The Darkness Within
"How do I get myself in these situations?!" Catso continued fleeing down the
terrible hallway, a deep abyss of maws and claws consuming the hallway behind
him, and random shadows attempted to impede his escape. He slashed through them
swiftly, not losing any speed. He was nearly out of this hell hole, he hoped.
"This is the LAST time I offer to pick up Noxi's 'required reading'!" Feeling
helpful, Catso had asked her what she needed done that day, as he had nothing
better to do (he thought) and wanted to get something done for someone. She told
him she required a certain tome, what for, he didn't ask, where, a derelict
looking mansion at the end of town.
Not thinking too much about it, he set out, at first by rooftop, but as the
town seemed to fall apart the closer he got to the mansion, by a dead sprint on
flat road. He knew he had found the mansion five minutes before he got there, it
loomed over every other thing in this part of town. The door was wide open, so
he assumed it was a really old public library of some kind.
He started to explore the deserted place, realizing pretty fast that there
hadn't been anyone else there in perhaps decades. Just as he was considering
Noxi was messing with him, not expecting him to actually go, he fell through a
weak part of the floor, and managed to break his fall nicely with his head.
He woke up with a headache, but otherwise OK, with the very book he was sent
out to find a few inches away from his muzzle. He grabbed it, got up, put back
on his hat, brushed himself off, and started looking for a way out... when
suddenly lights turned on and a terrible crunching sound started.
Now he found himself running with the book tucked inside his coat, some unknown
beast behind him and somehow keeping pace, even gaining on him, as more and more
strange shadowy things reached out for him. He wondered if there was a way out,
if anyone at all could help him...
Then he tripped, the book flew out of his coat and fell open, and he sprawled
over it. He knew he couldn't get up in time, so he decided to see just what was
in this book...
Legion nearly had their prey, no one would take the Nekomicon away from them
this time. They were a yard away, soon they would snap up this foolish cat and
have the powerful scripture back in their possession. Suddenly they were stopped
dead in their path.
"I don't think the likes of you shall be consuming me today. I'd like to think
I belong to no one." Legion felt searing pain as the (beast?) cat stood up,
brushing off its clothing. The feline looked up eyes now glowing a deadly green,
and they were suddenly aware that they were no longer dealing with prey. They
had become the prey of the Nekomicon's new host. The shadows gathered around
the fairly small figure, and shortly thereafter Legion was no more.
Catso woke up on a subway headed back to Noxi's, a totally blank book in his
paws. He had no recolection of why he had it, or what he was doing that day.
Chalking it up to not enough sleep, he got off the subway near Noxi's house
since he remembered where it was, and knocked on her door.
"Hello?"
"It's Catso."
"Where have you been?"
"Er, on a subway?"
"You don't use subways!"
"Good point..."
She let him in, and spotted the totally blank book in his paws, and knew. But
she said nothing. She had planned on getting the tome herself, seeing as she was
a monster, and immune to the worst of the effects of the tome. She had been
joking when she asked the poor cat to go get the damned book, but she forgot his
helpful nature, and now here he was, with a totally blanked pile of paper. She
lied to him about the tome, and said he must've dozed off after wandering
around, and someone must've set him in the subway as a prank. Mildly pissed off,
but otherwise satisfied with the explanation, Catso went home. Noxi now wrestles
with the knowledge that Catso and the Nekomicon were one and the same, and
wonders if "it" knew she knew...