The Show Must Go On (1/2)

Story by Serathin on SoFurry

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A magically created creature finds himself on the run as those who wish for his magical abilities take it upon themselves to capture them... though he finds himself with a potential ally as well.

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Kal felt a swelling of pride in his chest as he prepared for his final trick, one that would really get those in the seats to stand up and cheer. Though he had been vigorously using his power in order to please the packed house on the last night of his performance in the city, he had saved up a bit for this last trick. The crux took a deep breath and informed the audience once they had calmed down that he had a special guest in store for them, the grin on the crux's face widening as he said that he had gotten a dragon to put on a little show for them. That caused the audience to burst out into frenzied whispers; how had the simple stage magician manage to convince a dragon to be on stage, and how would it even fit?

The crux allowed the distraction in the audience to give him time to build up his energy before he held out his hands, lightning arching from his fingertips that immediately caused everyone to look back up at the stage. Kal carefully controlled the lightning as it connected itself to one another, forming into a shape that caused everyone to gasp in wonder. It was the form of a dragon made purely out of lightning, which with a bit of puppetry he caused to soar out over the crowd. The audience gasped in both wonder and delight as the crux used a mixture of his wind abilities to create a somewhat realistic roar, the sounds of the crowd music to his ears as he had it go up to the ceiling and explode out in a bright flash of light.

The applause he received was almost as loud as the thunder itself as he bowed and walked off the stage, exhausted but happy at the standing ovation. A lioness was at the side of the stage waiting for Kal to get off to hand him a towel and some water. "Looks like another satisfied audience," she said to him as they walked to the back of the stage. "Plus, you didn't start any fires this time."

"I don't plan on burning down the theater, don't worry," Kal replied with a chuckle. "Glad that I could pack the house for my final performance here and go out with a bang without it turning into a boom."

"Yes.... About that," the lioness said as she bit her lip while they walked. "I was wondering about your travel plans and if you might want to consider staying here for another month or so? The theater is more than happy to continue to pay you and hold over your room and board while you're here."

"As nice as that would be I think it's time for me to move on," he told the lioness while he ran the heavy fabric through his fur to dry himself off. "Don't want to wear out my welcome here."

"Oh nonsense," the lioness said with a wave of her hand. "You know that this theater is more than happy to have your act in it and the stagehands are more used to your... I mean, they know how your act works a little better and can work it appropriately. Someone with your talents is quite the draw."

Though Kal pretended he didn't know what the stage manager was originally going to say before she corrected herself, he knew that she was about to say something that regarded his looks. He didn't fault her, or any of them that continued to look at him funny even though he had been in town for a while. It was the nature of the beast when you're a creature that no one had ever seen before; he was a product of forbidden magics, fusing an air elemental to a mortal body. As he rubbed the last of his two-toned fur he just gave the feline a smile and told her he was thankful for everything that she had done for him before he walked off to his dressing room backstage.

When the crux got to his room he found his packed suitcase right where he left it, along with a few gifts that likely came from the lioness and potentially those in the audience. Though it wasn't why he performed he was always happy to get such things, it meant that he had successfully entertained someone to the best of his ability. As he put the flowers and other sundries in a separate bag to take with him, one gift in particular caught his eye and caused him to stop. It was a crystal phial with an inky black liquid in it, though as he held it up to the light of the candle the surface of the substance had a strange shine to it. There was also what appeared to be a note attached to it, the script written in flowing cursive that he sat down and started to read.

"To Kal," the crux read out loud as his sea green eyes scanned the page. "I just wanted to say that I really enjoyed watching you perform and think you have tremendous talent. Of course I'm not the only one who thinks that, which is why a dastardly fiend has sent people in order to attempt to kidnap you to use your power for their own purposes. By the time you read this letter they will likely be only a few minutes away from knocking down your door, so I have provided you with a helpful aid in order to escape. If you choose to drink it do so quickly, the effects take a few minutes to kick in."

Kal had to read the note twice before his mind could wrap around the fact that someone just warned him he was about to be kidnapped. While it wasn't a foreign concept, most of the reason he remained on the move was so that he could avoid someone trying to capture him to see how he worked or to use his powers, the fact that it was so plainly explained for him made the magician wonder if this wasn't some sort of trap. His eyes glanced down at the crystalline phial he continued to hold in his other hand and wondered just what kind of potion had been given to him in order to aid his escape.

He didn't have too long to think about it though as a sharp series of knocks rattled his door, the voice on the other side telling Kal to come out quietly. The crux swallowed hard when he realized that his time was up and he had to make a choice; either trust the threatening voice on the other side of the door or trust the mysterious note and the strange potion that had been given to him. When the next set of pounding knocks on the door rattled the hinges Kal decided to go with the stranger and quickly removed the cover of the phial before drinking down its contents. The taste of the liquid on his tongue was strange but not unpleasant as he quickly drained the potion and set the now-empty container by his side. As the seconds ticked by he didn't feel anything happening that would help him escape and realized that he had taken too long to decide, though he had an idea on how he may possibly be able to stall...

It wasn't long after that the wood splintered as it was kicked open, the tiger on the other side hissing as he opened the door. "You shouldn't have made me work to get you," the thug hissed as he looked around for his target. "Now I'm going to have to take it out on... you..."

The tiger's anger quickly turned to confusion as he saw the crux sitting there on the small couch in the dressing room while he slowly shuffled a deck of cards. "I don't plan on making you work anymore than you have to in order to get me," Kal said while he attempted to look as composed as possible. "In fact let me make it up to you by showing you a card trick. If you can figure it out, not only will I go with you quietly and make it easy on you, but we can also have some fun before we have to go, if you're able to of course."

Even though it was clear that the tiger just wanted to grab him and go, the offer the crux made was quite tempting, the male licking his lips as he looked the creature up and down. "Well that's certainly not what I expected when I took this assignment," the tiger said as he adjusted his pants before he grabbed a chair and sat down opposite of Kal. "You do any funny magic business in order to try and escape and I assure you what comes next will be far less than fun."

Though Kal took the threat seriously he tried to keep the grin on his muzzle as he shuffled the cards, getting ready to perform his trick on the tiger. Off course the idea he had in mind had nothing to do with slight of hand as he shuffled them in front of the tiger's face while telling him to keep watch on the cards. With his manipulation of air it allowed the magician to do some pretty impressive tricks, including keeping a few suspended in mid-air before he told the tiger to carefully watch for his card while he shuffled. The tiger did what he was told as Kal took that card and several others and began to flick them back and forth between his hands.

"There you go," Kal said in a soothing voice as he watched the tiger's head continued to follow the card that he had picked out. "Just follow the card, watch where it goes, see if you can keep it in your sights. You know that the trick is coming so that's what I want your mind to focus on, blocking out all other distractions... in fact it might be easier if you keep relaxing while your gaze continues to remain fixated on that card. You don't have to worry about when it stops, all you have to do is keep listening to my voice and take a deep breath every time the card you're watching goes up in the air."

It took all of Kal's willpower not to breathe a small sigh of relief as he watched the tiger become more involved in the watching of the card, his eyes so unfocused that it took his entire head began to swivel and bob in order to follow it. As the crux continued to hypnotize the tiger the mercenary's entire body began to go limp in the chair. When it was clear that the feline had fallen into his trap completely he told him to close his eyes and fall into trance, which the other male did so immediately. Kal blinked in surprise at how well that had went, he had originally just intended to make the tiger tired enough that as he woke up he could make his escape, but it appeared that he had completely enthralled him... though he wasn't sure if that was the case unless he tested it out.

"Now I'm going to ask you a few questions and give you a few commands," Kal instructed as he leaned closer to the entranced male. "You are to do them completely and without question, you got it?"

"Yes..." the tiger said in a monotone, eyes still shut.

"What's your name?" Kal asked.

"Cerni."

"Who hired you?"

"A powerful dragon lord, I do not know his name."

"Why does this dragon want me?"

"For your power."

"You are not to chase me anymore, in fact you're going to forget all about this contract."

"Forget about... this contract..."

"Yes, now to be sure that you can't follow me I want you to take off your clothes."

Though the last one had been more of test to see how much resistance the tiger had to make sure he wasn't lying about the contract, Kal was surprised when the tiger immediately began to stand up and undo his tunic. While the crux had trained in stage hypnotism it had never worked this well before, which meant the tiger was either surprisingly okay with just stripping down in front of another guy or that potion was increasing his power somehow. Either way it resulted in a naked, muscular tiger standing there with his eyes closed and a half-hard cock that caused Kal to feel a pang of arousal of his own. Though he knew he should continue on his way and leave this mercenary here, possibly after taking his clothes to further ensure he doesn't pursue, a rather lewd thought continued to emerge in his mind that he felt himself unable to resist as he licked his lips.

"Alright Cenri, I'm going to let you open your eyes again," Kal said as he felt his body tremble with excitement now instead of fear. "When you do you'll see the blue-furred crux in front of you only as a target of your desires. Though you feel like you're the one in control you'll listen and do everything I say, otherwise you're going to act like you normally do when you have a lover in your midst, alright?"

The tiger nodded and on command opened his eyes, and as soon as he saw the crux his muzzle broke into a wide smile and he took a few steps forward to bring him into a deep kiss. In the back of his mind he knew what he was doing was wrong by taking advantage of a hypnotized person like this, but from the way that the tiger's hand paw was pressed against his junk it was clear this wasn't the first time he had been with another male before. Plus it wasn't like they were going to have sex, at least not if Kal had anything to say about it, but there was one thing that he wanted to do before he made his escape...

The crux told the tiger to lay down on the small couch with his legs braced up in the air, something the feline was eager to comply with as his naked body became sprawled out on the cushions. Kal admitted that the guy was gorgeous but, there was one thing in particular that he wanted to experience. Slowly he pushed his muzzle forward and pressed his nose against the furry paw pads of the feline's feet. He could hear Cenri let out a small pleasured moan as Kal played with those clawed toes, pressing them against his muzzle as the tiger began to get into it and wiggle his toes against him. As time continued on Cenri bent up his other foot so that Kal's muzzle was trapped between the two with Kal pressing his hands against the outside of the paws to push them even more firmly against him.

"I didn't think that it would go like this," Cenri said with a groan as he began to stroke his own member, which had grown into a full erection at Kal's ministrations as the crux's tongue began to tease and lick the pads. "You definitely have some skill, I bet the others in my crew would love to meet you, too."

Kal just nodded as he gave one particularly long lick halfway up one of the wiggling paws in front of his muzzle before he realized what was said and he paused midway through to look at the tiger. "Others?" He asked, the tiger just nodding his head with his eyes still closed in pleasure. "You work with a mercenary band?"

"Oh yeah..." Cerni replied. "We're all up here for... some reason, it's not important now. In fact they might be on their way now, for some reason I thought I said if I wasn't back in like ten minutes that they should come and get me? They've seen me naked with another before, no need to stop on their account and I'll just tell them to get lost."

The desire that Kal had been feeling up to that point vanished like a puff of smoke and was replaced with the very real anxiety that a group of trained mercs were about to come into that door and see their leader on the couch jacking off while their target licked his feet. In his mind he fervently tried to figure out how much time had passed since Cerni entered his room as he gathered up what stuff he could and apologized to the tiger before running out. When he got into the hallway it was clear that he had been in there for ten minutes as he saw two lizardmen turn the corner and look straight at him, one of them pointing as they shouted that he was getting away. Kal gulped and quickly cast a small electrical orb to hinder the chase before running the opposite direction.

With the way the theater was built; however, the path he was on had few options for him to escape, and since there may be more of Cerni's mercenary group waiting for him, the crux decided the only way to go was up. He could hear the sounds of the lizardmen that he had hindered shouting and cursing behind him, either due to the ball of lightning or the fact they found their leader hypnotized and stroking himself off on the couch. Either way it wasn't good for him as he continued up the long set of stairs that led up into the roof. When he finally got to the doorway he opened it to find the clear night sky of the city opened up to him as he ran out of the stairwell and onto the tarred surface of the roof.

Though he closed the door as securely as he could Kal knew that it wouldn't take long for those brutish lizardmen to break through it, and as he looked around he found a severe lack of hiding placings that he could go to. The only way that he saw out of it was the nearby roof, the crux thankful for once that the city had put their structures so claustrophobically close to one another. As he made a run for the closest one his steps faltered slightly as the wooden door he had just closed less than a minute ago burst open with a loud crack to reveal the two lizardmen behind it. At that time it was now or never and Kal jumped off the roof to the next one, using his mastery of the air in order to help float him across until he was on the other side.

The two mercenaries were not deterred; however, and were soon after him, only instead of magic aiding them it was their natural strength and agility that carried them across to the other side. This led to Kal being chased as he continued to jump from rooftop to rooftop, his magician robes still flapping around him as he tried to keep a head of the two reptiles. Even with his magic aiding him, though, the two continued to keep pace with him, staying hot on his trail enough so that he couldn't get out of their line of sight in order to duck into some sort of hiding place. Though he was exhausted from his use of magic he pulled on one more trick from his book and, as he did a regular jump onto a small warehouse, he quickly turned back and waved his hands in the air.

The effect was instantaneous as soon as his arcane energy hit the surrounding air it turned to a thick fog, billowing out from his body as he continued to run. Though he couldn't see his pursuers anymore it meant that they had the same problem, which meant that he could finally try to lose the two and get back down on street level where there were more places to duck behind. As he finished the spell once he was sure his magically-induced fog bank was thick enough a shadow passed over him that caused him to look up. Though it was hard to see with only the light of the moon it looked like something rather large just passed over him, and that could only be one of a few things...

A sudden crash and the feeling of falling quickly brought Kal back to his current situation as he hadn't been paying attention to where he was going while he ran. His unguided journey had brought him on top of a damaged skylight, one that couldn't support his weight as he fell through to the floor below. He had just enough time to form a cushion of air beneath him before he hit the wooden planks, though it still caused him to tuck and roll as his depleted energy reserves caused him to falter. Even though he was very tired he quickly hopped back onto his feet and looked up, breathing a small sigh of relief as the cloud he had created drifted over the opening he had created in the glass. Though the obfuscation wouldn't last forever it might be enough to put some distance between him and those mercs as he made his way to the nearest doorway, only to nearly be stopped as he felt his insides shift that caused him to nearly double over in surprise.

Despite the bizarre sensations happening in his stomach Kal managed to make it a few more rooms until he reached what appeared to be a makeshift bedroom for some drifter. The only thing that mattered to the crux was that it had a mattress on it as he laid down, squirming slightly as the feeling in his stomach intensified. His mind immediately snapped back to the potion that he had consumed before the tiger mercenary had broken down the door, the effects of which he was likely experiencing at that moment. As the magical energy from the potion began to spread past his stomach it was a type of arcane energy he had never experienced before as it caused his furry form to heat up.

Though he wasn't fond of stripping down in an old building while being chased by people who want to kidnap him, the normally comforting garments soon felt itchy and burdensome. Realizing the magic was hinting at him to take off his robes he quickly did so, grabbing the bag that he brought with him to stuff his clothes into. Once he was completely naked he saw something else that had been affected by the magic, his eyes widened slightly in surprise by his erection bouncing out in the cool air. Even in the darkness, though, something seemed strange about it, and when he put his hand against it the skin there felt... slick, like it was made out of something synthetic.

As Kal's hand remained on his throbbing member he realized that whatever had happened to his member also had intensified the sensation of pleasure from rubbing it. Even though he was currently in real danger he found it hard for him to stop masturbating, and when he did he looked at his traitorous hand to realize the short fur there had turned to the same substance his cock had. It shined in the streaming light of the moon, and when he pressed his other finger against the strange flesh it felt like... rubber? He passed over it several times and when he heard the squeak of latex on latex he turned his other hand over to see that the palm of that hand had turned to rubber, as well.

"What..." Kal said in disbelief as more of the fur on his hand and wrists began to melt, the similarly blue colored rubber beginning to spread over his body as other patches of the stuff began to appear on his naked form. "That potion is turning my fur into rubber? How in all the planes is this going to help me escape from a mercenary group? It should have turned me into a dragon or griffin or something, at least I can fly then!"

Though he would have continued to rant about the illogical choice in transformations he was suddenly stopped as the sensation he had been feeling in his stomach and chest rose up to his throat. At first he thought he was going to be sick, but it didn't have any of the discomfort associated with it as it rose up to his mouth and nose. As soon as it started to dribble out of his mouth and nose he put his hand to the liquid and saw that it was more of the rubbery substance, only this was rubber as well that began to cover over his face and maw. At this point his anxiety turned to full-blown panic as the thought of the potion being one that was about to dissolve him came to mind and he tried to shout out for help, but as he opened his mouth the rubber that was there formed a stretchy sheet that completely covered him and prevented any sound from coming out.

Deciding that the mercenaries might be a better choice than whatever fate he was about to endure, Kal stumbled forward to try and get back out into the room he crashed through only to have the rubber creep over his eyes and block his vision. The naked crux continued to stumble around to try and escape, but ended up falling backwards onto the bed as the latex continued to spread across his body. Though he tried to maintain his panic to solve the situation he was in, that emotion was quickly being overshadowed by the amount of pleasure that he was feeling from his transformation. His hands once more made a reach for his sensitive member as he let out a muffled moan, though he could hardly hear it as the rubber invaded his ears both inside and out.

As his senses were cut off one thought that managed to rise above the haze of pleasure was the picture in his mind of that naked, hypnotized tiger and how amazing it felt to put such a creature under his control like that. It almost scared Kal a little on how much recalling it caused him enjoyment, his rubber-covered hips pushing up into the air to press his cock against his hand as the mental image of himself was changed from his normal look into a rubber version of himself. It caused him slight pause, enough for him to stop stroking himself as he wondered if what he saw there licking those paw pads was what he was transforming into.

It wouldn't be long before he got his answer as the rubber pulled back from his eyes and he was able to open them, Kal sitting up with a gasp as his mouth was once more free as well. When he looked down at himself his hand was still stroking his cock, both of them now completely covered in rubber, as his free hand stroked down his body. Other than the shininess of the synthetic substance there wasn't much about him that seemed to have changed physically, he still looked like the same crux he had before minus the latex. Though it was hard to focus with the lust being generated from pleasuring himself, which he chose to no longer try to stop, one thing that did feel very different was his magic and his arcane self.

Kal's curiosity was enough to get him to finally stop as he put his rubber hands up to his face, rubbing his fingers together to feel the smoothness of his new digits as he tried to get a handle on what just happened to him. It was quite clear that he didn't simply get covered with rubber, in fact he felt similar to his days as an elemental than before as he got to his feet. Though the light in the room was limited he could see that his new latex skin had even retained his patterning, which once again made him wonder why he would get such a gift in the first place. He wished that it would have turned him into something other than himself, like a full body mask that he could wear in order to escape...

As he thought of that something began to happen with his magic that he had never done before. He gasped slightly as the latex in his body shifted, flowing upwards along with the magical energy that summoned it in order to form a pool of the liquid substance in his hands. It reminded him of the goo that had leaked from his nose, but as he watched it continued to coalesce into the form of something new. When it finally finished it had formed into a blank mask of blue latex with a light blue patterning over it. This was definitely something that Kal had never done before, and when he rubbed his fingers against the surface of the mask he had created it was smooth just like him and he could feel the residue of magic still in it.

When he looked at the energy inside the mask it made Kal notice something that he hadn't realized since his transformation finished; he was no longer physically or magically exhausted anymore. In fact he felt positively brimming with vigor now, he could probably outrun those two mercenaries easily now... though as he looked down at the featureless mask a new idea began to form, one that caused a grin to spread over his latex muzzle. He pressed a finger against the cheek of the mask and watched as a scale-like pattern began to form on it, which proved his ability to manipulate the item as he got to work...