Astaroth Ankh- Anima eterna (Eternal life)
#4 of Astaroth Ankh
Astaroth # 7 - Eternal life Astaroth Ankh the batmorph (and the concepts in which this series will develop is MY CREATION, so NO STEALING). It contains foul language, cruelty, infanticide, violence, mutilation, gore and seduction. If you are a minor you should NOT read this material or where this material is forbidden. If you're an ADULT, enjoy this! Prologue... A young raccoon girl clad in ragged clothes panted as she hurried towards a nearby city. She though: 'I must bring this relic to the resistance cell before it fall into the hands of the crown's usurper, or the reign of terror will be literally endless.' She smiled briefly as she saw the sailboat in which she would deliver the semitransparent orb. As the young lass tried to rappel down the cliff, she realized that the rope was ripping apart. She hurried her progress and almost made it to the end when the rope snapped. She survived the fall, but she hit her head against a rock when she crashed on the floor. She staggered in a haze as she walked into a nearby cave to seek refuge. Just when she made it inside the shelter, she fainted.
It was almost a year since the Dickinson family moved to an inhabited yet fertile island far from continent's shore. They bought all the reptilian cattle they could manage to handle and constructed a small timber fortress near a series of interconnected limestone caverns, which were close to the shoreline. After witnessing the senseless death and destruction they saw in the Dragon city's street riots they decided to cut off all contact with the rest of the continent. Katherine was especially affected; especially when she saw with horror how a group of soldiers took turns in raping anally and killing a blind otter boy that they judged to be sinful and 'impure'. When the mangled boy thought that they had their 'fun' and sated their lust with him, they hit him on the head until he got a skull fracture that killed him. They were spellbound as they explored the pristine, white-sand coastlines and admired the turquoise waters that surrounded that lush, emerald island. This unexplored land seemed too good to be true until Amanda whispered: 'Damn, if the wolves saw this paradise, they wouldn't hesitate to kill us and steal this place'. Amanda thought that by the glare she got from the foxes, she was going to be switched. But the foxes realized that this peaceful 'paradise' was only a mirage that could make them forget the reason why they came here as the threat of a possible invasion crept into their minds. So Aster and his half-brother 'Lutin' took turns in patrolling the coast while Amanda and the foxes took care of the brontosaur herd. While Aster was resting from a strenuous flight, he took a mango from the floor and washed it with his water-skin. Aster flexed his wings and was about to start his patrol again when he suddenly heard a faint groan. It came from one of many caves used to shelter the foxes' reptile herd. The bat cub thought: 'WE'RE BEING INVADED!' A knot formed in the bat's throat as an irrational fear played cruel tricks on him. He thought: 'What if there's an enemy soldier hiding inside? What if the trooper wasn't alone, but he was joined by a whole platoon and I'm walking into a trap?' The bat didn't know what to do, if to get help from the foxes and allow the intruder to alert the rest of the platoon, or capture him and risk himself getting killed? He tried to aim his crossbow straight, but the terror he felt couldn't let him keep his paws steady. He was perplexed when he discovered not a soldier, but a wounded hunter lying on the floor. Without thinking it twice, he teleported himself and the wounded person to the foxes' cabin. When he dragged the patient in and opened the patient's jacket to heal the wounds; the inside of his ears turned pink as he saw her bare bosom. He sighed: "I don't believe this! I'm treating this female like my younger brother! It's not the time to get ashamed, this girl needs help!" So Aster ran like the wind to his brother's room. Aster blinked twice when he found his brother 'Lutin' and the mouse-girl making love wildly and kissing each other. She felt giddy as she felt a soul-crushing orgasm approaching, then she whispered: 'After several millennia of being imprisoned inside that medallion, I forgot what it is like to be alive." He bolted outside and knocked on the door. The lovers blushed heavily as they realized they have been seen. The mouse girl replied: 'I think your brother saw us, because he never knocks on the door.' So they dressed and made themselves presentable before answering: "Come in!" Aster panted as he said: "Lutin, call the foxes and tell them that I found a wounded raccoon. 'Mouse', find some healing scrolls, bandages and come with me. Please hurry!" The surprised couple looked at each other before they bolted into action. 'Mouse' approved Aster's quick thinking as he used his 'parasitic' blood to cure the female. After the herbal and first aid treatment, the patient started to groan weakly and tried to stand up. 'Lutin' intervened: "Hey! You should not stand up until you are fully recuperated. You need to heal." The raccoon girl whispered: "I must bring this artifact to her majesty the countess so she can destroy it!" 'Mouse' frowned when she picked up the amber-colored sphere from the raccoon's pouch. She froze when she saw the carved runes on the semi-transparent surface. Realizing that this relic was far more dangerous than the medallion that once imprisoned her soul, she yelled: "Aster, you must sent a telepathic message to your parents. We will have to go with her!" So the trio of youngsters took their 'special' outfits, a guitar case filled with crossbows, some gold coins, 'fly-swatters' and dry food. The three children carried the raccoon girl on a stretcher. Two hours later they went inside the sailboat. Mouse spoke: "This rescue mission can become a one way ticket to hell in an eye's flicker. It won't be like a Terran adventure movie and we can get killed before we know it. This raccoon girl is hurt because someone wants this dangerous relic for God knows what." Aster frowned: "I have suspected that!" He mused: "The only advantage that we have is that we haven't been in that city before so no fur would ever recognize us. We still have to keep a low profile and not engage in any rescue if we want to survive." Aster sighed with frustration: "And tell me why in hell aren't you wearing the clothing that I gave you!" 'Mouse' pouted: "I don't like it. This ugly yellow jacket looks discolored." Aster's looked angrily and lectured her the same way Katherine did: "This clothing has a brown-gray camouflaged pattern on the other side, and it's covered with chain-mail underneath. Use it to protect yourself, or you'll get hurt, or worse! It's your choice." Mouse felt chastened and she kept silent. So with the raccoon girl fully recuperated, they slowly walked towards the city disguised as commoners. The guards looked suspiciously at the lonely adolescent raccoon but they didn't give a second look at the cubs. The group walked across the city to a small house in an affluent commercial neighborhood. 'Lutin' ran ahead from the group as he began to search all over the place for guards, or any possible ambushers. Oddly, the house was disturbingly quiet, like a derelict building, although everything outside the structure was clean and in perfect order. He became nervous when he imagined that he was being watched so he hid in the crawlspace under the house. Then Lutin saw a dark liquid dropping continually from a crack in the floor above him, like a broken faucet. Was it blood? Unexpectedly, the smell of putrid blood permeated all over the place, like in a messy butcher shop. So Lutin crawled out of the crawlspace and peeked thru one of the windows. In that instant, he felt an incontrollable nausea as he bolted to the bushes. Then, he started to retch and vomit after seeing the grotesque and horrible scene inside the house. He began to tremble and weep. Meanwhile, the raccoon girl knocked the door rhythmically three times and a middle-aged giraffe female appeared. The raccoon girl exclaimed surprised: 'You aren't the person who is supposed to meet me here! Where is Jonah?' The giraffe asked: "Do you have the amulet?" The raccoon girl retorted: "Do you think that I would be stupid enough to carry it all over the city? I will only give it to Jonah so it could be destroyed." The raccoon girl's eyes began to glow with a blue light, as she stepped back a couple of times before she fled away thru the front door. The giraffe looked icily at her victim before drawing a crossbow beneath her long, black robes and shoot at the raccoon's head twice. The giraffe's eyes widened when she failed, so she gripped her scimitar as she gazed at her next kill. When both females crossed thru the front door, the giraffe disappeared in a flash of blue light. The panting raccoon asked incredulously: "Where did the giraffe went?" Aster and 'Lutin' appeared out of nowhere and asked almost simultaneously: "Are you alright?" The raccoon girl nodded: "I do not understand! I should be dead by now!" Aster smiled: "I've created a dimensional portal between you and the giraffe in the case that she attacked you." The girl smiled when she remembered that these bats were psychics, but then she frowned worriedly: "But what about Jonah, and why he isn't here?" The bat siblings gulped and lowered their head guiltily. The raccoon understood their facial expressions and whispered: "Oh dear God, NO!" The raccoon girl was an emotional wreck as she cried her soul out. The winged brothers had the grim task of collecting the severed body parts and burying them in the garden. Then Aster and Lutin tried unsuccessfully to calm her. She furiously yelled at the bats: "Fuck off, all of you!" Then her face turned into an unemotional mask, full of hatred: "I promise that I will kill whoever did this to him." Aster sighed: "Fine. I'll leave you alone if that's what you want, but slaying whomever killed your uncle will only get you at the same level of that killer! Not so long ago, I was in the same situation that you are now. Although life can be a real bitch, I will never in my life reclaim the lives of those who killed my family." She nodded between tears and said: "I'm sorry. I didn't know that you had such a rough time and I owe you my life. I am a war orphan and uncle Jonah raised me like I was his daughter, although it isn't the same being raised half time by a spy instead of having a real family. But my uncle didn't deserved to be killed and disemboweled like a sheep ready to be roasted. Tell me, what happened to the giraffe?" Aster said: "I've created a mental link between you and the assassin so you would anticipate her thoughts. When she attacked you, I send her to a trip-wired floor set by another soldier. She won't risk trying to disarm those crude bombs because they are bobby trapped." The raccoon girl smirked: "You're paying her with the same way she used to kill my uncle. Good!" Aster looked at 'Mouse': "Your face was pale beneath your fur when you saw this object. 'Mouse', please tell me what does this artifact do and why were you so nervous." Aster became worried and muttered: 'Why that roedent didn't tell me before? This transparent orb is a time-altering artifact. Now I am more confused than before. From what 'Mouse' told me, this device would only be effective as a substitute for cryogenic hibernation in space travel'. The raccoon girl frowned, not understanding a single word that the bat said. Then suddenly it hit him: "If this orb used in combination with a dimensional portal, anyone could see glimpses of possible futures and predict what would likely happen. Or anyone could transport him or herself back to the past and alter the present time?" Aster yelled in alarm: ' Lutin, Mouse, we must travel to that castle now. Ring tail, you will have to improvise our way into the palace and how to infiltrate inside.' Aster then inwardly cursed: 'Why am I so stupid? I should have never accepted this trip, instead I should bend down and let anyone that passes by fuck me in the butt.' Aster looked at the raccoon girl and protested: ' If you said that this usurper is so cruel why in blazes you didn't ask another noble to step into the throne.' The raccoon retorted: 'Do you think that anyone would volunteer to challenge that psychotic asshole and not get slain in the process? My uncle remembered how the old king squealed like a freshly fucked girl just before an axe split his head in two. All the royal family members were executed by hanging along with relatives, allies and servants. Their corpses were left to rot with maggots all over them!' Aster felt overwhelmed as he covered his head and huge ears with his paws At the same time, in the castle's main tower... A tall male tiger clad in luxurious clothes and wearing heavy gold chains stood at the window: 'Ha, the carrier pigeon has arrived and giraffe assassin informed me that she is waiting for the amulet courier as planned. The subversives believed the false message that I've sent and I deceived them to do my bidding. She told me that the spy has been interrogated, slain and mutilated as an example for those who would think about defying me. Soon the worries of the mere mortals will be a thing of the past. I have hundreds of pounds of gold, slaves, a beautiful female, everything a regent should desire. But as the time passes, even if nobody tries to kill me, disease and time will take its toll. And I do not have the intention to loose my fortune because of my demise, for I have paid in tears, suffering and my own blood all I have now. Years ago I would give to anyone half of my fortune to live forever, but thanks to the courier that my soldiers have intercepted and slain, I shall never fear even death itself. Now to take care of some loose ends.' Later, in the castle... 'Why do we have to be dressed like this?'- Aster asked. The raccoon answered as she fixed Lutin's barmaid bonnet: 'I already told you that these are the only garments that could cover your faces, wings and big ears. I had to be careful when I stole a bigger one for you because my spare dress could only fit your younger brother.' Astaroth sighed in humiliation as the raccoon girl applied make-up to him. She whispered: 'You're a very cute service maid, nose-leaf.' Aster groaned in protest and the raccoon found it amusing. She raised an eyebrow: ' I think it would be better if you took off that yellow jacket.' Aster retorted: 'I think not, because it has chain-mail underneath.' The raccoon girl nodded in surprise as the group walked towards the castle in search for the informant. Aster asked: 'Where are we supposed to meet this contact?' The ring-tailed girl answered: 'We are supposed to tell him that the crystal orb will arrive soon and the countess should be ready to destroy it, but we will not reveal ourselves as the messengers, in case anyone is hearing.' Then Lutin's hunger and childish impatience made him separate from the group as he made a beeline to the kitchen while the rest of his peers looked puzzlingly. At the same moment a chestnut horse sergeant was searching for a jar of oatmeal. He muttered: 'This darn skin rash is not letting me sleep. Perhaps some oatmeal shall alleviate my skin.' The horse frowned when a small 'vixen' padded towards the sausage cauldron with a bread bun in her paws. The horse shook his head disapprovingly as he moved forward to reprimand that 'vulpine barmaid'. The horse thought that a mere servant should not eat a soldier's meal. 'Lutin' was looking at the door while at the same time he picked a thick 'sausage' and placed it in the bread bun. When the little bat opened his muzzle, a musky smell was emanating from the sausage. Was the food spoiled? The horse smiled when he realized that the 'vixen' placed his long penis in a hot-dog bun with mustard. This vixen liked to play kinky! He said: "Hurry up ugly bitch and eat your sausage!" Lutin made a face when he realized that he was about to eat a type of 'meat' that he didn't want, as his roedent lover yelled with a tone of jealousy: "LUTIN!" The raccoon girl calmed everybody before this incident would call any unwanted attention. Then, the ring tailed female addressed to the horse: 'We are here to bring a message to our highness, the countess. Tell her that the messenger is about to make its way into the city. The medallion shall be in her possession so she can dispose of it.' The horse nodded and walked away. The raccoon spoke: 'We are in danger of being discovered if anyone heard us. We shall move into a safe house.' Mouse began to frown as she followed her winged 'brothers'. Why all this effort to deliver an amulet and not destroy the relic where it was found? **************** In Lord Hedwig's room, a ferret slave girl, armor clad and carrying daggers appeared. She said: 'Master, one of the slaves noticed a strange love affair involving a horse and an alleged 'servant fox maid'. When the horse was followed and questioned he swallowed a poison pill that left him into a coma, and we found part of a scorched, encrypted message burning in a nearby fire. A slave is tracking the 'vixen maid' right now.' The tiger raised an eyebrow: ' It seems like I have treacherous rattlesnakes at every corner. Bring that vulpine slave to me! And good work, you shall have some gold and will share my pillow tonight.' The slave girl bowed and left. At that moment, in the city slums... The group crawled from rooftop to rooftop until they went into an abandoned warehouse near the castle and stayed inside. He was surprised to find ten families cramped inside the deteriorated structure, which was just a crumbling building with no dividing walls. Aster grimaced at the place's condition and thought: " My siblings and I had jumped from the frying pan into the fire". Aster spoke: "Who are these people?" The raccoon answered: "These people are runaway debt slaves, or deserters from Lord Hedwig's conscripted army. We take refuge here until we find a place outside the city. We cannot go anywhere at this time, because if we are caught and can't explain why are we violating the curfew, we will get killed on the spot." Aster nodded and then, he carried the guitar case to one of the guards. The bat spoke as he showed six crossbows to the constable: "I have a little something for you!" The constable was almost speechless: "How in heavens did you get all this?" Aster replied: "I am a very lucky ivory gatherer." The constable grinned as he distributed the weapons to all the guards, giving them a better chance to survive. Now they felt safer than using crude clubs and slings. After instructing the guards about the operation of the new weapons, Aster began to search for his brother. He found Lutin in his lover's arms. He whispered: " Lutin, I have a very bad feeling about this situation. I want you, 'Mouse' and the raccoon to be alert and stay together, please. If something gets messy, the three of you will teleport to the city gates. Now, give me the artifact and do not wait for me to make the dimensional jump!" Not even five minutes after Astaroth's warning, the lizard mercenaries stormed the place, stabbing or shooting arrows at any 'furry' they found regardless if they resisted or not, and not caring who they were, young or old, female or cub. The butchery kept going until the runaway soldiers fired an arrow volley at the surprised reptile guards. They tried to retaliate, but the deserters just kept disappearing on the thin air. The reptiles changed their tactics and avoided hand-to-hand combat, instead they shoot volley after volley of arrows. The rebels only relied on a few crude shields and had no armor, so their numbers began to diminish. Aster teleported the uninjured civilians and left the soldiers on their own, causing even more casualties. Strangely, the soldiers fled just on the verge of winning. The remaining wounded soldiers and civilians were both puzzled and horrified. What did the mercenaries had in store for them? Aster flew to the ceiling and peeked thru a hole. His jaw hung down as the lizard soldiers poured oil around the whole building and sealed off with timbers all the doors and windows. THEY ARE GOING TO BURN DOWN THE PLACE WITH EVERYONE INSIDE! He knew he had to do something, but he was running out of options. He flew down with the medallion, draining telepathically the captain's mind. He reflected on what the captain thought and made a lie that perhaps the captain wanted to believe. He threw the medallion near a dead rebel and made a gesture to pick it up. He cursed himself: "I said that I would keep a low profile and would not save anyone, and here I am trying to buy the refugees lives at the expense of my own." One of the lizard soldiers yelled to Aster and told him to raise his paws. He did, as cold sweat soaked his fur: 'If they see the glare in my eyes when I'm using my telekinesis, I'll be doomed.' He knelled down and shivered. The guard smiled sadistically to him as he nudged him to towards the reptilian captain. The captain addressed to him: "Do you know what we do to subversives around here?" Aster shook his head, although he knew very well. He lied blatantly: "Sire, I picked up this object because I wanted to save the lives of my relatives." The captain spoke: "You are very insolent for a service maid. But I might grant your request, if you take off your panties." Aster gulped not because of what the captain intended to do, but because of the reptile's angry glare when a messenger spoke to him. The captain hissed angrily: "Are you sure she is the maid?" The captain grabbed the bat's neck as he pressed a knife on his belly. A trickle of yellow liquid was heard falling as a puddle formed below Aster's feet. The winged cub lied again: "A-About t-two days ago a middle-aged raccoon male gave me a lot of gold and told me to find a chestnut horse. I was instructed to tell him that an unidentified package was to be delivered, that's all!" The guard nodded as all the pieces fell in place: "If this slut didn't mind playing games with a horse, she will have no objections in giving her body to all the regiment. Take this 'bitch' slave to our highness. And set the whole place on fire!" Aster's hearth broke when he heard the order. Two hours later, at the palace... Aster couldn't stop crying as his mind played again and again the horrible crime tonight. He barely knew all those people. But after seeing all those 'furries' turning into carbonized corpses while they agonized was enough to make cry the most hardened soul. He marveled when he saw the magnificent palace. The ceiling was lined in gold plate with intricate geometrical designs; whole walls were covered with amber stones, and the black marble floors had a flowered pattern. Aster was mesmerized; he would never be able to construct anything like it even if he found Ivory tusks everyday for the next five thousand years. He looked up for a moment and saw a tiger wearing luxurious, gold trimmed clothes, and an aquamarine dragoness in pregnancy. She was only wearing a purple silk loincloth, with lots of heavy gold chains and diamond rings on her hind leg digits. The guard pushed Aster and he fell, but the bat didn't yell at the guard. The soldier roared: "Bow to Lord Hedwig and the Countess, you miserable roach!" The tiger began to analyze with a scrutinizing look the 'bitch maid' has 'she' entered the castle's main hall. Aster prostrated himself but he raised his head briefly to see the Countess. Just when the winged cub looked at her, she had an alarming look in her scaled face, which she promptly disguised with an expression of disgust and indifference. The paranoid feline regent noticed her reaction and decided to bluff his intentions and see what she was up to. He said: "I will torture this 'kit fox' myself and discover all the persons who are implicated in this subversive plot. Take that 'cub' away!" Two hours later, the regal clad feline knocked at the dragoness' door just when she tried to send a carrier pigeon. He smiled with a hint of aggressiveness that made her shiver: "Hello my dear, are you ready for my coronation?" She stammered: "Just give me a minute." The tiger replied: "Fetch me a glass, I want to toast for my new kingdom and my heir." She smiled faintly, sensing that she would be safe while she was pregnant: "Sure, for us beloved husband, and the baby. But I won't drink wine." His calm face turned into an angry mask when he saw some pigeon feathers near the bed. BETRAYING BITCH!! At that moment he took the wine bottle that stood on the table and smacked at her right temple, cutting her scaled hide and sending crystal shards everywhere. His gaze turned cold as ice: "I have the crystal orb in my power, so I don't need a heir to the throne." He punched her in the snout until she was unconscious, and then he stomped on her belly again and again, until the squirming, dying fetus was expelled. Then he threw his firstborn tiger cub thru the window. Minutes later, the ferret slave girl felt a shudder down her spine as she saw the female reptile lying on a bloodstained bed. The lizard was still bleeding from her lower belly and she still had many crystal shards embedded on her snout. He replied: "The Countess with not be attending my coronation ceremony. She has suffered a miscarriage and shall lie in bed." The tiger kept on lying as he snickered: "You don't need to worry. If she doesn't survive, I shall marry you!" The tiger hugged the horrified ferret girl as she thought: "Will I share the same fate as her?" An hour later, Aster was blindfolded and immobilized on the wall. In this way he couldn't teleport to any place, or use any offensive powers, if he had any. Suddenly, he heard a female voice sobbing. Aster began to telepathically receive a flood of regret, guilt and sadness. He whispered, as his eyes began to glow: "Are you one of the king's slaves? So, what happened to the countess? HE DID WHAT?! Now listen ferret girl, you must set me free so we can heal the countess and help get rid of this depraved tiger." The ferret girl nodded as she stripped of all her clothes and walked seductively to the guard. The old lizard grinned as the front of his loincloth began to tent. She poured some white powder on his wine while she distracted him with small talk. Minutes later, with the drugged lizard soundly asleep, it has easy for Aster to escape and manacle the lizard guard. An hour later both the Countess and the horse sergeant recovered thanks to Aster's parasitic blood. The ferret female asked: "Do you think that any of the guards will discover the blindfolded sentry?" Aster smiled: 'Well, he won't scream since I stuffed his urine stained loincloth into his muzzle'. The ferret shook her head and asked Aster: 'Then how are we going to prevent the king from activating the crystal orb so he can't live forever?' Aster was flabbergasted: 'Who told you that? The crystal orb will make you stay alive for a long time, but not in the way he thinks!' The bat suddenly had a stroke of genius as he snapped his paw digits: 'We have chance to trap him like an octopus in a clay jar. But if we do not work together, we both better write our last wills.' ******************* So the preparation for the ceremony began as usual, until a certain ferret spread the rumor of an assassination attempt on the king, which mobilized four platoons inside the main hall. All the guests were stripped down by the guards, mouth and cavity searched without clothes. Some of them squealed embarrassedly as the guards fingered in their nether parts and tailholes. Some lizard soldiers took the task with great enthusiasm. Nothing like this was ever seen before in any royal ceremony. The guests looked like they were in an ancient tribal ceremony rather than an aristocratic event as they wore only gold and diamond jewelry, and nothing else. The sovereign, guards and the servants were the only ones wearing any kind of clothing. As the tiger walked to the ceremony, a brown 'fox' ran to the pedestal and tried to grab the crystal orb and escape with it, but a guard yanked off the tuxedo jacket. Everyone screamed in panic as a pair of wings appeared on the servant's back. The reptile guards blocked all the door and windows. Some of the guests even tried to hurt him, but the tiger commanded the soldiers to take the bat in front of him. This time he was visibly angry: "Who told you to steal this artifact and taint it with your touch! I want an answer now." Only then Aster realized how much his winged race was hated, and how he could use this hatred to manipulate everyone. Aster exclaimed a bucketful of lies and insults: "My clients are faceless, and it's better that way for me and them! You're a sick murderer who bought this castle with the peasants' blood, and you are as cruel and yellow as the monarchs of the old regime. You assassin felines and those blasphemous dragons are the ones who are defiling this holly utopia! And you still have the balls to demonize my race and call us the embodiment of evil." The tiger growled: "We'll see about that when I tear your limbs one by one with an axe before I behead you." The ferret girl intervened in this charade: "Are you the one who tried to kill my future husband, you little piece of shit!" Aster was nervous, but he kept his voice neutral: "No, it's obvious that you're unable to see my intentions." The ferret looked like she would tear his head off with one bite: "I don't believe you. In fact, I suspect that you are hiding something about this orb. So, tell me." Aster hid his fear behind a smile: "Even if I fail and die, your lover won't be safe because that orb is not infallible, and its effects can be deactivated." With that, the bat disappeared in a flash of green light as the multitude screamed in horror and surprise. The raccoon girl was on the verge of crying as she punched the wall. That bat wasn't strong enough to steal the orb and now everything is forever lost. That degenerate tiger would reign for millenia, as her darkest fears became a reality. Now her uncle's sacrifice would be in vain unless she could kill him before more furs would die like tonight. It seemed utterly suicidal with so many guards, but she had no choice. Wait a second; the bat had a faint smile before he disappeared in the wurm-hole. What the hell is going on! He had to know better, unless... he sold his loyalty to the enemy?! Dirty, no-good bat! No wonder other furs are killing them for fun! The ferret smirked: "I wonder, if what he said was true then you are not truly immortal." She began to examine the relic: "A-ha! I was right, this rune is the one that deactivates the orb, so unless you scrape it off its effects won't be continuous and you would still be vulnerable. Your enemies are counting on this!" At that moment, Aster drew a knife from the flyswatter-like sheath and threw it to the ferret, which received only a small wound. The tiger ordered: "Take my future wife to the healer. If she is so faithful, she will make an excellent wife." The tiger took a soldier's knife as scraped off the deactivating rune as he hurried up and finished the activation process. The tiger smiled when the crystal orb began to glow with a yellow, cold light: "I made it! I finally made it! Soon I will be able to have the most precious possession, eternal life!" He screamed in panic: "What's happening? My paws feel numb, like I'm holding an ice block." The tiger felt such spine searing pain that he could only squeal as the orb's energy froze its holder and everything around him in time. Aster murmured: "It is said that when you die time will stop and you will cease to suffer forever, but for you cruel feline, you will suffer and be aware of your cruel acts until the end of time. You will not have an eternal life nor you shall have comfort in death. Your agony will last for eons." In that moment the dragoness appeared, wearing chain mail armor and escorted by five platoons. She bellowed another lie: "This place is going to crumble down, evacuate the area!" In moments the huge saloon was empty except for a solitary figure, holding a crystal sphere with an expression of excruciating pain and sadness. A tear ran down the tiger's muzzle as he thought with remorse: "Why did I let my greed consume me? I've killed my precious firstborn!" The lizard countess ordered: "Seal off with bricks all the doors and windows in this room, its too dangerous for anyone to be exposed to that cursed orb. I want a stone slab on the front door warning about the danger inside this room and that no one shall break off the masonry in the incoming centuries." Aster joined his siblings at the city huge front door, as the former Countess, and now Queen joined the citizens to say farewell to the children. She caressed Aster face and to guests' surprise, he kissed her snout. The noblemen and townsfolk mingled together and joined the celebration. All of them got drunk, danced, made love anywhere in the garden, or simply chatted until sunrise. Everybody was happy that the nightmare was finally over, but deep in a scaled female's hearth, she had no real reason to celebrate. Her first-born son has just died in the cruelest way, and she hadn't even a chance to caress or say goodbye to him. A voice interrupted her thoughts: "Funny, I wished that tiger dead for what he did to my uncle. But now I feel so empty, even if he's doomed forever." The Countess said: " I would say that this is my payment for all the crimes I did before stepping into the throne. When I killed that corrupt king, I truly believed that we would live in peace, but then... why did my firstborn paid the price and not me." The surprised raccoon exclaimed: "Price? What do you mean, and why your face is all cut? Oh no, then your son..." The crying females started to hug each other, as 'Mouse' told them: "Both of you are crying for what both of you had lost, which was terrible, yes. But you should be smiling for what you have gained." The raccoon whispered: "Mother?" The dragoness smiled tenderly as she asked: "Would you let me adopt you?" The raccoon nodded as the mourning females now shed tears of happiness. Even 'Mouse' started to smile. The Dickinson foxes appeared and they were a little upset until Aster explained them that he won a medal for saving the queen. The bat omitted a great deal of the story because he knew that the foxes would freak out. Katherine said sternly: "I spoke to several persons tonight and I'm proud that you were busy saving other peoples' lives in that warehouse, but I have question for you. Is it true that you had an affair with an older male horse? I wouldn't mind if he was your age." Aster groaned as he began to explain. El Fín / The End