FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

As you all know I am not connected to Bandai in any way yadda, yadda, yadda ok now that that's out of the way I would like to let you all know that this is the Halloween episode so there are plenty of monsters and lots of blood and a little yiff at least I hope you see it that way any way hope you enjoy it _______________________________________________________________

Chapter fifty two

The glittering water of the pool sat before me as I kneeled down by the spring creature that had lead us here,

"Chad what's the matter? Did something happen?" Kate asked as she walked up behind me.

"I guess you were right Kate the little thing 'was' just leading us to the spring" I said as I stared at the glittering pool, I looked back down at the creature and found it sitting on its haunches looking up at me so I reached out with my left hand and scratched it behind the ears making it coo and murr softly before I stopped.

I lifted my hand up and curled it into a fist then popped the thing in the head as I spoke, "But that doesn't mean that you can attack me again!" I said.

"Hey now don't be mean to the little guy! He was just showing us to the spring and if you hadn't tried to go off on your own then it wouldn't have attacked!" Kate said to me.

I pushed myself off the ground and stood up looking at the pool, "Regardless of the fact that I tried to get here on my own Kate I don't want it to happen again" I said "But I guess I can let it slide this time, however now that we've made it this far we still need to get the data into some kind of container then we need to get it back to the boat and the village before Serenity dies" I said.

"Well it just so happens that I do have a container for the data" Kate said which made me glance back at her over my shoulder. I found her reaching back around her waist for something before she pulled out a small bottle filled with water.

I turned around to look at her as I spoke, "Where did you get that?" I asked.

She blinked at me a couple of times before she answered, "From the boat, I found a small chest filled with them so I grabbed a couple of them before we got off," she said.

I gave a small sigh of relief as I walked over to her and pulled the bottle from her hand and unscrewed the top of it, "Well I guess I can't complain about it now so thanks Kate" I said as I poured the water onto the ground and gave it back to her.

"But as I told you I can't go near the spring so you're going to have to get the data".

Kate took the bottle from me and gave a small nod before stepping around me but I put a hand on her shoulder making her stop, "Be careful Kate.....we're still in the spring and there's no telling what may be hanging around here and it might be dangerous, I'll keep an eye out for anything that could hurt you but you'll still need to be on your toes" I told her.

"I know" she said.

She stepped away from me and moved over toward the spring as I turned and watched her; she took the bottle and dipped it into the spring slowly filling the bottle with data.

While she did this I was watching the bushes trying to spot anything that might impede our progress back but the fact that I was still hearing phantom sounds made it hard for me to separate reality from fiction.

Several times during the trip to the spring I had almost jumped out of my skin from hearing Serenity's voice calling for me in pain, pleasure, fear and happiness but I knew that she couldn't be here. She was back in the village waiting for the data in the bottle, but the effect was more than enough to set me on edge as my worry for her seemed to keep growing to my great dismay.

I was still trying to separate the real sounds from the fake ones when I heard a scream and turned to see Kate being dragged off into the bushes by something.

I bolted into the bushes after her being sure to avoid the spring but whatever had her was moving faster than I could keep up. I had lost sight of her but all the time I heard her calling out for my help.

"Chaaaaaaad, heeeeeeelllllppp!!!"

I tried to run faster but the trees and bushes seemed to be trying to keep me from getting to Kate. With the pounding of my heart in my ears and the phantom sounds along with all the strong smells covering up the rest of the ways to track her I soon lost her trail almost completely.

However I still had the drag marks left in the soft soil by whatever had pulled her along so I followed after her. After following the drag marks for about fifteen minutes, movement caught my eye and I turned to look at what it was thinking it might be the thing that grabbed Kate.

Instead what I saw was at first glance a beautiful woman with long black hair that came down to just past her shoulders wearing a small loincloth that barely covered the area between her legs, her pert breasts were exposed to the world revealing dark nipples that contrasted her pale white skin.

As I stood there looking at this strange human like creature I felt a sharp pain in my neck that left a burning sensation that seemed to spread out across my skin, I reached up and touched the spot and felt a large welt.

I looked over in the direction the attack had come from only to see the scaly little spring creature sitting on its haunches and looking back at me as it drew a long barbed tongue back into its mouth, I tried to open my mouth to say something but my body gave out and I fell to the ground unable to move.

As I lay there on the ground looking up into the canopy of trees I heard something moving to my side but I couldn't turn to see what it was, just then the woman's face came into view looking down at me.

It was at this time I noticed that her eyes were completely black, I looked up into the woman's eyes and saw here smirk before she opened her mouth revealing sharp pointed teeth.

"Outsider" she said in a lilting voice, "I am in need of your help" she said to me.

I tried to say something but nothing came out, I didn't have time to worry about it though because just then everything went black as I slipped into unconsciousness.

****************************************************************************************** I was running through the woods somewhere again, sweat poured down my body as my heart pumped its excited rhythm in my chest and terror fueled adrenaline coursed through my veins.

Again the trees tried to impede my progress as their branches clawed at me and tried to snag my clothes and hair, I ignored the clawing branches and kept pushing through trying to stay as far ahead of the beast that I could feel behind me as I could.

I could smell its foul warm breath invading my nostrils as the thing crashed through the woods behind me as it chuckled its horse raspy laugh at me sending a shiver through my skin, "hehehehe, yes that's it weakling run, I do so enjoy our little chases" it laughed.

Just then I broke through the tree line and spotted the water. The light from the moon cast an ominous crimson glow off of its surface, I skidded to a halt remembering the last time I had jumped in and that's where I made my mistake.

As soon as I had stopped I felt someone place a cold hand one my shoulder in a gentle but firm grip making their jagged and sharp nails dig into my skin, I quickly jerked away and spun around only to come face to face with the object of my terror.

Standing before me was the darkness cloaked figure of my nightmares; its red eyes gleaming wickedly at me as it smiled showing me cracked and chipped yellow teeth.

"What do you want from me?" I asked.

The fear in my voice only made the figure smile wider as it reached out with both hands to grab me, out of instinct I took a step back and immediately felt the water splash under my foot. The sound made me stop and the figure grabbed me by the shoulders with a grip that made me feel like I was being held by a vice.

"I want to protect you," it said to me slowly, a second later its grin grew to absurd proportions and it opened its mouth and lunged at me, I threw up my hands and closed my eyes as soon as it moved "NOOOOOOOO!". ********************************************************************************************

"NO!"

I sat bolt upright and looked around only to find that I was in a rather large cave lit by a fire in the middle of the chamber, it took a second for my eyes to fully adjust to the light but when they did I looked around and found that I was laying on a pile of strange colored fur.

I looked around more and saw various trinkets hanging on the walls that seemed to be made of different kinds of plants, there were also wooden bowls scattered around by the walls along with an assortment of other things I couldn't identify.

*Great* I thought as I eyed a strange looking stick figure hanging from a stalagmite, *First I lose Kate because of the illusions and that damned spring creature and now I get kidnapped by the fucking Blaire Witch*

I heard something to my left and turned to look only to find the woman from before looking at me calmly with those strange black eyes, I looked around more and saw the scaly creature from the spring standing next to her.

"You are awake, good I was hoping that you would come around soon" the woman said.

I took my eyes from the little creature and looked at the woman again; as I looked her over me saw that my first impression of her had been right she was a spring creature, albeit a very human looking one.

She stood about 5'9 with pale white skin that seemed to glow in the fire light, her skin was flawless but the things that stood out the most about her were her eyes and lips which were a deep ruby red that seemed to glisten invitingly in the light.

"What do you want from me spring creature?" I asked in a raspy voice that told me I needed to drink something.

The woman walked over to me and offered a wooden bowl filled with what looked like a thick brown liquid, I pushed it away as I looked at her "I don't have time for your pleasantries creature, tell me what you want so I can go find the female and get out of here with the data from the spring" I told her sharply.

This only made the woman smile as she offered me the bowl again, "Drink outsider for you will need your strength for the things that I would ask of you" she told me.

I looked at her as she stood there offering me the bowl again and did a quick scan of it but my computer couldn't identify what it was made from, I still felt very weak from the venom the little creature had injected me with so I carefully took the bowl from the woman and sipped it.

At first the stuff tasted vile as it slid over my tongue but that soon began to change as it left a sweet somewhat earthy aftertaste in my mouth that made my body demand more of it, I quickly downed the concoction and handed the bowl back to her.

I watched her take the bowl over to a small pool of what looked like water on the other side of the cave and quickly washed it out before putting it over by some others about the same size, as she did this I felt a sudden surge in energy like someone had taken a set of jumper cables and hooked them up to a dead battery, I felt completely invigorated so I stood up and stretched my body out hearing it pop several times as I did.

The woman stared at me as I did this and said nothing as I raised my hand to my chest to inspect the wounds from the barbs the little creature had hit me with, to my surprise I found that the wounds where nothing more than small welts that weren't even tender.

*I know my body heals fast but this is a little beyond what I'm use to, unless those barbs only sank into the skin* I thought to myself.

Suddenly the woman spoke which made me jerk my head up and glare at her, "Outsider, this creature tells me that you came here for the life blessing, is this true?" she asked me in a lilting voice.

I shifted my gaze from the woman to the thing sitting beside her then back to her before I spoke, "You mean the data from the spring, yes it is" I said.

She looked me over for a second before finally nodding and started walking closer to me as she spoke, "Then I should tell you that I am the guardian of the life blessing and without my agreement it will do you little good" she said to me.

By this time she was standing less than a foot away and I could smell a strange scent coming from her, it was almost sickly sweet and dry but at the same time somehow intoxicating and altogether too enticing for my taste so I took a step back from her and gave her a hard glare that normally would have been enough to make others back off.

She on the other hand didn't seem effected by my glare but thankfully she didn't move closer, "Let me guess you want me to do something in exchange for your consent to take the life blessing as you call it" I said to her.

This made her smile as she looked up at me, "You catch on quickly outsider, yes I would have you do two things for me, in exchange I will let you take some of the life blessing with you to the place beyond the mist" she said to me as her eyes roved over my body again.

I could feel my anger rising as the woman started to take a step closer to me but stopped when I held up my hand, "And just what would you have me do for this blessing of yours" I asked already knowing by the way she was looking at me.

Her smile never left her face and as I looked her in the eyes I suddenly felt something strange happen, my heart began to race in my chest and her smell seemed to get stronger and the more I smelled of it the more my body started reacting on its own.

I could feel my dick starting to stir within the confines of my pants despite me telling myself that I had something to do that was more important, even though I did this I could feel the need to mate becoming stronger but I pushed it down as best I could and listened as she spoke again.

"First I must tell you that if you do not consent to my requests then I will not help you reclaim your companion" she told me, "in which case you will spend days even weeks wandering this place without finding her" she said.

By this point I was really starting to get pissed off at the woman so I cut her off from what she was going to say, "Look I get the fucking idea you want me to help you so I can have the data from the spring along with the information to save the one who came with me, now tell me what you want so I can get the fuck out of here!!!" I practically yelled at her.

My sudden outburst didn't even seem to affect her in the least as she stepped up to me and ran her hands up my chest before they found their way up to my head at which point she grabbed me and gave me a sultry look as she spoke.

"Then this next part should be easy for you to understand outsider, I am in need of service by a male so I may bare child and in exchange for your service in this matter I will tell you where your friend has been taken and what you must do for me so that I may give you my consent and you can take the life blessing with you" she told before she practically tore my scarf from my head and lunged forward crushing her mouth to mine.

To say I was surprised by her actions and statements would be the understatement of the year but even as I processed the information I had to smile to myself at the knowledge that the only thing she would get was disappointment and I the information I needed without the worry of having a monster that had come from my loins running around.

Just then I felt her push her tongue into my mouth and was shocked at the way she tasted, it took me a second but my brain finally registered it as the same taste as before.

*She...she tastes like Serenity* I thought in shock, as soon as I realized this I got a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that made me want to throw up.

She pulled away from me slowly and I let out a shuddered breath as the memory of the night Serenity kissed me came flooding back, suddenly my pants became way to restricting despite the feeling I had gotten and my breathing became heavy as I felt hands grab my pants and begin to undo them.

I quickly grabbed the woman's hands and made her stop; when I did she looked up at me confused trying to figure out what was wrong.

"Do not worry outsider" she said to me as she pulled her hands from mine and went for my pants again "I will give you much pleasure in exchange for servicing me" I heard her say.

The thought came to me like a bolt out of the blue reminding me why I had come here in the first place *Serenity*.

"I can't comply with this part of your deal" I told her as I took a step back.

"I thought that all males where more than willing to mate with atractive females. Am I not attractive to you outsider?" I heard I her say in a somewhat irritated voice.

I didn't even bother replying to the female spring creature, "I am not most males......I am unable to make you with child even if I wanted to, so tell me what I want to know and give me the data from the spring before I forget how hospitable you have been to me" I said to her I with a slight hint of seriousness in my voice.

I saw recognition flash across her face as she realized what i was saying, "You are sterile" she said. She seemed to think about this for a moment before finally coming to a decision that left her grimacing, she finally gave a heavy sigh and looked over to the pile of furs, just then something moved into my field of vision and I looked to find a tentacle had sprouted from her back and was slowly making its way over to something on the floor by the pile of furs, it was only then that I realized that my scarf was gone and in its place a was a rough makeshift bandage.

"As I agreed outsider you have my blessing......no longer will you be plagued by the illusions that are not there, and when you leave this place you will find this waiting for you along with the life blessing" she told me.

She studied me for a minute before reaching up with her right hand and touching my left eye gently, I felt a slight tingling sensation for a second before it vanished "I must warn you though that the blessing requires an offering from those who use it" she said to me as she slowly removed the bandage and forced my eye open.

I braced myself for some kind of an illusion but as I stood there I saw only the female spring creature, "What kind of offering?" I asked as I looked around still slightly bewildered by the fact that I was able to see without being tormented by things that weren't there, I noticed that the noises from before had also stopped which was a great relief to me.

The female spring creature took a step back from me and looked into my face again as she spoke, "For every act there is a cost, for every cost there is a price, when the time comes you must be certain that you are willing to accept the cost for what you need, and that you are willing to pay the price" she said.

"I need the data to help heal someone" I told her.

She gave a slight nod before speaking again, "then I will tell you this now outsider, to heal the mind you must give of the mind, to heal the spirit you must give of the spirit, to mend the flesh you must give of the flesh".

I studied her for a minute before finally answering, "I'm not sure I understand what you mean" I said.

This only caused her to give a slight smile, "You will when the time comes outsider.....the question is will you be able to do what is needed?" she asked me.

Before I could say anything else she turned away from me and started heading for the tunnel that lead out of the cave, I watched her for a second before following after her.

As she lead me through the tunnel I noticed four large pieces of flesh protruding from her back that were the same color as the tentacles, *so she can pull them into her body when she has no need for them.....interesting* I thought to myself.

A few minutes later I found myself standing at the entrance to her cave and looking around at the thick forest that surrounded us, "Outsider, this is where we part, from here the little one will show you the way" the female creature told me.

I looked from her to the little lizard/cat/dog thing then back to her, "So what am I suppose to do now?" I asked her.

"The little one will take you to the place your friend was taken, when you get there you most deal with a creature that has been a bane to this place since the beginning, I myself am unable to destroy it but I think that you may well be able to" she told me "in that place you will find your friend but I must warn you, if you do not hurry then you may not like what you find" she said as she started to move past me and back to her cave.

"Wait...." I said, "why are you doing this?" I asked. "Surely you could have found a willing mate in all of the other people that came here, why did you choose me?" This made the female stop and turn to me, "Is there a reason for this?" she asked me.

"Curiosity" I said.

She thought about this for a minute before fixing me with a blank stare and simply stating, "in all the time I have been and all of the creatures I have met I have noticed that they all ask the same question, and that question is why" she looked me over for a minute before speaking again, "out of all the people I have met you seemed the most likely to ask why not" she told me before turning to the exit tunnel and motioning me to follow her. _______________________________________________________________

Chapter Fifty Three

I stood before a deep hole in the ground surrounded by dead plants and small animal bones, the stench of death and decay invaded my nose like a wraith seeking to add someone else to its lonely existence.

It had taken several hours of walking through the forest to get to this place and as we had gotten closer I noticed that the plants had started to wilt and brown as if something in the area had started to suck the very life out of the land. The native animals had started getting scarcer as we pushed our way deeper and closer to the source of the rot.

*What are you doing?* the voice asked me.

*Doing what needs to be done so I can save Serenity* I thought *we owe her that much at least*

*You stupid weakling.....We owe that bitch nothing!* the voice said to me *do you really think that if you do this you'll get some kind of satisfaction? HA! It was her choice to come back , it was her choice to try and block that attack......what she did was her choice and nothing you say will change that* it said.

*So why do you insist on doing this fool's errand? So you can repay her for interfering with my fun? If so then you're a bigger fool that I thought you were*.

I was starting to get angry at the voice but I knew there was nothing I could do at the moment so I steeled myself and ignored it.

*Tsk, Fine do what you want weakling but I will have no part of this stupidity* and with that the voice fell silent once again leaving me alone with my thoughts.

*Whimper*

I looked down at the little creature that was looking up at me with a strange expression, "I'm fine" I said to it.

I looked back to the ragged hole in the ground before me and prepared myself for what was to come, "Let's get this over with" I said to myself.

I slowly walked toward the cave but stopped when I heard another whimper from behind me, looking back I saw the little spring creature sitting on its haunches as it trembled slightly.

I grimaced at this, "Fine stay out here for all I care but don't go anywhere because I need you to lead us back to the point I came in at" I said.

The little creature gave another whimper before slowly starting to back away from the hole, I on the other hand turned back around and started making my way deeper and as I did I noticed the stench of decay starting to get stronger and a blackish mist covered the floor of the cave slightly obscuring the ground.

As I made my way deeper I came across several skeletons that littered the floor, I stopped in front of one and knelt down to inspect it. From the looks of it I could tell it was an anthro of some kind but the thing that got my attention was that something seemed to be wrapped around the spine at the base of where the neck met the skull; it looked like some kind of snake or worm about as long as my forearm with a tri-sectioned mouth that was attached at the base of the skull just above the spine.

I reached out and touched the thing only to find that it was still very much alive as it twitched at the contact, *These must be the people who came to this place before me* I thought to myself as I moved closer to the skeleton to inspect it.

*Why would this thing still be connected to a skeleton after the rest of it is gone?* I thought to myself.

I stood up and looked around at several other dead bodies all in various states of decay but all very much dead, "Nope, don't like this one bit" I muttered to myself.

With that I started back down the tunnel in the direction of my new prey, eventually I came to a fork that went off in four other directions, closing my eyes I inhaled deeply trying to catch some trace of Kate and which direction she had been taken.

It took a few minutes but I finally caught a slight whiff of her going down the second tunnel from the left, being as silent as possible I made my way down the tunnel until I came to a small alcove lit by some rather shoddy torches on the right side that seemed to have just been used; it had strange garments that looked to be made from many different kinds of plants laying on the floor.

*So someone is alive down here* I thought to myself as I looked for signs of Kate.

Just then I heard a strange shuffling noise so I ducked out of sight inside a rather large crevice and waited, It took a few minutes but finally several shadows came into view followed by some rather strangely dressed people, I couldn't tell if they were anthros or humans because they were wearing long dark robes and strange skulls on their heads that covered up their faces.

As I watched from my hiding spot the three cloaked figures made their way into the room and started going through some of the piles of clothes laying around, after a few minutes of this one of them moved closer to my hiding spot and I caught a whiff of Kate on them.

Just then I heard a strange voice that seemed to hiss and click so I look a chance and peeked out around the corner and saw one of the same creatures from earlier that day, it was looking at the cloaked figures and waving its tentacles around rapidly then it opened its mouth and I heard several clicking noises along with a few hisses before it turned and went back the way it had come.

From the reaction it got from the figures they seemed to understand it because they stopped what they were doing and bowed to it before they shuffled out of the room after it with a few grunts and groans, I gave them a few seconds before I slipped from my hiding spot and quietly went after them.

*Who ever these freaks are they seem to know were Kate is so the best course of action is to follow them until I can find her and get the hell out of here* I thought to myself.

I stayed well back from the oddly dressed people as I followed them down several tunnels until we finally came to a large cave that was lit by makeshift torches and had different kinds of skulls hanging from them, as I got closer to the cave I noticed that the ones I had been following moved off to the side down some kind of path that lead to the bottom of the cave.

I moved closer to the entrance and soon saw that I was right, the place I was currently hiding seemed to be elevated from the rest of the cave and was also the only entrance into the place, I looked around more and noticed that the whole place was made up like some kind of perverse chapel and in the back was a massive hole with some kind of dark stains in front of it.

As I looked I saw several of the dark robes figures move into view and start making preparations by setting out little trinkets and other strange things on a stone table next to the altar, I looked closer and saw that several of those trinkets didn't look to friendly to me, *They must be getting ready for some kind of service from the looks of it* I thought to myself.

Just then I noticed a slow shuffling coming from behind me so I ducked out of sight and into some shadows to see what was coming, it took a few minutes of waiting but finally a lone cloaked figure came into view and I was struck with an idea.

I waited for the figure to get closer and when it did I lashed out with both hands and grabbed it by the neck and gave a sharp jerk that was followed by a load crack that told me I had just broken that persons neck, as quickly and quietly as I could I pulled the dead body back into the shadows and started to pull off the mask that kept its face hidden.

When I did I recoiled at what I saw; the thing underneath the skull mask seemed to be some kind of mixture between those things I saw skittering around and what was left of a panther anthro, slowly I reached out and pulled the cowl off of its head and looked at the back of its neck only to find another of those strange snake like things sticking out of its skin still very much alive.

I quickly pulled the rest of the strange garment off of the dead body and put it on being careful to turn it inside out before I did, after I had gotten dressed in the cloak I cleaned the inside of the mask out and put it on.

I made my way slowly down the stone ramp and started making my way to the altar making sure to move like one of the creature so I wouldn't get noticed, as I moved across the floor I heard something off to my left so I slowly looked over to find that I was being accompanied by several of these strange mutants I looked more carefully at them and noticed that some if not all of them had something wrong with them; some of them had tentacles coming from where their hands use to be while others had large misshapen protrusion on some parts of their bodies.

I started making my way to the altar again and noticed more of the strangely cloaked figures were coming out of several other tunnels in different parts of the cave that I hadn't seen from the main tunnel. When I got to the altar, several of the mutants before me suddenly stopped moving and I had to catch myself before I ran into one of them, luckily I managed to stop before I did so I remained unnoticed for now.

I carefully looked around as I stood there and spotted a large double wooden door set into the wall of the cave some forty feet to my right that was flanked by two large and repulsive looking things that couldn't even be called normal anymore, they looked more insect than humanoid now but there were still parts of them that you could tell hadn't completely changed yet and but they were heavily muscled with some kind of carapace covering parts of their bodies and they stood about eight feet tall.

Just then the doors between them swung opened and a figure wearing a blue robe slowly came into view. He carried himself like someone accustomed to power and as he walked in the two hulking brutes moved to either side of the figure.

I watched along with the others as the figure walked to the altar before us and stopped, He waited as the two hulks took up sentry positions at the edges of the alter before doing anything else, after that was done the figure brought his hands up and pulled away the hood of his cloak to reveal a very regal very human looking man with pale skin that was veined along the neck and left side of his face and red eyes that seemed to pierce through everything they saw.

The man looked over the congregation before he took a deep breath and spoke.

"My brethren....today is a most joyous occasion for us and I have called you here today so that you may bear witness to the birth of our new queen!" he said which got a rise of chittering and moans from the crowd around me.

I just stood there studying the human and trying to figure out why he was so different from the others, as I did this I got the strange feeling someone was watching me so I looked around and made eye contact with the hulking mutant to my left.

I quickly broke eye contact and went back to looking at the human as I tried to blend in with the crowd around me, just then the human raised his hands up and the cave fell silent again.

"My brothers and sisters, we have captured a woman from the outside world that we all came from at one time and she has agreed to become our new queen, in doing so we will be able to go to the outside world beyond the mist barrier and spread our faith to all of those who spurned us" he said which got another rise out of the crowd.

"Yes my brothers and sisters, with our new queen we will be able to go forth and soon all those in the outside world will know peace and happiness like us, no longer will they scurry about their pathetic lives seeking a meaning to their existence like we once did, no longer will they have to worry about the pain of an uncaring world that will shun them when they fall, no.....for we will be there when they do and our ranks will grow as we welcome all to our fold" he said as the crowd chittered and moaned on their approval.

The man looked back at the door he had come from and everyone else did as well, what I saw coming through the door almost made me laugh before I caught myself.

"Let go of me you disgusting freaks!!" an all too familiar voice yelled as Kate was brought in kicking and clawing at anything she could get a hold of as she struggled to get free, what struck me as funny though was the fact that she was now wearing a flowing white gown that fit her body like a glove but loosened up about mid thigh; this in itself didn't strike me as funny but the irony of the entire situation did.

*Oh look, a damsel in distress* I thought as I allowed myself a small smile.

The two cloaked figures that had a hold of her didn't even seem to notice the fight she put up as they made their way to the alter and put her on it spread eagle, when they did the two hulking mutants walked over and leaned down close to her arms and legs.

I watched as the two opened their mouths and started spitting some kind of thick slime on her ankles and wrists, the two cloaked figures held Kate still for a few minutes before letting her go and to my surprise the stuff the mutants had spit on her held fast and kept her on the altar.

"Let me go your freaks! I'm warning you you're going to regret messing with me when my friend gets here!" she yelled at them.

I scowled at that but kept quiet for now and watched as the human walked over to her and started speaking to her "You have been given a great honor my dear, I don't know why you continue to fight us" he told her.

This seemed to piss Kate off because she glared at him as she spoke, "Because what your doing is wrong and when my friend gets here the only thing you're going to be doing is dying!" she hissed at him.

This only seemed to amuse the man because he just smiled at her, "Is that so my dear?" he asked her before he turned around and looked over the mass of mutants before him.

"Let me tell you something my dear, everyone you see before you was once here to either study the spring or to destroy it, but you see them here now before you as one of the many drones of the master" he said, "of course they all fought at first but soon they realized that what we offered them was so much more inviting than going back to the meaningless lives in the outside world," he continued.

By this point I pretty much blocked out what came next as I watched Kate and the man converse as I waited for something to happen because I had already figured out this guy's plan which was simple.

Step 1: Make Kate the queen of his little collective (a fate worse for them than death if you ask me)

Step 2: Take army of mutants out into the world and spread his 'faith' to everyone he came in contact with (Not much better than the first option)

Step 3: Take over the worlds (In typical egomaniacal madman fashion)

*This just isn't my fucking day is it?* I thought to myself as I watched Kate and the human finish their little conversation.

I watched as the human bowed his head and started chanting in some strange language, but what caught me off guard was what I heard next. I listened more closely to see if I could hear it again. When I did hear it again, I realized it had come from the hole on the other side of the altar.

*Something's coming from that hole and whatever it is its big* I thought as I readied myself for whatever it was.

I could hear the sound of something scraping stone as it climbed its way out of the hole. As the sound got louder I started to think about how I was going to do this when a massive black form appeared out of the whole like some kind of grotesque misshapen snake and started moving closer to Kate.

As it came closer to her, the torches set around the altar shined their light on it revealing slimy purplish and pink blotchy skin that seemed to pulse every few seconds. I looked on in disbelief as the thing slowly moved closer to the now speechless Kate and started looking her over.

"Heh....hehehehahahahahahahaha"

The sound of the laughter stopped everything in its tracks as I looked on at the nasty thing before I realized it was me laughing, I pushed the mutant in front of me out of my way and slowly started walking forward as I continued to laugh at the stupidity of it all.

The human standing before me slowly turned around and looked at me with astonishment as I made my way towards him and Kate, I saw his mouth move up and down before he finally narrowed his eyes at me and spoke.

"You.....you are not one of my brothers and sisters.....who are you outsider?" he asked me which made me stop in my tracks and look at him.

"Me? I'm just a guy who came to rescue a damsel in distress" I said to him.

This made the man smirk as he spoke again, "so you're the one she spoke of, your her friend and apparently you're a fool as well" he said to me "Let me guess outsider your one of those valiant people who just can't let someone get hurt for no reason" he said to me.

"You know it's people like you that make me sick outsider, you're the type of person who preaches about a better world and unity through friendship but I'll just bet that your nothing more than a coward that can't even back up what he talks about, people like you are nothing more than a-"

"Shut the fuck up you blathering windbag" I said to him as I slowly started walking again, I took my time as I made my way to the altar that held Kate and the massive and ugly thing behind her which was now looking at me.

I must have really ruffled his feathers because the look he gave me made me think that he wasn't use to someone cutting him off, "You know people like you make 'me' absolutely sick" I said to him as I took another step "you sit there on your high horse and preach about a better world through whatever your selling and yet you fail to realize that the people your forcing yourself on want nothing more to do with you than they do an insect they step on when they walk down the street" I said.

"And your wrong about me to, I could care less about others and I have absolutely no desire to put myself in harm's way for people I don't know" I said to him.

"Then why are you here outsider?" he asked me.

This made me grin as I muld it over and spoke, "Why.....why?......heheheh, the reason I'm here you pompous idiot is because I'm saving myself a lot of trouble by killing that thing right there" I said as I raised my right hand and pointed to the massive form that was looking me over curiously.

I lowered my hand as the human spoke again "So you are here because the spring witch told you to kill our master" the human said as he glared at me.

"Hardly dumbass, the reason I'm here is because you make me sick, spouting about making a better world by subjugating others against their will just so you can make yourself feel good" I said.

"People like you are nothing more than lapdogs to some raving lunatic or giant monster, you may think your hot shit but to me you rank about as low as one of those morons that stand on the street corner and yell about the end of the fucking worlds and how everyone is going to hell or whatever you call it just because they don't believe the same thing as you" I said.

By this time I was standing at the altar looking at the stuff that was keeping Kate stuck to the altar, "What your saying doesn't make sense outsider are you here to free your friend or kill the master?" the human asked questioningly.

I slowly turned and looked at the human who was now standing off to my right, "....who ever said she was my friend you windbag, the only reason she is here is because I needed her to get the data from the spring for me, nothing more, nothing less, other than that I came here to kill that thing and anyone else who stands in my way or tries to stop me from doing what I came to do" I looked back at the snake thing and let another smile slid over my lips as I spoke again.

"I just can't let you take the girl before I'm done with her is all, and if that means I have to wipe you and your little cult off the face of reality then so be it" I said as I readied myself to attack.

Before the human could say anything else I released my claws and jumped over the altar and straight for the thing before me, I landed on its head and lashed out with my right hand.

I watched as my claws sank into the things flesh and felt them go through its skull, when I did this the thing started thrashing around madly from the pain but I wasn't about to get thrown off before this thing was dead so I curled my fingers into a fist and brought my left arm up as I ripped my right hand away bringing with it a large chunk of flesh and bone as well as a lot of green colored blood, "Poison Needle" I called out the name of my attack and felt my left arm shift into a spear type weapon and shoved it forward into the hole I had made.

The thing gave a massive roar and fell forward as it died, as it fell I jumped off backwards and landed on the altar with my legs spread so I wouldn't land on Kate. I looked down at her as my left arm shifted back to normal before I lashed out with my right hand and cut the gunk that held her down.

When I was done with that I watched as she sat up and pulled the rest of the stuff out of her fur, "You know you sure took your sweet time getting here to save me you asshole" she spat at me.

"And you don't seem to be very grateful to the guy who just saved your life you mangy feline" I shot back.

I held out my hand and helped her up when she took it, "You, Your one of those demons, those digimon from the outside world!" The voice of the cult leader said.

That caught me off guard and made me laugh, "hehehehe, you really are an idiot aren't you Fido" I said to him as I let go of Kate's hand and turned to look at him.

I reached up with my left hand and grabbed the mask I was wearing and slowly pulled it off as I spoke making sure that it always covered my face, "I am not some digimon bound to this Anthro, and I'm not some moronic human doing what's right either" I told him as I finish pulling the mask off.

I held the mask in front of my face to hide it as I bent over some and got closer to him, "No, what I am is something else entirely, the digimon consider me a piece of filth and humans think me nothing more than trash to be stepped on and thrown away" I said to him.

I could hear the anger in the humans voice as he spoke to me, "Then what are you if you not a digimon or a human!" he demanded.

This made me stop and think for a second as I stood up, "What am I?......That's a good question human....honestly if you ask me....I'm....nothing more than a monster" I said to him as I let them mask drop away to reveal my face.

I watched as the humans eyes went wide with shock, as I watched the human with a growing sense of satisfaction something strange happened, the human began to smile.

As I looked at him I raised an eyebrow, "And just what are you smiling about human, do you find something funny?" I asked him.

"Chad?" Kate said from beside me.

"Not now Kate I want to know what's so funny" I told her.

As I spoke the humans grin grew wider, "Uh, Chad I think you might want to look at this" Kate said.

"Yes Shifter, if you want to know what's so funny then you really should turn around and look" the human said with a malicious grin.

I raised my eyebrow higher as I slowly turned to look behind me, what I saw made me pause, "Well this can't be good" I said as I took stock of the situation.

What I saw was defiantly not a good thing because rising out of the shadows of the pit behind me where several large shadows like the first one and all of them where looking at me, *One, two, three, four.....this things has eight more heads?* I thought as I watched the waving appendages weave back and forth and get taller.

Just then something else came out of the hole and crashed down a few feet away from Kate and I. I turned to see what it was and soon realized it was a giant clawed hand. I soon realized that this thing was way bigger than I had first thought and that I might have to do a little more damage to it before it would go down.

"Hehehehe, behold shifter, the master, he has been here since the beginning of the ring and he will be here long after he crushes you into dust!" the human behind me said.

I heard the human start to laugh maniacally and it was starting to really piss me off so I took out my sword and thrust out at the source of the noise, "Hehehahahaha-hurkkk *gurgle*" I felt the blade sink into soft flesh as the point struck home.

"Hey Fido, do me a favor and shut up so I can think would you?" I said as I pulled the sword free, a second later I heard the thump of a body hitting the ground "good boy".

The creature before me looked at the dead body then back to me and roared with all eight heads, the sound was deafening and with my hearing it was like standing in front of the main speaker at a techno grunge rock concert.

Just then one of the heads stopped and lunged at me so I grabbed Kate around the waist and jumped straight up into the air just in time to avoid getting crushed in its powerful jaws. I didn't have time to pat myself on the back as two more heads came at me just then. Kate screamed in my ear and I had to ignore it (which wasn't easy) as I kicked out at one of the heads and pushed off even higher so that I went over the second head.

I almost didn't make it but I managed to get over the attack and struck out with my sword watching as the blade sank into the flesh of the neck. The added body weight of Kate didn't help because I thought I was going to be able to stay that way, unfortunately gravity had other ideas because the blade started slicing through the muscle of the creature's neck.

As it did I must have cut through an artery because a shower of green blood erupted from the wound and drenched both Kate and I before I could get us away. Finally I was able to pull the blade free of the now screeching appendage so I started to angle back toward the altar I had been on. Once again fortune was not on my side because when I looked down I saw the first head waiting with its gapping mouth open and waiting for me to fall in.

"Oh shit!" I said as I started to fall towards it.

Kate must have seen this too because she suddenly wrapped her arms around my neck and started screaming even louder as we started to fall. as we did I leaned forward and held out the sword as we got closer.

When I got closer enough I struck out with the sword and watched as it sank into its upper jaw, the creature obviously hadn't been expecting this because a second later it started thrashing around and roaring, the force that it did this with was enough to throw both Kate and I into the air as the sword slid out of the creatures jaw.

As we sailed through the air I noticed we were headed for the crowd of mutants so I flipped around so I was coming in feet first. As I landed I planted my feet in the chest of one very misshapen drone and kicked off the unfortunate thing and leaped over several more of the other mutants before using the remaining ones for stepping stones. Luckily the things were slow moving so they didn't pose much of a threat.

As I neared the back of the crowd I stepped off of one mutants face and leapt into the air and into a flip twist, I landed about ten feet from the crowd facing them and put Kate down on the ground thankfully by this time she had quit screaming so I was able to hear again.

"Kate, get behind me" I told her.

Kate did as I told her and backed up behind me as I reached up and took hold of the collar of the cloak with my right hand and gave a hard yank, the fabric gave a ripping sound as I pulled it away from my body then I threw it off to my right and looked at the crowd of mutants as they slowly turned around to look at us.

I brought my sword up as I took an attack stance and prepared for battle, "Hehehehehe.......very impressive shifter.....now I know why the spring witch chose you for this task, none have ever been able to stand before our master, much less injure him" a voice said.

I looked on in astonishment as the body of the human I had killed slowly began to move, standing up and dusting himself off. By this time the thing he called master was slowly pulling its self out of the pit it had been in and was climbing over the alter to stand over its brood while looking at me with its seven remaining heads.

"But you cannot kill us shifter for the master has given us immortality!" the human said as he turned to look at me. I watched as he gave me a condescending smirk and pointed at me.

"Master this filth is the only thing that stands between you and your new queen and the outside world! Crush him so that we may go forth and spread!" he yelled.

The creature looked at the human with one of its heads then looked at me before it gave a load roar and took a step forward, the mass of lumbering mutants before it started moving forward slowly towards us like an army of zombies looking for their next meal.

"Kate whatever you do don't get in my way, just stay behind me unless I tell you to do otherwise all right?" I said back to her.

I didn't get a reply from her but I really didn't have time to focus on that right know as I looked back over the crowd of shambling mutants before me, I spotted the human smiling at me evilly and gave him a wicked smile of my own as I raised my sword and pointed it at him.

"You know Fido" I said to him, "I'm going to enjoy cutting you up" I told him.

This just made him laugh as he spoke to me, "hahaha, haven't you been listening to me shifter? I told you before you can't kill us" he said as he raised his arms out to his sides. "We are immortal, we cannot die" he yelled as a crazed look came to his eyes.

I let my smile grow wider as I took a step forward and brought my other hand to the hilt of my sword which was growing warmer by the second and filling my mind with a strange blood lust, "then allow me to show you and your flock of zombies what it's like to spend eternity in pieces" I growled at him as I pushed on the sword and felt it separate, I took hold of the other half and pulled them apart as I walked forward.

to be continued....