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"writing": "Portals and Magic\n\nChapter Two\n\n(Story commission)\n\nZack barely had time to admire the grandeur and vastness of his best friend's facial features, as just moments after finally reaching the god-like feline's face—after spending days climbing and traversing the body of a lion that stretched across dozens of kilometers—Zack was caught off guard by a simple sigh from Lawrence. The muscular lion, whose attention was entirely elsewhere, far from the minuscule and nanoscopic world that the tiny bird alchemist now inhabited, had merely felt a small, almost insignificant discomfort inside one of his colossal nostrils. This action, which wasn't even Zack's fault—since his nanoscopic body could never trigger any reaction in the organism of a god like Lawrence—would lead to glorious consequences for the minuscule bird.\n\nImmediately, Zack lost his balance and slipped over the edge of the giant lion's moist snout curvature, falling and passing right in front of one of Lawrence's monumental nostril openings, precisely at the moment when the muscular lion was inhaling air for what, to Lawrence, was a brief sigh, but to Zack felt like being caught in the midst of a powerful hurricane. The tiny alchemist was inhaled with extreme brutality into the depths of the left nostril of the giant lion's snout, spinning uncontrollably as the air around him was dragged inward under immense pressure. Zack was less than a minuscule dust particle compared to that giant feline's body; that was exactly how his best friend's body would treat him—with total indifference and disdain. As he spun wildly, Zack could see the pinkish cartilage walls of the nostril interior extending around him, dominating more and more of his world! At certain moments, he could even glimpse the nostril opening, like the entrance to a colossal cave leading to the outside world and the source of his only light, and with each passing second, that opening and its light grew more distant; just as his hopes of surviving a simple inhalation from his best friend—a mere sigh from that divine feline being—were slowly fading and diminishing as the light from the world outside Lawrence's body receded further.\n\nHowever, as the tiny bird distanced himself from the feline's nostril entrance, his heart beat faster, not only because he was being carried by an overwhelming air current that he knew was the bare minimum effort his best friend's body could make—something as simple as inhaling air—but because he knew he was moving at hundreds of kilometers per hour, and any collision with the internal nostril structures at that speed could be fatal. Worse still, Zack was an alchemist; he had a good understanding of anthropomorphic beings' physiology, and he was certain that if he were lucky enough to escape the horrible fate of being splattered against a single nasal hair in the depths of the giant feline's nostril, he would surely end up landing on Lawrence's hot, moist, and slippery tongue surface, very close to the abyss that was nothing less than the entrance to his throat.\n\nWith all this in mind, Zack also knew that given his current nanoscopic and insignificant size, each of the taste buds that surely dominated the entire kilometer-long expanse of the titanic feline's tongue would seem like large and vast structures from his point of view; his hopes were minimal. Even if he survived the nasal hairs and wasn't crushed by the impact against one of the immense and enormous taste buds on the tongue surface, he wouldn't have the slightest chance of navigating an entire labyrinth of taste buds the size of small hills to reach the lips of that monolithic feline and possibly escape from inside his mouth. It would be easier to accept his fate and walk in the opposite direction, toward the dark and somber depths that would lead him straight to the feline god's esophagus; where he would be easily swallowed alive by Lawrence, very likely without the giant lion merchant even feeling or noticing anything at all. Gosh! Zack knew that since his current size was so insignificant, he could easily spend the entire day rubbing his body against a small section of one of the innumerable taste buds on that feline's tongue, and still Lawrence wouldn't notice anything, not even a single faint note of his body's flavor. Let alone passing through his gigantic esophagus; even the small opening for air passage, called the glottis, even if completely closed, would still be wide and giant enough to allow the minuscule Zack to pass through without even touching its pure muscle walls, much less causing any kind of irritation or anomalous sensation in the giant lion's daily life.\n\nBut luck smiled on the nano-micro alchemist, as he ended up not traversing his feline friend's nasal canal as he feared, nor colliding with one of his nasal hairs. Zack ended up plunging straight into a river of pure nasal mucus—a river that was actually a very thin string connecting one gigantic nasal hair to another, right at the edges of the titanic feline's nasal passage. Zack was now so distant and deep in his best friend's left nostril that he could barely see the light from the outside world. If the small bird had been carried a little further into his friend's snout, he very likely would have ended up on his tongue and subsequently in his throat. But now his fate seemed to be becoming just a small addition to the nasal mucus that naturally forms inside the nostrils of every anthropomorphic feline's snout—of every anthropomorphic being, to be more precise. Zack, feeling now like merely a small dust particle—in fact, the nano-micro bird could even look around and confirm that there were indeed dust particles beside him, equally trapped and stuck in the depths of his giant friend's nostril mucus—and to worsen his sense of self-worth, those particles were even larger than Zack himself, and yet even these \"giant\" particles posed no threat or discomfort to the most ordinary functions of that giant feline's body and organism. Zack was nothing; his feline friend's body never tired of proving that to him, day after day.\n\nHowever, the nanoscopic bird's stay in the titanic lion's nostril depths would be short, as while all this was happening in the confines of his body, Lawrence walked into the storage of his friend Zack's potion shop, and as the muscular feline headed toward a less ventilated section of the storage, where dust naturally accumulated, his snout began to inhale an increasing quantity of particles. Zack, in turn, had the opportunity to witness all this from a front-row perspective. The tiny bird had to deal, even if for a short time, with the powerful and yet mere act of breathing by the colossal titanic feline. The forest of nasal hairs around him was brutally shaken and slightly displaced by the air flow that sometimes moved toward the interior of the titanic feline's airways and sometimes toward the outside world, heading toward the only light source Zack could see in the distance. Every time Lawrence inhaled, the air rushing around the micro bird's body was fresh and slightly moist, but whenever the lion exhaled, the air was hot, saturated with aromas that could only come directly from the feline's throat, and carrying colossal amounts of humidity as well. But all that changed as Zack noticed the quantity of particles, debris, and all kinds of dust joining and accumulating around him. At one point, it even seemed like the amount of dust accumulating near the monolithic feline's nostrils would threaten to block Lawrence's nasal passages; but in reality, they were far from that. Much before that could even happen, a mere irritation caused by the loss of efficiency in humidifying the air during inhalation would provoke a subconscious response from the divine and all-glorious giant feline. Something known as sneezing.\n\nThe excess dust in the air made the multi-kilometer feline seem to stop walking through the dark and dusty corridors of the bird's shop storage just to let out an audible sneeze. Something simple, casual. Lawrence, in turn, right after sneezing, simply moved the back of one of his fists to his black snout to give it a light scratch before continuing with his routine and resuming his walk. The lion was completely unaware of the fact that that mere act of sneezing had saved his best friend from a possibly much crueler fate: being accidentally inhaled completely and ending up swallowed by the giant lion. Instead, Zack could only watch in total disbelief as the cartilage and muscle walls around him flexed, and the nostril opening in which he was deeply embedded opened in such a way that it seemed to even double in diameter. All this moments before the poor nanoscopic bird felt an air pressure rushing at immense pressure in a way he had never felt before in his entire life, not even in the worst storms. If Zack had already thought that the mere and simple act of being accidentally inhaled by Lawrence earlier was something extraordinary and a monumental demonstration of power, he had no idea of the power and force that a body of a giant being like his best friend could now exert over the fate of minuscule particles like him with a simple innocent act of sneezing. It was simply a cataclysm of pressure and forces so strong that Zack should thank his powerful god named Lawrence for simply not being disintegrated on the spot. But luckily, his tiny body was enveloped in a viscous layer of nasal mucus and propelled out of the immense nostril at a terminal velocity of hundreds of kilometers per hour, only to impact right in the middle of the imposing valley that was merely the dividing space between the two pectorals of his best friend's body.\n\nThe impact was so phenomenal and with such force that it caused a good part of the viscous, hot, and gelatinous substance enveloping the minuscule bird to dissipate on the spot. A small part of it even underwent sublimation, passing from solid to gaseous state immediately, such was the force and power of that god-like feline's body in merely performing a sneeze. But still, Zack found himself partially trapped and embedded in a minuscule and completely imperceptible mucus particle for any normal-sized person like Lawrence. The feline himself didn't even feel or notice anything coming out of his nostrils; the droplets carrying his best friend out of his nostrils were simply microscopic to him and anyone on his scale. From Lawrence's point of view, this wasn't even his strongest or most powerful sneeze; it was just a short, dry sneeze caused by the excess dust in the air.\n\nFor Zack, however, the same situation had completely different unfoldings. Trapped and almost entirely submissive in a microscopic droplet in the middle of the valley between his best friend's two powerful and mountainous pectorals, the tiny bird had only managed to stick his head out of the viscous droplet in such a way that it allowed him to breathe. But given the density of the feline's nasal mucus, Zack had little hope of freeing himself without help. Luckily, it was at that instant that the tiny bird spotted in the distance what seemed to be two figures, nano-micros like him, walking through the massive valley that was the central cavity amid Lawrence's pectoral. At first, the micro bird himself didn't believe what his eyes were showing him; the small alchemist even considered that perhaps the force of the impact—though that same mucus now preventing him from moving had protected his body from being literally vaporized by the powerful impact—had scrambled his brain, and he might now be hallucinating. But as the two figures drew closer, Zack began to notice more and more details about them.\n\nThe two nano-micros were anthros like him, dressed in identical clothes, which soon became clear to the bird was some kind of uniform. As the two approached, more details became apparent to the small alchemist to the point where Zack could perceive that the uniforms of said micros resembled miners' outfits—or something relatively similar. They wore heavy overalls, helmets, and carried some kind of handheld lantern, but which obviously served some other purpose besides lighting their path, as said lanterns projected light but didn't illuminate much. Being the alchemist he was, it didn't take long for Zack to notice they were enchanted objects, probably some kind of mana-powered directional compass.\n\n\"Hey! You two! Here! I need help!\" The tiny bird shouted in the direction of the approaching figures as soon as his mind convinced him he wasn't hallucinating and that they were real individuals. And as soon as they heard the avian's cries for help, both figures approached more quickly, moving with greater haste until the two individuals positioned themselves right in front of the \"minuscule\" mucus droplet that had resulted as a byproduct of the giant feline's sneeze. At that moment, it had become clear to everyone involved that there was nothing small about that droplet, as it seemed to have the height of a two-story house and the width of a family home of good size; with Zack himself submerged in it and only his head sticking out, right at the top.\n\n\"Hey mate, looks like you got yourself into a pretty dangerous situation here! Did you forget your emergency compass or what?\" asked one of the workers, who was now close enough for Zack to realize was a possum with purple fur varying between lighter and darker shades of the same purple. The other worker standing beside him resembled a dragon more—a wingless dragon, without wings but with a beautiful and long tail characteristic of individuals of his species. This same dragon was the first to notice that Zack didn't seem to be just another member of the mining team. \"I've never seen this guy before; I think he's just another traveler or outsider.\" Said the dragon, whispering low and close to his possum companion's ear. Both nano-micros now considered whether it was worth trying to help the small bird stuck there, given the immense work required to free him and the team of men they would have to mobilize to get him out.\n\nBut just when the two uniformed nano-micros were about to give up, turn their backs, and continue walking as if they had never stumbled upon an outsider they had never seen and whom probably no one would miss, Zack insisted. \"Hey! No! Wait! I can help you! Tell me, which dome do you come from?\" The bird alchemist asked, trying not to sound too desperate or anxious, but letting his fear show in his tone of voice.\n\nThe two other micros, in turn, looked at each other; the question of whether Zack was an outsider or not had just been answered. It was then that the dragon looked up and said, \"We're from the eastern dome! We're miners!\" At that moment, the small bird's mind paused to wonder: eastern dome? They could only be referring to the piercings on Lawrence's nipples. Lawrence had a bar in each nipple, and at the end of each bar a circular piercing that must be the dome the two micro miners were referring to. So, when they said eastern dome, it was safe to assume they inhabited the piercing on the titanic feline's right nipple, assuming Lawrence's face was north and his paws south. And it was also safe to assume that on the monolithic feline's left piercing there was equally another dome on his other nipple piercing.\n\n\"If you take me there, I can help!\" The bird insisted, only to elicit small nervous laughs mixed with sarcasm from the two micro miners, with the possum being the first to promptly respond. \"Dude, accept it! You messed up big time! It's a miracle you're still alive and not crushed under all that mass. Great feat on your part, but no one's getting you out of there, sorry. It's just too much work; we're already overloaded collecting hairs and have few men available.\" And just when the two micros were turning their backs and ready to start walking and leave poor Zack behind, the young bird thought quickly and said, \"Listen! I can help! I can... I... I'm an alchemist! Look, I have a formula that can dissolve this pile of nasal mucus in mere seconds!\" At that instant, the two miners stopped, exchanged glances again, and then turned to look back at the monumental pile of mucus where the small bird was trapped at the top before speaking. \"Okay, you have our attention, but you'd better not be trying to fool us.\"\n\nAnd so, Zack explained clearly and calmly how the two micros could, by following a simple combination of elements, compose a very effective potion that would quickly dissolve not only that pile of mucus he was stuck in but could also be easily used to dissolve oiliness, excess dead skin cells, and all other kinds of things that might hinder their activities as miners of resources along those two vast and enormous plains also known as Lawrence's pair of pectorals. And luckily for Zack, the formula didn't require very rare or hard-to-find ingredients, and it didn't take long for the two small nano miners to return with some crates and with the help of a few more men, to be able to gather all the workforce needed to produce and spread the potion that very quickly dissolved the pile of mucus before everyone's eyes, even after it had hardened considerably, as quickly as the bird alchemist had promised it would. And obviously, Zack also promised them that if they really freed him, he could join their community and use his alchemist skills to help increase their gains, facilitating their life as miners and collectors across the vast expanses of Lawrence's body.\n\nThe days passed, and Zack adapted very well to his new life. The tiny bird didn't take long to rent a small space inside the dome in the piercing on the giant lion's left nipple to establish what would exceptionally become a new alchemy shop. Zack almost never left the dome once he arrived there; his days of trying to move across the giant and monumental body of the feline who had once been his friend were behind him. Essentially, Zack had come to terms with his new life, living just as another nano-micro amid his best friend's body—or rather, ex-best friend. He could still remember his last long journey outside the dome in Lawrence's nipple piercing, which was on the day those two miners rescued him from the deep ravine that was the space between the two enormous pectorals of the titanic feline. The journey they had to make just to cover the distance from the sweaty and oily cavity right in the middle of Lawrence's two pectorals, up to his left nipple and passing through the entire immense and muscular expanse of his chest, took days. Zack could still remember the danger it posed, as any minor movement of the titanic feline's arms caused the pectoral muscles to naturally contract or flex subtly, but still enough to cause seismic shocks in the submundo of the nano-micros inhabiting his body.\n\nBut today specifically was a special day, as a new resource-gathering company had proposed a new use for Zack's potions: collecting dry hairs or dead skin and oiliness from the confines of the pectoral cavity of the titanic feline's body was one thing, an arduous and rewarding job. But the real prize lay in exploring a completely different part of the god-like feline's body. The proposal was bold: to conduct an expedition toward collecting from the armpit of the giant feline. Yes, everything the nano-micros could collect from Lawrence's pectoral existed in infinitely greater abundance amid the valley of death, also known as his left armpit. There were days when the giant male feline was superheated, probably exercising, running, or doing any kind of physical effort that resulted in his body naturally increasing temperature and thus the amount of sweat and oils produced. A single such day could yield enough to sustain the micro city for months, but the risks were immense, and few expeditions returned alive from the armpit of the divine feline.\n\nThe nickname \"valley of death\" didn't have much to do solely with the strong musk scent produced by a male feline; in fact, the smell would be the last of the elements an expedition of nano-micros would have to worry about when venturing into the valley of death. Beyond that, there was the excessive heat; but above all, the risk of drowning, as the armpit regions were notoriously known for being a site of abundant sweat production, and such abundance of sweat, from a microscopic micro's point of view, translated into rivers of hot, salty, and viscous liquid! Rivers that could originate from nothing, almost instantaneously like a flash flood, all with a simple and mere subconscious command from the feline god's body to cool down his divine and powerful body. The act of Lawrence's body trying to cool itself and lower its temperature occasionally resulted in the drowning of numerous expeditions in the past. All this without considering those who were brutally crushed and ground by the giant lion with the simple act of closing his arms, or running, or moving his limbs more intensely for any reason.\n\nBut amid all this, Zack was prepared to make history once again. With a simple combination of potions—one that should give those who drank it the ability to oxygenate their body even in conditions where they couldn't breathe because they were completely submerged in liquid, and another that should increase their resistance to heat, essential for surviving temperatures close to 40 degrees Celsius amid a young and active male feline's armpits—and last but not least, a potion that should increase the range of the return compass. Thus, those micro explorers caught by surprise in some valley formed by the pores in the lion's armpit or even two monumental skin folds in his armpit region could easily, by activating the return compass, be teleported back to the dome, back to their origin portal.\n\nThe big day had arrived; all preparations had been made, and Zack was preparing to try to make history once more. This would be his first time outside the dome and in direct contact with his ex-friend's body again since he had been almost accidentally inhaled, ingested, and digested by that titanic feline's body. Armed with their potions and mining and collecting instruments, the expedition waited until nightfall, when the colossal giant would be asleep and thus his body moving less, to finally enter the territory known as the valley of death.\n\nHowever, it was a shame that amid all the necessary preparations for such an expedition, it hadn't been taken into account that they were in the midst of summer. Hot nights, and even hotter days, caused their god's body to sweat infinitely more, and his armpits were no exception. The strong feline musk produced by a male lion permeated the entire atmosphere, a dense fog with such a strong, salty scent that it became impossible to see anything a few meters ahead even using the lanterns. But through sheer persistence, the micro expedition persisted and moved forward, alert to the slightest sound of a large quantity of liquid in motion, as that could mark the prelude to a water trumpet—or rather, a trumpet of pure sweat; the result of a single monumental drop of salty sweat that Lawrence's body produced and which for the small nano-micros would be nothing less than the equivalent of an entire river forming from the deepest pores in his body.\n\nSoon the small explorers learned that the environment in another man's armpits was cruel, hot, and oppressive, with an odor that, despite the best efforts of Zack's potions, was nothing short of unbearable. And even with the giant lion stopped and sleeping in his deep sleep, his body still moved, and worse, sweat production continued. It was in one of those moments of tension in full darkness, surrounded by a very dense fog of male feline armpit odors, that one of the micro sentries shouted, \"WATER TRUMPET!\" The despair was total; in seconds, everyone could hear the sound of what seemed like an immense column of water—in reality, sweat—moving at high speed toward the group. All the group members separated, each running in a different direction, and Zack was no different. One by one, the tiny bird could see his partners' lanterns extinguish as they were engulfed by the implacable force that was just a single drop of Lawrence's sweat following its path through the hot, moist, and strongly scented confines of his armpit. Zack was no exception, ending up being carried and dragged along with the force of the salty and oily liquid; the small bird didn't have a chance to activate his return compass but held on firmly to it, knowing that was his only means of salvation from being lost forever amid the hot, giant, and sweaty skin folds of the feline colossal who had once been his friend.\n\nAs the sweat drop dissipated, Zack was left behind, lodged in a valley he knew very well to be just two colossal wrinkled skin folds somewhere in the middle of the lower section of his left armpit. The amount of oiliness and body hairs existing here was impressive and worth gold, if only Zack had any chance of extracting a little of that material to take back. But all he had been able to hold while struggling not to drown amid that torrent formed by a single monumental sweat drop was his return compass. Without any other equipment, trying to cut or move hairs in a giant's armpit that could easily compare to buildings in size would be impossible. It was madness. And so, the minuscule bird alchemist had nothing else to do but activate his return compass, unless he wanted to stay there and admire the grotesque and monumental landscape of his ex-friend's armpit and also enjoy the powerful natural scent of that region of his body—which wasn't very pleasant, to say the least. And then without hesitating, Zack activated his compass, but to his surprise, the effect that followed was nowhere near what the nanoscopic bird expected.\n\nA vortex of energy much stronger and much more intense than Zack expected formed, and then something that seemed familiar to him appeared. Instead of seeing the runes of the portal that should drag him back to the minuscule city in the confines of the dome in the piercing on the giant lion's nipple piercing, Zack observed runes that resembled much more the ancient portal—the same portal he had conjured on the day he had shrunk and ended up in this completely surreal submundo, but to which he had already grown accustomed to living in. A spark of hope arose in his being? Could it be possible, for whatever reason, that he might now be teleported back to the initial point where he had been, back to the world of giants where he had originally inhabited? But before the tiny bird could have any confirmation, a jolt of pure energy from the side of the portal vortex hit him full in the face, causing poor Zack to fall unconscious on the wrinkled, oily, and sweaty floor of Lawrence's armpit, only for his unconscious body to be dragged into the vortex moments later and the bird alchemist to be teleported exactly back to where he had come from. Back to the wooden floor in the storage of his potion shop where all this had begun, months ago.\n\nLawrence, in turn, woke up, feeling a burning sensation in his left armpit that led him to scratch the region with his gigantic and monumental claw, ending up exterminating the lives of any of the other expedition members who had the misfortune of losing their compasses or not having had enough time to teleport back to the safety of the dome inside the piercing on that same lion's nipple. However, right afterward, the twunk lion heard a loud sound coming directly from the potion shop's storage. Lawrence had decided to spend that night sleeping in Zack's ex-potion shop since early in the morning a team would arrive at the location to help him load some crates containing valuable Himalayan crystals to sell far away in another province. The young merchant, fearing that someone might be trying to invade the storage and steal the precious goods that Zack had left behind and which the lion himself was already taking advantage of, Lawrence jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs with the intent of trying to catch the thieves in the act; only to come face to face with his disappeared friend, half-discarded amid the dirty and dusty wooden floor of the shop's storage.\n\n\"Zack!?\" Lawrence soon said, dropping the wooden club he carried with him and immediately kneeling beside the bird who seemed to have come out of a cave. His clothes were completely torn and reduced to mere rags, soaked with some oily liquid whose smell was absurdly strong; the feline soon realized the bird was covered, literally immersed in the aroma of his own... body? That was absolutely bizarre, but Lawrence decided not to think about it now, as all that passed through his mind was ensuring that his best friend, missing for several months, didn't end up fainting completely right before his eyes. Which unfortunately didn't end up being possible, as Zack didn't even manage to respond anything before collapsing into a deep sleep in the arms of that same lion whose body he had spent the last months surviving, exploring, and walking across.\n\nThe next day, Zack opened his eyes for the first time since returning to the world of giants, though his head ached too much, and no matter how much the young bird and alchemist strained, he had no memory of the events of the last months. All Zack remembered was preparing to conduct his first test on his new long-distance portal when something happened, and now he woke up here in his bed, in the room attached to his shop, with his best friend telling him that he hadn't simply been in a coma or unconscious for several days, but that he had literally disappeared for the last eight months. The news hit like a bomb in Zack's mind; Lawrence, in turn, was the one who least had any notion of the adventures the young bird had lived fully in his own body over the last months. In time, Zack recovered and came to the conclusion that his calculations were fundamentally wrong in not taking into account the effects of time dilation when performing jumps over long distances and ended up giving up on such an initiative entirely.\n\nIt never crossed the young alchemist's mind that he had been so close, so close to his best friend all that time, and so close to achieving success all that time. If he had just better considered the effects of size scales when performing jumps over such monumental distances—because after all, even a person's body can become an immense and imposing continent if your size scale is misadjusted.\n\nThe end.\n",
"writing_bbcode_parsed": "Portals and Magic
Chapter Two
(Story commission)
Zack barely had time to admire the grandeur and vastness of his best friend's facial features, as just moments after finally reaching the god-like feline's face—after spending days climbing and traversing the body of a lion that stretched across dozens of kilometers—Zack was caught off guard by a simple sigh from Lawrence. The muscular lion, whose attention was entirely elsewhere, far from the minuscule and nanoscopic world that the tiny bird alchemist now inhabited, had merely felt a small, almost insignificant discomfort inside one of his colossal nostrils. This action, which wasn't even Zack's fault—since his nanoscopic body could never trigger any reaction in the organism of a god like Lawrence—would lead to glorious consequences for the minuscule bird.
Immediately, Zack lost his balance and slipped over the edge of the giant lion's moist snout curvature, falling and passing right in front of one of Lawrence's monumental nostril openings, precisely at the moment when the muscular lion was inhaling air for what, to Lawrence, was a brief sigh, but to Zack felt like being caught in the midst of a powerful hurricane. The tiny alchemist was inhaled with extreme brutality into the depths of the left nostril of the giant lion's snout, spinning uncontrollably as the air around him was dragged inward under immense pressure. Zack was less than a minuscule dust particle compared to that giant feline's body; that was exactly how his best friend's body would treat him—with total indifference and disdain. As he spun wildly, Zack could see the pinkish cartilage walls of the nostril interior extending around him, dominating more and more of his world! At certain moments, he could even glimpse the nostril opening, like the entrance to a colossal cave leading to the outside world and the source of his only light, and with each passing second, that opening and its light grew more distant; just as his hopes of surviving a simple inhalation from his best friend—a mere sigh from that divine feline being—were slowly fading and diminishing as the light from the world outside Lawrence's body receded further.
However, as the tiny bird distanced himself from the feline's nostril entrance, his heart beat faster, not only because he was being carried by an overwhelming air current that he knew was the bare minimum effort his best friend's body could make—something as simple as inhaling air—but because he knew he was moving at hundreds of kilometers per hour, and any collision with the internal nostril structures at that speed could be fatal. Worse still, Zack was an alchemist; he had a good understanding of anthropomorphic beings' physiology, and he was certain that if he were lucky enough to escape the horrible fate of being splattered against a single nasal hair in the depths of the giant feline's nostril, he would surely end up landing on Lawrence's hot, moist, and slippery tongue surface, very close to the abyss that was nothing less than the entrance to his throat.
With all this in mind, Zack also knew that given his current nanoscopic and insignificant size, each of the taste buds that surely dominated the entire kilometer-long expanse of the titanic feline's tongue would seem like large and vast structures from his point of view; his hopes were minimal. Even if he survived the nasal hairs and wasn't crushed by the impact against one of the immense and enormous taste buds on the tongue surface, he wouldn't have the slightest chance of navigating an entire labyrinth of taste buds the size of small hills to reach the lips of that monolithic feline and possibly escape from inside his mouth. It would be easier to accept his fate and walk in the opposite direction, toward the dark and somber depths that would lead him straight to the feline god's esophagus; where he would be easily swallowed alive by Lawrence, very likely without the giant lion merchant even feeling or noticing anything at all. Gosh! Zack knew that since his current size was so insignificant, he could easily spend the entire day rubbing his body against a small section of one of the innumerable taste buds on that feline's tongue, and still Lawrence wouldn't notice anything, not even a single faint note of his body's flavor. Let alone passing through his gigantic esophagus; even the small opening for air passage, called the glottis, even if completely closed, would still be wide and giant enough to allow the minuscule Zack to pass through without even touching its pure muscle walls, much less causing any kind of irritation or anomalous sensation in the giant lion's daily life.
But luck smiled on the nano-micro alchemist, as he ended up not traversing his feline friend's nasal canal as he feared, nor colliding with one of his nasal hairs. Zack ended up plunging straight into a river of pure nasal mucus—a river that was actually a very thin string connecting one gigantic nasal hair to another, right at the edges of the titanic feline's nasal passage. Zack was now so distant and deep in his best friend's left nostril that he could barely see the light from the outside world. If the small bird had been carried a little further into his friend's snout, he very likely would have ended up on his tongue and subsequently in his throat. But now his fate seemed to be becoming just a small addition to the nasal mucus that naturally forms inside the nostrils of every anthropomorphic feline's snout—of every anthropomorphic being, to be more precise. Zack, feeling now like merely a small dust particle—in fact, the nano-micro bird could even look around and confirm that there were indeed dust particles beside him, equally trapped and stuck in the depths of his giant friend's nostril mucus—and to worsen his sense of self-worth, those particles were even larger than Zack himself, and yet even these "giant" particles posed no threat or discomfort to the most ordinary functions of that giant feline's body and organism. Zack was nothing; his feline friend's body never tired of proving that to him, day after day.
However, the nanoscopic bird's stay in the titanic lion's nostril depths would be short, as while all this was happening in the confines of his body, Lawrence walked into the storage of his friend Zack's potion shop, and as the muscular feline headed toward a less ventilated section of the storage, where dust naturally accumulated, his snout began to inhale an increasing quantity of particles. Zack, in turn, had the opportunity to witness all this from a front-row perspective. The tiny bird had to deal, even if for a short time, with the powerful and yet mere act of breathing by the colossal titanic feline. The forest of nasal hairs around him was brutally shaken and slightly displaced by the air flow that sometimes moved toward the interior of the titanic feline's airways and sometimes toward the outside world, heading toward the only light source Zack could see in the distance. Every time Lawrence inhaled, the air rushing around the micro bird's body was fresh and slightly moist, but whenever the lion exhaled, the air was hot, saturated with aromas that could only come directly from the feline's throat, and carrying colossal amounts of humidity as well. But all that changed as Zack noticed the quantity of particles, debris, and all kinds of dust joining and accumulating around him. At one point, it even seemed like the amount of dust accumulating near the monolithic feline's nostrils would threaten to block Lawrence's nasal passages; but in reality, they were far from that. Much before that could even happen, a mere irritation caused by the loss of efficiency in humidifying the air during inhalation would provoke a subconscious response from the divine and all-glorious giant feline. Something known as sneezing.
The excess dust in the air made the multi-kilometer feline seem to stop walking through the dark and dusty corridors of the bird's shop storage just to let out an audible sneeze. Something simple, casual. Lawrence, in turn, right after sneezing, simply moved the back of one of his fists to his black snout to give it a light scratch before continuing with his routine and resuming his walk. The lion was completely unaware of the fact that that mere act of sneezing had saved his best friend from a possibly much crueler fate: being accidentally inhaled completely and ending up swallowed by the giant lion. Instead, Zack could only watch in total disbelief as the cartilage and muscle walls around him flexed, and the nostril opening in which he was deeply embedded opened in such a way that it seemed to even double in diameter. All this moments before the poor nanoscopic bird felt an air pressure rushing at immense pressure in a way he had never felt before in his entire life, not even in the worst storms. If Zack had already thought that the mere and simple act of being accidentally inhaled by Lawrence earlier was something extraordinary and a monumental demonstration of power, he had no idea of the power and force that a body of a giant being like his best friend could now exert over the fate of minuscule particles like him with a simple innocent act of sneezing. It was simply a cataclysm of pressure and forces so strong that Zack should thank his powerful god named Lawrence for simply not being disintegrated on the spot. But luckily, his tiny body was enveloped in a viscous layer of nasal mucus and propelled out of the immense nostril at a terminal velocity of hundreds of kilometers per hour, only to impact right in the middle of the imposing valley that was merely the dividing space between the two pectorals of his best friend's body.
The impact was so phenomenal and with such force that it caused a good part of the viscous, hot, and gelatinous substance enveloping the minuscule bird to dissipate on the spot. A small part of it even underwent sublimation, passing from solid to gaseous state immediately, such was the force and power of that god-like feline's body in merely performing a sneeze. But still, Zack found himself partially trapped and embedded in a minuscule and completely imperceptible mucus particle for any normal-sized person like Lawrence. The feline himself didn't even feel or notice anything coming out of his nostrils; the droplets carrying his best friend out of his nostrils were simply microscopic to him and anyone on his scale. From Lawrence's point of view, this wasn't even his strongest or most powerful sneeze; it was just a short, dry sneeze caused by the excess dust in the air.
For Zack, however, the same situation had completely different unfoldings. Trapped and almost entirely submissive in a microscopic droplet in the middle of the valley between his best friend's two powerful and mountainous pectorals, the tiny bird had only managed to stick his head out of the viscous droplet in such a way that it allowed him to breathe. But given the density of the feline's nasal mucus, Zack had little hope of freeing himself without help. Luckily, it was at that instant that the tiny bird spotted in the distance what seemed to be two figures, nano-micros like him, walking through the massive valley that was the central cavity amid Lawrence's pectoral. At first, the micro bird himself didn't believe what his eyes were showing him; the small alchemist even considered that perhaps the force of the impact—though that same mucus now preventing him from moving had protected his body from being literally vaporized by the powerful impact—had scrambled his brain, and he might now be hallucinating. But as the two figures drew closer, Zack began to notice more and more details about them.
The two nano-micros were anthros like him, dressed in identical clothes, which soon became clear to the bird was some kind of uniform. As the two approached, more details became apparent to the small alchemist to the point where Zack could perceive that the uniforms of said micros resembled miners' outfits—or something relatively similar. They wore heavy overalls, helmets, and carried some kind of handheld lantern, but which obviously served some other purpose besides lighting their path, as said lanterns projected light but didn't illuminate much. Being the alchemist he was, it didn't take long for Zack to notice they were enchanted objects, probably some kind of mana-powered directional compass.
"Hey! You two! Here! I need help!" The tiny bird shouted in the direction of the approaching figures as soon as his mind convinced him he wasn't hallucinating and that they were real individuals. And as soon as they heard the avian's cries for help, both figures approached more quickly, moving with greater haste until the two individuals positioned themselves right in front of the "minuscule" mucus droplet that had resulted as a byproduct of the giant feline's sneeze. At that moment, it had become clear to everyone involved that there was nothing small about that droplet, as it seemed to have the height of a two-story house and the width of a family home of good size; with Zack himself submerged in it and only his head sticking out, right at the top.
"Hey mate, looks like you got yourself into a pretty dangerous situation here! Did you forget your emergency compass or what?" asked one of the workers, who was now close enough for Zack to realize was a possum with purple fur varying between lighter and darker shades of the same purple. The other worker standing beside him resembled a dragon more—a wingless dragon, without wings but with a beautiful and long tail characteristic of individuals of his species. This same dragon was the first to notice that Zack didn't seem to be just another member of the mining team. "I've never seen this guy before; I think he's just another traveler or outsider." Said the dragon, whispering low and close to his possum companion's ear. Both nano-micros now considered whether it was worth trying to help the small bird stuck there, given the immense work required to free him and the team of men they would have to mobilize to get him out.
But just when the two uniformed nano-micros were about to give up, turn their backs, and continue walking as if they had never stumbled upon an outsider they had never seen and whom probably no one would miss, Zack insisted. "Hey! No! Wait! I can help you! Tell me, which dome do you come from?" The bird alchemist asked, trying not to sound too desperate or anxious, but letting his fear show in his tone of voice.
The two other micros, in turn, looked at each other; the question of whether Zack was an outsider or not had just been answered. It was then that the dragon looked up and said, "We're from the eastern dome! We're miners!" At that moment, the small bird's mind paused to wonder: eastern dome? They could only be referring to the piercings on Lawrence's nipples. Lawrence had a bar in each nipple, and at the end of each bar a circular piercing that must be the dome the two micro miners were referring to. So, when they said eastern dome, it was safe to assume they inhabited the piercing on the titanic feline's right nipple, assuming Lawrence's face was north and his paws south. And it was also safe to assume that on the monolithic feline's left piercing there was equally another dome on his other nipple piercing.
"If you take me there, I can help!" The bird insisted, only to elicit small nervous laughs mixed with sarcasm from the two micro miners, with the possum being the first to promptly respond. "Dude, accept it! You messed up big time! It's a miracle you're still alive and not crushed under all that mass. Great feat on your part, but no one's getting you out of there, sorry. It's just too much work; we're already overloaded collecting hairs and have few men available." And just when the two micros were turning their backs and ready to start walking and leave poor Zack behind, the young bird thought quickly and said, "Listen! I can help! I can... I... I'm an alchemist! Look, I have a formula that can dissolve this pile of nasal mucus in mere seconds!" At that instant, the two miners stopped, exchanged glances again, and then turned to look back at the monumental pile of mucus where the small bird was trapped at the top before speaking. "Okay, you have our attention, but you'd better not be trying to fool us."
And so, Zack explained clearly and calmly how the two micros could, by following a simple combination of elements, compose a very effective potion that would quickly dissolve not only that pile of mucus he was stuck in but could also be easily used to dissolve oiliness, excess dead skin cells, and all other kinds of things that might hinder their activities as miners of resources along those two vast and enormous plains also known as Lawrence's pair of pectorals. And luckily for Zack, the formula didn't require very rare or hard-to-find ingredients, and it didn't take long for the two small nano miners to return with some crates and with the help of a few more men, to be able to gather all the workforce needed to produce and spread the potion that very quickly dissolved the pile of mucus before everyone's eyes, even after it had hardened considerably, as quickly as the bird alchemist had promised it would. And obviously, Zack also promised them that if they really freed him, he could join their community and use his alchemist skills to help increase their gains, facilitating their life as miners and collectors across the vast expanses of Lawrence's body.
The days passed, and Zack adapted very well to his new life. The tiny bird didn't take long to rent a small space inside the dome in the piercing on the giant lion's left nipple to establish what would exceptionally become a new alchemy shop. Zack almost never left the dome once he arrived there; his days of trying to move across the giant and monumental body of the feline who had once been his friend were behind him. Essentially, Zack had come to terms with his new life, living just as another nano-micro amid his best friend's body—or rather, ex-best friend. He could still remember his last long journey outside the dome in Lawrence's nipple piercing, which was on the day those two miners rescued him from the deep ravine that was the space between the two enormous pectorals of the titanic feline. The journey they had to make just to cover the distance from the sweaty and oily cavity right in the middle of Lawrence's two pectorals, up to his left nipple and passing through the entire immense and muscular expanse of his chest, took days. Zack could still remember the danger it posed, as any minor movement of the titanic feline's arms caused the pectoral muscles to naturally contract or flex subtly, but still enough to cause seismic shocks in the submundo of the nano-micros inhabiting his body.
But today specifically was a special day, as a new resource-gathering company had proposed a new use for Zack's potions: collecting dry hairs or dead skin and oiliness from the confines of the pectoral cavity of the titanic feline's body was one thing, an arduous and rewarding job. But the real prize lay in exploring a completely different part of the god-like feline's body. The proposal was bold: to conduct an expedition toward collecting from the armpit of the giant feline. Yes, everything the nano-micros could collect from Lawrence's pectoral existed in infinitely greater abundance amid the valley of death, also known as his left armpit. There were days when the giant male feline was superheated, probably exercising, running, or doing any kind of physical effort that resulted in his body naturally increasing temperature and thus the amount of sweat and oils produced. A single such day could yield enough to sustain the micro city for months, but the risks were immense, and few expeditions returned alive from the armpit of the divine feline.
The nickname "valley of death" didn't have much to do solely with the strong musk scent produced by a male feline; in fact, the smell would be the last of the elements an expedition of nano-micros would have to worry about when venturing into the valley of death. Beyond that, there was the excessive heat; but above all, the risk of drowning, as the armpit regions were notoriously known for being a site of abundant sweat production, and such abundance of sweat, from a microscopic micro's point of view, translated into rivers of hot, salty, and viscous liquid! Rivers that could originate from nothing, almost instantaneously like a flash flood, all with a simple and mere subconscious command from the feline god's body to cool down his divine and powerful body. The act of Lawrence's body trying to cool itself and lower its temperature occasionally resulted in the drowning of numerous expeditions in the past. All this without considering those who were brutally crushed and ground by the giant lion with the simple act of closing his arms, or running, or moving his limbs more intensely for any reason.
But amid all this, Zack was prepared to make history once again. With a simple combination of potions—one that should give those who drank it the ability to oxygenate their body even in conditions where they couldn't breathe because they were completely submerged in liquid, and another that should increase their resistance to heat, essential for surviving temperatures close to 40 degrees Celsius amid a young and active male feline's armpits—and last but not least, a potion that should increase the range of the return compass. Thus, those micro explorers caught by surprise in some valley formed by the pores in the lion's armpit or even two monumental skin folds in his armpit region could easily, by activating the return compass, be teleported back to the dome, back to their origin portal.
The big day had arrived; all preparations had been made, and Zack was preparing to try to make history once more. This would be his first time outside the dome and in direct contact with his ex-friend's body again since he had been almost accidentally inhaled, ingested, and digested by that titanic feline's body. Armed with their potions and mining and collecting instruments, the expedition waited until nightfall, when the colossal giant would be asleep and thus his body moving less, to finally enter the territory known as the valley of death.
However, it was a shame that amid all the necessary preparations for such an expedition, it hadn't been taken into account that they were in the midst of summer. Hot nights, and even hotter days, caused their god's body to sweat infinitely more, and his armpits were no exception. The strong feline musk produced by a male lion permeated the entire atmosphere, a dense fog with such a strong, salty scent that it became impossible to see anything a few meters ahead even using the lanterns. But through sheer persistence, the micro expedition persisted and moved forward, alert to the slightest sound of a large quantity of liquid in motion, as that could mark the prelude to a water trumpet—or rather, a trumpet of pure sweat; the result of a single monumental drop of salty sweat that Lawrence's body produced and which for the small nano-micros would be nothing less than the equivalent of an entire river forming from the deepest pores in his body.
Soon the small explorers learned that the environment in another man's armpits was cruel, hot, and oppressive, with an odor that, despite the best efforts of Zack's potions, was nothing short of unbearable. And even with the giant lion stopped and sleeping in his deep sleep, his body still moved, and worse, sweat production continued. It was in one of those moments of tension in full darkness, surrounded by a very dense fog of male feline armpit odors, that one of the micro sentries shouted, "WATER TRUMPET!" The despair was total; in seconds, everyone could hear the sound of what seemed like an immense column of water—in reality, sweat—moving at high speed toward the group. All the group members separated, each running in a different direction, and Zack was no different. One by one, the tiny bird could see his partners' lanterns extinguish as they were engulfed by the implacable force that was just a single drop of Lawrence's sweat following its path through the hot, moist, and strongly scented confines of his armpit. Zack was no exception, ending up being carried and dragged along with the force of the salty and oily liquid; the small bird didn't have a chance to activate his return compass but held on firmly to it, knowing that was his only means of salvation from being lost forever amid the hot, giant, and sweaty skin folds of the feline colossal who had once been his friend.
As the sweat drop dissipated, Zack was left behind, lodged in a valley he knew very well to be just two colossal wrinkled skin folds somewhere in the middle of the lower section of his left armpit. The amount of oiliness and body hairs existing here was impressive and worth gold, if only Zack had any chance of extracting a little of that material to take back. But all he had been able to hold while struggling not to drown amid that torrent formed by a single monumental sweat drop was his return compass. Without any other equipment, trying to cut or move hairs in a giant's armpit that could easily compare to buildings in size would be impossible. It was madness. And so, the minuscule bird alchemist had nothing else to do but activate his return compass, unless he wanted to stay there and admire the grotesque and monumental landscape of his ex-friend's armpit and also enjoy the powerful natural scent of that region of his body—which wasn't very pleasant, to say the least. And then without hesitating, Zack activated his compass, but to his surprise, the effect that followed was nowhere near what the nanoscopic bird expected.
A vortex of energy much stronger and much more intense than Zack expected formed, and then something that seemed familiar to him appeared. Instead of seeing the runes of the portal that should drag him back to the minuscule city in the confines of the dome in the piercing on the giant lion's nipple piercing, Zack observed runes that resembled much more the ancient portal—the same portal he had conjured on the day he had shrunk and ended up in this completely surreal submundo, but to which he had already grown accustomed to living in. A spark of hope arose in his being? Could it be possible, for whatever reason, that he might now be teleported back to the initial point where he had been, back to the world of giants where he had originally inhabited? But before the tiny bird could have any confirmation, a jolt of pure energy from the side of the portal vortex hit him full in the face, causing poor Zack to fall unconscious on the wrinkled, oily, and sweaty floor of Lawrence's armpit, only for his unconscious body to be dragged into the vortex moments later and the bird alchemist to be teleported exactly back to where he had come from. Back to the wooden floor in the storage of his potion shop where all this had begun, months ago.
Lawrence, in turn, woke up, feeling a burning sensation in his left armpit that led him to scratch the region with his gigantic and monumental claw, ending up exterminating the lives of any of the other expedition members who had the misfortune of losing their compasses or not having had enough time to teleport back to the safety of the dome inside the piercing on that same lion's nipple. However, right afterward, the twunk lion heard a loud sound coming directly from the potion shop's storage. Lawrence had decided to spend that night sleeping in Zack's ex-potion shop since early in the morning a team would arrive at the location to help him load some crates containing valuable Himalayan crystals to sell far away in another province. The young merchant, fearing that someone might be trying to invade the storage and steal the precious goods that Zack had left behind and which the lion himself was already taking advantage of, Lawrence jumped out of bed and ran down the stairs with the intent of trying to catch the thieves in the act; only to come face to face with his disappeared friend, half-discarded amid the dirty and dusty wooden floor of the shop's storage.
"Zack!?" Lawrence soon said, dropping the wooden club he carried with him and immediately kneeling beside the bird who seemed to have come out of a cave. His clothes were completely torn and reduced to mere rags, soaked with some oily liquid whose smell was absurdly strong; the feline soon realized the bird was covered, literally immersed in the aroma of his own... body? That was absolutely bizarre, but Lawrence decided not to think about it now, as all that passed through his mind was ensuring that his best friend, missing for several months, didn't end up fainting completely right before his eyes. Which unfortunately didn't end up being possible, as Zack didn't even manage to respond anything before collapsing into a deep sleep in the arms of that same lion whose body he had spent the last months surviving, exploring, and walking across.
The next day, Zack opened his eyes for the first time since returning to the world of giants, though his head ached too much, and no matter how much the young bird and alchemist strained, he had no memory of the events of the last months. All Zack remembered was preparing to conduct his first test on his new long-distance portal when something happened, and now he woke up here in his bed, in the room attached to his shop, with his best friend telling him that he hadn't simply been in a coma or unconscious for several days, but that he had literally disappeared for the last eight months. The news hit like a bomb in Zack's mind; Lawrence, in turn, was the one who least had any notion of the adventures the young bird had lived fully in his own body over the last months. In time, Zack recovered and came to the conclusion that his calculations were fundamentally wrong in not taking into account the effects of time dilation when performing jumps over long distances and ended up giving up on such an initiative entirely.
It never crossed the young alchemist's mind that he had been so close, so close to his best friend all that time, and so close to achieving success all that time. If he had just better considered the effects of size scales when performing jumps over such monumental distances—because after all, even a person's body can become an immense and imposing continent if your size scale is misadjusted.