Collected Souls:
Wolf, Orc, Dragon, Posionfanged Panther
Louis continued his trek through the jungle. Hours passed and after encountering the panther he hadn't seen anything of immediate interest. Speaking of the panther, he needed to be let out soon. The panther needed to be set free or else he would eventually be forced to transformed.
The question was, where to transform? If he transformed here in the middle of this jungle naked who knows what might happen? Just because nothing has happened yet doesn't mean it won't. It would be best to be in a safe secure area before transforming.
Louis then became aware of something else. The humid air was getting cooler and the light was darkening. Night would visit this jungle soon. He couldn't go shambling around in the dark, he didn't even have any torches to light the way. He would need shelter.
Louis quickened his pace and looked for anything that could be a potential camp site. Nothing. The jungle was too packed, plants and trees took up every single bit of space they could find.
Then Louis heard a noise above the lively sounds of the jungle overhead. It was hollow and reedy just like a windpipe. Louis out of curiosity followed it.
Having to slowly make his way through vines and thorns, Louis found the source. It was a wind bell, rusty and old but still apparently able to play. Tied with a piece of string attactched to a rock, it floated lazily over the way, playing a soft but nearly screeching melody as the wind gently pushed it.
Louis looked past the bell and saw a giant stone building built into the side of a hill. No doors but simply darkness came from the door.
Who would want to build here? Louis thought. He should investigate, maybe he could take shelter for the night here.
Drawing his sword, Louis quietly moved into the building waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. He saw a dank corridor lead to another room. The air was smelly and dirty inside, as if this had been a mine of some sort. Long intricate spider webs much bigger than any spider Louis had seen decorated the walls, and Louis swore he saw a rat caught and tangled in of the webs.
Louis went deeper, the darkness eventually consuming him. He couldn't see at all. But he kept going.
Then it became pitch black and Louis was forced to move slowly. He tapped his sword gently against the stone floor in front of him in order to feel ahead. Then... Louis heard something. A whisper. Cold and leeching. Something was here. He hadn't imagined it.
He heard the whisper again, more clearly this time.
"Closssserrr. "Come clossserr. I need to feed, sso.... hungry.... so..... dessssperate..."
Louis obliged, he may be lost in the dark, but if this thing was unnatural, Louis needed to kill it.
"Who or what are you?" Louis spoke bravely into the darkness.
"I am a ssshhadddeee, a demon of sssshadow made by the dark goddesssss Umbra.... I had failed her and became bound to this old temple to suffer for all eternity. I am sooo hungry.... Ssssacrifice your worthlessss life ssssoo that I can live for another hundred years." The voice whispered back, pain clear in its voice.
"You've been bound here for who knows how long. And eating me won't change it, how about I do a favor and kill you? It's better than being stuck here isn't it?" Louis stated.
"NO. NO NO NO NO. If I die I will be sent to Umbra's realm where I will be tortured forever. Demons of higher rank would slowly eat my soul, enjoying every last second of my pain until my soul evaporates into nothingness..." the Shade screams true panic in its voice.
Louis wanted to reply but he couldn't. He had waited too long and now the panther within him wanted to be free. If he waited too long he would be forced to transform.
Louis gasped in pain and kneeled on the ground, dropping his sword nearby. The shade took advantage of his weakness and proceeded to attack. Louis couldn't see but he could feel strange long claws swipe at his body. Claws scrapped his clothes into shreds making sure there was no undamaged spot. Every swipe making his body feel unaturally numb. Louis screamed. Blood began leaking out of his wounds and the shade continued to attack.
Louis needed to escape, so he decided he would need the panther's help. He fully opened the cage around the panther, unleashing it in a flood that enveloped his body. In a instant, fur sprouted to his skin, fangs grew in his mouths, bones cracked and rearranged into that of a panther. Louis roared as the transformation completed and was shocked.
While everything was still slightly dim, Louis saw that he could see nearly perfectly. He looked around the room and saw his sword lying a couple of feet away from him. More concerning was the shade itself. Like something out of a child's nightmare, the shade was monsterous in every meaning of the word.
It's top half consisted of a black withered skeleton, bones made of what seemed to be charcoal. It's skull was eyeless and open wide as if in a eternal scream. Instead of fingers it had four long serrated claws on each hand, wicked and thick. It's bottom half was nothing but black smoke. It hovered midair, no emotion visible at all.
The shade has stopped attacked however most likely since it saw Louis transform. Louis used it's temporary stunness and leapt at it, brandishing his own sharp claws and began attacked the Shade. Louis wrapped his limbs around the dark skeleton's torso and began biting and picking at it with his mouth. Doing his best to break bones and attack. The shade tried swiping at Louis, screaming as it tried to get the large panther off its body. It's claws however had more difficulty piercing the panther's thick hide than it did with Louis in his normal form.
Louis called upon the led, and felt his fur recede and the remanents of his clothes tear as his skin turned green and his muscles bulged to enormous amounts. Not expecting another transformation the shade nearly fell to the ground but managed to regain temporary balance and regain his hovering. It didn't matter since Louis in a rage, grappled the shade's skull and with both of his meaty hats hands ripped it clean off.
Immediately the torso of the shade went limp and felll to the ground, making a large cackle as the bones hit the stone floor.
Louis breathed hard, had he no transformed he could've possibly been killed. He looked at the dead skeleton, glad he had killed it. The dragon and the orc in his mind roared in approval. However, slowly the panther's night vision wore off and Louis found himself in the darkness again.
As usual, he still felt the Shade's presence, he felt the shades confusion, then fear, then relief. It seems like it wasn't lying when it said it was scared to go back to hell. But now it's spirit was with Louis, safe from the clutches of it's goddess Umbra.
Louis remained in his orc form, ignoring the fact that he was naked and all of his clothes were either dropped or torn apart when he had transformed twice. Especially ignoring his large orc cock.He grabbed his sword and placed it back into his scabbard. He then proceeded to use his torn clothes and his curtain kilt he made to make a temporary sleeping bag, not that the stone floor wasn't uncomfortable and uneven. Louis after tending to his wounds then fell into a soft sleep.