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Description
Disclaimer: Long Story, bro, seriously. Don't ask me why but I feel like I should warn you if my stories are longer than usual.

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In a distant planet, lost in the vacuum of space, live an ancient civilization known as the Guardians. Very few explorers have been lucky enough to find the planet where the Guardians reside on, even fewer were able to find the temples of these guardians, and even fewer were able to venture into one of the temples and find the elusive Guardian that lives in it. This tale is about those specific few explorers.

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“Are you sure the planet is here, Daniel?” asked the female explorer, monitoring the screen, searching for scans of any nearby planets, “I’m not getting any readings from the scanner, there aren’t any planets for light-years.”

“Yes I’m sure,” responded Daniel, grabbing the book and showing her the chart inside, “all the clues points to this area, in this solar system, in this galaxy. The clues don’t lie, Mabel.” He reaffirmed.

Mabel rolled her eyes and turned back towards the screen. She had been staring at the screen forever and didn’t whether what her partner was saying was true or if it was just another crazy hunch of his. Daniel paced back in forth, studying the notes on his book and the map on his tablet. Something was wrong, the notes on the book specifically stated that the planet would be here, and according to the map, they should be right on top of it, but both the map and the monitor state that there exists no planet in the general area.

The intercom fizzled into life as the engineer spoke through, “Uh, guys, are we there yet? The ship is starting to run low on gas and the oxygen levels are starting to deplete. Basically we’ll be stuck in the middle of nowhere if we don’t turn back now to civilization.” Stated the engineer.

“Nope not yet Saul, Daniel here thinks we should be already there and thinks we should continue.” Mabel responded, glaring at Daniel.

“Well, we either find the planet soon or we turn back now. Doing nothing will just kill us.”

“Don’t worry Saul, we’re going to find that planet fast.” Reassured Daniel.

“How fast Daniel?” asked Mabel, crossing her arms, “How fast will we find that planet?”

“Faster than you can say, Guardians.” Replied Daniel, acting like an inspiring leader.

Mabel, sporting a bored look on her face, sighed, “Guard-” the ship suddenly shook violently, interrupting Mabel. “What was that?” she asked frightened.

“Mayday! Mayday! I’m losing control of the ship,” yelled the Captain through the intercom.

“Feels like we’ve been caught in a gravitational pull!” yelled Daniel, hanging on the desk.

“Of which planet?” yelled Mabel back angrily, grabbing onto her chair, which began rolling around the room.

After several seconds of frantic panic, the ship finally stabilized. The two explorers were motionless, trembling in place, unsure if it was really all over. Suddenly a large dot appeared on the scanner and the map was updated with the change. Daniel and Mabel were confused by this new information.

“Is it...” began Daniel, but before he could finish the intercom lit up again.

“Guys, you... umm, you guys better get up here quick, there’s something you should see.” The captain announced. The two looked at each other, puzzled, and looked at their respective screen.

At the captain’s deck Daniel, Mabel and Saul entered to find a breath-taking view. Both of the crew and the captain watched, mouth open and speechless. Before them, landscapes was unveiling itself as the ship passed over the mountain range. Mountain and plains were appearing out of thin air, rivers were flowing from an empty space, and the clouds were materializing out of nowhere. This was truly a miraculous spectacle to witness.

“The planet,” began Daniel, “It was invisible!” He began to laugh happily, glad that he found living proof to his countless years of research.

“So I guess that’s what it meant by ‘It’ll be obscured from a distance, only to reveal itself up close.’” Commented Mabel, placing her hands on her hips, pleased with this outstanding revelation. “Huh, I thought that clue was for how to find the temple.”

“Yeah... Damn, I messed that part up,” Daniel replied, chuckling at his own foolishness.

“Doesn’t matter, we found the planet and the readings say there’s some oxygen in this atmosphere. Saul, head to the engine room and prep the tanks to siphon the oxygen off the air.” The Captain ordered. Saul turned and rushed to the engine room to start the process. “Daniel, what should our next move be?”

“We should find one of the temples fast, I don’t think we have enough fuel or supplies to stay a few hours.” Daniel enplaned to the Captain, scanning the area for any temple like structures.

“Alright,” responded the Captain, continuing his route over the mountain range. After several minutes of searching, the ship reached a large flats plain that spread out for miles. Upon closer in section, Mabel found a strange reading coming from a small mound in the center of the flats plain.

“There! The scans are picking up some strange formations underneath that hill, where the odd readings are coming from.” Daniel stated, pointing at the small mound on the plain. As the ship landed before the mound, the perceived size of the mound changed drastically. Previously thought to be a slight rise off ground, the mound was actually a large hill with its center rising higher than the ship, with a large opening at the foot of the hill.

Mabel and Daniel got off the ship, prepped for exploring the mysterious temple within the hill. Daniel wore his cap and held onto his tablet, which scans his surroundings and provides a route towards his destination. Mabel pulled her red hair up in a ponytail and had on her infinity backpack. The bag materializes any item requested but nothing too big for the bag, which makes it great for small expeditions but not for anything that requires large items.

“Alright, I’ve scanned the insides of the hill and the source of the strange readings is coming from the center room, that’s where we’re headed.” Daniel explained, tapping into his tablet and reading the results, “Did you prep the infinity bag?”

“Yup, it’s registered to give translators, guns and jellybeans.” Mabel responded.

“Jellybeans? What are the jellybeans for?” Daniel asked.

Mabel reached in, grabbed a jellybean and popped it in her mouth, “To start a fire,” She responded with sass.

“Right... Come on, we must hurry, we have only two hours to get in and get out. We can’t have any distractions.”

“Two hours? Hurry? Daniel, you gotta calm down.” Mabel responded, grabbing the tablet from his hands, “Look, the center of the temple is merely several meters away. We’ll be there in a minute tops.”

“Meters?” He asked, snatching the tablet back.

“Feet sounds too short.”

After the short conversation, the two explorers made their way into the underground temple. The structure of the area seemed very rugged and rough, like it has been abandoned for centuries. What used to be beautiful, well-kept and shimmering was now decayed, rumbled and stained. The structure still held itself up but the overall image was drastically different from what one would expect from a Guardian’s temple. The temple is mostly composed of several small, square rooms, with one leading right into another one. They’ve venture into various rooms before entering into one vastly different room. The two were amazed by the beauty this room had retained, despite its run-down look and decayed columns, the room still retained a sense of wonder and glory. It was a large circular room with a large tomb-like structure at the opposite end of the room. With caution, Daniel and Mabel crossed the room, making their way to the tomb, Mabel pulling out a pistol just in case. Daniel approached the tomb and began scanning it.

“Hmm, there’s a strange power emitting from the tomb.” Daniel hypothesized, “But it’s not like the readings we picked up outside. Those are coming from the center of the room, underneath the crest.” He said, pointing to the circular crest in the center of the room.

“So what now?” asked Mabel, looking around the empty room.

“I don’t know,” replied Daniel, resting a hand on the tomb, “Maybe we can-” Suddenly he was cut off by a rumbling coming from within the tomb. Upon contact with Daniel’s hand, the tomb lit to life and open up, revealing a strange being from within. The being, presumed to be the Guardian by the explorers, was feminine, her features seemed to have been carved. Her attire looked like some ancient armour that mostly covered her arms legs and upper torso. This particular Guardian didn’t seem prepped for any serious battle but mostly to act as a defender if anyone tried to invade her temple. She sported a strange headgear, it seemed almost pharaoh like, but it didn’t resembled any crowns Daniel has found in his research of Guardians. Her features were calm, simple, though she didn’t seem disturbed at the moment. Daniel open his mouth, about to talk, before the Guardian’s eyes open rapidly, her gaze shifting frantically around her, on the two explorers and on the mysterious, decayed surroundings. She pulled herself out of the tomb, looking around curiously. She was clearly taller than the too explorers, but not by much. She moved slowly, taking the whole scenario in, approaching it with caution.

Mabel was the first to speak, “Hello,” she began, startling the Guardian, as if she hadn’t seen her there, “We’re explorers who have travelled many light-years to find you.” She explained slowly, making sure the Guardian understood. “What is your name?”

Guardian opened her mouth to speak but a terrible shrieking shot out of her mouth. Daniel and Mabel covered their ears as they squirmed in pain.

“Give it a translator! Give it a God Damn translator!!” Daniel began shouting frantically. Mabel quickly reached into her bag and pulled out a collar. In one swift motion, she quickly strapped the translating collar onto the Guardian’s neck, the shrieking finally stopped.

“What is this? What did you put on me?” the Guardian began, her voice much softer than the horrible screeching she spoke originally. Her eyes widened upon hearing the strange language she now spoke, “My voice! What did you do to my voice!?!?” she asked worried, grabbing onto her collar.

“No, no! Don’t take it off!” Yelled Daniel immediately, “It’s the only way we can communicate with you.”

“Oh...” she replied, letting go, calming down. She observed her two visitors, “Who are you two?”

I’m Mabel!” she chimed excitedly, happy to have a conversation with an ancient being.

“And I’m Daniel,” he added with a huge grin, trying to contain his composure.

“Oh, it’s a pleasure to meet you both.” The Guardian responded, “You two must be humans, I’ve seen so much of your impressive work, I’m very pleased with all your progress. It saddens me every time I look ahead and see how close you all are to your extinction.”

“Wait, what?”

“So what’s your name?” asked Mabel, having not completely paid attention to her speech.

“Well, I go by the name of SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!”

“Oh god dammit, not again!” yelled Daniel, covering his ears, Mabel doing so as well.

“But in your earth world, it would translate to Elizabeth.”

“Oh well...” Mabel chuckled, ignoring the ringing in her ears, “It’s very nice to meet you.” The Guardian smiled in return. “This calls for a celebration jellybean!” She reached into her bag and grabbed a jellybean and quickly popped it in her mouth.

“Jellybean?” asked Elizabeth, watching eat one the colourful, delicious beans.

“Oh yeah, it’s like a waterfall of flavour in your mouth, wanna try one?” Mabel asked, offering a bean to the Guardian. She picked the bean carefully and brought up to her mouth. She chewed it slowly, felling the gooey bean spill its juices into her mouth, filling her up with flavour. Her eyes light up with wonder as she swallowed the amazing treat.

“That was amazing, it makes me feel so alive!” She cheered, licking her lips. Suddenly, her torso began to glow brightly.

“Whoa! What’s happening?” asked Mabel.

“I think we should step back,” warned Daniel, watching as the radar on his tablet started reading signals that were going off the charts. As they back away, the crest behind split in two, opening up. The two explorers stopped in their trial, between the large, gaping hole on the ground and the glowing Guardian before them, they were unsure what to do. A low humming began to sound as a large white orb ascended from the hole, glowing brightly as it filled the room with white light.

“Huh...” Daniel observed the orb, scanning it for any abnormalities.

“Psst!” the Guardian called Mabel, “You got any more of those... jellybeans?”

“Why of course!” Mabel reached in and gave another bean, “Here you go.” She replied with a smile.

The Guardian looked at her bean disappointedly, “That’s it? Come on!” She reached in and grabbed a handful of the jellybean and began to scarf them down rapidly.

“Whoa, hungry girl.” Mabel commented upon seeing the Guardian eat all those jellybeans. She glanced over to her partner, watching his scan and make notes of the large glowing orb. “Hey, Liz, what is that-hey!” she looked over to the Guardian, to find her elbow deep into the bag.

“Sorry,” she apologized, taking out a large handful of jellybeans, “I just couldn’t resist, you know?” she chuckled nervously, gobbling up more of the colourful treats, “So what were you going to ask me?”

“What is that orb all about?”

“Oh, that is supposed to be some sort of energy container that is linked to me somehow. I don’t know what it’s supposed to do.” She replied between mouthfuls of jellybeans.

“Huh, I should notify Daniel of this.” Said Mabel as she headed towards him, only to be pulled back by the Guardian. “What?”

“Leave the bag, I still crave jellybeans!” she cried out ravenous, clutching the bag.

“Alright fine,” Mabel complied, she dropped the bag, “Though I think you should hold back a bit, you’re starting to grow a potbelly,” Mabel commented with a slight chuckled, pointing to the noticeable swell from the Guardian’s glowing torso.

“Oh, yeah,” the Guardian chuckled as well, giving her bloated belly a pat, “I’ll just have a couple of more handfuls and I’m done, promise.”

Mabel smiled, shaking her head at such an absurd attitude coming from an ancient civilization. She approached Daniel and tapped him on the shoulder, “Hey, according to Elizabeth, this orb is connected to her in some mysterious way. Thought you should know.”

“Huh,” responded Daniel, well if that’s so, then it must not be in size. Cause this orb has been slowly, bit by bit, for a few minutes.” The orb began to noticeably grow larger, the humming amplifying in volume. “See? It’s growing again. So unless our Guardian friend has too been growing, I highly doubt they have anything in common besides glowing white.”

“Uhhh...” Mabel watched as the orb continued its steady growth, thinking about the small bloated gut the Guardian had a while back and prayed that she hadn’t eaten any more jellybeans since then. She slowly turned her head towards the Guarding, hoping hard that she had found some self-control. But alas, as Mabel settled her gaze on the Guardian, her heart sank to see that this wasn’t the case. “Oh crap.” She cursed.

“What?” Daniel asked, following Mabel’s gaze to see what she’s looking at, “Oh...”

The Guardian had been hard at work searching for the end of the jellybean rainbow, sticking her hand into the bag and taking out handfuls upon handfuls of the colourful jellybeans and shoving them into her mouth, chewing the treats, tasting the delicious flavours that ooze out. She was in complete ecstasy and wanted to fill herself up with as much jellybeans as possible, and by looks of it, she has been. What started as a flat stomach and then grew into a slight bump, had blown up into a large belly, stuffed with hundreds of the delicious jellybeans that keep spewing out of the bag. With each handful the Guardian gobbles up, the belly swells out a little, and every time the belly grew, the orb increased in size as well.

“That can’t be good,” said Daniel, watching the Guardian continuing her ravenous feasting.

“Daniel! Daniel, come in!” the Captain called over the earpiece.

“I’m here, what is it?”

“What going on in there?” the Captain asked, sounds of loud beeping heard in the background, “The reading are going haywire!”

“Nothing, we found the Guardian and an orb that seems to be connected to her.” He glanced over to the Guardian, “Umm, Mabel, stop her from eating, please. What do you think could cause them to go haywire?”

“I think it might have something to do with the temple growing”

“Come again?”

“The temple is growing, it broke out of the ground and started to expand.”

“What? Hold on,” he pulled the map up and was shocked by the updated map, “Oh crap!”

Meanwhile Mabel was trying to pull the bag away from the Guardian’s strong grip, who was still eating mouthfuls of the colourful treats. Daniel walked over to them to find them in this situation. “She won’t let go! I told her to stop a million times, but she just won’t!”

“She won’t give me a reason to stop!” the Guardian responded with a mouthful of jellybeans, her belly having grown nearly a foot more.

“Well I have a reason, if you don’t stop eating, this temple will keep growing and we won’t get out!”

“Wait, what? The temple is growing?” Mabel asked, shocked at the news.

“Yeah, apparently, the more this Guardian eats, the more the orb grows, and the more the orb grows, the bigger the temple gets. It’s generating more room, making the path back outside much longer. We either leave now or we’ll never get off this planet. So let’s get going.”

“Why do I have to come?” asked the Guardian, pleased with her place alongside the endless stream of jellybeans.

Mabel thought a bit and responded, “Because: 1) you’ll be here all alone, bored, and 2) Where we’re going, there are better tasting jellybeans!”

“Better than these?” asked the Guardian surprised, taking in another handful of jellybeans.

“Yup, so STOP EATING THESE so that we can to our ship faster, deal?”

“Fine...” she pulled her hand out, “Deal.” She got up, though with some difficulty as her large gut anchored her down. Her gut hanged a bit as the weight of the accumulated took its toll. The Guardian proceeded to give it a rub, observing her new shape.

“Good, let’s go.” The trio made their way through the newly created rooms, Daniel leading the way as he followed the directions his tablet gave him. Every so often, the map would start updating, giving Daniel a new route, which served as a tell-tale sign that the Guardian had her hand in the bag. After the map updated 5 times, it became apparent that the Guardian was too sneaky of a thief and Daniel had enough.

“Alright Mabel, clearly you aren’t paying enough attention!” Daniel yelled.

“Well it’s hard to be looking behind and look ahead, I’ll either hit a wall or let Liz eat all the jellybeans she wants. And it’s not my, she’s the one who can’t be trusted!”

“I can be trust worthy,” the Guardian protested, insult by Mabel’s remark.

“Really? Because I don’t think we can trust you to NOT eat the jellybeans! I mean look at you! You’ve grown nearly twice your size since we left the center room!” Mabel pointed out, poking the Guardian’s gut hard, feeling the little it gave. The Guardian looked down at her belly, she was right, with each big handful she had eaten, her gut had grown exponentially, sounds of churning liquid and groans had begun emitting from within her gut. She was starting to walk slower as her belly grew in size and weight. “I bet you can’t even go one minute without eating another jellybean.”

“I have self-control, I can go 2 minutes even.” The Guardian boasted.

“I’d like to see that,” Mabel responded.

“Hey, how we see it on our way to the ship, come on. Mabel, you use the tablet, I’ll walk between you too.” Daniel gave the tablet and the trio continued their route, with Daniel standing in the way between the Guardian and the jellybeans.

The Guardian stared at the infinity bag, longing to taste more of those heavenly. Each second that passed was agonizing, one ended but other wouldn’t begin, it seemed like time was slowing down. They hadn’t even exited the room yet, are they taking their time? Are they messing with her? Each step seemed to linger longer than the last, the bouncing hairs on Mabel’s ponytail seemed to hang in the air, and the falling rubble are stopping in their path, hanging in the air. Nothing is moving, time seemed to have stopped, and yet, the Guardian can feel it, her patience, it’s whittling. Despite time having stopped she’s still waiting for the minute to end so she can prove to the bossy Mabel that she does have self-control. But how can she? Time has stopped, she’s forever stuck on this second, unable to prove to Mabel she does have self-control, never to eat another jellybean again. Stuck here... forever. Never to eat... another......... jellybean..................................

The trio haven’t even taken three steps before the Guardian suddenly roared in a rage, ready to pounce on Mabel. Daniel turned quickly, only to receive a swift arm swing across the face, sending him hurdling to the wall, smashing into it and falling to the before, having the wall collapse into the ground. The Guardian then grabbed Mabel, removing the bag from her back and tossing her over to her partner. The Guardian then raised the Infinity Bag over her head and let the rain of jellybeans fall into her open mouth. She cackled in between mouthfuls of jellybeans as she celebrate her victorious attempt to acquire the bag of infinite jellybeans. As the jellybeans fell, they accumulated in the Guardian’s belly, causing to balloon outwards into grand dimensions, truly testing the Guardian’s limit in consumption and she showed no signs of slowing down. Mabel tried to shake her partner awake, seeing the horrors of gluttony before her. All around her, the room began to crumble as the temple tried to acquire more materials to keep generating more rooms to match the orb’s size. Walls began to thin and pillars began to fall as the structure of the temple started to weaken. The Guardian was ignorant of the destruction around, all she wanted was to gobble up the jellybeans for eternity.

“Daniel, wake up! We gotta go!” Mabel shouted, shaking her partner, “Come on, you gotta wake now!” After several failed attempts, Mabel glanced over to the Guardian, her gut now growing large, resting on the ground as it continued its growing path, and noticed something odd occurring to her gut. Before it shined brightly, acting as a beacon for the team to traverse the dark room (Something that had forgotten and gotten used), but not if began to flicker, the gut was losing its glow. Mabel guessed this meant that the Guardian had reached her limit and now was testing how far she can go from there, and Mabel wasn’t going to stand around and find out.

She propped her partner up on her shoulder began making her way out following the tablet. As she went her path, stopped and leaned on a wall, finding it had gave away easily and crumbled away. “The walls... they’re thinning...” with this, she calculated where the outside is and began kicking walls down, making her way to the outside.

The Guardian, unknown of her belly’s critical condition, let her mouth fill up with jellybeans before setting the bag down, hanging her head back and closing her eyes, now she was truly satisfied. Her gut was enormous, a true monument to her insatiable hunger, her legs were spread wide to allow her gut to expand out as much as it wanted, unaware of the flickering light disappearing, exposing her gut to deal with large of contents within it. The unsurmountable amount of jellybeans in her gut churned and gurgle as it tried to find more room to place the rest. She gave her gut a congratulatory pat as she swallowed the rest of the jellybeans. As the mound of beans shoved its way into the overstuffed gut, the Guardians felt something terribly wrong with her gut. A horrible build up, her gut was growing too big, her form couldn’t handle it anymore. A deep horrible rumble was heard growing from within her, it became deafening as the pressure was too much for the overstuffed Guardian. Then another noise rang through.

Mabel had finally kicked down the final wall, she was outside, holding her passed out explorer over her shoulder. The ship flew by to pick them and Saul attended to Daniel’s injuries. The Captain and Mabel stoop at the captain’s deck, watching as the Temple continued to grow, the walls crumbling as the structure becomes too unstable to maintain itself. Before the structure could completely collapse, the orb within the center room detonated, blowing up the entire temple sky high, sending shockwaves across the ship. As everything settled, Mabel and the Captain looked at the crater where the temple once was.

“So... what happened in there?” asked the Captain.

“I introduced the Guardian to jellybeans... didn’t end well.” Mabel confessed.

“No one is going to believe us if we tell them this story, right?”

“Right.”

“Great, another successful expedition.”

“Why does this keep happening us?”

Description
Disclaimer: Long Story, bro, seriously. Don't ask me why but I feel like I should warn you if my stories are longer than usual.

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In a distant planet, lost in the vacuum of space, live an ancient civilization known as the Guardians. Very few explorers have been lucky enough to find the planet where the Guardians reside on, even fewer were able to find the temples of these guardians, and even fewer were able to venture into one of the temples and find the elusive Guardian that lives in it. This tale is about those specific few explorers.

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“Are you sure the planet is here, Daniel?” asked the female explorer, monitoring the screen, searching for scans of any nearby planets, “I’m not getting any readings from the scanner, there aren’t any planets for light-years.”

“Yes I’m sure,” responded Daniel, grabbing the book and showing her the chart inside, “all the clues points to this area, in this solar system, in this galaxy. The clues don’t lie, Mabel.” He reaffirmed.

Mabel rolled her eyes and turned back towards the screen. She had been staring at the screen forever and didn’t whether what her partner was saying was true or if it was just another crazy hunch of his. Daniel paced back in forth, studying the notes on his book and the map on his tablet. Something was wrong, the notes on the book specifically stated that the planet would be here, and according to the map, they should be right on top of it, but both the map and the monitor state that there exists no planet in the general area.

The intercom fizzled into life as the engineer spoke through, “Uh, guys, are we there yet? The ship is starting to run low on gas and the oxygen levels are starting to deplete. Basically we’ll be stuck in the middle of nowhere if we don’t turn back now to civilization.” Stated the engineer.

“Nope not yet Saul, Daniel here thinks we should be already there and thinks we should continue.” Mabel responded, glaring at Daniel.

“Well, we either find the planet soon or we turn back now. Doing nothing will just kill us.”

“Don’t worry Saul, we’re going to find that planet fast.” Reassured Daniel.

“How fast Daniel?” asked Mabel, crossing her arms, “How fast will we find that planet?”

“Faster than you can say, Guardians.” Replied Daniel, acting like an inspiring leader.

Mabel, sporting a bored look on her face, sighed, “Guard-” the ship suddenly shook violently, interrupting Mabel. “What was that?” she asked frightened.

“Mayday! Mayday! I’m losing control of the ship,” yelled the Captain through the intercom.

“Feels like we’ve been caught in a gravitational pull!” yelled Daniel, hanging on the desk.

“Of which planet?” yelled Mabel back angrily, grabbing onto her chair, which began rolling around the room.

After several seconds of frantic panic, the ship finally stabilized. The two explorers were motionless, trembling in place, unsure if it was really all over. Suddenly a large dot appeared on the scanner and the map was updated with the change. Daniel and Mabel were confused by this new information.

“Is it...” began Daniel, but before he could finish the intercom lit up again.

“Guys, you... umm, you guys better get up here quick, there’s something you should see.” The captain announced. The two looked at each other, puzzled, and looked at their respective screen.

At the captain’s deck Daniel, Mabel and Saul entered to find a breath-taking view. Both of the crew and the captain watched, mouth open and speechless. Before them, landscapes was unveiling itself as the ship passed over the mountain range. Mountain and plains were appearing out of thin air, rivers were flowing from an empty space, and the clouds were materializing out of nowhere. This was truly a miraculous spectacle to witness.

“The planet,” began Daniel, “It was invisible!” He began to laugh happily, glad that he found living proof to his countless years of research.

“So I guess that’s what it meant by ‘It’ll be obscured from a distance, only to reveal itself up close.’” Commented Mabel, placing her hands on her hips, pleased with this outstanding revelation. “Huh, I thought that clue was for how to find the temple.”

“Yeah... Damn, I messed that part up,” Daniel replied, chuckling at his own foolishness.

“Doesn’t matter, we found the planet and the readings say there’s some oxygen in this atmosphere. Saul, head to the engine room and prep the tanks to siphon the oxygen off the air.” The Captain ordered. Saul turned and rushed to the engine room to start the process. “Daniel, what should our next move be?”

“We should find one of the temples fast, I don’t think we have enough fuel or supplies to stay a few hours.” Daniel enplaned to the Captain, scanning the area for any temple like structures.

“Alright,” responded the Captain, continuing his route over the mountain range. After several minutes of searching, the ship reached a large flats plain that spread out for miles. Upon closer in section, Mabel found a strange reading coming from a small mound in the center of the flats plain.

“There! The scans are picking up some strange formations underneath that hill, where the odd readings are coming from.” Daniel stated, pointing at the small mound on the plain. As the ship landed before the mound, the perceived size of the mound changed drastically. Previously thought to be a slight rise off ground, the mound was actually a large hill with its center rising higher than the ship, with a large opening at the foot of the hill.

Mabel and Daniel got off the ship, prepped for exploring the mysterious temple within the hill. Daniel wore his cap and held onto his tablet, which scans his surroundings and provides a route towards his destination. Mabel pulled her red hair up in a ponytail and had on her infinity backpack. The bag materializes any item requested but nothing too big for the bag, which makes it great for small expeditions but not for anything that requires large items.

“Alright, I’ve scanned the insides of the hill and the source of the strange readings is coming from the center room, that’s where we’re headed.” Daniel explained, tapping into his tablet and reading the results, “Did you prep the infinity bag?”

“Yup, it’s registered to give translators, guns and jellybeans.” Mabel responded.

“Jellybeans? What are the jellybeans for?” Daniel asked.

Mabel reached in, grabbed a jellybean and popped it in her mouth, “To start a fire,” She responded with sass.

“Right... Come on, we must hurry, we have only two hours to get in and get out. We can’t have any distractions.”

“Two hours? Hurry? Daniel, you gotta calm down.” Mabel responded, grabbing the tablet from his hands, “Look, the center of the temple is merely several meters away. We’ll be there in a minute tops.”

“Meters?” He asked, snatching the tablet back.

“Feet sounds too short.”

After the short conversation, the two explorers made their way into the underground temple. The structure of the area seemed very rugged and rough, like it has been abandoned for centuries. What used to be beautiful, well-kept and shimmering was now decayed, rumbled and stained. The structure still held itself up but the overall image was drastically different from what one would expect from a Guardian’s temple. The temple is mostly composed of several small, square rooms, with one leading right into another one. They’ve venture into various rooms before entering into one vastly different room. The two were amazed by the beauty this room had retained, despite its run-down look and decayed columns, the room still retained a sense of wonder and glory. It was a large circular room with a large tomb-like structure at the opposite end of the room. With caution, Daniel and Mabel crossed the room, making their way to the tomb, Mabel pulling out a pistol just in case. Daniel approached the tomb and began scanning it.

“Hmm, there’s a strange power emitting from the tomb.” Daniel hypothesized, “But it’s not like the readings we picked up outside. Those are coming from the center of the room, underneath the crest.” He said, pointing to the circular crest in the center of the room.

“So what now?” asked Mabel, looking around the empty room.

“I don’t know,” replied Daniel, resting a hand on the tomb, “Maybe we can-” Suddenly he was cut off by a rumbling coming from within the tomb. Upon contact with Daniel’s hand, the tomb lit to life and open up, revealing a strange being from within. The being, presumed to be the Guardian by the explorers, was feminine, her features seemed to have been carved. Her attire looked like some ancient armour that mostly covered her arms legs and upper torso. This particular Guardian didn’t seem prepped for any serious battle but mostly to act as a defender if anyone tried to invade her temple. She sported a strange headgear, it seemed almost pharaoh like, but it didn’t resembled any crowns Daniel has found in his research of Guardians. Her features were calm, simple, though she didn’t seem disturbed at the moment. Daniel open his mouth, about to talk, before the Guardian’s eyes open rapidly, her gaze shifting frantically around her, on the two explorers and on the mysterious, decayed surroundings. She pulled herself out of the tomb, looking around curiously. She was clearly taller than the too explorers, but not by much. She moved slowly, taking the whole scenario in, approaching it with caution.

Mabel was the first to speak, “Hello,” she began, startling the Guardian, as if she hadn’t seen her there, “We’re explorers who have travelled many light-years to find you.” She explained slowly, making sure the Guardian understood. “What is your name?”

Guardian opened her mouth to speak but a terrible shrieking shot out of her mouth. Daniel and Mabel covered their ears as they squirmed in pain.

“Give it a translator! Give it a God Damn translator!!” Daniel began shouting frantically. Mabel quickly reached into her bag and pulled out a collar. In one swift motion, she quickly strapped the translating collar onto the Guardian’s neck, the shrieking finally stopped.

“What is this? What did you put on me?” the Guardian began, her voice much softer than the horrible screeching she spoke originally. Her eyes widened upon hearing the strange language she now spoke, “My voice! What did you do to my voice!?!?” she asked worried, grabbing onto her collar.

“No, no! Don’t take it off!” Yelled Daniel immediately, “It’s the only way we can communicate with you.”

“Oh...” she replied, letting go, calming down. She observed her two visitors, “Who are you two?”

I’m Mabel!” she chimed excitedly, happy to have a conversation with an ancient being.

“And I’m Daniel,” he added with a huge grin, trying to contain his composure.

“Oh, it’s a pleasure to meet you both.” The Guardian responded, “You two must be humans, I’ve seen so much of your impressive work, I’m very pleased with all your progress. It saddens me every time I look ahead and see how close you all are to your extinction.”

“Wait, what?”

“So what’s your name?” asked Mabel, having not completely paid attention to her speech.

“Well, I go by the name of SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!”

“Oh god dammit, not again!” yelled Daniel, covering his ears, Mabel doing so as well.

“But in your earth world, it would translate to Elizabeth.”

“Oh well...” Mabel chuckled, ignoring the ringing in her ears, “It’s very nice to meet you.” The Guardian smiled in return. “This calls for a celebration jellybean!” She reached into her bag and grabbed a jellybean and quickly popped it in her mouth.

“Jellybean?” asked Elizabeth, watching eat one the colourful, delicious beans.

“Oh yeah, it’s like a waterfall of flavour in your mouth, wanna try one?” Mabel asked, offering a bean to the Guardian. She picked the bean carefully and brought up to her mouth. She chewed it slowly, felling the gooey bean spill its juices into her mouth, filling her up with flavour. Her eyes light up with wonder as she swallowed the amazing treat.

“That was amazing, it makes me feel so alive!” She cheered, licking her lips. Suddenly, her torso began to glow brightly.

“Whoa! What’s happening?” asked Mabel.

“I think we should step back,” warned Daniel, watching as the radar on his tablet started reading signals that were going off the charts. As they back away, the crest behind split in two, opening up. The two explorers stopped in their trial, between the large, gaping hole on the ground and the glowing Guardian before them, they were unsure what to do. A low humming began to sound as a large white orb ascended from the hole, glowing brightly as it filled the room with white light.

“Huh...” Daniel observed the orb, scanning it for any abnormalities.

“Psst!” the Guardian called Mabel, “You got any more of those... jellybeans?”

“Why of course!” Mabel reached in and gave another bean, “Here you go.” She replied with a smile.

The Guardian looked at her bean disappointedly, “That’s it? Come on!” She reached in and grabbed a handful of the jellybean and began to scarf them down rapidly.

“Whoa, hungry girl.” Mabel commented upon seeing the Guardian eat all those jellybeans. She glanced over to her partner, watching his scan and make notes of the large glowing orb. “Hey, Liz, what is that-hey!” she looked over to the Guardian, to find her elbow deep into the bag.

“Sorry,” she apologized, taking out a large handful of jellybeans, “I just couldn’t resist, you know?” she chuckled nervously, gobbling up more of the colourful treats, “So what were you going to ask me?”

“What is that orb all about?”

“Oh, that is supposed to be some sort of energy container that is linked to me somehow. I don’t know what it’s supposed to do.” She replied between mouthfuls of jellybeans.

“Huh, I should notify Daniel of this.” Said Mabel as she headed towards him, only to be pulled back by the Guardian. “What?”

“Leave the bag, I still crave jellybeans!” she cried out ravenous, clutching the bag.

“Alright fine,” Mabel complied, she dropped the bag, “Though I think you should hold back a bit, you’re starting to grow a potbelly,” Mabel commented with a slight chuckled, pointing to the noticeable swell from the Guardian’s glowing torso.

“Oh, yeah,” the Guardian chuckled as well, giving her bloated belly a pat, “I’ll just have a couple of more handfuls and I’m done, promise.”

Mabel smiled, shaking her head at such an absurd attitude coming from an ancient civilization. She approached Daniel and tapped him on the shoulder, “Hey, according to Elizabeth, this orb is connected to her in some mysterious way. Thought you should know.”

“Huh,” responded Daniel, well if that’s so, then it must not be in size. Cause this orb has been slowly, bit by bit, for a few minutes.” The orb began to noticeably grow larger, the humming amplifying in volume. “See? It’s growing again. So unless our Guardian friend has too been growing, I highly doubt they have anything in common besides glowing white.”

“Uhhh...” Mabel watched as the orb continued its steady growth, thinking about the small bloated gut the Guardian had a while back and prayed that she hadn’t eaten any more jellybeans since then. She slowly turned her head towards the Guarding, hoping hard that she had found some self-control. But alas, as Mabel settled her gaze on the Guardian, her heart sank to see that this wasn’t the case. “Oh crap.” She cursed.

“What?” Daniel asked, following Mabel’s gaze to see what she’s looking at, “Oh...”

The Guardian had been hard at work searching for the end of the jellybean rainbow, sticking her hand into the bag and taking out handfuls upon handfuls of the colourful jellybeans and shoving them into her mouth, chewing the treats, tasting the delicious flavours that ooze out. She was in complete ecstasy and wanted to fill herself up with as much jellybeans as possible, and by looks of it, she has been. What started as a flat stomach and then grew into a slight bump, had blown up into a large belly, stuffed with hundreds of the delicious jellybeans that keep spewing out of the bag. With each handful the Guardian gobbles up, the belly swells out a little, and every time the belly grew, the orb increased in size as well.

“That can’t be good,” said Daniel, watching the Guardian continuing her ravenous feasting.

“Daniel! Daniel, come in!” the Captain called over the earpiece.

“I’m here, what is it?”

“What going on in there?” the Captain asked, sounds of loud beeping heard in the background, “The reading are going haywire!”

“Nothing, we found the Guardian and an orb that seems to be connected to her.” He glanced over to the Guardian, “Umm, Mabel, stop her from eating, please. What do you think could cause them to go haywire?”

“I think it might have something to do with the temple growing”

“Come again?”

“The temple is growing, it broke out of the ground and started to expand.”

“What? Hold on,” he pulled the map up and was shocked by the updated map, “Oh crap!”

Meanwhile Mabel was trying to pull the bag away from the Guardian’s strong grip, who was still eating mouthfuls of the colourful treats. Daniel walked over to them to find them in this situation. “She won’t let go! I told her to stop a million times, but she just won’t!”

“She won’t give me a reason to stop!” the Guardian responded with a mouthful of jellybeans, her belly having grown nearly a foot more.

“Well I have a reason, if you don’t stop eating, this temple will keep growing and we won’t get out!”

“Wait, what? The temple is growing?” Mabel asked, shocked at the news.

“Yeah, apparently, the more this Guardian eats, the more the orb grows, and the more the orb grows, the bigger the temple gets. It’s generating more room, making the path back outside much longer. We either leave now or we’ll never get off this planet. So let’s get going.”

“Why do I have to come?” asked the Guardian, pleased with her place alongside the endless stream of jellybeans.

Mabel thought a bit and responded, “Because: 1) you’ll be here all alone, bored, and 2) Where we’re going, there are better tasting jellybeans!”

“Better than these?” asked the Guardian surprised, taking in another handful of jellybeans.

“Yup, so STOP EATING THESE so that we can to our ship faster, deal?”

“Fine...” she pulled her hand out, “Deal.” She got up, though with some difficulty as her large gut anchored her down. Her gut hanged a bit as the weight of the accumulated took its toll. The Guardian proceeded to give it a rub, observing her new shape.

“Good, let’s go.” The trio made their way through the newly created rooms, Daniel leading the way as he followed the directions his tablet gave him. Every so often, the map would start updating, giving Daniel a new route, which served as a tell-tale sign that the Guardian had her hand in the bag. After the map updated 5 times, it became apparent that the Guardian was too sneaky of a thief and Daniel had enough.

“Alright Mabel, clearly you aren’t paying enough attention!” Daniel yelled.

“Well it’s hard to be looking behind and look ahead, I’ll either hit a wall or let Liz eat all the jellybeans she wants. And it’s not my, she’s the one who can’t be trusted!”

“I can be trust worthy,” the Guardian protested, insult by Mabel’s remark.

“Really? Because I don’t think we can trust you to NOT eat the jellybeans! I mean look at you! You’ve grown nearly twice your size since we left the center room!” Mabel pointed out, poking the Guardian’s gut hard, feeling the little it gave. The Guardian looked down at her belly, she was right, with each big handful she had eaten, her gut had grown exponentially, sounds of churning liquid and groans had begun emitting from within her gut. She was starting to walk slower as her belly grew in size and weight. “I bet you can’t even go one minute without eating another jellybean.”

“I have self-control, I can go 2 minutes even.” The Guardian boasted.

“I’d like to see that,” Mabel responded.

“Hey, how we see it on our way to the ship, come on. Mabel, you use the tablet, I’ll walk between you too.” Daniel gave the tablet and the trio continued their route, with Daniel standing in the way between the Guardian and the jellybeans.

The Guardian stared at the infinity bag, longing to taste more of those heavenly. Each second that passed was agonizing, one ended but other wouldn’t begin, it seemed like time was slowing down. They hadn’t even exited the room yet, are they taking their time? Are they messing with her? Each step seemed to linger longer than the last, the bouncing hairs on Mabel’s ponytail seemed to hang in the air, and the falling rubble are stopping in their path, hanging in the air. Nothing is moving, time seemed to have stopped, and yet, the Guardian can feel it, her patience, it’s whittling. Despite time having stopped she’s still waiting for the minute to end so she can prove to the bossy Mabel that she does have self-control. But how can she? Time has stopped, she’s forever stuck on this second, unable to prove to Mabel she does have self-control, never to eat another jellybean again. Stuck here... forever. Never to eat... another......... jellybean..................................

The trio haven’t even taken three steps before the Guardian suddenly roared in a rage, ready to pounce on Mabel. Daniel turned quickly, only to receive a swift arm swing across the face, sending him hurdling to the wall, smashing into it and falling to the before, having the wall collapse into the ground. The Guardian then grabbed Mabel, removing the bag from her back and tossing her over to her partner. The Guardian then raised the Infinity Bag over her head and let the rain of jellybeans fall into her open mouth. She cackled in between mouthfuls of jellybeans as she celebrate her victorious attempt to acquire the bag of infinite jellybeans. As the jellybeans fell, they accumulated in the Guardian’s belly, causing to balloon outwards into grand dimensions, truly testing the Guardian’s limit in consumption and she showed no signs of slowing down. Mabel tried to shake her partner awake, seeing the horrors of gluttony before her. All around her, the room began to crumble as the temple tried to acquire more materials to keep generating more rooms to match the orb’s size. Walls began to thin and pillars began to fall as the structure of the temple started to weaken. The Guardian was ignorant of the destruction around, all she wanted was to gobble up the jellybeans for eternity.

“Daniel, wake up! We gotta go!” Mabel shouted, shaking her partner, “Come on, you gotta wake now!” After several failed attempts, Mabel glanced over to the Guardian, her gut now growing large, resting on the ground as it continued its growing path, and noticed something odd occurring to her gut. Before it shined brightly, acting as a beacon for the team to traverse the dark room (Something that had forgotten and gotten used), but not if began to flicker, the gut was losing its glow. Mabel guessed this meant that the Guardian had reached her limit and now was testing how far she can go from there, and Mabel wasn’t going to stand around and find out.

She propped her partner up on her shoulder began making her way out following the tablet. As she went her path, stopped and leaned on a wall, finding it had gave away easily and crumbled away. “The walls... they’re thinning...” with this, she calculated where the outside is and began kicking walls down, making her way to the outside.

The Guardian, unknown of her belly’s critical condition, let her mouth fill up with jellybeans before setting the bag down, hanging her head back and closing her eyes, now she was truly satisfied. Her gut was enormous, a true monument to her insatiable hunger, her legs were spread wide to allow her gut to expand out as much as it wanted, unaware of the flickering light disappearing, exposing her gut to deal with large of contents within it. The unsurmountable amount of jellybeans in her gut churned and gurgle as it tried to find more room to place the rest. She gave her gut a congratulatory pat as she swallowed the rest of the jellybeans. As the mound of beans shoved its way into the overstuffed gut, the Guardians felt something terribly wrong with her gut. A horrible build up, her gut was growing too big, her form couldn’t handle it anymore. A deep horrible rumble was heard growing from within her, it became deafening as the pressure was too much for the overstuffed Guardian. Then another noise rang through.

Mabel had finally kicked down the final wall, she was outside, holding her passed out explorer over her shoulder. The ship flew by to pick them and Saul attended to Daniel’s injuries. The Captain and Mabel stoop at the captain’s deck, watching as the Temple continued to grow, the walls crumbling as the structure becomes too unstable to maintain itself. Before the structure could completely collapse, the orb within the center room detonated, blowing up the entire temple sky high, sending shockwaves across the ship. As everything settled, Mabel and the Captain looked at the crater where the temple once was.

“So... what happened in there?” asked the Captain.

“I introduced the Guardian to jellybeans... didn’t end well.” Mabel confessed.

“No one is going to believe us if we tell them this story, right?”

“Right.”

“Great, another successful expedition.”

“Why does this keep happening us?”