing a torn shirt and a loincloth similar to her own. His body was stiffly puppeteered over to Pavittre, and Pavittre found herself climbing up onto his back for a piggyback carrying.
“I’m so sorry, I can’t stop it, I can’t control my body...”
Pavittre apologized in barely more than a whisper, exhausted from all the running and leaping the Payolashuu had put her body through.
“That’s ok… From… From the sound of it… You’ve had to run a lot further than me...”
He panted.
“I think that’s enough talking.”
Pavittre’s Payolashuu snapped, and he played a shriller melody that she hadn’t heard before. She felt herself being forced to shut her eyes and give up staying awake. She couldn’t resist it, and she fell fast asleep.

When Pavittre woke up, she was in a very different part of the jungle, and it was now night. The canopy was so thick here she could only just see a couple of stars through them. It was almost pitch black all around, except for up ahead, where the flickering lights of a fire could be seen over a shoddily-constructed stone wall. As they approached, a crumbling wooden gate was swung open, and Pavittre and the boy’s body’s had to crawl to get through it to the interior of the wall. Inside was a strange sight, to say the least. Hundreds of Payolashuu were dancing round a bonfire, which relative to them was massive. A sprawling village of Payolashuu-size houses and fortifications and barracks ran along the inside of the circular wall, with another gate to the other end of the one they came through, the bonfire being in the centre of it all. Already the smaller animals that were caught were sitting around further away from the bonfire, with a stiff obedience and troubled attitude that suggested their bodies were under the same kind of control as Pavittre and the boy’s. As the two approached, a larger, fat Payolashuu approached, and held his hand out to indicate that they had to halt. Pavittre and the boy’s Payolashuu jumped off and went over to him.
“Why have you brought two large animals inside the walls? We leave the large ones outside to consume after the small ones, remember?”
The fat one asked.
“I think you’ll want to take a closer look.”
The boy’s Payolashuu replied confidently. The fat one went and got a torch that he lit on the bonfire, and held it up near the boy.
“What the – a human?!”
The fat one exclaimed. The dancing and music stopped gradually as the other Payolashuu spread the word of what was happening, and made their way over to crowd round the boy and Pavittre. A collective stunned silence fell across them as the looked at the two humans. A few began climbing onto them, poking around. Pavittre grit her teeth as a couple started pulling some of her hair out.
“Alright, that’s enough – let us continue with the proceedings, then eat the human souls first!”
The fat one proclaimed, and another cheer went up as they all returned to the bonfire.
“With that kind of power, we’ll be able to compete with some of the stronger clans!”
A straggler commented to another straggler. So Pavittre and the boy were left sitting in the path from the gate, whilst the festivities continued around the bonfire. Pavittre just tried to close her eyes and get some rest… From the sound of it, though, it wouldn’t matter before long.
“So, what’s your name?”
The boy croaked. Pavittre found the question a little out of place considering their situation, but it was comforting to talk to someone all the same.
“Pavittre.”
She replied hoarsely.
“I’m… Dalif.”
He said. That was about as much as the two of them could manage at that point, and they fell silent for a while, listening to the awful din of the Payolashuu dancing and shouting and singing around their fire. Then, the door of the wall was crashed against, sending a loud reverberation around the walled town. The dancing and singing stopped, as the Payolashuu all turned towards the door. Pavittre and Dalif turned their heads as best they could to look as well. Whatever was on the other side crashed into the door again. Screaming and yelling, the Payolashuu rushed for the door, picking up their spears from the fireside to fight the menace. One line held their backs against the door, and the rest got into a defensive formation, spears pointed upwards ready to thrust into the unknown enemy. No third crash came, and the silence was deafening. Then, a bright flash of light emerged through the door, and blasted it open, opening out into a wide beam of yellow light that threw all the Payolashuu across the town and scorched a small trench in the ground along where it had ran. It hit the thatched roof of a small house, causing it to catch alight and burn. As the chaos ensued from the rapidly spreading fire, the source of the commotion slithered through the empty doorway. It was Anilak, but with a bright, glowing jewel emerging from his forehead, almost seeming to steam as it cooled off.
“Master!”
Pavittre croaked in delight. Anilak rushed over, looking happy but also urgent. He quickly bound up the two. By now a few Payolashuu had looked away from the commotion long enough to see their enemy.
“It’s a guardian! It’s one of Kaeshyn’s guardians! Get him!”
The cry went up, and the Payolashuu who had heard, and weren’t trying to douse flames, threw their spears through the air toward Anilak. His jewel glowed brighter, and as it did so he rose into the air, levitating, then quicky ascended up into the night sky, crashing through the foliage as the spears hit the wall and ground around where Anilak had been. They rushed through the air, but only for a few minutes, as he quickly descended again a distance away and landed, laying them both on the ground.
“Why did you land? Why aren’t we flying further away?”
Dalif asked, terrified by the appearance of this massive snake, though slightly comforted by the fact that Pavittre seemed to know him, as she was now hugging onto his coil affectionately.
“When I usse my higher-level powerss, every magical creature for miless around will feel it very sstrongly… Many of them are sspirits and desstructive creaturess that have been assleep for thoussandss of yearss, so it’s unwisse to usse thosse powerss regularly. The unnatural light weight of my body, it’ss unnatural sstrength and my hyp – ability to help creatures get to ssleep are all powerss that don’t leak any of my pressence, sso I can usse them a** much a** I want. Sspeaking of which...”
Anilak explained, the jewel receding into his forehead until it was no longer visible underneath his scales, then he wrapped up the pair again and slid up into the treetops, going from branch to branch with the two coiled humans in tow.
“… We need to get away before all the magical misscreantss of the jungle come after uss.”
Anilak finished. Exhausted and now safe, Dalif put aside any other questions and fell asleep. The coils had felt so good to Pavittre that she’d fallen asleep almost instantly.

The next morning, Dalif woke up to see that he’d been laid on the ground with his shirt serving as a pillow behind his head. Looking up and seeing that Pavittre was still in the snake’s coils, he felt grateful that he’d been released from the coils himself. Almost stepping on it as he got up, Dalif noticed that a banana and a mango had been left beside him. Sitting back down with the food, he hungrily dug in. Dangling up above, it seemed Pavittre was having breakfast too.
“Oh master, I was so worried...”
She said through her mouthful, nuzzling her cheek against the side of his head.
“I wass too, Pavittre...”
Anilak said, though when he thought about it, he wasn’t quite sure why he was so attached to Pavittre.
“Well, now you’ve finisshed that coconut...”
Anilak began, taking the two empty halves in his coils, moving over to the stream nearby, and dipping them under. He then brought one back over to Pavittre and one over to Dalif, who looked up in surprise as it tapped his head, then took it gratefully.
“...How about a drink?”
Anilak finished, handing the full coconut shell to Pavittre. She snatched it and gulped it all down in a second, so Anilak took it over to the stream for a refill, where it seemed Dalif was already scooping up water and chugging it down as fast as he could. Apparently getting kidnapped was thirsty work.
“That’s so clever! Just like you, master.”
Pavittre commented on his makeshift cup, before downing the refill.
“Alright, I’ll sset you down so you can sscoop up the water yoursself.”
Anilak said, not wanting to continue getting refills for Pavittre. He made a spiralling slide from his coils, whisking Pavitre down to the ground. She looked a little disappointed at leaving the coils, but that was soon forgotten in her dash over to the stream to drink to her heart’s content. After they were both finished, they rejoined with Anilak.
“Done?”
Anilak asked, impressed at the volume the two had drunk. Pavittre nodded, licking her lips. Dalif inclined his head just slightly, standing a little behind Pavittre and looking away from Anilak. It only made sense that he’d be intimidated, by Anilak felt a little hurt all the same, considering he saved the boy.
“I asssume you’re from a human ssettlement?”
He asked Dalif in as friendly a manner he could. Dalif nodded silently. Pavittre frowned at his attitude.
“Come on, my master’s nobody to be afraid of!”
She encouraged him, bouncing over and putting an arm round his shoulders, dragging him forward a little. She grabbed his hand and Anilak’s tail, and put them together in a rudimentary handshake.
“Look at him!”
She urged, lifting up Dalif’s chin. Dalif still felt that the snake was scary, but Pavittre was doing a good job reassuring him and he sighed with relief. Anilak laughed and ruffled Pavittre’s hair affectionately.
“If we get you to a human trader, do you reckon you could hitch a ride with them back to ssomeplace you know?”
Anilak asked.
“I-If nothing else, I g-guess I could ask them for directions...”
Dalif stuttered, trying to look unafraid at Anilak as he answered.
“Alright then, let’s sset off to the edge of the jungle. Can you two walk okay?”
Anilak asked. Pavittre and Dalif nodded. And so they started following Anilak. He weaved his way through the trees, and down on the ground Pavittre and Dalif clambered over roots and bushes at their own pace.
“So… What’s a settlement?”
Pavittre asked, after a while of walking.
“What?”
Dalif returned in disbelief.
“A settlement? You know, my master was -”
“No, I was just… It’s a collection of buildings that humans live in – didn’t you grow up in one?”
Dalif interruped her. That sounds like the place in my dream, Pavittre thought to herself. He was struggling to get over a log in their path, and Pavittre reached down and helped him up. She beamed and shook her head.
“No, I was brought up by my master, here in the jungle!”
She answered merrily.
“Why do you call him your master?”
Dalif asked, changing the subject.
“He’s training me to survive on my own in the jungle, so… He’s my master. You understand, right Dalif?”
She explained shortly.
“Oh. By the way, you can call me Dal for short.”
He replied.
“Dal for short… Then you can call me Pav for short!”
She said eagerly. They continued on for a while, the occasional conversation turning to Pavittre telling him excitedly about what plants were edible and which weren’t, the characteristics of different trees, and the telling signs of animal habitats. Eventually they reached a small trench, with some vines hanging down over it from the trees above. Without hesitation, Pavittre leaped onto one and swung across to the other side. Dalif, however, stopped. Pavittre swung back over.
“What’s wrong?”
She asked, swinging back over to him to see what was wrong.
“I can’t do this… I’ll fall.”
He muttered quietly.
“One vine can’t hold both of us, so you’ll have to swing across… Look, copy me.”
Pavittre suggested, and slowly took him through the steps, then swung across.
“Now you!”
She called from the other side. Gulping, Dalif backed up, then ran and held on for dear life. As he passed halfway across, he felt more confident: I’m going to make it! I actually did it! He celebrated mentally. Then, in his newfound confidence, he let go too early, and started to fall. Quickly Pavittre reached out, grabbed him and pulled him back in an overhead flinging motion, toppling her over and landing him on top of her. They lay there for a moment, before he leapt up, embarrassed.
“Sorry! Sorry, I didn’t me-”
He was interrupted by Pavittre leaping up in turn and embracing him.
“You did it! You made it!”
She cried. Then Anilak emerged.
“You sshould have come and got me, Pavittre, that was dangerouss.”
He chided, not very sternly despite his efforts.
“Yes master, I will next time.”
She answered, letting go of Dalif, who was quickly hiding his blush. Anilak made a sort of shrug by shifting his body up and down, then continued on ahead.
“See? You could do it when you tried.”
She said encouragingly. Dalif just chuckled nervously. They continued on further, their surroundings now getting darker. Not because of the passage of time, but because the foliage and canopy was getting thicker overhead. Deeper in, the forest almost seemed to become a tunnel, the walls of trunks with a few gaps that were stuffed with bushes and saplings, and eventually even mushrooms. The way became lit after a while as well by brightly glowing smaller mushrooms.
“Those aren’t good to eat.”
Pavittre commented pointedly.
“I thought not!”
Dalif laughed. The grass got thinner underfoot, until finally it was just dirt.
“So what’s it like living in a settlement?”
Pavittre asked suddenly, looking back for a second before forging on ahead of Dalif.
“Well, there’s a lot more people around than you’re probably used to… Everybody’s divided into families. A man and a woman will become a married couple and then have children, and then their children will have children, and they’ll all be part of that family.”
Dalif explained, not sure that he could go into much detail – a lot of it seemed quite normal and self-evident to him, so it was hard for him to think of things to explain.
“Like… A mother and a father?”
Pavittre asked quietly, thinking back to her dream, where she had supposedly seen her mother.
“Yeah, that’s right.”
Dalif replied, not picking up the quietness in Pavittre’s voice.
“… Do you have?...”
Pavittre asked, coming to a stop and looking down, not sure whether she was feeling upset or ill. She didn’t really recognize this feeling, even though it felt oddly familiar.
“...I did. They were...”
Dalif paused, coming to a stop himself now, though more because he was trying to remember the circumstances.
“Taken away, for some reason.”
He concluded. He didn’t feel much emotion about it, as he didn’t remember it happening. Pavittre remained silent, and continued on, her silhouette unreadable. The silence remained like this till they reached the end of the ‘tunnel’. They could now see that the sun had set, and that Anilak had lead them to a small cliff with a lake and a waterfall.
“My master always make sure that we stay near to water.”
Pavittre commented to Dalif, then ran over to join Anilak by the lake. As the sun set, they finished picking fruit, and Anilak caught a rat by hypnotising it, which Pavittre ate but Dalif declined to, being used to cooked meat. They left Dalif on the ground by the lake, whilst Anilak took Pavittre round to another side of the cliff to a shelf in it, where he coiled her up. The height and openess of the shelf gave a brilliant view of the surrounding jungle – though it was less visible at night.
“I’m ready to go to sleep – that was a good day.”
Pavittre sighed happily.
“Not yet you’re not.”
Anilak chuckled.
“Huh?”
Pavittre turned to Anilak to find what would be a familiar sight of beautiful, engulfing spirals if she recalled her previous times being hypnotized.
“But...”
Pavittre began to protest Anilak’s correction.
“Whenever you feel compelled to be obedient to your master like this, you should give in quickly.”
Anilak said.
“I’m… Compelled… Give in… Tired...”
Pavittre stumbled over her words as she tried to finish her statement, whilst the part of her that was entranced tried to override her.
 “Tired enough to not ressisst, but not tired enough to ssleep.”
Anilak suggested forcefully. Pavittre’s mouth opened and closed ineffectually as she gazed in awe at Anilak’s eyes, which were brighter and faster tonight than usual.
“Yyesss...”
Pavittre managed to murmur at last. As the agreement left her lips, her body stiffened, her eyes widened, a goofy grin spread wide across her cheeks, and a quiet, nonexistent ‘ping!’ went off in her and Anilak’s heads.
“Well, I promissed that once you were back out of the Payolasshuu’s clutchess I would give you the besst trance you ever had.”
Anilak chuckled, squeezing her in his coils possessively and turning each layer a different direction, rubbing her all over so he could feel all of her, once again completely in the palm of his figurative hand. He picked up a spare banana that had been left uneaten from dinner, and peeled it, then stuck it in Pavittre’s mouth.
“Ssee little sslave, being hypnotized iss a bit like this banana. It’ss ssweet, it’ss eassy to abssorb, it’s even round like the sspiralss from my gaze.”
He lectured. Pavittre nodded slightly, munching on her banana carefully so it didn’t drop out of her mouth, all the while staring intensely ahead into the swirling maelstrom of mesmerizing power emanating from Anilak’s eyes.
“The difference is that whereas a banana comes to an end...”
Anilak began, demonstrating his point by pushing the banana in between her lips, filling her cheeks like a chipmunk,
“… My sspiralss will never end, and you can have as much of them as you want.”
He concluded. Pavittre stared ahead into his eyes even more hungrily now, if that were possible, and swallowed down her banana. Soon after, a second ping rang through her head, and her body relaxed a bit again, leaning back, becoming less stiff, the smile not as forced. She was so utterly preoccupied with being hypnotized, however, that she’d forgotten to stop eating her banana after she swallowed it, and kept on chewing as if it were still there. Anilak stuck his tail between her lips, and she chewed softly on it.
“You ssee, Pavittre? You don’t even need a banana when you have me – you don’t need anything elsse when you have me...”
He said, drawing in very close with his eyes. He coiled further up her neck and around her forehead, narrowing her vision, then lowered his head down in front of her, and swung it side to side within her field of view like a pendulum. Pavittre’s bedazzled eyes were forced to follow his, the strain of concentration pushing her further and further down. It took a fair amount of time before a ‘ping’ was heard again, as though Pavittre’s resistance to lower levels of trance were worn down, she hadn’t been to higher levels of trance, so it took a longer time. Now her concentration on her mouth was totally gone, and it just hung open as if gobsmacked. Now Anilak came up nose to nose with Pavittre, and closed a cocoon of coils around both of their heads, sealing her in complete darkness with nothing but the spirals, and Anilak drew his tail out of her mouth.
“You ssee Pavittre, at the firsst level of trance you’re sstiff, wooden and unaware. You’re totally obedient as required, but I don’t have as total a control over you as I can do. The higher a level of trance you get to, the more naturally your body movess, the more of your normal mental facultiess I can have you usse, and of coursse the longer it takess for you to come out of trance. Conssider it a treat, because it’s somewhat draining to entrance someone to this extent.”
Anilak explained. At this point Anilak’s talking was the only language Pavittre could understand.
“Now then, let go of yoursself. Let go of your memoriess, of your perssonality, of your knowledge… Let go of your limbss, your head, your hair and all of your body… Let go of your name, and even of being a sslave, and jusst fill yoursself with the sspiralss.”
Anilak commanded. It would take a while. He’d been extremely successful so far though. He could barely hear any breathing at all from Pavittre as they exchanged spirals in their tight, dark cocoon.
“Don’t worry about drowning as you ssink down into the whirlpool...”
He intoned, knowing that this part would take a long time. At least he knew for certain that Pavittre was having the time of her life. Very, very few things even approached the amount of pleasure high level trance gave. What was incredible was how the subject kept all of that intenseness internalized and remained so calm on the exterior. As the session continued, Anilak kept on getting his usual itches and urges to play around with his little subject, but he was focusing on achieving that next ‘ping!’, and he knew that toying around with her rather than focusing on maximum hypnosis at this stage would disrupt that process. Eventually, as his eyes were growing sore, Pavittre had a ‘ping!’ go off in her head, louder and more pronounced than the others, as she writhed during it, the spirals in her eyes sped up to blindingly fast speeds, and she moaned, before the squirming subsided, the calm smile returned and the spirals slowed down to normal speed, now at the same brightness and intensity as Anilak’s. Anilak released the head coils from Pavittre whilst she went through her ‘ping!’, but made sure to keep her well secured during this.
“Well? How wass that?”
Anilak panted, tired after pushing Pavittre through all that.
“It was great...”
Pavittre replied wistfully, as if recalling the experience. Her voice now spoke almost in normal tone rather than monotone, but she pronounced words slightly more carefully and spoke slightly more deliberately that although it was a normal voice, it was at the same time distinctly not Pavittre’s, missing all the unrestrained, carefree abandon of Pavittre’s non-hypnotized voice.
“I have an idea...”
Anilak suggested at last.

Dalif had been sleeping peacefully for the past few hours, until he felt something dripping on his face. He opened one eyelid, to see a snake’s tail pouring droplets of water from an empty piece of bamboo.
“What the...”
He muttered to himself, then jolted upright as he saw Pavittre laid down next to him. She stood up herself to face him.
“Hello Dal.”
She greeted him.
“Pavitt... - Pav? What’s wrong with your eyes? And your voice?”
He asked, and even as he puzzled over it, wondering if he was dreaming, his pupils shrank slightly looking ahead into Pavittre’s eyes. It wasn’t as quick or powerful as Anilak’s of course, but all of that hypnosis had left some residual energy with Pavittre.
“Say, Dal… Do you like me?”
She asked, putting on a shy voice, tilting her head to one side, and clasping her hands in front of her.
“What?! I- I- no!”
Dalif exclaimed in surprise, blushing and waving his hands dismissively.
“Oh… What do you dislike about me?”
Pavittre asked, now sorrowfully, as she turned her head down slightly as if in dejection.
“I don’t dislike you!”
Dalif quickly corrected. He found himself lifting up her chin in an uncommon display of confidence for him, unaware that it was the spirals compelling him to do so, so that he could make eye contact with them again.
“Which is it?”
Pavittre asked, still using her sorrowful voice.
“Well… I haven’t known you long enough to really like you...”
He said awkwardly, his pupils growing dangerously small.
“So I’m not special?”
She asked, drawing closer.
“No… You are.”
Dalif replied, in a more distracted tone of voice, his pupils having now disappeared and the first spiral emerging.
“And… I don’t make you feel special?”
Pavitttre probed further, a smile beginning to play across her lips.
“No, you do.”
Dalif answered, reason leaving him as a second pinprick emerged from the center of the first spiral.
“I don’t give you butterflies in your stomach?”
She asked, now taking a more teasing tone and grin fully visible.
“You… Do...”
Dalif replied more falteringly as Pavittre deepened both his trance and his feelings, the second spiral now expanding.
“I don’t make you want to hold me?”
Pavittre giggled, holding his hands and drawing them around her, bringing them closer together.
“Oh, I do.”
Dalif answered more certainly now, though his blush was deepening.
“And you don’t want to do this?...”
Pavittre whispered, then leaned in and kissed him. This was enough for a third and fourth spiral to emerge, and speed up his eyes a bit. Dalif didn’t reply to this one when she pulled away, just smiled silly from ear to ear and stared more intently into her eyes.
“So, you were lying – you really do like me.”
She concluded teasingly. After thinking about it as best he could while being mildly hypnotized, he nodded, his face going entirely red. She put out a hand and caressed his cheek.
“Oh Dal, you really should be honest.”
She said. Dalif’s spirals were now regular and clearly affecting him, much to Pavittre’s joy.
“Just look into my eyes...”
She added, now having ensnared him.
“It’s rude to stare...”
He managed to object.
“You can stare at me as much as you want, Dal. Because, you see...”
She left the sentence open so that he paid greater attention and gazed even deeper into her eyes.
“…I like you too.”
She concluded, and, now Dalif’s mind had found a good enough justification, he stared intensely into her eyes, soaking up all the spirals. Had he been less entranced, he probably could have figured out that Pavittre supposedly liked him from all the other things she did. Not long after, Dal reached a ‘ping!’, and Anilak came down.
“Well done, Pavittre! Now I can truly call you my sstudent!”
Anilak laughed.
“You can call me Pav for short, master.”
Pavittre remarked, being able to recall her earlier conversation with Dalif at her current stage of trance.
“I kind of like that abbreviation.”
Anilak conceded, moving over to face Dalif and running his own spirals, even though his eyes were now rather sore.
“Dalif, you will go back to ssleep now, and remember thiss encounter jusst as a dream.”
He commanded. Dalif nodded, then lay back down and fell back to sleep.
“Time for uss to get ssome ssleep too, Pav!”
Anilak said, and he scooped her up in his coils to go back up to the cliff and sleep. As soon as the coils brushed against her skin, her eyes closed and her body went completely limp, falling into Anilak’s coils.

what happened to this story? is it ever going to get a continuation?