| Note: General stupidity, mild swearing, second-hand violence, nothing too bad . . . _______________________________________________________ Part 5: Milo the Two-Legged Dog's Tale of Terror by Ami-chan I screamed as my environment once again shifted. I was hoping for hell, or at least some place of sanity. I didn't think that was TOO much to ask for. To my surprise, I wound up in an empty little room. Nothing, no one. The walls were blank, the floors were bare. What was this place? And why'd I come here? "What?" I asked, quickly filling the silence that was slowly caving in and crushing me, squeezing the oxygen from my lungs. "No demonic spirits? No sadistic bastard that wants to carve me into meatloaf? I expected at least a rabie-infected animal frothing at the mouth!" I sighed. Still no answer. My quest to invite Death had failed this time. "What now?" I asked the wall, for there was no one else to ask. "Now, you listen." I jumped, shrieking. "Who said that? Who's there?" Milo the two-legged dog stepped from the shadows. "Oh, Milo! I could have sworn I heard-" "You did." "Huh?!" I blinked a couple times, staring into the calm, familiar eyes of the dog. "You can talk?" "Why not? If a duck can be magical, then a dog can talk." "Yeah, sure. I guess your right. Why haven't you talked before, though?" I crept toward him, reaching out to scratch him behind the ears as I always had. "With Crazy Old Gretchen around, I am unable to do so, and so I must bark instead of talk." "Poor Milo. What a horrid old hag she is." Milo shook his head. "And that's not the half of it." "What do you mean?" Milo the two-legged dog shrugged, whining as he settled his front half into my lap. "It's so hard sometimes. Not being able to talk to anyone, that is. I can't make anyone understand me. And now, you're here." "I don't understand..." He heaved a sigh as I continued to scratch behind his ears. "You don't have to. Just listen. That's all I need you to do." I nodded, once again, greatly confused. What did he have to say? I mean, he WAS a dog! ******** Long ago when darkness had descended upon the world, the evil person now known as Crazy Old Gretchen caused her horror. She slayed mercilessly, commanding her dark minions that answered only to her. She was the daughter of a war lord, and she was destined to follow in his path. Despite her wickedness, it might have been stayed only an Earthly sense of it, had she not discovered Bob the magical duck. She decided she wanted the power the duck head had had, but she had no way to contain it. Repeatedly, she tried to bring forth Bob the magical duck's - now Bob the duck head - power, and repeatedly, she failed. She grew angry, and slaughtered more innocent people in a blind rage. And then, a thought occured to her. Why not find a mage to release the duck's power? Unfortunately, the only mage with enough power to do such a feat, refused. Crazy Old Gretchen asked, begged, whined, pleaded, and even threatened, but to no avail. The mage was an honorable one, and wouldn't allow the power of Bob the duck head to be at her command. So, Crazy Old Gretchen, being crazy, challenged the mage to a fight. The mage again, refused, but she attacked him anyway. Reacting in self-defense, he retaliated with a powerful blast of energy which sent her careening over a cliff ledge. The mage, figuring she was dead - and even if she hadn't been, it was only a matter of time and she deserved it anyway - left. Little did he know that, other than two broken legs, a bruised head, and being extremely pissed off, she was fine. He also had no idea what was lurking and had been lurking around Crazy Old Gretchen for quite some time. It seemed that Metallia had been waiting for just such an opportunity for a long time. So, when she offered her services to aid Crazy Old Gretchen to avenge her and gain her the power she was seeking, she agreed. When next Crazy Old Gretchen met up with the mage, she was able to defeat him, but not without a major struggle. To keep him powerless and under her control, though, she trapped him in the body of a dog. Still, this was not enough for her, and with her perpetually bloody ax - it would have been a waste to clean it because she simply killed too many people and animals during the course of the day that it simply wasn't worth it anymore - she hacked off two of the subdued mage's legs, cackling wickedly all the while. Now, with the mage under her power, she had the ability to control Bob the duck head's powers. Metallia was soon little more than a pawn in her own game. The demon was nothing compared to the power of unleashed by the duck head, and Metallia had no choice but to yield under Crazy Old Gretchen's power. The mage/dog was able to walk through her power alone, forced to lead the life of a pet. He could say nothing with her power restricting him, and she did not trust him enough to let him go far from her. After many long centuries, kept alive by Mettallia's stolen power, Crazy Old Gretchen's power over him slackened and he was able to roam free at times. He could only hope that one day, somehow, he could find someone that could free him from this curse. ******** "That's a nice story," I remarked, when he had finished. "All I had to do was listen, right?" Milo groaned. "It wasn't a story!" "Oh? Then what was it?" "It was my life! It really happened." I was confused again. What was he trying to say?? "You're Metallia?" "No, no! I was the mage! Milo the mage!" "Oh." Pause. "Was that the end of the story?" "It wasn't a story!" "Whatever." I glanced around, just making sure we were still alone. "Was it the end, though?" "I should hope to God not!" "How's it going to end?" "That's for you to decide." I continued to gently pet Milo, as his comment slowly dawned on me. "Huh? Me? Why me?" "Why the hell not?" Milo returned casually. "You do want to help me, don't you?" "I'm not sure." I really looked at the dog in my lap for once in my life. He was quite large, and a dark brown color. His large floppy ears gave his sharply angular face a soft, cute appearance to it. His large teeth might have been quite imposing, were his dark eyes not so wide and holding that infinitely kind expression. "Don't you want to free me and return me to my normal state?" "No. I kinda like you as a dog." Who knew? What if he turned out to be really ugly? Maybe it was better to play it safe. Milo the two-legged mage/dog sighed deeply. "Let me rephrase that. Don't you want me to be happy?" "Do I?" I couldn't recall ever saying that I did...but I could have forgotten or something! "Do you want Crazy Old Gretchen alive or dead?!" "Dead." Wasn't that a given? "Good! Then your helping me!" I nodded. "Okay." I stared blankly at the wall for a moment, trying to remember what had just been said and what had happened only a half hour ago. "Why was that again?" "Oh, dear God in heaven, help me!" Milo groaned, putting his paws over his ears as he whined to himself. "What's wrong?" "You must defeat Crazy Old Gretchen!" "Why me?" Milo sighed. "You are the chosen one. You are the only one that has the power to destroy her." "But how?" "You'll know when the time is right." I blinked. Okay. "Are you sure?" "I hope to God," Milo muttered. "What was that?" "I said, 'of course'." "Oh. Okay!" As long as Milo the two-legged mage/dog was sure, then I knew I could do it. I just had to figure out how the heck I was going to pull this off . . .without getting myself killed, preferably . . . _______________________________________________________ Now that you've finished with this part, how about e-mailing me at [email protected], and telling me what you think? |