Eldritch Guidance

Intermission IV

Zayne was a tall muscular canine mutant with very broad shoulders. His head was that of a Rottweiler and his whole body was covered head to toe with a short coat of black and brown fur. He wore a simple white t-shirt with a pair of suspenders that had a hole in the back to allow his tail through.

He was doing his job right now, which was a lot of nothing. He was just sitting on a nearby bench on Eld Street, keeping an eye out. It was his shift to guard the street today. Zayne wouldn’t say he hated the job, but it was boring for him. Nothing ever happened on this assignment.

But, today was different.

A unique high-pitched sound rang out that immediately got Zayne's attention. It was a sound that only certain types of mutants could hear, specifically that of a canine mutant. The tone that could be heard signaled that the street was to be cleared out.

Zayne jumped into action and walked over to a nearby non-mutant-looking couple.

Zayne: “Hey, you two. Get the fuck off this street!!” he growled at them.

Couple: “Eep!” was all they said as they immediately ran into another nearby street.

He then looked around for anyone else to clear out. All around him were a bunch of other canine mutants doing something similar to himself. Within no time, the street was completely cleared of all people except for him and his colleagues.

Looking down the street, he saw the reason for the signal. A man wearing all black with red eyes was walking towards the direction Zayne was. A large white dog was walking close beside him. It was the first time Zayne had seen this person.

Zayne had only heard about this man and it was the first time seeing him. He was the reason they were guarding the street, to keep people away from the red-eyed man with black hair who kept a white dog near him, but he didn’t know exactly why they were doing this.

When he asked Kyle why they were protecting this man, he was laughed at. Kyle only said that they were not keeping people away for that man's safety, it was the opposite, they were keeping people safe from him. Confused by what Kyle meant, Zayne tried to push for more information about the red-eyed man. They told him he was better off not knowing.

It all didn’t really sit right with him. He was loyal and always did his job well, so why hide information from him. He still ultimately did what he was ordered, but wanted to know what the deal with this guy was.

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“They didn’t even bother to tell me this guy’s name.” Zayne thought.

The man kept walking forward and was only about fifteen feet away from Zane before stopping. The dog beside the red-eyed man barked and made a gesture with its paw before the man said something about “feeding time” and turned around and began walking back.

The mysterious man was so close and Zayne's curiosity was growing. He was told not to engage no matter what, but he wanted to know who this guy was.

Zayne took two steps forward and was about to call out to the man. He was going to ask who this guy was and why he was so important to his organization. As he opened his mouth to call out, no words would come. He was paralyzed and couldn’t move a muscle or make a sound. His fight or flight was active, but some sort of force was holding him in place.

He only could watch as the man continued to walk off, but the dog seemed to stay behind and turn toward Zayne. Where there should have been eyes on the dog, they had transformed into open maws with rows of needle-like teeth. The entire body of the dog started to transform into an inky black liquid that expanded and reshaped itself until it towered over Zayne at thirty feet (9 meters). Its body resembled a hairless wolf with a flowing black liquid constantly dripping off it.

The eldritch monstrosity opened its larger mouth to reveal a cluster of tentacles. Each tipped with another mouth with those same needle-like teeth. They wriggled with a ravenous hunger.

Before he had any time to process what he was looking at, the tentacles wrapped around him and drew him into its mouth. Once inside its mouth, the monster closed its jaw and the tentacles began ripping Zayne apart. They took chunks of flesh from his shoulder and his legs. One of the tentacles ripped a hole in his abdomen and squirmed inside, beginning to eat him from the inside out.

Still paralyzed, he couldn’t scream. He could only watch in horror as he was eaten alive.

Suddenly, like an echo in a cave, he heard a voice.

???: “Yo, Zayne. Are ya there?”

Zayne snapped back to reality and looked around. He was surrounded by three other of his canine mutant colleagues. It felt like he was just suddenly woken up. The red-eyed man and the white dog were nowhere to be seen. Zayne then grabbed the areas on his body he remembered his flesh being ripped off and found that he was perfectly fine. There was no physical damage.

The three other mutants gave him a strange look from the odd behavior.

Zayne: “W-what the f-fuck was that.” he said, confused and scared at what just happened.

Canine mutant: “You tell us. You were just standing there looking off into space. Actually, are you OK? You're not looking too well.”

Zayne: “I-I think I'll be—nope. N-not fine. Blaggggh!” he said as he suddenly began to vomit.

Caused by that traumatic event he experienced and couldn’t explain, he puked up his lunch in the center of the street while the other mutants around him reeled back in disgust.

Zayne learned Kyle was right. He really was better off not knowing.

(Author’s Note: At least there was no “PHYSICAL” damage.)