The Messenger of Monsters

Story by toucanplay on SoFurry

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#2 of Monsters

In this story, we follow the Dorn-creature on the quest embedded into him by his master: to awaken the monstrous allies. The first part of this quest required him to go high into the mountains, and then deep into the earth.

A miner named Roth gets caught up in it all, in the way you probably would expect.


With a vague path in mind, the creature headed off on its course.

Its body did not like being out of the water: there was no wetness here to cover his skin - the water dripping off its body provided a little comfort, but even that was quickly disappearing under the hot sun - and it was forced to walk along the surface and not dive up or down and had to step on many sharp things. But it had a mission to perform: the others needed to be alerted.

The large, hard spikes stuck in the ground, draped in green and brown, were a confusing maze, and the creature had some difficulty in navigating around them. Its foot-claws pushing aside some of the debris, its nares flared as it meandered through the maze of vegetation and geology, continually aiming in the general direction it had been sent.

Its nares flared large; it needed to keep hidden from the other large two-legged things. They would try to stop it, and it could not fail. It could kill them easily in its home habitat, but this was their place and although it would try if it came to that, it would prefer to travel quickly and return to its watery abode. It hoped it could find some underground pools when it got to its destination; even a small one in which to soak.

Its journey took it upwards, leaving the trees. It dropped onto its chest, crawling through the grass to keep hidden as much as possible; its dorsal fin stuck out, but that could not be helped. It slithered along, gaining altitude when it could, twisting its scaled body over rocks and through the lower vegetation.

It felt pleased when it came across a stream, that flowed through a field, just out of sight of a shepherd tending to his flock. It dipped beneath the surface, the cold water slipping over it soothingly. It closed its eyes, resting for a few moments. It had some cuts and scrapes and missing scales; the water slowly healed his body as his body squirted healing oils into the water.

Its eyes dozed, its arms sinking into the stream bed to keep it from being washed further down. Resting for about an hour, it emerged late in the afternoon, its oil-slick body slipping quickly out of the water. It had wasted enough time, and its enslaved mind was being pushed into further action.

Half-crawling and half-slithering, it made its way up into the mountains. The passing was slow; the higher it climber, the colder it became and the slower it was able to move. It was not designed for such cold climes lacking water.

It smelt the creatures it needed to avoided: they were amassed nearby, judging from the tracks. It knew it was on the right track, but the grass here was too sparse to hide in, and several of them occasionally moved about.

The light was starting to fade as the sun set behind the mountain ridge's far peaks. The creature was already feeling too cold and dry; it searched about frantically. The other creatures, it noticed, had build something around a cave in the mountain, but none of them seemed to be near it.

Suddenly it knew it had to go in there, and that what it searched for lay underneath the mountain and could be got to through that entrance. It bounded off, scuttling quickly across the stones. It would kill the creatures if they got in his way.

-===-

With blood trickling around his face from his nose like a rust-red moustache, Pier finally regained consciousness. A young man in a simple brown robe, who had been seated beside him quickly dashed away, while another young man and a young woman dressed in soft, white robes quickly rushed over. The nurses quickly wiped the blood off of his face and dripped mineralised water onto his tongue from a special flask.

Pier's head pounded. His avatar had been broken by the contaminated guard, and the effects on his body from the abrupt termination of the spell were still coursing through his body, although the were starting to dissipate. He felt a surge of frustration at himself for even entertaining the idea of releasing a trained fighter from his cage; a stupid blunder for a man well past his prime. Pier sighed and wished for retirement, an easy out for a failed magician. However, from what he knew this was unlikely to come to pass.

He weakly batted at the nurses, trying to get rid of them. He was angry at himself, and didn't want to be made to feel better right at this time; and he certainly didn't want any laymen around when he got a dressing-down. The nurses hovered beside him, and when Pier's state seemed to satisfy them enough, they quickly left; and just in time, for then through the door entered more brown-robed figures: three elderly men, all white-haired and wrinkled with time and the cost of knowledge. Pier couldn't tell which three they were - his eyesight was still blurry and unable to pick up on details - but he hazarded a guess anyway.

"I failed," Pier admitted, "He escaped."

"Apologies," one of the old men asked, "but who exactly are you talking about?" In his mind, Pier chuckled. Napier was always the last to know about current events; but that was standard for horologists.

"Do you ever read the reports?" another voice interrupted. It was Hill, Pier realized, taking a little comfort in the fact that even if he had erred badly that he at least retained some of his abilities of deduction. "A soldier got infected by that creature in the lake."

"And I take it he escaped?" the third asked. It was Hereth; Pier wheezed angrily. He thought that maybe it had been Arlan or possibly Rother. This was important, after all.

Pier nodded as best he could; his muscles were stiff and inflexible from disuse. "My fault," he wheezed, his voice quiet and weak, "Needed to know more."

The three men seemed to be whispering between themselves; after which, Hill crouched down near his face and said soothingly, "When you recover, we shall need you to make a full report, but in the meantime I will make sure Arlan and Rother know about how serious this is.

"The soldier?" Pier emphasized.

Hill answered, "There is nobody nearby who can help, so for the moment he - or rather what he has become - is lost to us. But hopefully we can still contain things; after all, we know where at least one of the others is and we can easily reinforce our defences there."

Pier grunted; he knew that things were far worse than Hill expected, but he was a friend and not a proper colleague so he would hardly understand the exact nature of the problem, at least in the near future. He would have to put his dreams of retirement on hold for a little while longer; he had to conserve his strength and get better before things became much worse.

-===-

Roth wasn't going to wait. The jabbering idiots he'd been working with didn't seem to be particularly keen on helping him get out of the narrow chasm into which he'd fallen. The stone beneath his feet had given way when an errant strike from his pickaxe had cracked through more rock than he'd been expecting; the stone underneath his feet, finally weakened enough from the mining company's actions to break apart like ice on a warm day, and down he'd tumbled, bouncing from side to side of the chasm that had been undiscovered below their feet the entire time.

His pick had snapped when he'd used it to hold up his weight at first, when the other miners had tried to reach him up. The wooden shaft had slowly worked its way out of the metal head, stuck into the rock, as Roth's heavily-muscled body had pulled it down at an angle the tool had not been designed for, and eventually the wood had broken through. After that, Roth had disappeared into the gloom, tossed between each of the shaft's walls as he abruptly descended.

His body was bruised and bleeding; in particular his legs, which had taken the brunt of the fall, ached and Roth suspected that at least one of his legs had been broken. However, being one of the strongest and most muscular of the miners, which was certainly something, made him reluctant to cry or make any sort of fuss. However, he was reluctant to lay here, sprawled and alone in the dark, for any longer than was necessary.

Roth cursed loudly, his voice echoing up the chasm, in an effort to remind them that he was still alive. If they didn't do something soon, he'd have to take matters into his own hands; literally, as his legs couldn't be relied upon for much in the way of movement.

While he waited, Roth worried. At least working as a miner paid well; not exorbitantly, but even after the taxes he was still able to put a bit of money away, as well as indulge in some of his vices - namely ale and engaging in a little prostitution - without too much worry. He hadn't had any of the problems with gambling some of the miners had, which had kept them working long after their lungs were too full of the black stuff - which they all had on and in their bodies at the end of the work day - to be very effective and still expect to have a decent go at life when they gambled too much.

However, now it was his own luck that had run out. Roth figured he'd probably have to move into some other sort of work now that he'd been crippled. He'd hardly be the first though: they got a lot of pay for this very reason. A lot of otherwise-brave men wouldn't want to risk the depths of the hills and mountains, delving into the unknown. Especially when men would return missing digits, or eyes, or limbs or not return at all. Roth considered himself lucky it hadn't been worse: he'd heard stories in the taverns of men mining too deep and falling into hot, molten rock that killed you with a breath, if you were lucky enough not to tumble into it.

After a while, he'd grown tired of waiting. The worried noises that accompanied any sort of accident had continued, but nobody seemed to be doing anything about getting him out. They may not have been able to hear him, Roth thought, and he'd have no chance if he didn't get out of here on his own.

Roth's large arms reached around him, fingers searching through the debris. The heavy broken stick was around somewhere - he'd been gripping on to it for dear life, even after it had snapped through - and he intended to use it for support to give him some help with his legs. When his fingers brushed against the splintered end, he pulled it into his hefty grip and pulled his damaged body onto all fours, cursing and crying in pain.

Heading along at a baby's pace, Roth crawled forward. He'd climb if necessary, even though without much use of his legs it would be difficult.

Suddenly the noises echoing down from above became louder, and screams tore through the air. Roth threw himself against the wall, expecting the rest of the floor of the mineshaft to be falling down around his head along with his fellow miners. The screams were then accompanied by other, inhuman sounds.

-===-

The creature crept noiselessly in the dark, its nares open. It smelled the other creatures inside the cave; Its path took it right through where their scent was strongest. It tensed the muscles in its arm, preparing to fight them.

The other creatures did not hear it approach, pressing its belly against the gloomy walls, using its natural camouflage as best as it could. They were making noises; most of them grunting with effort, others gesturing with their clawless limbs at each other. Most had strange things clasped in their hands. They must be weapons, it reasoned; the other creatures had come to kill the mountain.

They were clumped into small groups of two or three; it would have to use the tight spaces and low light to its advantage. It slowly approached the first pair, watching the tempo as the creatures swung their weapons. When their weapons both struck into the mountain at once, it dashed out, aiming for the blackened skin of their throats. Blood spurted up.

The other creatures nearby shrieked and screamed; it twisted its body, preparing to attack any others that came close. It opened its jaws; from what it had seen, its fangs were sharper than that of these creatures, and maybe it could intimidate them this way.

Most of the other creatures were shocked, and did not respond immediately; the nearest ones either fled or turned their weapons against the invader. It tensed the muscles in its legs, bunching up and pouncing, knocking the creatures backwards into a pile of flailing limbs. It crawled over them, digging its claws or fangs in to their soft flesh, mostly to dissuade them from trying to get up again.

Some of their weapons hit; it had been wounded, but it paid no attention to the pain. Its mind was being redirected to urgently fulfil its mission as its goal became so close. The other creatures were certainly strong, but its mind flared with hatred and a frenzied violence pulsed through it.

Leaping from one pile of bodies, it bounded into another group and used its momentum to leap upwards, twisting around and digging its claws into the rock, the corded muscles of its arms holding it against the ceiling before somersaulting over them. Its heart raced; this felt exactly like swimming, and it felt pleased.

The other creatures were panicking; they clearly had not expected to see any of its kind here. Most of them fled, either deeper into the mountain or towards the surface. The confusion worked on its side; it was able to barge through them as they fled for their lives or lay screaming in pain or horror.

Hurtling past the remaining small groups, it pushed itself deeper into the passage in the mountain. Suddenly, it jerked to a stop: the sense directing it shuddered through his body. A huge gap in the floor just before it froze its body temporarily. It glanced down, looking down at the chasm underneath. This new chasm would lead it to where it wanted to go, if it could climb down the sides.

The other creatures seemed to have noticed that it had paused. It wasted no more time, and dove into the chasm.

-===-

Roth had slowly crawled away from the wall once he realized the cavern wasn't going to collapse around him right at this moment. Up above, something terrible was happening but whatever it was didn't seemed to be localized up above. At least, that's what he thought, until he saw the dark shadow leap past the bright torchlight from above, and heard rock giving way as some heavy body dashed up against the wall.

It looked like a person had just jumped through the hole he'd fallen through. Roth, bracing himself from the pain that was throbbing through his lower body, crawled towards it. Dark silhouettes of heads peered down into the darkness. The screaming from above slowly lost its urgency, but it still occurred so whatever the other miners had called down wasn't getting to him clearly enough through the echoing and other noises for Roth to understand what they were saying.

At first, he thought maybe someone had leaped down here to save him, but with no rope and from the sounds of above, whoever had leapt down had done so out of fear of whatever had happened topside. Then the creature scuttled past him, and Roth's blood ran cold.

Whatever the thing was, it was humanoid in basic form, but it reeked of fish and even with the dimmest light, Roth could already make out the weird features that separated this thing from humanity. It had scales glinting faintly on its head, which seemed to lack a nose though it snuffled about regardless. Its thickly-webbed digits ended with claws, that occasionally caught the torchlight meandering down through the hole in the mineshaft.

It sniffed, or something, at him as it past by. Roth grasped the stick, preparing to strike it if it attacked, but it seemed to pass by and dash quickly past him and deep into the gloom of the caves.

-===-

The creature's progress was swift. The sharp cutting pain of the rocks, and the wounds it gained from the weapons were being diverted from his brain as it rapidly approached the end of its journey.

It noticed one of the other creatures down in the depths; it smelled of blood, like those it had attacked earlier, and it had decided it was wounded and so worth ignoring. It left the wounded creature where it lay; its fate and those of any others down here were going to be decided very shortly.

The deep, pitch-black chamber it entered smelled of sulphur; it had memories of this from some water sources that it instinctively avoided, but here it seemed suitable. Somewhere, hidden in the gloom, slept one of its master's allies; it now knew that it was here to awaken it, and more importantly how to do just that.

Because the ally it had been sent to rouse was camouflaged on top of slumbering in the dark, its master had reshaped its body principally for this purpose. Its muscles tensed; it spread its legs, raising its arms up, spreading its arms widely into the air. Its abdominal muscles tensed. Its crotch thrust slowly forwards and backwards.

Its genital slit opened; trapped warm lake water trickled out as its tentacled penis emerged, quickly arching to point upwards. Its heart rate increased as blood surged through its body, its fanged mouth open and panted heavily.

It felt itself slowly lose control as its master took control, speaking through its mouth and controlling every aspect of its being again. The master's voice called out, as fluid started to leak out of its penis.

It groaned as it's penis bobbed up and down, fluid dripping out. From within the cavern, the sleeping creature began to stir as the scent and sounds triggered in its mind.

-===-

Sitting quietly in the darkness, terrified and with legs painfully throbbing, Roth pushed himself up onto his hands and knees.

The others, either having forgotten him completely or assuming either the fall or the creature had killed him, had left from looking down the hole into the chasm and had disappeared, the sounds of the screams and cries dulled, the small amount of light being removed as Roth guessed they were abandoning the mine.

If he didn't leave know, Roth realised he would die. With the mine abandoned, nobody else would be coming in, and soon the outpost would disappear as the money brought in for the ore they extracted disappeared. Besides, nobody would want to live this close to the dwelling of a monster. Getting out in his wounded condition would take days, if not longer, and if he ever managed it at all he'd have to make it to the next town; all with trying to avoid whatever that creature had been if it decided that he was better off being killed, or if it simply got hungry enough to want to eat him.

His muscular arms strained, and he groaned in pain, as he pulled himself along; crawling would be too painful, and he wanted to preserve whatever reserves he had for dealing with that pain until it became absolutely necessary. Wriggling his hips from side to side helped, though he felt further pain as his genitals were squashed against the sharp, pointy stone debris that was scattered around him.

The travelling was slow and painful, and in the pitch blackness Roth could not tell which direction he was travelling in; he initially tried to travel in the opposite direction from the creature, but he had no idea of exactly which direction it had been in. When the creature had been passing, he had been too preoccupied with preparing to defend himself from it that he had been too scatterbrained when the danger had subsided.

Roth pulled himself over the rock fragments, moving slowly as they jabbed him, increasing his pain; once he had past the majority of them, Roth could move faster, though he still made slow progress as his body crashed into the caverns sides in the darkness.

Grunting, Roth felt an opening on the nearest wall; with no better option, he braced himself and pushed upwards, sliding onto the irregular step, before continuing his slow pace.

Hearing noises that, while muffled, seemed to be talking, he advanced, supporting himself with his bulky, scarred, dirty forearms. The sulphurous odour filling his nostrils didn't dissuade him; Roth thought realistically that chances are he was already fated to die that there'd be no point in avoiding it.

His left arm brushed against a pile of what seemed like rocks; a few tumbled on him and by their weight and texture, Roth realised they were bones. Roth shivered, hoping that maybe it was the refuse pile of some bandits or some people sheltering in the mountain cave over a particularly strong summer, but something in him made him feel it was far more, far worse than that.

Suddenly fire erupted somewhere not too far in front of him, and Roth's eyes quickly clamped shut, the light hurting his eyes. Dazed, he froze for a moment before opening his eyes again.

The creature he'd passed before - some weird hybrid of fish and man, from the looks of things - was standing spreadeagled, fang-filled mouth wide open. Its penis - or what Roth took to be his penis, as although it was in the right spot and seemed to be squirting fluids like Roth knew they did, wasn't like one he's seen on any man or beast before - flailed about, dripping and squirting what seemed to be a large amount of fluid. It caught the light, running down the creature's scaly legs; some even dripped from its wrists, when the arms tensed and lowered in front of itself.

In front of this creature, a large pile of stones appeared to be moving; it was as though this part of the mountains had a long, reptilian head, at the end of a neck which disappeared behind the edge of the cavern from Roth's position. The large creature's mouth opened and closed, smoke pouring out; it seemed to be speaking to the smaller creature. Roth just stared at the creature's giant fangs; at first Roth compared them to diamonds before noting that they could very well be diamonds.

Suddenly, the large stone reptile turned slowly; Roth tried to back away, but in his prone position prevented him from getting very far. The smaller creature, as if awakening, turned groggily to face Roth as well, its penis still arcing and bobbing, but the flow of fluids had reduced to a trickle. It quickly lumbered over towards him, its slender but strong body advancing quickly over the stones.

Roth rolled over, slowly turning, trying to get into a position from which to fight off the creature, but the pain made him slow; he screamed as his broken legs were first clamped on by the clammy, clawed, musky hands of the fish-creature, then pulled out further into the cavern.

The large stone creature seemed to almost disappear into the wall, but when it seemed to shift itself he noticed it's gigantic outline. The creature seemed to be sitting - well, almost merged - with a large deposit of diamonds. Bones littered about, most from large animals like horses and cattle, and some even larger and even some that Roth could not place.

Huge stone-coloured wings uncurled from around the creature's shoulders, two forelegs appearing as the creature stood, knocking some stalactites off of the ceiling as the quadruped raised itself up. The diamonds, Roth noted, were actually embedded in the giant's limbs.

Roth yelled; the fish-creature had flipped him over onto his back, clawed hands and feet pinning his limbs down. Roth struggled against it, but although he could normally easily overpower the creature, the pain of his body had sapped his strength, and the struggle became more equal.

Loud rumblings started from below; Roth felt the rock shift beneath him, sliding and shifting as his body slowly sank into the ground, the rock almost starting to flow around his body like mud. The fish-creature lifted up; Roth was now being held down by the stone. The fish-creature's penis dripped fluid over him as it stood, staring at him with the cold, blackened fish-eyes it had.

It stared back at the stone lizard, then dashed away, disappearing from Roth's forced perspective. Encased on all sides by stone, Roth felt the giant monster's gaze fixing upon it. The force of it made him shrink back, or at least as much as he could in his trapped condition.

The creature rose up; the earth rumbling as its heavy grey forepaws slammed down into the rocky shelf on either side of where Roth was trapped. Its head bobbed above Roth's position, its eyes searing into his brain. From below, rocks shifted as a heavy stone probe pushed against his lower back, a sharp edge digging into his back.

Roth tilted his eyes down, the smaller creature had return, clutching onto a bleached, desiccated bovine skull in its hands. It lowered the skull onto the top of Roth's head. The creature was still aroused, now slowly dripping fluid as the creature leaned down on top of him. Its claws curled through Roth's tunic, tearing it into ribbons as the materical caught between the claws and against the sharp edge of the stone around him. The pants, too, were quickly removed, being torn open both above and below.

The probe underneath him, having worn apart his clothing, scraped down his bare spine. Pushing his crotch upwards, he felt its peak move above his tightly-close ring. Roth, caught in the intense vision of the creature, felt itself being surrounded by the smoke the giant monster breathed out, his skin slowly burning. The walls still seemed to burn from his breath earlier, and Roth waited for the painful burning end in the creature's flames.

Suddenly a huge wave of warm liquid rock squirted out, washing over Roth's body, pouring into his nose, mouth and opened eyes. A bubble formed, which popped as another wave washed over him, the liquid rock sliding into his open mouth, coating his guts. His painful body seized up as the liquid rock started to harden.

Roth felt the large skull press against his own, the weight of the contracting rock pulling on his body. It pulled his skin and insides hard against the stone filling him up. His lungs and stomach inundated, Roth felt his mind fading, as the stone seeped into his brain through the torn lining and cracked skull.

Immediately, Roth's mind began to fill with new thoughts, as his body strengthened. His skull continued to crack, but he felt his vitality returning as the stone knitted into his flesh. The intense pain he had felt abated, and even his previous wounds started to mend, easing him.

His ass eased open, the stone tube entering his body. His muscles bulged and throbbed, his own penis straining to escape from the hard stone around his body. The cattle skull split, sliding around his one, which give way, his own features merging into the new structure.

Roth pushed hard, with great strength; the stone gave way as his stone-infused arms broke through. One fist in the air, he reached down, to claw at the excess stone from around his face. More stone fluid poured over him, but now his body craved it, and once he'd freed his bovine jaw he bellowed, drinking it in eagerly.

His mind fuzzy, Roth cleared off the rest of his body, amazed at the sharp edges of his face. Crystalline and tough, Roth felt strong, his bovine horns prepared to penetrate anything. The stone filling his rectum throbbed, and he bellowed as pleasure pushed away the remainder of his pain.

His torso thrust up; Roth was amazed at the enlargement that his chest muscles - already impressive - had undergone. Heavy and sharp, with near-chiselled pectorals that ran into a long line of round, emphasized abdominals surrounded by a wide chest. The stony back muscles were gigantic; as Roth freed more of himself, he knew he had to be at least a foot taller than he had been.

He bellowed again, heavy round fingers digging through the stone, freeing the outline of his new genitals as his legs shifted. A sharp knee cut through the topmost layer, the end being knocked off by an eager hand. Stone hooves ended his feet, which tilted back before the now free Roth rolled forwards.

Another surge of pleasure throbbed through him; Roth's tail twitched as small shards dropped from around the heavy tube dangling from his chest. It pointed upwards, his shaft now as thick as a young man's arm and as long as his forearm; hardened stone, it was ready at all times.

His hands clenched down on it, the heavy stone scrotum dangling between his outsized hips. Even though it seemed to be made of stone, and was shaped strangely - it tapered to a point - it still felt good to hold, and with his mind full of lustful thoughts, and his body being pleasured from within, Roth pleasured himself.

He stood up, still enamoured with his new form; his hard body swelled and contracted with the sound of stone against stone. His legs spread apart, slightly crouching with his tail raised.

The giant stone creature's own penis was hard and exposed, easily more than three times Roth's own height; Roth felt a strong desire to please this great creature. He bellowed in desire, enraged that the creature's erection leaked with the stone fluid that had coated him, denying him the chance of giving him that pleasure.

The strong need, and the frustration started to destroy Roth's memories. He filled with a hatred for his past form: so strong he thought, yet now he knew the true strength of stone. Stone he had tried to injure! He bellowed again, tightly jerking his hand up and down on his heavy shaft, his stroking pace quickened. Stone chips sprayed out of the tip of his penis, a hot stream of yellow, sulphurous-scented goo dripped out afterwards, weakly at first, but quickly coating his shaft.

Roth's free hand went to work, massaging the base of his shaft while the other continued to work on the tip. The large reptile continued to stare at him; Roth knew it was pleasuring him with the thing in his anus, and Roth was greatful. His body boiled with lust and growing hatred towards humans. It couldn't wait to catch any foolish enough to want to steal treasures from its rightful master - now his master, too - and return those that had been taken.

The volcanic hatred made him bellow; caught up in emotions, he ejaculated, the pungent smell of sulphur washing over him as his fluids washed over the end of his penis, heavy globs flowing down over him.

He panted with pleasure, mind satisfied with each additional squirt with trying to forget about his destroyed humanity, and his dedication to his master and their new cause. It bellowed once again, discarding the name Roth and calling himself now Ironlord.

Ironlord, still oozing yellow ejaculate, turned over as he recovered himself, prostrating himself before his master, who breathed a cleansing fire over him. Ironlord shuddered, feeling his eponymous metal start to form in his bones, reinforcing his form to be even tougher and long-lasting. The fire boiled away the remaining human traces of the form inside, the essence of Ironlord wedded firmly with his stone shell.

Ironlord rose, acknowledging his compatriot from his master's ally. He would have to thank him; his service had awoken his master and brought about his rebirth. His master consented, for he felt a pleasurable thrum ripple through his body.

But that could come later, for his master was already telling him he had a duty to perform. A mission that his compatriot could not make, given his feeble, flesh body.

Ironlord nodded, pleased to be serving his master.

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