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Terror Hunting

Chapter 1: Running

The thing was almost upon him. A thing of darkness, fangs, claws, and eyes that burned with a dull red flame. He was running, but the thing was running faster. It was inescapable. No matter how quick, clever, or stealthy he was, it was always one step behind him, and always a bit quicker, cleverer, or stealthier. It pounced, and he braced for death, and woke up.

Tobias bolted upright out of bed, and with a scream and a fair bit of flailing, tried to run, got his blankets twisted around his legs, and fell. The 24 year old stayed down, heart pumping and chest flush with the scratchy carpet. As the adrenaline wore off, he simply lay there, too tired to get up. He lay like that for at least five minutes before summoning the will to get up and get on with his day. Ten minutes later, Tobias stepped out of the shower, refreshed, recharged, and ready for the day.

He looked in the mirror as he yawned, eyeing himself. Five foot nine inches, skin typical for someone of caucasian descent, brown eyes, and left arm replaced by a prosthetic. He reflected back on his life. Joined the army, shipped out to a place that really had no conflict whatsoever, and had his friend killed and his arm blown off by an IED... He didn't want to think about that. Left with PTSD, epilepsy, and a prosthesis to take care of, he hopped from job to job, getting enough from disability payments to get by relatively comfortably. Tobias sighed, wondering why he was always introspective in the morning. In any case, he had an appointment at 8:30 am with his psychiatrist.

At around 7:45, he strolled into the bedroom to get dressed, having had breakfast in his bathrobe. Boxer briefs, khaki cargo pants, and socks went on, before he pondered his choice of shirts. On one hand, a t-shirt would leave his prosthetic less likely to catch on the fabric, but while a long sleeved shirt would more likely get caught on the artificial arm, covering it up would draw less stares on the bus. Tobias opted for a red long sleeved shirt. Five minutes later, he was on the bus, heading to the office where his psychiatrist worked.

When he got off the bus, he paused, a flash of movement having caught his trained eye. Was that a tiger he had seen in the alleyway? That was impossible. It must have been a trick of the light, he thought. What else could it have been? But no matter how inconsequential it seemed, a growing sense of dread loomed over him. He flashed back to his nightmare, and pondered it, and shivered, because for a moment, the burning red eyes of the nightmare beast were staring back at him from every patch of shadow.

Tobias tried to slow his breathing. Just a panic attack, he told himself. he walked into the office building, ignoring the graffiti on the front of the building. The general grime of downtown was sort of depressing, and he tried his best to put it out of his thoughts. The waiting room was not much better. Even though it was only for a few minutes, he kept thinking back to his nightmare. He should talk about that with his therapist.

"Tobias?" The clerk finally called. "Dr. Lenger is ready to see you."

He nervously smiled at the clerk.

"Thanks." He went to the back of the waiting room, towards an inconspicuous fake-wood door. Dr. Lenger opened the door as he reached it, and the balding doctor smiled as he let his patient into his office.

---

An hour later, Tobias trudged out of the building. Then, he was startled to attention as one of the nightmare-creatures, burning red eyes and all, leaped towards him from its perch on top of a street light. He jerked to the side, not that he would have needed to. About halfway through its leap, the nightmare-creature was struck by something that caused it to screech and evaporate into wisps of inky black smoke, that quickly trailed off into nothing.

Tobias stumbled to his feet, tracing the path of the projectile. It had come from a nearby alleyway, the same one he had seen the flash of striped orange earlier. A familiar sense of dread overcame him. Then, hearing another noise from behind him, he turned around. More nightmare-creatures behind him, crawling on all four limbs, making harsh chittering noises. He paused. Running from the things would bring him past the alleyway, where the mysterious projectile that had killed the first thing had originated from. Across the street led into traffic, and towards the creatures was nothing good. They surged forward. He ran.

And stopped running, as an orange hand grabbed him by the shoulder and pulled him roughly into the alleyway. Another orange hand was connected to a wrist that had some sort of wrist-mounted crossbow pointed in his direction. There was the harsh, muted twang of the bow firing, and 'in his direction' proved to be over his shoulder, and a screech told him that 'over his shoulder' was into the shadow-flesh of one of the nightmare-creatures. Adrenaline made him tense, and he sized up his opponent. And, then he paused. A... dragon was holding him? He looked up. About 7 foot 1 inch, with an additional five inches from the slender horns emerging from the dragon's head. Dark brown hair, green, slitted eyes, small orange scales with three brown plates on the dragon's snout, slightly off-white sharp teeth, and a pair of wings he could glimpse over her shoulder. Moving down, the neck changed from orange to an orangey cream that continued down the dragon's front. He could see the dragon wore a cyan t-shirt, and her--definitely her, judging by the double-ds pushing on her shirt--forearms had five more brown plates, some of them covered up by the crossbows mounted on each wrist and the braces that supported them, four fingers and one thumb, each ended by a slightly blunted claw. Further down, he saw grey sweatpants, and paws that were a combination of a lizard's and a cat's. Those arm-plates must have been the tigery thing I saw earlier, Tobias thought.

She frowned at him, then pulled him further between the two buildings. He resisted, but while he couldn't stop her, he could slow her down. She frowned at him.

"Move your damn ass. Can't you see you're being chased?"

He tried to sputter back a reply.

"Yeah, but I don't appreciate being abducted by a... a... whatever you are."

A sigh, and then a flurry of movement as she hoisted him over her shoulder so his head was on her back, against her wings, and ran. He could see something he had missed in his previous examination, a tail that twisted and turned to keep her balance as she ran

"I can see we got off to a bad start," said the dragoness conversationally, panting a bit as she ran, "My name is Victoria, and I'll be your rescuer for today. You are being chased by what are known as Terrors." Tobias tried to get a grip on anything to escape, then froze as he saw a swarm of the nightmare-creatures--Terrors?--pour into the alleyway. "I know a lot about you, and I will tell you what you need to know when we get somewhere safer." He twisted his head, and saw her shoot another crossbow bolt at a Terror that had gotten in front of them. Then, he panicked. All people with epilepsy can get a sense of when they are about to have a seizure, a feeling called aura, and Tobias's felt like he was about to go down a rollercoaster. He managed to yell out a warning.

"I'm going to have a seizure!" The reply was terse.

"Shit."

Victoria dumped her passenger onto the ground, making sure to keep him from hitting his head. She straightened up as he began to seize, his eyelids fluttering and fingers and toes clenching and unclenching erratically. She stood in front of him, and breathed a burst of fire into her hand. With a snap of her fingers, the fire in her hand went rocketing off in five different bright orange missiles, towards the oncoming horde of Terrors. Each impact of the missiles caused an eruption of flame, though it put a significant dent in the swarm, it by no means stopped them. Two minute's worth of crossbow bolts, fire magic, and at some points, punching, and Tobias finally went limp. Victoria had to admit, she was scared. The amount of Terrors here were overwhelming. The sheer volume of them made it apparent that it wasn't a particularly strong Terror that had split up into many weaker ones. She reviewed her options. She couldn't defend him until he woke up, the Terrors had already adapted and instead of coming from one end of the alley, they were coming from both ends, and climbing down the walls. She had to get out. But how? Both ends were blocked, and up wasn't quick enough, not with her having to hang on to the exhausted human. To fly out, she would need a strong... updraft.

Quickly, she scooped up the sleeping human, took a deep breath, and jumped straight up. At the peak of her jump, she spread her wings, and exhaled a burst of fire onto the ground below. A quick, magical incantation, and the fire burst into an inferno. The updraft produced by the quickly rising heat lifted her up, and out of the constricting alleyway. Kicking at the Terrors as they jumped for her from the walls, she flapped her wings and burst out of the cement canyon and onto the now adjacent rooftop. And on the rooftops, where she could jump gaps to outdistance pursuers and had room to maneuver and run, she was king. Or queen, as the case may be.

---

Tobias blearily opened his eyes. He was on some sort of cushion or mat, and nearby a blob of roiling flame heated a frying pan that was perched on some sort of wire grate. He sat up. Was he dead? Even if the dragoness, Victoria hadn't killed him, the Terrors, as she had called him, certainly would have. He looked around. Where was he? He knew that as a veteran soldier, he should be more professional than he was, but being abducted by an anthropomorphic version of a fictional creature, chased by shadowy nightmare beings, and ending the whole experience with a seizure had caught him off guard. Anyway, where he was. Outdoors, judging by the fact that the sky was full of stars and the mat he was lying on was resting on sand. Night, judging by the stars. Near the beach, maybe? Yes, there was the ocean. Surrounding the campsite was a literal ring of fire that had no apparent source.

Suddenly, there was a thud as Victoria landed just outside the ring. Slowly, she approached, and though the ring flared up, it allowed her through.

"How are you feeling?"

Tobias started, not expecting her speech. He hesitated for several seconds before replying.

"Fine."

"Good. I brought food. I hope you like KFC."

Tobias, did, in fact like KFC, and tore into the chicken strips like a hungry wolf. Victoria tilted her head, staring at the human. It was several seconds before said human noticed. She could see him become nervous again, and after several gulps to clear his mouth of food, he spoke.

"What... are you looking at me like that for?"

The reply gave the impression of a chuckle.

"Just wondering when the stream of questions will start. I've saved a dozens of people, and most start with the interrogation sooner."

The human gulped down the last of the food and cleared his throat.

"Uh, yeah. So, what exactly are you?"

"I am a dragoness."

Tobias frowned.

"Dragons don't exist. So, what exactly are you?"

A chuckle.

"Dragons do exist, just not in your world. If you doubt me, you can clearly see, I am a dragon."

Tobias sputtered.

"Other worlds? Are you an alien?"

Another chuckle.

"Technically yes, though not from outer space, if that's what you're thinking. From other dimensions. Sort of."

Tobias maneuvered so he was sitting cross-legged.

"You want the infodump?" She asked.

Tobias considered.

"Give me the infodump."

Victoria sat back on her haunches, and took a deep breath. "Alright, but don't interrupt. I'll take questions after. The world--sorry, dimension, that you live in is one of many. Where I come from is from the space between dimensions, the Slip. The thoughts of a dimension's people give the Slip around that dimension different properties, but no matter what, the Slip is dangerous. Terrors also originate from the Slip. They are the subconscious fears of a person brought to life. They purely exist to hunt down and kill--well, not really kill, but the person ends up brain-dead, so there is no real difference. Anyway, they exist to hunt down a person. Sometimes, a particularly powerful one might fracture, resulting in a bunch of different Terrors. Only the person they are after, and others who originate from the Slip can see them clearly. Other people might see pigeons, or racoons, stuff like that. So, because they cause so much, well, terror, and pain, and death and stuff, a group of beings that originate from the Slip joined together to form the Terror Hunters. We hunt Terrors. That's the basics. Want an infodump on anything else?"

"Were you using magic earlier?" Victoria grinned at Tobias.

"Alright. So, you know how I just said that the thoughts of people shaped the Slip? Well, this is a sort of subconscious thing. A sort of pressure, if you will. Now, each person has a different pressure. Those people that have a pressure that goes well with another person are likely to be friends, or fall in love, or whatever. Anyway, if your pressure is strong enough, then you can alter the Slip in a way that interacts with the world. That is magic. I specialize in fire magic, mostly because I just have to change what the fire does, not generate it. I can generate it by breathing fire just fine. I feel most comfortable with fire, so as you can see, the ring of protection around us, I made that from fire. Beings that originate from the Slip are sort of... closer to it. So they can do magic more easily. But in theory, anyone could do magic." Tobias raised an eyebrow.

"Are you saying that people like mediums are not just fakes?"

"No, if a person dies, they can't really be brought back unless you have some really powerful stuff, and even then the brain has to be preserved. In short, most mediums are fakes. And by most, I mean one might be legit. Maybe one. In any case, if you are done questioning me, we should both rest. You just woke up, but a bit more sleep will do you good." Although not completely trusting the dragoness, Tobias had to agree that he was tired. After a great deal of flopping around to get comfortable, Victoria's breathing became regular and slow, and Tobias's followed suit.

He was woken up by the sound of labored breathing and occasional small flutters. It was still night, but the sun was beginning to peak over the horizon. He quietly looked over at the dragoness and froze when he saw what she was doing. Her eyes were closed, cyan shirt was pulled off, discarded beside her, exposing her breasts to the cool air, and her sweatpants were pulled down to her knees. One hand was rubbing the nipples that capped the orange-cream breasts. What the other hand was doing, however, was what captured his attention. It was pumping over a twelve inch long deep red phallus. The glans was pointed, and at the base was a lump of flesh a bit wider than the shaft--though, even as he watched, it grew a little in width. On the underside of the cock were several blunt spines, which she--he?--would stop to play with every few fevered strokes. Tobias was confused, until he realized what must have been going on. Obviously, she was born male and underwent a sex-change operation. That theory, however, went out the window as she spread her legs a little wider and the hand that was playing with her nipples went to finger her now-obvious vagina. Tobias tried to remain still, though he realized that his penis was responding enthusiastically to the display. Tobias was bisexual, he had been with two ladies and a guy, and though he tended to go for women with smaller breasts, on the seven foot tall dragoness the large pair she had was alluring. She made a high-pitched moan that was quickly cut off as she clamped her muzzle shut, it was apparent she was trying to be quiet. Suddenly, the dragoness's cock jerked, the knot swelling to full size, and she came. Dragon cum splattered over Victoria's body, and after around twenty seconds, what Tobias estimated at a pint had covered the dragoness's breasts and stomach. The dragon lay there panting before she curled up to lick her cock clean as it retreated into a slit above her vagina. Suddenly, she stopped, and although her attention didn't appear to focus on Tobias, he felt her scrutinizing him. She spoke five words.

"You're awake. God damn it."

Tobias froze, his hard-on painfully obvious. Then, he slowly opened his eyes. He spoke only one word.

"Sorry?"

Victoria sighed.

"No, well, I'm sorry, I mean, I'm not really sorry, but, uh..." She spluttered for a few seconds before finally blurting a 'WhydontIgowashoff' and bolting past the circle of protection's bounds. In a few seconds she was at the ocean.

Finally, she came back to the campsite and pulled on her shirt. She started rolling up the sleeping mats and dousing the fire. The rolled up mats were surprisingly small, and they could fit in the pocket of Victoria's pants. The frying pan was handed to Tobias to hold, and the grate it was sitting on was folded up and went in Victoria's other pocket. The two crossbows and their braces came from wherever she had hidden them, and Tobias was about to ask her gender, when a cell phone rang.

Victoria pulled the cell phone out of her pocket and answered the call, giving only a few hmms and okays during the exchange. She hung up, and stared at Tobias.

"You, sir, have been deemed a person of interest by the Terror Hunters."

Tobias couldn't help but ask.

"Is that a bad thing?"

"No, just a thing. You'll be stuck with me a while longer. We have to go to the nearest place we can transition to the Slip so we can get to the world with the Terror Hunters' HQ.

Tobias was about to ask what world that was when both of them heard a screech. Victoria frowned.

"We have to move. Now."

Once again, they were running.