Negotiation

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 14141

"Wait, Astra!" Fred shouted, cartwheeling backwards to avoid evisceration. "Don't kill me!! If not for me myself, then for this adorable little kitten!"

He held out his hands, focused his mind: soft, fuzzy, cute.

Amazingly enough, a tiny silver haired kitten popped into existence in Fred's hands. It immediately became a shrieking, scratching ball of fur, until Fred, in considerable pain, released it. It landed on the ground and started licking itself unconcernedly.

"Aww!" Astra said, lowering her sword. "It's so pwecious!" atonalizing the R exactly thus. "But..." she said, looking at Fred with confused blue eyes. "The ancient texts said the Shoggoths only had the power to destroy, not to create. How were you able to do that?"

The kitten approached her and meowed. Astra picked it up with one hand, the other still holding her sword, and the kitten began purring contentedly. "Aren't you pwecious? Yes you are!" Astra cooed.

Fred sighed with a half smile. Who could understand these mysterious Amazons? Yet he was confused by the conflict within him. Why was it only hours ago he lusted for the world's destruction? Why had he wished to see cities and towns transformed into funereal pyres, and people scattering everywhere in crazed panic? Why did even now his blood run wild with passion at the thought, and his fingertips tingle with destructive magic? Was he truly now Lord Fred or was he Shoggoth still? Or was he something else entirely?

He looked at Astra, who was blithely petting the little creature he had formed out of thin air. It was her, Fred decided. She was the cause of his confusion. Her flowing, blood red hair, her alabaster skin, her perfectly sculpted features and... yes! even her splendidly shaped bosom and attractive rear quarters. Hers was a stunning, foreign beauty, with an arousing exoticism none of the ladies of the King's Court could match. But...

Fool! the One Shoggoth's voice spoke within his mind. Did you forget already that Shoggoths do not have sexual desires? Are you not a true Shoggoth after all?!

"It is not only lust!" Fred echoed back. "It is something more... And why must I obey you, anyway?! Perhaps it is your vision of the true path that is clouded. Perhaps we must not destroy all the humans in order to purify this land."

Impudence! You will fulfill your given task and kill the girl and the dragon, or your own life will be forfeit!

"Oh yeah?" Fred says.

The cave grows dimmer. Strange music begins to play... centuries later any teenager would identify it as Black Sabbath. But now it sounded mean and confusing, Fred and Astra not liking a single tune of Ozzy's measured anguish. The dragon seemed to dig it, though.

"Ozzy!" he chuckled. "I still remember the concert in Dimension 17. Man, that mosh pit was something!"

With loud bang, the One Shoggoth appeared in the middle of the room. "NOW!" it proclaimed. "Who shall I kill first? Perhaps the girl? You know, a single Shoggoth Blast would wipe her atoms from existence. Eh, Fred?"

It all suddenly made sense. Fred knew what had happened from the start. The Shoggoth before him was in heat - and she was jealous of Astra. Despite the female Shoggoth's assertions that their kind did not have sexual desires, Fred suddenly remembered an ancient text he read in his youth, wherein it was clearly wrot that the demons called Shoggoths were sexual maniacs, willing to fornicate with anything that walked, their many tentacles and orifices craving constant stimulation. As well as compulsive liars - this bitch had tried to control him from the start, to use him to get the dragon's blood, and then drain out his entire lifeforce through the gruesome method that produced baby Shoggoths.

"Aha!" Astra cried out, releasing the kitten and holding her sword with both hands. "The plot thickens. Not one Shoggoth, but two! Neverfear, for my blade shall work justice this day. Whatever you're plotting, pink demon, I shall foil!"

Fred could only stare as the two most important women in his life - and both he had met only just now! - went at it with tooth and claw. Astra was dodging the female Shoggoth's blasts with acrobatic leaps too fast for the eye to catch, occasionaly landing to deliver a chop to the hideous creature's body. The female Shoggoth shrieked and bled but regenerated immediately. It was a fairly uneven fight, Fred knew that. One slip up on Astra's part, and she would be missing a limb, while it would take hours of chopping to even dent the Shoggoth bitch. He knew he had to do something... but incredibly, even now he was torn!

  1. Human emotions take hold, and Lord Frederigo D'Honaire hastens to aid Astra.
  2. Demonic lust triumphs, and Fred the Shoggoth ends up helping his monstrous consort.
  3. Nothing really happens. Fred joins the Dragon in listening to good death metal and watching

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Ryu

3/6/2001 10:31:53 PM

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