The consistent sound of dripping liquid echoed off of the constrictive walls into a pair of white tipped ears. A chilly wind ruffled the brown hair of the red fox vixen they belonged to and caused her to shudder and hold her striped sweater a little closer to her body. ``What happened? Where am I?'' she asked to herself confused. Her name was Sierra. She remembered entering the dimension house attraction in a small group, but then a flash of light blinded her. She woke up here who knows how long later. It looked to be the inner halls of a building or possibly a factory. Metal pipes lined the walls and ceiling. She took a few hesitant steps forward and stopped as a voice came into recognition.
``My my. Look at you. I believe your costume is based on an old movie you mortals made. Freddy Kruger was it? But it's missing something. Something that gives me an excellent idea for a game to play with you.'' echoed the voice on the pipes and walls around her.
``Wh-Who are you? What is this place? What do you mean game?'' asked the vixen confused. She whimpered softly as she received no reply. Suddenly something caught her eye. It was a gray fleck. It looked like ash. It floated through the air and danced in the soft draft. Another flake caught her eye, then another. Where were they coming from? What were they? One floated down right in front of her. She reached out a white furred hand to catch it unconsciously. It landed gently on her palm before light shown from it and a flame erupted upward instantly. The fire was reflected in the vixen's eyes and she recoiled in fear quickly. Her pupils shrank in sheer terror as she regarded the other flecks floating around her. Would they all do that? A new fleck landed on her sweater and it burst into flame too. Sierra screamed as she pulled the garment off quickly. The white t-shirt she wore underneath it pulled up to show the three horizontal stripes on her belly as she got the sweater over her head.
The smell of burning cotton stung her nose as she looked around the room. More flecks were floating now, and the only exit was across the room. The vixen thought quickly and threw the now burning sweater across the room. It touched several ash flakes on its path forward and burned up fully before it touched the ground. Sierra was panting now as she saw her path forward mostly clear. She looked up and could see more flakes beginning to fall from between the pipes in the ceiling. Panic began to set in as she realized the situation she was in. Without hesitating a moment more she broke into a run and made sure to dodge the flakes low enough to touch her already.
The hallway beyond that room didn't seem to have any flakes in it. She came to a stop and tried to slow her heart rate. Why did it have to be fire? What was going on? Flashbacks of a car accident passed through her mind. She remembered it vividly. The feeling of being trapped in the car unable to escape the flames as they slowly engulfed her stood out in her memory. The operation and transfusion had saved her life. And here she is facing something similar now. She could barely stop herself from shaking before a sound caught her ear. It sounded like a bell. She looked up to see more ash beginning to flit from between pipes and cracks in the ceiling again. She gasped and began to move. Seemed her little reprieve was over.
She ran down the hall and came to a stop at the next doorway. The sound of dripping liquid she'd heard was coming from this room. Aside from the sound of dripping, the smell of alcohol was everywhere here. She took a step into the room and pulled her foot back at the feel of a puddle on the floor. She looked down in the dim light and noticed a ripple run across the floor. The liquid was all over the floor here. The sound of one of the ash flakes from before erupting into flame behind her spurred her into the room quickly. Loud splashes echoed off the walls as she turned to see the door to the room slam shut and trap her in the room.
``Welcome mortal. You got through the first room okay. But will you be so willing when the requirements are reversed?'' came the voice again all around her.
``Reversed? What do you mean?'' she asked quickly confused. The sound of a bell filled her ears again and she instinctively looked up to see a few flakes begin to descend from the ceiling. Immediately her mind kicked into high gear. Flame producing ash flakes plus a floor covered in a inch deep layer of what appeared to be alcohol plus the shut door meant that if even one of those flakes touched the liquid it would all go up. She would be burned to death in here. Her shrank pupil followed one flake as her mind went over all this before she made a mad dash for it. Splashes of liquid filled her ears as she reached for the flake and caught it on her hand. She winced in pain as the flame erupted from it on her bare hand, but her eyes showed relief that it hadn't touched the liquid. She looked around and could see more flakes making a journey downward and whimpered at what she knew she had to do now.
Loud whines could be heard in the room as Sierra moved around the room. She was careful to keep an eye on the relative heights and fall speeds of the flakes in the air around her. She was grateful that there were less flakes in this room than the last. It was as if whatever was causing this was only playing with her. She had scorch marks on her fur and the smell of singed fur and cotton stung her canine nose. Her clothes were barely on now. They had mostly been burned away over the last few minutes.
``You've really done a good job of amusing me mortal. I have to give you credit for that. However this is where our little game must come to an end.'' came the voice again. Sierra looked up in alarm and noted an ash flake begin to fall at an alarming rate on the other side of the room. She was tired. She wouldn't have enough time to reach it.
``Please no!'' she shouted in disbelief as she watched it. The flake touched the liquid and the small flame that it produced became a deafening roar in the room as the liquid ignited instantly. The vixen stepped backwards as time seemed to slow to a crawl. She could see the approaching wall of flame as it moved across the room. ``No...No no no no I don't want to die!'' she thought in panic as she backed up against the door she'd entered from. Just before the flames reached her, the door opened and she tumbled back into the hallway from before. Her breaths were heavy as she looked into the flaming room she was just in.
Just as her heart rate started to slow, she noticed something in the flames; a figure. A large figure was walking through the flames. It looked like a bull. But parts of it were skeletal. Most of its flesh was burned and melting off of it. Her heart rate began to skyrocket as it pointed at her. ``No! Keep away!'' she shouted in fear as she backed away on her hands and feet facing upwards down the hallway.
The floor beneath its hooves began to melt from the flames and its weight as it stepped into the hallway. Fire lined it's melted footprints as it moved. Sierra gasped as it started into a run directly down the narrow hall at her. It was going to catch her. It was going to kill her. And there was nothing she could do. She closed her eyes before a new voice made her ear twitch.
``Ventus Paries Dis!'' came a female voice behind Sierra. A rush of wind flowed down the hallway and pushed the bull back to the other end of the hall. Sierra opened her eyes confused and noticed a glowing circle on the floor around her. She turned around to see two females she'd seen when she entered the mansion standing there. The white pantheress stood strong looking angrily ahead. A wand was in her hand. ``How's the spell coming Celeste?'' she asked to the other female behind her.
``Just a moment more Marilyn.'' said the bat girl in reply. She was on her knees with hands spread on the circle around them all. A roar came from the bull figure as it began to charge again.
``You witches again?!? You will not take my prey from me!'' it shouted angrily.
``Not giving up huh? Ventus Paries Dis!'' said the white furred feline as she waved her wand and a new rush of wind pushed it forcefully back against the far wall again. This push was stronger than the first, and the flames that ran around the demon's body blew out as it was hit with the rush.
``Ianuae Magicae!'' shouted the bat girl as the circle below the trio glowed intensely as magic flowed through it and the symbols running along it. Sierra covered her eyes as her vision began to warp slightly. When she opened them she found herself in a park in Wolfwood that she recognized. The two females that had helped her were nowhere to be seen now, but a few equally confused furs stood nearby. She recognized them as a few of the group that she'd entered the mansion with. They looked like they had been through hell and were as unsure as her as to what happened. The cold night wind rolling over her fur made her remember that she was near nude and she reached to cover herself instinctively. Whatever had happened tonight; Sierra had a feeling she was lucky to be alive. She stood and began to walk off into the night. It was best she get home.
electricfox777 unfortunately due to some scheduling issues and being a little bummed that nobody but me wanted to be part of it it was a little delayed.
