Threads of Chaos
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 36454
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As Fred ran down the corridor he found himself unable to fight a growing
sense of vertigo. The walls around him seemed to spin and he couldn't focus.
He put one hand on the wall to balance himself, and immediately recoiled in
shock. He had touched it for less than a second, but a thousand years had
seemed to pass, surrounded by horrors unimaginable - the screams of
victims, mountains of corpses, flames rising to the sky... Fred tried to forget
what he saw, told himself over and over that it wasn't real. Somehow he got
to his feet and fought the vertigo down just enough to tell which way was
up. "This is definitely not a place to bring the kids." he told Skye. "I tried to warn you, Fred." Skye said. "Although.." Fred rambled on. "It's not that bad really. A bit of a fixer-upper, but with some extra mood lighting... maybe some nice Cyran rugs..." "Enough, Fred. This is no place for your dry wit. Don't you realize how much danger we're in?" "Yeah, whatever." Fred stepped forward and immediately a figure emerged from a niche in the wall up ahead. It was a suit of red armor, holding a black longsword in each gauntlet. The armor's open helmet was empty inside. The thing halted in the corridor to block Fred's path. "Hey, get out of my way if you don't wanna die!" Fred said, hefting the Geoblade. "I don't think its alive to begin with." Skye said. "Allright, I guess negotiations have failed then!" Fred yelled, lunging forward to land a blindingly fast two-handed strike. The thing's helmet was torn clean off to clatter down the hallway, but the armor remained unmoved. As Fred recovered from his attack the armor countered with a quick one-two cross- slash with both swords. Fred managed to smash one sword aside with the Geoblade - it flew out the armor's gauntlet and fell to the floor - but the other sword connected with Fred's midsection, ripping through his leather armor. Blood spurted as Fred stumbled back, crying out in pain. The wound wasn't too deep, but it hissed and bubbled over with some sort of frothy liquid. "Aargh... dammit!" Fred yelled, holding his left hand to the wound. The armor remained motionless, only the blood on its sword attesting to the fact it had moved at all. Everything spun before Fred's eyes again, and dissolved into darkness as he heard a deep and monstrous voice speak in his mind "Geohound! Why do you oppose us? Your soul is kin to Darkness. You know as well as I do what must happen." "Shut up!" I'm here to get Tarsa back! What do you want with her anyway?! She's no longer the High Priestess - she's nothing to you! Give her back!" "Darkness calls to Darkness. What was foretold must be. Nothing you do can change that. Your meager strength alone cannot alter the path of history." Somehow Fred regained his vision and his footing. His wound had stopped frothing at least, though it still burned like hell. He stepped forward and hacked the armor's other sword-arm off, then kicked the thing to the ground, where it lay still. "Ha!" Fred laughed. "Where's your precious Darkness now?! Die bitch, die, Ha Ha Ha Ha!!" The orange light up ahead was closer than ever, almost blinding now in its intensity. Fred picked up one of the swords the armor was using. It was larger and sharper than his Geoblade, and only a little heavier. The dark steel gleamed in the light, unlike the dull metal of the mountain men's black swords. Fred put the Geoblade back in his sheath - he could sell it later for some extra gold. "Strange." thought Fred. "That I can think of money at a time like this." Skye landed back on his shoulder. "Good work, Fred! Are you badly hurt? Who was that you were talking to just now?" "Not as badly hurt as whatever's got Tarsa's gonna be." Fred said. "C'mon! I can't hear her screaming anymore - it's got to be a bad sign." Fred ran on until he emerged in the chamber where the light originated. Here he stopped and stared dumbfounded at the massive orange eye set in a towering behemoth of green flesh that rose many times Fred's height in the center of the room. Dozens of tentacles sprouted from the beast, and the majority of them were twined around Tarsa, suspending her in mid-air. She was naked, her small, muscular body sleek with sweat as she struggled in the grip of the beast. "Fred!" she gasped, noticing him. "Run, Fred! Get out of here!" "You son of a bitch!" Fred yelled. "Let her go!!" Suddenly darkness flooded his vision again as Fred found himself on his knees, his wound hurting more than he ever thought possible - a screaming, ungodly agony that made his head spin. "Brave little Geohound. How far you have come for nothing. Yet perhaps you will now find peace at last. "Shut up!" Fred yelled. "You... you can't do this! I'll kill you!!" "Surrender, Fred. Surrender to your fate and claim your true place in existence. Become one of us. Then perhaps we will allow Tarsa to retain her memories and some of her humanity." "Don't listen to it, Fred!" Tarsa was shouting. "It's trying to trick you!" "You bastard!" Fred groaned. "I'd rather die!!" "That's not what your brother said. You remember your brother, don't you Fred? Your brother... Melfice!!!" "What?!" Fred gasped.
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Ryu
12/3/2003 8:06:38 PM
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