You knock on the stone, trying to fathom its thickness. You press your ear closer, and knock again. You can hear your knuckles hitting the stone, and it certainly sounds hollow. You consider pulling out fortresssparks, but that would leave you in darkness.
Getting an idea, you step back and try to bash down the wall with a kick. You hear a resounding boom on the other side of the rock, then a slight rumble. When nothing else happens, you wind up for another, but suddenly the world is replaced with noise, light, and falling stone.
You awaken a moment later, and everything has settled. You are surrounded by... sunlight? You look up and see the fiery orb blazing brightly above you. Your eyes adjust in time to see the immense paw swiping toward you. You jump to the side, and will fortresssparks into your hand as a knife. You get on your feet quickly, but are forced to flatten once more when you notice another furry appendage heading your way. You leap up and sprint to an alcove in the white, circular wall. An instant before you charge to safety, it is closed off. You put your back against the wall, but the titanic tiger is charging you again. With only a fraction of a second to spare, you leap between its front legs and grab onto its right hind leg. You scramble up, using fortresssparks as a climbing axe.
You pause for a moment as the world becomes noise again. You must have hit a nerve somewhere, but start climbing again anyway. You aren't sure why, but you get halfway up to its rump before it starts fighting back. You hold for dear life, wrest fortresssparks from the great cat's leg, then stab and slash wildly whenever it brings its head or paws around. You make it to the knee, but it starts flailing its leg in a maddened attempt to shake you off. You just... barely... hold... on... until it stops. You start feeling the onrushing fatigue drench you, but survival depends on being able to get on top of this thing. You climb ever higher, and cross onto its mighty backside. You begin to sprint to its neck for the kill, but your next step fails to connect with its back as the monstrosity rolls over. You fall into a fold of skin and tumble to the floor. You quickly jump to your feet, but before you can do anything three big men in red uniforms wrestle you to the ground. You thrash violently in their grasp.
After a moment, you notice that the tiger is purring. Loudly. Something has subdued it, and it's lying on its back like it expects a stomach rub. The men in red lift you and walk you toward the alcove you had been closed out of earlier. Up some stairs and through a hall, you are taken to a room with a birds eye view of the chamber you had your battle in. A man in a white coat addresses you.
"Who the hell are you?"
"John," you answer innocently.
He gives you a nasty look. "Where did you come from? And why were you trying to kill the subject?"
"I'm not sure on the first one, but I can say with confidence that the tiger attacked me first."
"What do you mean you aren't sure?"
"Well, I blacked out and woke up in there with your "Subject" trying to kill me."
He looks about to ask another question, but stops himself and turns to one of the guards. "Ask quantum if they've noticed anything unusual lately." The guard salutes and leaves.
"Where am I?" you ask.
"You are in a room of the beneath labs. We study the creatures of the caverns. This 'tiger' was found on the third expedition. We're trying to find an answer for how it got so big."
"Magic?" You say.
He shakes his head, but says nothing.
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Topic: Fugue: Once more. (Read 32274 times)