...Sadness For Everyone

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

    Chapter 6

A hot blast of air in my face woke me with a start. Sitting
up, I fumbled for my glasses, blinking at the light around
me.

It was the middle of the day, noon from the looks of the
sun. Standing up I looked around the campsite, other then me
it was empty of all life. Elena's sleeping bag was bunched
up by the trees on one side, and in a pile a few feet from
where I stood was what looked like the shredded remains of
Ren's clothing. Mine and Elena's packs where gone as well.

There was no sign of any blood, and the ground hadn't been
kicked up anymore the it was last night. Never the less I
was alone.

Another blast of hot air rolled over me. It had a sweet
smell to it, and was almost familiar. On a hunch I started
walking in the direction it had come from, trying to keep in
a strait line from the clearing.

Every dozen steps another blast of air came, hotter then the
last one, the sweet smell fading away. The light was
starting to fade as well, becoming something like twilight,
even though the sun was still blazing in the sky.

I reached for my front holstered gun, only to find that it
wasn't there. Nor was the other two. In my sleep I had been
disarmed. Swearing to myself I unsheathed my claws, the only
weapons I had left.

After almost half an hour of walking, the darkness had
closed in around me. The sun still shown above like a
bizarre moon, but it cast no light onto the ground. I was
surrounded by a gloom that was made of almost pure darkness.

"Looking for someone?" A new voice asked from my left. I
turned slowly, the source of the voice stood out in the
darkness, simply for the sake of that sie was even darker.

Sie was a raccoon of Elena's species. Nude, hir fur covered
and matted in filth, the stench of which was so strong my
nose actually shut down. Sie opened hir muzzled in a smile,
showing me hir teeth, which were more like a series of razor
sharp fangs up and down the length.

This could only be one person. "Ruhk I presume?" I asked.

Sie laughed. "You presume correctly, I am your goddiss."

I snorted in response, "you are my nothing."

Shaking hir head sie took a few steps closer to me. "I am
your everything, you will be mine, either by your free will
or by force."

I slowly shook my head, not letting my eyes off of hir. "My
free will doesn't lead me to be evil."

"Evil is such a loaded word," Sie responded, touching the
side of my head with hir paw. I stepped away from hir, but
still the filth that covered hir was now in my hair.

"I do what is best for me." Sie continued, "The rest of the
multi-verse could go down in flames for all I care, as long
as I get what I want."

"I'm not much for enlightened self-interest either," I
responded, crossing my arms over my chest, my claws still
out.

Sie laughed, if sie noticed my claws sie paid them no mind.
"Oh, but there is so much potential behind those crystal
eyes. It would be such a pity to let it go to waste."

I shrugged. "To bad it will."

Sie paused, looking me over, hir ears twitching. "Do you
know we've meet before?"

I blinked, "What?" I asked, my astonishment echoing in my
voice.

Sie laughed again, much louder then before. Hir figure
started to change. Hir fur becoming clean and bright, hir
body assume the sex of a pure female while her proportions
shifted into something that would best be called a 'knock
out'. Her face change as well, reshaping itself under the
skin to become something I recognized.

"Dra..." I whispered, as I did indeed know her. From my
first adventure, the one I had flashed back to that day with
Sora. Where I had decided that I should try and do some good
with my ability as a Natural.

At the time I had landed in the middle of a civil war, First
being captured by once side, then the other. The first group
who had captured me, Dra was there leader, she had started
the war and had just let lose a plague to kill her enemies.

It was after my dressing down by the leader of the good guys
that I decided to try and do something. They had a counter
agent to the antidote, but not the cure itself. I stole it,
snuck back over to Dra's side, and used it to force her to
eject the antidote into the air over the battle field.

She had been arrested, and swore to me the vengeance of
Ruhk.

"Only in mind," she answered, "I took her body for my own
use. That little virus you stopped was my fifth attempt to
produce the Plague."

I nodded. "So you were the mouse as well?"

She laughed, slowly flowing back into hir normal self. "Oh
no. My guardians found my way out and blocked it quite well.
Eventually I will find a way around it, I always do."

I sighed, "More reason for me not to join you."

Sie snorted, suddenly right up against my face. "You don't
seem to understand. I'm not asking you to join me, I'm
giving you the chance to keep your self in the process."

I spat in hir eye. It was about all I could think of doing.

Sie stepped away from me, laughing even more. "You are such
a fool. I offer you power, power over everything you want.
Power the such that will let you go back to your world and
stay."

I gulped as sie said that, but shook my head.

"You can't say that you are not tempted." Sie said, grabbing
my collar of my shirt with one paw. "Think about all you can
have, all you can take!"

"No," trying to pull myself away.

Sie pulled down on my collar, yanking me closer. "One last
chance, join me as yourself, or as my slave."

"Go fuck yourself," I answered back.

Sie laughed, yanking back on my collar, ripping my shirt
open down most of it's length. "Right answer," Sie said with
a smile. Hir other paw was quickly on my chest, grabbing my
pendant.

Holding it up so I could see, sie then ripped it off the
cord that it hung from. Sie stepped away from me as I felt
the familiar burning of my skin as I changed from into a
Rhea.

I looked up at hir from all fours, crouching down to attack
hir. Sie just smiled, crushing the pendant in one paw,
destroying it, and trapping me forever as a normal lioness.

With a roar I leaped on hir. Sie caught me in midair, hir
arms wrapping tightly around me in a massive bear hug.
Laughing in my face sie dug hir claws into my flesh.

Seating heat ripped through my body, causing my to roar in
pain. A roar which slowly faded into a scream as my body was
reformed, with the force and pain of every bone in my body
being broken.

Finally sie dropped me to the ground. I landed on my hands
and knees. They had changed though, no longer hands by paws,
thick golden fur covering them and up my arms.

A quick examination of myself proved what I had suddenly
come to expect. I had been remade as a hermaphrodite
lioness, one of Elena's species, a Theriamorph.

Ruhk stood over my, laughing once more. "You see child your
are now mine, and you shall serve me as a slave." With that
sie faded away into the darkness, hir laughed remaining
behind for a few seconds, echoing through the starless
night.

I gulped at the air for a few seconds, the unholy darkness
fading away, leaving the midnight sky above me, the stars
shining down to Earth.

Unsteadily I rose to my knees, swearing to who ever would
listen. I didn't know if I had my powers as a Natural still,
but I had to get back to the fold. Though I had to fine
Elena and Ren first, they were in more danger now then I
was.

"What do we have here?" A familiar voice asked from behind
me.

I snapped my head around, shifting my weight to face Stefan.
The satyr smiled as he saw me, his body reacting with lust.
"If it's not Elena's friend," he said with a sneer. "Ruhk
did a good job remaking you."

I snorted, trying to stand up. He was suddenly there though,
pinning my arms to my side. Nose to nose with me, "No my
dear, your not going anywhere, your mine." And in a flash he
was on me, his teeth sinking into my throat as he drank of
my blood.

I screamed, trying to fight, but there was no hope, I
couldn't get out of his grip. He was Ruhk's servant, and I
was to become his slave.

I let out one last wailing scream as everything faded into
darkness.

It seemed to last for an entirely as I waited for whatever
was to come next. It was a lie to say that I wasn't
frightened, but yet there was still a cold clam that had
settled over me.

"Fox?" I heard, almost faintly in the darkness. At the same
time I felt my should being rocked.

Slowly feeling started to come over my body, a prickling
feeling not unlike you get when your leg goes to sleep.
Finally I cracked open an eyelid to see who was talking to
me.

It was Ren, he was sitting above me, a concerned look on his
face.

I scrambled away, instead sitting up. One handing going into
my shirt, searching for my pendant while the other went to
my face. I still had the pendant and I was still very much
human.

"Are you all right? You were screaming in your sleep."

I sighed, reaching for my glasses. "I had a nightmare of
sorts."

He nodded, walking over to me. Then reaching out he touched
the side of my head. His had came away covered in a thin
film of slime. "Was this part of it?"

I reached up to touch my hair. There was a thick grease like
spot, matting my hair down. It was right where Ruhk had
touched me in the dream. "Make that a warning... and maybe a
promise." I picked up a handful of dirt, working it into my
hair, then pulling it out. Most of the filth came with it,
the rest clung to my hair with the remaining dirt.

"We should get off this world as fast as we can." I said,
wiping my hand clean on the ground. "We're targets of a very
evil goddiss who want us on hir side."

Ren nodded.

I stood up, looking around the camp. "Where's Elena?" I
asked.

"Sie left," Ren said with a slight curl of his lip. "Sie
took all hir things as well. Sie has abandoned us."

I nodded, putting my hands in my pockets. "Sie must have
decided to let us go onto the city ourselves."

He shook his head. "Fox, your to damn trusting. Get a clue,
sie LEFT us here alone. We're in the middle of a forest on
some other world days away from any fold. Do you think you
could get us back home? I doubt it, this was exactly what
sie meant to do from the start!"

"I'm don't believe so."

Ren glared at me, fuming a bit.

"Excuse me," A new voice asked. I turned to look at the
source, it was a wolf Theriamorph, a torch held high over
hir head. "We heard screaming, is everything all right?"

"Yes," I answered, looking behind hir. I could see a few
other 'morph about ten feet away, each one holding a torch.
"One of us just had a bad dream, that's all." I looked to
Ren as I said this.

The wolf nodded. "I didn't know Elf's could have dreams."

The fake ears were doing there job, that's good. "Now you
know."

Sie nodded. "So I do..." Sie paused, then turned back to hir
fellows. The conversed for a few seconds before sie turned
back around. "We are on are way to the City for the Early
Harvest Festival. You are invited if you would like to come
along. It's only a few hours walk."

I smiled, this was perfect. It was also explain why Elena
had run off as well, so as not to be seen by these people.
"It is are destination for tonight, and we would welcome the
company on the way. We are not to familiar with this area of
the world and feared we might become lost."

Sie smiled. "You are far enough off the road to already be
lost. Gather your things and come along, the Festival starts
at midnight."

I nodded, grabbing my things. Then Ren and I followed hir
and hir group onto the city.

   To Be Continued...

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This story is (c) 1998 by Fox Cutter, hardcopy reprints
limited to one a person, all other rights reserved. This
story may not be distributed for a fee except by permission
of the author, and this copyright notice may not be removed.
Elena and hir world is (c) 1998 by Chris Bradford.