Ayida-Weddo and the Tales of Heroes

Ayida-Weddo suddenly took her glowing hand and then threw it down to the ground and yelled, "Teleport!" With a flash, both Ayida-Weddo and Thomas disappeared in a bolt of light to somewhere else.

Xuanwu looked down and back up. She nodded as she looked at Lily. "Boy.....have I seen that face before. I had a similar face like that once, and he was awesome too. I know what she is going to do to him, and he is either going to absolutely love it or have nightmares for the rest of his life. Something tells me, though, he is going to have the time of his life."

*******

Thomas's view went to a sudden flash as he felt like he was transferred from one area to another instantly. His eyes adjusted as the blinding light faded away. He stood alone at a beach as he looked out to the ocean.

"Where am I?" he asked out loud.

He looked around his surroundings. It was a clear day. He stood at a small lip of dirt that leads down to the sandy beach to the water beyond. The temperature felt the same as where he originally was. He could smell the ocean breeze as it rushed to his nose. The sound of water crashing into the nearby dirt and sand was pretty to him. Lush jungle and trees stood behind him. There was a bank of rocks to his far-right forming a small wall to prevent him from walking in that direction of the beach. The other way was clear.

There was no sign of human activity around him. Behind him was a forest of trees, palms, but there was really nothing else. He was alone.

"I have been transported to somewhere else, but where am I? Where is Ayida-Weddo? Where are the other two women?"

He walked up to the sand of the beach. His shoes impacted the soft sands as he could see the ocean water wash up and down on the sand.

"I feel like I did when I used to swim in Virginia," he said to himself. "The trees and temperatures feel different. I know that I am not in the United States."

He walked around a little as he saw birds flying around that he did not recognize. Suddenly something seemed to catch his eye on his left. On his left of the beach, there was a rainbow. This rainbow was not in the sky. It was originating from the water itself.

"That is strange. How is there a rainbow coming from the ocean?"

He took a look at the nearby surroundings some more. The clouds were thick but not covering the sun. There would be occasional cloud cover but nothing else.

"I am surprised that nobody claimed this spot," Thomas remarked. "It would make prime real estate for sure. I almost feel like taking a swim in the water."

The sun was beating down on him. He felt the need to loosen his clothing to provide more air.

"Ayida! Where are you!?" Thomas called out at the top of his lungs.

Silence except for the ambient sounds of water and ocean.

"Ayida!.......anybody? You transported me to here!? Where are you?"

Still nothing, but his gaze was still focused on the rainbow coming from the ocean water.

"Strange.....I feel drawn to it. It is not far from me."

He started to walk in the direction of the myriad of colors. He could see the colors rise from the ocean water and go up into the air. He wanted to go to it.

The heat was still beating down on him, but he was used to the heat of Liberia. He had to conclude that he was still in Africa somewhere. He looked around, and they're still nobody around him. It was possible that he could not see any human activity due to the dense forest behind him that covered everything.

He looked at the pistol still holstered on his belt with his pants.

"I am not letting go of this gun, but there is no one out here. Maybe I should shoot into the air to see if I can grab some attention. I can't survive out here. I guess in some ways, if I knew where I was, I could try to reach help and figure out what to do next."

His thoughts went to the African woman. She was so beautiful. The longer he looked at her, the more he felt so drawn to her. Yet, he never saw her before. She knew him, though. She called me her ......mate. What did she mean by that? She was delighted to see him that was for sure. He saw her use magic too. The heat permeated some of his vision. He wished he could take his shirt off sooner back at Yekepa, but he was conscious of those around him or what they might think.

He stopped in his tracks. "You know what? There is nobody here. I can take my shirt off, and no one would care, although even in a war-torn environment, I am sure that nobody really cared that much anyway if I did it. For all, I know there were people that charged into battle completely naked, and no one would notice or care too much."

He sighed as he stopped and took his shirt off. He revealed a chiseled frame of an almost bare chest. He was a strong man but not overly strong. He looked like most marines that had to work out hard. He had a light athletic build to him that would make some women notice him shirtless. He had a little bit of blond hair from his chest as it went down to his smooth abs. He took his shirt, folded it haphazardly as he carried it with him. His hat still kept the sun from beating down on his face. It felt cooler now as the cool ocean breeze would keep his body from overheating.

"That feels so much better. Those colors, though........I need to check it out."

He continued his walk to the line of colors that formed half of a horseshoe. As he got closer and closer, it shimmered as the ocean water in the air flickered in the light.

"You know, now that I think of it," he said to himself as his finger was almost at his chin. "I remember something about research on deities. Ayida-Weddo sounds familiar. Xuanwu is the Chinese name for the Black Tortoise, one of the four divine animals of the region. She commented that she came from Mongolia, though. Lily also rings a bell, but she stated that was her 'fake name.' What would her real name be then? Let's see Aida's real name is Ayida-Weddo. If the names they are using are close to their real names, then Lily could be a shortened down version of.....Lilith? No, that is not possible. I suppose stranger things are happening anyway. I just saw magic be used. I am in a completely new area, my hand......fuck my hand when I threw a punch at her. I swore I must have punched a steel wall, yet I did nothing but injure my hand from her. I don't think I will be able to shoot anything for a bit till my hand heals some. I can try using my other hand, but it will be harder to hit anything. Ugh....."

He continued his walk as he realized that he could feel the dirt between his toes if he wanted to. He was on a beach, after all. His shoes were getting mud all over them as he continued to walk. He decided to stop and take them off, followed by his socks. He put them all together, including his shirt, as he could feel the dirt between his toes. He played with the dirt on his feet.

"I grew up by the beach," he paused for a little while as he kept his sites on the closing rainbow. "I always like the ocean."

Finally, he reached the rainbow that was sticking out of the ocean. It was not far from him. He got closer and closer to the rising and falling of the water on the beach to get to it. It was almost like looking at a two-dimensional image of it. He could barely see it as he was behind it. He reached out to the rainbow and felt nothing. Suddenly the rainbow just vanished in front of him.

"What the hell?....." he stood there perplexed, trying to figure out what was happening.

He could see something in the ocean ahead of him. Like a dart in the water, he could see it through the clear ocean water. It was large, almost the size of a bus, as it swam under the water. It was moving faster and faster as it got closer to him.

"Oh, shit....." He backed up, but he had very little time to respond. He went to put his hand on his pistol, but it was on him in a second. It leaped out of the water like a giant shark grabbing its meal.

The creature with two large thin arms grabbed him and slammed him down into the soft sands below him. The heavyweight of the beast had him. He was dazed as his shirt and shoes flew from his hand. His adrenaline was kicking into full gear now.

He was looking at a massive serpent. It had a snout of a lizard or an eel. Its two front arms, even though thin, were more than strong enough to pin him to the ground. The head of the serpent alone was bigger than half his body. It had a set of horns that protruded from its head. The tail was like that of an eel that propelled it through the waters. The most prominent and most noticeable thing about this creature was the scales. She had back legs with claws. It gave an almost iridescent color. No scale was the same color as each one reflected a slightly different color compared to the other. Red met orange, orange met yellow, yellow met green, green met blue, blue met purple, purple met brown, brown met black in the array of scales. The serpent looked like a rainbow.

Each arm had a claw with four talons on it big enough to encompass his arms and shoulders in pinning him to the dirt. Struggle for all his might, he could not escape it.

The creature spoke to him in a deep, baritone but feminine-like voice with a West African accent as he watched the giant mouth from it move when it talked to him. She almost spoke in a mocking manner to him.

"Oh no.....poor Thomas has been captured by the ferocious beast. What is he going to do now?"

"Who are you?" he asked her.

She opened her jaws to him, showing a massive row of serrated teeth that could rip him to pieces as she gave a slight hiss. He was scared for his life, but he was confused by what she was doing by practically mocking him. One snap of her jaws would kill him.

"The powerful creature has its prey," she continued. "He can't escape. Does he scream for help? Does he....struggle in her arms? Will he plead with the creature to spare his life?"

"Umm...," he said with his adrenaline running and heart beating at a heavy rate. "Get your claws off me!"

"Hmmm....not good enough," she said. "I need more than that."

She slammed her weight hard with her arms and claws as he was pushed hard into the sand. The serpentine eyes starred into his soul as she continued her tirade of comments to him.

"The poor, poor creature. He can't do anything to fight back against his predator. He knows he is going to die if he can't find a way out of this. Probably become the poor creature's next lunch on the beaches of Liberia. What is his answer?"

Thomas at first felt a lingering fear, but the longer he looked at her, the more he started to feel a sense of familiarity with her. She paused for a little while as he considered what she said. While powerful, she was giving the time necessary for him to evaluate her words. This was not an attack in any way. It felt like he had done this before.

"You know that gun of yours wouldn't work against me if you tried, by the way," She continued. "I know you hurt your hand a little bit when you punched Lilith in the face. I admit I held back my laughter when you hurt your hand. Such bravery when confronting a woman that looks like another human. Yet would you have thrown a fist at something that wasn't human?"

He starred at her, "Well....maybe especially in this situation."

There was almost a chuckle in her reaction.

The serpent smiled at him. "You know.....it is the goal of a predator to eat its prey, but I always enjoy it when the predator ravages its prey instead, especially when the predator and prey are the opposite sex. I would give Lilith a run for her money, especially in this situation."

"I know you....." he interrupted her little conversation. No longer scared or surprised, his thoughts went to her. It felt like everything with her was something that he experienced before. Even she was relaxing her grip on him. Her playing seemed to come to a halt as she analyzed him.

"Yes......" she explained. "I would imagine that you would know me. I know that you are him."

"I don't understand. Why?"

The serpent used her nostrils as she began to smell him. He could feel the breathing of her nostrils as warm air blew onto his skin. She could sense the perspiration that came from his body.

With Thomas, the sensation felt like something erotic. The feeling felt so similar to something that had happened in the past that he felt the growing urge to kiss her. Even if she was something that wasn't human at all, it didn't matter to him. It was like he had made love to her over and over again. At least from what he looked upon, she was a dragon, but it didn't make sense.

"You are aroused human.....you want this. I think I will give you what you wish. It is the responsibility of the predator to do so."

"Who are you?" he asked her.

"I will help entertain your question. Let me give you a good hint. It starts with an A and ends with an O. Let's see if you can guess the right answer, and I will give you a really great time."

".....Aida......I mean Ayida-Weddo. You're.....actually a giant serpent. A dragon?"

"Hmmm....some call me a river dragon. I usually like the rainbow serpent better. It just sounds right in the human tongue. To be honest, this isn't my true form. I usually use an in-between form for the most part when I am not in my human form."

"I can't explain this, but....I feel like I have somehow seen you before, even in this form."

She looked at his face, "Do you find me attractive, Thomas? Do you find me pretty?"

"I think you are pretty, but I think it would be difficult for......"

"Yes?......"

"Why do I know you? We are not even compatible. I just met you too. I can't have a sexual relationship with somebody like yourself. I just......I mean, I feel something there like something buried beneath me when it comes to you. I see that vast array of colors. When you were human, I remembered something. Since I have been in Liberia, nothing has felt right, but I get the sensation of déjà vu. Why do you know me? Why do I have these feelings? You are a part of this."

She slowed down as her eyes looked rejected a little bit. "Close your eyes. Changing form has a way of being a little too bright for human eyes at point-blank range."

He closed his eyes as his eyelids grew white from a blinding light that emitted from her. He could feel a shift in the weight that pressed down upon him. It grew lighter and lighter till the light ceased.

"You can open your eyes again, Thomas."

He opened his eyes to behold her new form. It was a smaller version of her bus-sized form. She was essentially about fifteen feet from head to tip in height, but a lot of it was her lower body and tail. She had no back legs anymore but a tail body that she could move and hold herself up. The end of her tail had a fin that looked like she could use to swim in the water. She still had her two arms that she was using to hold him down. If anything, she looked like an anthropomorphized serpent similar to a snake. She still had that face of hers with her protruding horns. Her iridescent-like scales still gave off the rainbow array of colors. Thomas looked down at her to still see she was pinning him down. He noticed something different as well. She wore a beaded necklace with wild dog fangs and various gems on it. The necklace rode so low that the dog teeth could actually partially cover her chest as well. Each gem consisting of sapphires, rubies, emeralds, diamonds, amethyst, obsidian, jade, citrine, gold pieces, silver pieces, bronze pieces, was a different color on it that interlaced in-between with the teeth.

The other big thing he noticed was the fact that she had a chest on her than before. She actually had breasts that protruded from her chest. They were proportioned to her size being larger than a human woman but comparable to a chest size in the double D range, even having nipples with dark brownish areolas the size of a dollar coin as well. Her scales were much lighter than other parts of her body. She had nothing covering her top as the tan color of an underside ran down all the way to the tail. She wore a soft woven cloth dress that covered her lower abdomen.

She was still bigger than him. If she had legs, she could easily stand a couple feet taller than him, but a lot of it was tail.

"This is my true form that I am comfortable with. I assume human forms like Xuanwu and Lilith. It allows us mythics to hide amongst the humans with relative ease."

"Relative ease?" he asked.

"Well.....it isn't perfect. Unless you're a shape shifter or mimic mythic that can assume any form, mythics like Xuanwu, Lilith, and I are stuck with what we have. Our human forms are based on where we are born. For example, Lilith comes from the Greek-Turkish region, Xuanwu from what was northern China, and I from what is now Benin."

"You are an African goddess. I remember my readings now. You were worshipped by the Dahomey kingdom before it was taken over by the French. If such a creature like you existed, where were you when they needed it the most?"

She chuckled a little bit, "Very interesting that you ask that question, Thomas. The fact is there are many answers why."

She went quiet for a little while as Thomas could feel her breathe in and out as they looked at each other. He noted everything about her, every little feature about her. He felt more and more drawn to her to more he looked at her.

".......I missed you so much. You don't know how happy I am to see you," she said as she took her hand and pressed it to his face. Her hand consisted of five digits that looked very much like a human hand with a tan palm and multi-colored scales on the other side. She had small claws that protruded from the fingernails that she could easily use to tear him up if need be.

"I.....I feel something for you. I just wish I knew why. Feeling you on top of me it......."

"Yes?" she said with a smile.

"Are you doing this? Are you casting some spell on me to make me fall in love with you?"

She actually giggled a little bit as she looked at him. "No, this is no spell. This is all real. You are not far from the town of Grenville, Liberia. You are about a few miles away from it. I like this spot. Beaches, a thick forest of trees to block everything, a perfect place for a goddess and a human like ourselves to make love."

His heart started to beat faster at her words. "Make.....make love?"

"Don't try to fight it, Thomas. I saw what you were looking at just now at my breasts. I saw you stare at me in my human form like you wanted to ravage me. Funny that you saw me weak and small. Now the tables have turned. It's my turn to look at you with urge and desire. Give in to it. You cannot win. Your goddess, your rainbow serpent, must satiate her desire to dominate and fuck her mate. Whether it is here on the beaches, in the dense forests of Africa, or in the water, I will have what is mine."

He felt a stirring in his loins as he looked at her more and more. She could feel his erection poking from his pants and into her stomach and abdomen. She started to breathe harder and harder into him.

"That's it......give into it.......I feel your excitement. You want to have me. It is the law of nature, my dear Thomas. It is usually the female that initiates mating, well......here I am. I will have what is mine. Feel it. You know me more than you know. You came to Liberia because you were seeking me out. You longed for it. You would go through bullets, blood, and steel to get to me. Well, here we are at the beach, feeling the wind with your lover ready to have his way with you. No one is around us for miles. Have your way, Thomas. Give in to your hunger and desire."

She lifted her hands and claws off of them as she used them to hold the top portion of herself up. This gave him the liberty to move his arms to do what he wanted. He had a better view of her hanging breasts with her hanging necklace.