Pilgrimage (Patreon Commission for VDO)

TAGS: Growth/Macro Growth, Macro, Hyper/Macro Hyper, Goddess/Ascension

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She recalled a time when her methods were decried by her sisters as being “ineffectual at best, harmful at worst.” She recalled them looking down at her while they still could, and she recalled them looking up at her once the time came for her to grow out of her constraining bounds and head out into the world at large. She recalled the names she was called and the curses spat at her, as she recalled the many days spent trying not to recall them. But, in the end, she recalled moving past it, and growing to be a better person because of it.

Quite literally in her case as well, given the sort of body she had been blessed with. The Absol could only imagine what had gone through her sisters’ minds when she, of all people, had been chosen as the blessed vessel of their goddess, picked from all the available choices to carry the torch, as it were, to spread their message throughout the land. After centuries of the pilgrimage being undertaken by a certain type of person, for her to be the next one on the list led to a great many complaints and even more raised eyebrows; surely, the goddess couldn’t possibly have picked Sereen to be her representative.

Sereen was, if not the opposite of what the sisterhood fell for, then definitely on the fringes in just about every possible item on the checklist. Were it not for her technically abiding by the rules, she would’ve been decried as a heretic and sent packing years prior; indeed, her receiving the blessing was seen as a sign that the sisterhood had fallen off the wagon and needed to be put back on the proper track, as clearly the goddess was punishing them by giving the gift to the unworthy.

The Absol herself, however, saw it as little more than a logical continuation of what she’d already been doing. She wasn’t one for protocol or stuffy traditionalism; she’d joined the sisterhood in order to help people, and if she felt like something was getting in the way, be it orders, standard practices, or the very tenets upon which the order was founded, then these either had to be removed or readjusted to better serve others. This was, after all, the whole point of their sisterhood to begin with; if they weren’t helping the common folk, then what was even the point?

Granted, her methods weren’t the most orthodox, she had to admit to that; most people that came to the convent didn’t expect to be buried in so much Absol that they wouldn’t come out until hours later. Most people didn’t expect a spiritual journey of repentance to involve so much milk and femcum being gushed over them that it felt like a river literally washing their sins away… but, it worked, or at least Sereen figured it did, so that was all that really mattered.

She knew she was making a difference, hence why her sisters’ steadfast refusal to even begin to consider her approach as valid left her feeling miserable. She wasn’t angry; Sereen understood why the other Absols thought the way they did, but it became increasingly obvious to her that, if she wanted to get anything done, to effect any real change upon the world, she wouldn’t be able to do that from within the walls of the convent. Though it pained her, she had to leave, if for no other reason than because if she didn’t, she’d get kicked out anyway.

Still, she harbored no ill will towards her sisters. Better that she leave and make a point of proving her methods work than breed resentment by trying to fit a square peg into a round hole; besides the convent wasn’t built for people of her… girth, to put it mildly, so even from a base level of comfort, there was a good reason for her to spread her wings and fly into the wider world.

She soon found that her one mistake was not having done this sooner. For most of her life, Sereen had been hounded by her own size: being taller, wider, heavier, and curvier than most people around her at any given point, it was impossible for her to go by unnoticed, and with this came the unfortunate reality that was… well, people weren’t ready for someone like her, at least not back when she first joined the sisterhood all those years ago.

Sereen had expected things to change, of course, but not so much that, when she walked out of the convent dressed in the closest thing available to civilian plainclothes, absolutely no one batted an eye, or even looked at her twice. At first the Absol was convinced that it was purely due to her association with the sisterhood; they didn’t live in the middle of nowhere, and the closest town had likely seen her enough times, in between supply runs and outdoor chores, that they were accustomed to her presence.

But as she began her self-imposed pilgrimage, walking down the King’s Road towards the coast, the giantess couldn’t help but note that, wherever she went, people seemed perfectly fine with her being there. Or, to be more precise, they didn’t care about her; not in the malicious sense, where her presence was reviled and she could barely be considered tolerated, but in the sense that she was just… there. She was a person, just like any other, unworthy of a second glance in the humdrum monotony of daily life.

For Sereen, who had dreaded being in the limelight her entire life, this could not have been a greater gift. She relished in her obscurity, lavishing upon herself the greatest of gifts: being able to go from one place to another without arousing suspicion, almost as if she weren’t at least ten feet taller than everyone else and carrying a bust that could flatten most houses she couldn’t fit into. It felt like a dream, and one she refused to wake up from; it wouldn’t surprise her if, at some point in the future, she woke up back in her room in the convent, the world just as hostile to her as before.

In the time being, however, the Absol fully intended to make use of this newfound freedom, mostly by spreading the joy and love of the sisterhood wherever she left. Sereen wasn’t technically expelled from the order; rather, to avoid complicated issues with unearned excommunication, she had declared herself as being on a pilgrimage, relieving her of her position and obligations in the sisterhood so long as the journey was not yet complete.

Normally, these pilgrimages were relatively restricted in their scope: go to a certain holy place, accomplish a given task, or meet with someone of religious importance, then return to the convent to share the wealth of learning and go back to the usual day-to-day duties. For Sereen, however, a different approach was taken, as she chose instead to appoint a more abstract goal for herself: that of “learning the true meaning of the tenets”, and nothing else.

On its face, it was a ridiculous objective to set for oneself. One could study a thousand thousand lifetimes and never even come close to understanding the “true” meaning of anything; it was doubtful that the tenets had an objective true meaning, as opposed to being applicable to any who might wish to follow them. But, as far as Sereen cared, that was exactly the point: by assigning herself an impossible task, or at least a task that could never truly be completed without also breaking the tenet of humility, then she was allowed to roam free without technically being in violation of the sisterhood’s code of conduct.

Plus, there was the unexpected bonus of being more than welcome just about anywhere so long as she led in with being on a pilgrimage to begin with. Even if the world at large had slowly moved further and further away from outward devotion, leaning more into the private communion angle, her position as a member of the sisterhood was still respected enough to warrant being offered aid whenever requested: lodgings, food, even medical assistance for herself or others if she vouched for them, the Absol found that the kingdom and its citizens were all more than happy to help her.

Of course, it could be the case that her presence was causing all of it; ‘twas a distinct possibility, given that she had been handpicked by the goddess to serve as Her representative in the mortal realms. Much as no one back at the convent wanted to admit it, Sereen had grown much, much larger after her fiftieth birthday, representing the point in which their divine guide had blessed her with an infusion of power; while the Absol hadn’t been anything close to small before, she also hadn’t been the monstrously oversized giantess she became that day.

And by walking from place to place by spreading her influence by virtue of simply being somewhere, it became clear that there was something to her that couldn’t simply be explained by her being large. Even when people didn’t see her, they still knew she was there… and not from the constant splashing either, even if it was loud enough to be heard for a mile around. No, her juices were important for the mission, but it was her being that announced itself to those around her; it wouldn’t be the first time that she walked into a city or town, only to see banners bearing her name unfurled at the gates, ready to welcome her with undeserved pomp and circumstance.

Sereen wasn’t one to appreciate this too much; part and parcel of her upbringing had been to remind herself she was just like everyone else, undeserving of special attention. Even after being picked as the goddess’ favourite, she couldn’t, in good conscience, think of herself as deserving of even a fraction of all that attention. But, when she stepped through the colourful decorations and saw all the little ones around her, so happy as they welcomed her into their abode (or tried to, at least), she couldn’t help but feel… at home.

At home wherever she was, in fact, regardless of how far away she was from the monastery or her place of birth. She belonged to the world just as much as she belonged to her goddess, and the world, in return, served itself up as her home wherever she went. Granted, it did help that everyone was just so happy to have her around that it bordered on the comical at times, but the Absol wasn’t going to complain; just as long as those around her weren’t pushing her away, she considered it a win.

Of course, over time, her motivations began to… shift. There was only so much one could do through placid observation and passive participation; there would come a point when Sereen, by then having gone hundreds of miles since the start of her pilgrimage, woke up and began thinking about what she should be doing. Much as the journey itself was a sham, a construct propped up by convenience rather than a legitimate attempt at discovering more about herself and her faith, it felt wrong to just let it stay like that.

She was, ultimately, a chosen of her goddess, even if this didn’t necessarily affect her everyday life that much. She was still handpicked by a deity to serve as their representative in the mortal world, and even though the tenets allowed for a surprising amount of freedom in how they were interpreted, Sereen still had to do something to spread the good word. Her initial foray into the wider world had been her grace period, she came to understand, and now, when her conscience caught up with her, it was clear she had to start giving back to a realm that had been so generous towards her.

And, thankfully, it was quite easy for her to give back, as it were. While Sereen had no worldly possessions to her name, at least apart from her monastic robes and whatever food she carried on her person, she did have a bounty of… other things. The giantess didn’t usually have the opportunity to share, at least not in any way she felt was appropriate, but again, there came a point when she had to stop and ask herself why she wasn’t doing so.

Waking up every morning was a prolonged and involved ritual that involved a great deal of self-care and the use of specialised enchantments designed to keep her at something of a manageable size and level of flow. It wasn’t her fault that her body was as productive as it was, but it was her responsibility, especially when direct contact with whatever came out of her had some unpredictable and drastic effects on those who were unprepared for it.

There were two things to keep in mind whenever she woke up and crawled out of bed: her milk, and her femcum. Both of these were always present, and in very large quantities as well, owing to both her breasts and nethers being in a constant state of hyper-activation, in addition to being… quite large. While she could hide most of what was happening between her legs by virtue of wide-enough clothing and her thighs being colossal by themselves, Sereen couldn’t exactly keep her gargantuan bust away from sight; thus, she didn’t even try, preferring instead to try a natural approach, acting as if she wasn’t carrying her body weight in each breast wherever she went.

And of course others noticed; how could they not? Most were polite enough not to make mention of it, but it was obvious from the way they looked at her that they knew. Sereen didn’t mind, for the most part, since, just as long as those around her remained respectful of her and her boundaries, she didn’t care too much if they ogled her with lurid intent. The unfortunate problem was that her milk glands didn’t particularly care about whether or not her surroundings were “respectful”; they wouldn’t be, having been stoked by the goddess’ gift to such a degree that it became impossible to control them even at the best of times.

The same could be said of her lower lips, though at least there it was far more dependent on her level of arousal. Sereen could never quite stem the flow, but if she maintained some degree of composure, she could reduce it to a thin, manageable trickle rather than the absurd gushing torrent that it turned into whenever her mind wandered too much.

Both of these, however, still had to be managed in some way, lest she leave a trail of herself wherever she went. In practice, this meant resorting to enchantments and spells that were normally reserved to improve storage capacity in larders or barrels; it was slightly embarrassing, but still better than the alternative.

It was something of a touchy subject for Sereen, given what actually happened whenever anyone came into direct contact with her dairy or the gushing from between her legs. Embarrassing, even, to a certain extent, given that she didn’t like the idea of irrevocably changing someone’s entire nature just by virtue of being near them; yes, they had to be the ones to willingly partake of her emanations, but that still didn’t make it any better when doing so transformed people to such a wild extent that they became unrecognisable.

What was worse was that the Absol knew exactly what to expect as well: drinking from her breasts or welcoming her femcum always resulted in the lucky little one becoming not so little, as their height skyrocketed to better match the image of the goddess’ chosen. Soon after that came the extra assets: a plumper, fuller bust, a plushier rump, wider thighs, more motherly hips, really, just a small-scale copy of Sereen herself, if one wanted to be honest about it.

None reached the sheer size of the Absol giantess, but the proportions were there, as was the productivity inherent to such a physical form. While the little ones would fail to compare to the impossible flow coming from Sereen, they were still far gushier than they ever could be normally, along with some mild transformative effects as well; only the Absol could truly gift someone to such a point where said gift could then be spread, but the first generation could still easily sire a second, albeit smaller one in sequence.

And for the longest time, Sereen didn’t want this to happen. Yes, it was proof positive of her connection with divinity, so much so that she often had to deliberately stop herself from thinking about it, but did she have the right to spread it around as much as she did? Her gift was her gift, given to her by her goddess to keep and nurture; she wasn’t even close to the point where she felt she had the responsibility required to pass it on to others, knowing as she did what sort of effects it had.

It was hers to keep, not because it was a precious gemstone to never share, but because of how dangerous it could be in the wrong hands. Granted, none of the little ones she went through seemed capable of even a fraction of what she was, but that was hardly the point; what if, some time in the future, someone else subverted this power for their own personal gain? What if it was her fault that this happened, her fault that she was so careless with her powers that they ended up falling into the worst possible wielder?

Thus, she strove to instead help others in more mundane, but far safer ways. She wasn’t just a giantess with a productive-enough bust to drown out entire rivers; she might very well have lived in an isolated convent for quite a large chunk of her adult life, but that didn’t mean she was a useless monk with no life skills. She’d picked up a few things here and there, a handful of useful tricks that had helped her with more mundane tasks back home; while she couldn’t quite compare to proper professionals, she could still try to help regardless.

And besides, her size did aid her in these endeavours, even if not in the traditional sense. While she might not know the first thing about making a proper concrete mix, she did know how to lift a house and help it stay up in the air while the foundations were repaired; she knew how to hold back a landslide while a local mining team prepared a new access shaft, as did she knew how to sing songs and tell tales to delight the little ones’ little ones in the local festival.

Wherever she went, Sereen made sure to try and at least help one person in need. She ended up doing far more, but this was her absolute minimum: she refused to move on from wherever she was until at least one person’s life was made better by her passing through, as was her obligation as a devout follower of her goddess. Leave the world a better place going out than it was coming in, was her guiding principle, and indeed a core value that brought her far closer to her pilgrimage’s “goal” than the Absol could’ve ever imagined. Were it not for her not paying much attention to it, she would’ve realised a long time before she eventually did that the journey had taken on a far more earnest tone than it had begun with.

It was easy to just see it as “helping people”. It was easy for Sereen to go through every single day without truly thinking about what she was doing, relegating it to the back of her head as “just trying to be helpful”, or “doing my best to help”, or any number of other, similarly pointless rationalisations. It was easy for her to ignore what she was doing to those around her and the world at large, because everyone was happy, and if everyone was happy, then surely everything should be fine, no?

Things began to turn sometime around the first anniversary of her pilgrimage, when, after a long and arduous trek that occasionally involved some backtracking, the Absol finally found her way to the southern coast. Along the way, she had left a trail of… well, herself really: in between a massively increased average height and so many soft curves that it was hard to parse them all without succumbing to their allure, the realm that existed before Sereen left the convent no longer existed.

In its place, a better realm, a better nation, one where folk all around could focus on self-improvement and self-actualisation rather than wasting time with the monotonous humdrum of gathering food and planting crops and worrying about taxation and rent payments. In her wake, a liberated people, who were happy to simply live with one another (and on one another), with no true desires but the want to pursue further enlightenment through the spread of joy.

It was, in many regards, exactly what the tenets called for. As far as Sereen was concerned, the idea was not to simply blindly follow whatever the local charter had interpreted as the “correct” version of the scripture, but to focus on the core of the matter, the spirit of the words rather than the letter. The objective, the main goal, was to spread the happiness and spiritual fulfilment that came with being in communion with the goddess, and in so far as Sereen was concerned, she had accomplished just that.

Not just for herself either, but for all those she came into contact with. Rather than the traditional sermons, she chose to let her actions serve as her ministry, her presence guiding the flock down the proper path. Conflicts were eased, wars avoided, land grabs stalled, leaving behind a realm of peace and prosperity that could be truly, deeply appreciated by all who lived within its borders.

On the other hand, her presence had a much more direct effect on those she met, and for that, the Absol still hadn’t found a way to shield herself from the realisation of it. Her cheeks still blushed a bright red whenever her mind grazed those thoughts; having to remember the sight of all the little ones becoming not so little on exposure to her produce wasn’t something she did lightly, but alas, she had to do it on the regular, seeing as her own form hadn’t escaped from the pilgrimage unscathed.

Sereen didn’t know how she failed to notice it, but she, too, had grown as a person. Literally, in fact; while her size had always been something of a high point when it came to her presentation, the Absol that left the convent a year prior was not the Absol that reached the coastal city of Crenwall. Not by a long shot, as evidenced by the fact that she was seen arriving several miles before she reached the city limits.

Inch by inch, her size had packed upon itself until Sereen woke up one day and realised she wasn’t sleeping on a bed, but on a hill. A whole hill, and not even a small one either; it should’ve alerted her to the fact something was wrong when her first thought was on how cramped it felt, but alas, like a frog in a pot of boiling water, things progressed slowly enough that, by the time she was able to break through cloud layers, it had become… normal.

It was normal for her to take a step and just go over an entire village. Normal for her to be able to see for a dozen or so miles in every direction, while showering the ground below her in enough of her creamy milk and thick, gushing femcum that she ended up transforming whole swaths of the populace without realising it. Normal for her to do this and yet grow bigger still by the day; after a certain point, it just didn’t register anymore, not when she had more important things to take care of, like not falling over and accidentally flattening a good chunk of the local duchy.

And, much like herself, those underneath her were made to grow as well. If at first the Absol’s influence was only felt two generations down, with the first wave of transformed little ones siring a second one, this number only grew bigger with time: once she hit Crenwall, a single drop of her milk or juices was enough to grant someone the ability to sire a whole bloodline on their own, be it through conventional means or through sharing their own bounty. It wasn’t out of the ordinary to see people who were even bigger than Sereen herself was once she first left the convent; after all, with her having become a true titaness, the ratio of size remained constant.

But for the Absol, it became a point of contention, even if just for herself. Everyone else was more than happy to have her as she was; in fact, Sereen knew that if she even so much as suggested the possibility of maybe shrinking a little, the whole realm would rise up as one and remind her that they loved her for what she was, and she should never forget it. Alas, much like before, much like when her doubts first appeared, her role as the goddess’ representative once again came knocking on the door of her conscience, reminding Sereen that she had obligations.

This time, however, there would be no more doubts beyond the initial wave. She’d grown as a person both literally and not, and this meant her mind and self were both hardened against the endlessly nagging force of self-doubt that had stubbornly clung to her all that time. If beforehand the Absol would spend hours, days pointlessly worrying over whether or not she was worthy of her position, now? Now all she had to do was look down at herself to confirm that yes, yes she was.

Were she not, then the goddess would never have allowed her to grow nearly as much as she had. Had she transgressed upon her role’s obligations, she would’ve been shrunk back down to her original self, maybe even smaller still, as punishment for her sins. But she wasn’t; quite the contrary, as now the biggest issues came from her being so enormous that no one settlement could hope to contain even a fraction of her whole body.

To her, this could only mean the goddess, wherever she may be, was content with what she’d done, happy even that their most devout follower had truly understood the meaning of their words. Sereen couldn’t help but feel a slight twinge of pride when she thought about her sisters back at the convent, huddling behind stone walls, insisting upon outdated, rigid protocol that, in the end, only helped a miniscule percentage of the people who could use their aid. But she, she was out there in the greater world, spreading the warmth and love of the message to all who would hear… though, at that point, whether or not they liked it.

It wasn’t her fault that she was so tremendously colossal that she was impossible to miss. Or, it technically was, but not her “fault”; it wasn’t bad, per se, just a new form of normal, and one that most folk seemed perfectly content with adjusting to. Why wouldn’t they, when it gave them a brand new lease on life, to experience divinity firsthand rather than only knowing it at the end of who knew how many decades of toil and labor?

Some would say it was cheating, but Sereen didn’t care. If she was empowered to bring Heaven upon the land while others and herself lived, then clearly it was for a reason, and no one was going to take that away from her. If she was given the ability to spread her joy and endless, rapturous glee to all who wished to participate, then it would be a waste not to do so, especially when it cost her quite literally nothing.

She hadn’t slept in weeks. Hadn’t eaten or drunk anything for longer. Her existence was fueled by the love of her goddess, the love she felt for those below her, and the love of her little ones, all resonating within her as a nourishing warmth, an endless source of energy that Sereen could tap into whenever she needed a boost… or a reminder that this was all still actually happening.

There were days she tried to convince herself it was still a dream, days when the reality of it all sunk so much that it went past her ability to believe in it. There were days when the Absol, convinced she was still unworthy of such a position, did her best to trick herself into believing it was all a fake, that she wasn’t truly that massive, that the realm hadn’t been transformed into a mortal paradise because of her. But those days passed, and with them any doubt that yet remained within her mind, purifying her of all needless thoughts, honing her soul and very being so she may do even more good towards others.

For, in the end, this was what mattered most: to do good. To spread the joy and happiness that she herself felt every second of every day, to spread it as far and wide as she could, to all people who would take her and even further beyond. To let the true message of the goddess resonate within the hearts of any and all, until, at some point in the future, Sereen would come to after another fugue period and realise that, against all odds, she had done.

She had discovered the true meaning of the tenets.

But her pilgrimage was far from over.