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Green and Gold (Halloween Havoc no. 28)

by Sigma

I

“That cannot be all we have left!” Gurka fumed.

“I’m afraid so…” Minerva said, shaking her empty satchel. Between the two of them, Ava, and Xera, they only had a few gold coins, a few dried strips of meat, and a clay bowl for gathering water.

Gurka growled and looked at their surroundings, crumbling ruins marked by collapsed statues of figures none of them recognized. “Maybe there’s something here that’s worth some money.”

“It’s probably long gone,” Ava said. She picked up the bread when no one else would and began eating.

“Ugh!” Gurka groaned. “How far until civilization?”

“Three days,” Xera said. “That’s assuming we aren’t delayed.” She then lay down. “Well, it can’t be helped. We should rest so we’ll be ready to leave in the morning.”

Minerva nodded and gathered everything back into the bag and Ava lay down, still eating.

“I’ll keep watch…” Gurka said, folding her arms. “Not that we have anything to steal…Though, if we happen upon slavers, maybe we could get a pretty coin for the Princess,” she said, looking at Ava.

Ava glared at her. “They’d probably pay more for a beast of burden.”

“Ava!” Xera said before Gurka could answer. “Go to sleep. I’m not in the mood to deal with you two tonight.”

Ava grumbled and lay down and Gurka huffed and turned away to stare at the shadows.

*

Sometime later, Gurka lifted her head, snapping out of a half-asleep state when she heard rummaging. She turned around and saw two glowing eyes staring back at her. A skinny, green-skinned goblin, no more than four feet tall, held Minerva’s satchel and hissed at Gurka when she looked at him.

“Bastard!” she yelled and dove after him. The goblin nimbly dodged her and ran off into the night with the bag. Gurka screamed and went after him. She let a guttural curse when her leg snagged something and she fell face first into the dirt. She looked back to see a thin, barely noticeable wire. In the distance, the goblin looked at her, holding up the bag. Gurka got up to chase when she noticed several more pairs of eyes in the dark, several more goblins waiting in the shadows.

“Fuckers!” she screamed, scrambling to her feet. By the time she chased, the goblins had fled and Gurka’s screams carried on the night air.

The others stirred awake and got up. “What’s going on?” Minerva asked, rubbing her eyes. Gurka angrily explained how they had been robbed.

“Why weren’t you keeping watch?” Ava asked, exasperated. “You had one job!”

“Don’t fucking start with me, Princess,” Gurka said. “I’m not in the mood!”

“I don’t care,” Ava said. “All you had to do was sit your fat green ass on that ground, and make sure no one snuck up on us and you couldn’t even do that!” She put two fingers to Gurka’s head. “Now we have nothing!”

“Get your hand out of my face!” Gurka growled, smacking her hand away. “I swear, I was better off when I was head of my own clan instead of running around with you idiots, constantly broke and hungry!”

“You two need to calm yourselves…” Xera said.

“No!” Ava said. “She’s constantly talking about how she’s better off without us, so let her prove it!”

Gurka narrowed her eyes. “Right, so you can get your stupid asses killed without me here?!”

Ava shoved her. “You think we need you?! You’re so damn sure you can thrive with us, so prove it!”

Minerva got between them and tried to hold them apart. “Gurka, Ava doesn’t mean that!”

“Like hells, I don’t!”

“I’m tired of your fucking mouth, blondie!” Gurka raged. “Maybe I need to shut you up for good!”

“Gurka, don’t say things like that!” Minerva pleaded.

“Both of you, stop this!” Xera said, her words lost in the escalating arguing. She moved to separate them, but they were already shoving and swinging at each other.

“Stupid little blonde twat!” Gurka howled.

“Big green animal!” Ava screamed.

The insults flew back and forth, and Gurka suddenly swung a wild fist. There was a shout, and everything fell silent when someone hit the ground.

Minerva sat in the dirt, holding a fresh bruise on her face as tears welled in her eyes from the shock of the blow.

“Fuck…” Gurka gasped. She reached out. “Little one, I’m…”

Minerva waved her away. “I’m fine…”

“See what you did, idiot!” Ava said.

Xera knelt down to check on Minerva while Gurka kept her distance.

“I…” Gurka approached them.

“Not now, Gurka,” Xera warned.

Gurka growled and grabbed her axe. Ava froze and Xera instinctively went for the dagger on her belt. “Fuck this and fuck all of you!” Gurka said, heading off into the shadows of the ruins.

II

Gurka wandered in the night, finding an isolated spot deep in the ruins to stew in her anger. She sat against the broken head of a fallen statue with her muscular arms folded across her tight, green chest. “Those assholes!” she spat. “It was an accident. If that stupid spoiled blonde hadn’t…” she paused, hearing skittering in the night. She looked around and saw nothing. Crediting her own imagination, Gurka huffed and slumped down, content to continue stewing.

He ears then perked up when she heard more skittering and muffled chatter on the night air. She quickly grabbed her axe and stood up. “Must be those damn goblins!” She gripped her weapon tight. “Show yourselves, dear cousins...Ol’ Gurka only wants to talk.” She then heard giggling behind her. When she turned around, a lone goblin stooped on the statue head.

Gurka was taken aback by his appearance. His eyes glowed gold, even without firelight, and a strange, thick liquid gold poured from his mouth as he grinned at her. Gurka reached out to grab the goblin, but he leapt away into the shadows.

She then heard footsteps behind her and turned to see a goblin run past. It slashed her in the leg with a knife, cackling as it vanished into the shadows.

“Dammit! The orc growled, giving chase when she realized it was only a scratch. Two more goblins then leapt out of the darkness, jumping onto her back and shoulders. Gurka yelled in surprise and dropped her axe, trying to grab them. They cackled and dug their nails into Gurka’s thick skin, and she screamed in frustration at not being able to shake them off. “Get the fuck off of me!” She then gagged when she felt thick twine wrap around her neck. She pulled at it and the goblins leapt off of her. The orc grunted and cursed, pulling at the surprisingly tough rope when she felt more of it coiling around her lower legs.

There was shrill laughter as Gurka cursed and toppled. She then felt small, clawed hands seize her arms and legs, several pairs at once. They forced her arms behind her and bound them behind her back. “Let me go!” she screamed. She then froze when she looked up as the goblins surrounded her. There were at least eight of them, all with eyes of glowing gold, their jaws caked with liquid gold.

They all grinned at Gurka before one of them, the one that stole the bag, grabbed a length of rope and used it gag the orc. She then screamed, feeling little green hands grab every inch of her muscular body they could get a hold of before they dragged her off into the dark.

*

There were more goblins than Gurka realized, and they kept the orc bound in some strange, cavernous chamber brimming with gold, precious gems, and discarded weapons. The goblins themselves were a strange lot. Normally known for their chatty nature, these goblins hadn’t once said a word since they captured Gurka, and their eyes all glowed gold. On top of that, the weird liquid gold poured from their mouths and, for some of them, their eyes. They all stood around the captured orc, big grins on their sharp green faces as she lay their on the ground, bound and gagged. She growled in humiliated frustration behind her gag. Orcs and Goblins had a long history of rivalry. Orcs saw their smaller cousins and thieving tricksters and goblins saw orcs as dumb, violent brutes. Gurka also knew at her core, she needed to try her damndest to escape the bonds, because neither orcs nor goblins were above eating their distant cousins.

She flexed her muscles, trying the integrity of the ropes again, but there was little give. As one, the goblins grabbed at her body and pushed, rolling her onto her back. One of them ripped the gag from her mouth and she spat. “Let me go, you little green turds! Before you regret it!”

She winced when they began fondling her bound body, prodding and probing at it with their tiny hands. Still, they said nothing to her or each other, and Gurka growled and tried to shake them off. She then felt one of them grab her and begin undoing the bonds. Once they were off, the goblins swarmed her before she could get up and held down her powerful limbs. There were so many that even she couldn’t get rid of them. “AGH! LET ME GO!” She demanded again.

Their collective weight pinned the muscular orc down and she screamed as she watched the goblins strip down, leaving only the leering smiles on their faces. They seemed to be working together, all without uttering a word, and some of them pulled her thick legs apart while another mounted her, grabbing her hips with clawed hands.

“No! No!!!” She protested, moving her hips to stop from being penetrated. At the same time, two goblins on her sides opened their mouths and latched onto her tits, biting at the hardened nipples and sucking at the orc’s emerald skin. When she screamed, a fourth goblin forced a stiff cock down her throat. They fucked her as one, still making no sounds, not even grunting. The only sounds echoing in the stale air of the chamber were Gurka’s muffled grunting and the slap of green flesh against green flesh.

White hot fury burned in the orc’s heart as the she was gang fucked by the party of goblins, their mouths, cocks, and hands making a complete plaything of her muscular green body. The one riding her face forced his cock all the way to the back of her throat and the one in her pussy pounded her with reckless abandon, all while two goblins sucked on her nipples and countless others held her arms and legs down to keep her from getting up. She clenched her fists, trying to force them off, but with every pump of a cock in one of her holes, she felt her strength slipping. She let out another muffled scream of fury, demanding the goblins get off of her, but the one fucking her face grabbed the shaved sides of her head and forced himself in all the way and all Gurka could do was gag on the rock-hard length.

She then felt both the goblin fucking her face and the one in her pussy shudder, and the orc screamed in impotent rage when they filled her with their hot, sticky seed before pulling out. Thick streams of gold semen coated her face and caked her quivering thighs, and the goblins sucking her tits stopped and pulled away at the same time.

Gurka spat and rolled to her knees, staring at the goblins as they gathered around her. She grunted when she felt one grab her hips and attempt to mount of her behind. She swung her arm back and, so furious was her blow, the she felt something in the goblin crack when she hit him. The goblin’s body crumpled to the ground and Gurka growled and jumped to her feet. “I’m gonna rip all your fucking heads off!”

The goblins stared at her, no fear in their eyes. Then, as one, they turned and fled into the shadows of the chamber.

Gurka blinked in disbelief and watched them all vanish. She then shook her head. “I fucking hate goblins.” She breathed deep and looked down at the one that she killed when she noticed the corpse moving. Within seconds, the body rolled over and out of its mouth, ears, and nose, long, thin, worm-like creatures slithered out, their sinuous bodies covered in liquid gold.

“What the fuck…?!” Gurka gasped and stepped back. Once she collected herself, she stomped on them, splattering them against the stone ground. She growled and looked around, suddenly remembering she was in a chamber brimming with gold and gems. The orc regained her composure, smiled and dug through the treasure until she found a bag, at which point she began loading up. It didn’t take her long to fill that bag, find a second, and start anew. Just as she did, a particularly large pile of gold shifted. She turned and saw something move beneath it. Before it revealed itself, Gurka grabbed an axe she found laying among the treasure and gripped it tight.

Piles of gold fell away, but some stayed atop the strange creature’s head. It stood taller than Gurka, with a wide, eyeless body and stubby arms that ended in talons. It let out a horrific shriek and Gurka yelled in challenge, raised her axe, and charged.

***

“Maybe we should go find her…” Minerva suggested, still favoring the bruise on her face as she stared in the dark of the ruins.

“She’ll come back,” Ava scoffed. “She always does.”

“This is your fault, Ava,” Xera said.

“How?!”

“You and Gurka are constantly bickering. You’re like children! And you always goad her, knowing how she is.”

Ava folded her arms.

“When she comes back, you are going to apologize and the two of you are going to drop it.”

“Xera…”

“Ava, I mean it!” Xera said. “Act like a grown woman!”

“Fine!” Ava said. She then lay down and rolled over, facing away from them.

Xera rolled her eyes. “Sometimes I think things were simpler when it was just you and I,” she said to Minerva.

Minerva smiled at that and then she and Xera perked up when they heard movement. Ava got up and grabbed her sword and Xera and Minerva got their weapons.

Gurka emerged from the shadows with her axe over her shoulders. Hanging from the ends were bags heavy with gold. The orc was covered in scratches and wounds. Her muscular thighs, still caked in gold semen, trembled every labored step. She was drenched in sweat, and her skin was a paler shade of green.

Xera ran to her. “What in the hells happened to you?” She noticed the sweat and the drained look on Gurka’s face and put her hand to her forehead. “You’re burning up!”

“It’s nothing…” Gurka said. She dropped the bags by the fire and lay down. “I found these. I’m tired. I’m going to sleep.”

The others all looked at her and then each other. Minerva started to say something but Xera put a hand on her arm and shook her head.

“Let’s just rest for the night. We’ll leave first thing in the morning.”

“Okay,” Minerva said. “I’ll take watch. I’m not tired.”

***

Some time later, Minerva sat by the fire with a book open in front of her. Ava and Xera were sound asleep, and Minerva looked up when she heard Gurka grunting. She watched the orc for several moments, and stood up when she noticed her tossing and turning in her sleep.

Gurka then let out a grunt before a violent coughing fit broke out and she began choking in her sleep. Minerva ran over to her, and by the time she reached her, Gurka was having a full-body seizure.

“Gurka!” Minerva yelled, holding her broad shoulders down. “Ava! Xera! Wake up!”

The others stirred awake and were on their feet in an instant.

“What’s wrong with her?!” Xera asked.

“She’s having a seizure,” Ava said calmly. She got down on her knees next to Gurka and rolled her on her side. “One of you give me something soft to put under her head.”

Xera grabbed her blanket, folded it, and gave it to Ava. Ava put it under Gurka and held her shoulders while Minerva stepped back and began sobbing. Xera put her arms around Minerva while Ava stayed at Gurka’s side.

“It’s all right, Gurka. You’re all right,” Ava said soothingly as Gurka continued convulsing on the ground. She looked at the others. “She has to ride it out.”

The convulsions grew more violent, and despite Ava holding her, Gurka rolled back onto her back. She arched against the ground and thick, liquid gold poured from her mouth, ears, nose, and eyes. Ava gasped and stepped back when Gurka’s eyes turned gold too. The orc then leapt up, and grabbed Ava, tackling her to the ground and pinning her down. They stared at each other for several seconds and Gurka opened her mouth.

Ava screamed in a mix of surprise and disgust as Gurka vomited liquid gold all over her face and chest. Before anyone could do anything else, Gurka got up and ran back into the deep ruins.

Ava sat up and looked at the thick, mucus-like liquid covering her and looked at the Xera and Minerva. Minerva clasped her hands together and chanted a spell, and a small storm cloud formed over Ava, drenching her with rain and washing away the gold. Ava sat there, her clothes soaked through, clinging to the curves of her body, and making her nipples visible through the drenched fabric of her clothes.

“...What the fuck just happened?!” Ava finally asked.

Xera grabbed her sword and took off after Gurka. “Come on!”

Minerva ran after Xera, but stopped and looked at Ava. “I think you two are even now!” She said before running after Xera.

“Not funny!” Ava screamed, still drenched. She grabbed her breastplate and quickly slipped it on before grabbing her sword belt and following, crushing a writhing parasite under her boot without noticing.

III

Xera, Ava, and Minerva arrived in the chamber of gold, and found the creature slain atop the treasure.

“What is this thing…?” Ava asked, looking at the slain monster as it lay there with its belly sliced open from Gurka’s axe.

Minerva stepped forward and looked at the fatal wound. Liquid gold poured from it and thousands of the small worm creatures writhed uselessly in the carnage. “I don’t know. There are all kinds of strange creatures living in the subterranean parts of the world…This place must be its den. Maybe it wiped out the temple that was here.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Xera said. “Gurka isn’t here. We press on.”

Ava picked up one of the creatures and held it away from her face. “Wait...I think these things are parasites.” When she had Xera and Minerva’s attention she continued. “During the medical treatment part of my training, we learned about parasitic infection. We learned to recognize symptoms like fatigue, weakness, fever…”

“And vomiting…” Minerva concluded. “But why the melted gold?”

“I don’t know,” Ava said, tossing the parasite aside. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

“So Gurka is infected?” Xera asked.

“That would be my guess,” Ava said. She looked down at the dead goblin and kicked its body over. Parasites crawled from its mouth and nose.

Xera looked down. “Did the parasites kill this goblin?”

“No,” Ava said, using the tip of her sword to turn its head. “It looks like a blow to the skull killed him. Gurka must have done it, but maybe this is how she got infected.”

“Then we need to be quick,” Xera said. “These things may be fatal.”

“We can take Gurka to Marie,” Minerva said. “She might know how to help.” She then walked up to the dead creature’s belly wound. “I wonder, though, is this thing a mature parasite or just another victim…”

“Minerva,” Xera said. “I’d feel better if you weren’t so close to that thing…”

Minerva looked at Xera and then at the creature. “Maybe if we studied it, we could…” She didn’t finish the thought before something lashed out of the open wound and grabbed her arm. It was a long, sinuous strand that looked like a tendril, and it wrapped around Minerva’s arm and tried to pull her in. She screamed and beat it with her other fist, trying to pull away. Xera and Ava ran to help her and when they got close, they saw it wasn’t a limb, but a massive, writhing mass of the parasites working together in the shape of a limb. Xera grabbed Minerva’s waist and Ava grabbed her arm, and even with their combined strength they couldn’t free her. The young sorceress screamed and panicked, trying to get free. Xera pulled her dagger from her belt, stabbing frantically at the parasites while avoiding where she thought Minerva’s trapped arm was.

“Come on!” Ava shouted. She then heard rapid footsteps in the dark and turned. Out of the shadows came a small horde of golden-eyed goblins, crude weapons in hands and emotionless expressions on their faces. “Xera!”

Xera turned and saw the goblins. “Fuck!” She threw her knife, taking one goblin down, and then let go of Minerva and drew her sword. “Help Minerva!” she said before charging into battle.

Ava grabbed Minerva by her waist and pulled with all her strength. Minerva raised her free hand, formed a fireball, and threw it at the parasites. Some of them burned, but the teeming mass simply replaced the lost parasites with more, and Minerva screamed. “I don’t want to die! Ava, help me!”

Ava gritted her teeth, trying with all her strength. “Let her go, you stupid bugs!” She risked stealing a glance at Xera and saw the goblins outnumbered her 20 to 1. She was barely keeping them at bay and she could feel the parasites pulling both her and Minerva into the creature’s body. “No!” Ava yelled, digging the heels of her boots into the ground.

“Agh!”

Ava turned when she heard Xera shout and she saw the busty Amazon on the ground, her sword laying next to her. Xera held her head as a goblin stepped on her back, holding a club in hand. She then cursed when a different goblin wrapped thick rope around her neck and other goblins swarmed the Amazon, securing her arms behind her with ropes before they got to work on her legs.

“No! Unhand me!” Xera demanded. Ava then noticed some goblins turn in her direction and the one with the club pointed.

“Shit!” Ava said, doubling her efforts to help Minerva. She let out another yell of effort before she felt several pairs of grasping green hands. Her sword belt got pulled from her waist, they grabbed at her thighs, her waist, and her breasts. They pulled her hair and grabbed at her neck, and Ava screamed as they overwhelmed her and pulled her off of Minerva. Then Ava watched Minerva disappear into the monster’s body before she felt a sharp blow against the back of her head and everything went dark.

*

A different chamber, deep in the ruins, was dominated by a pit brimming with the parasitic worms. All around the room were gold statues of people. Most were humans, men, women, children, the elderly. There was also the occasional elf among the statues, signifying the room’s age, as elves were largely believed to have gone extinct centuries ago.

Sharp nails dug into Xera’s hips as one of the goblins mounted her from behind, ramming its cock in her shapely ass and grunting with effort as it fucked her. The Amazon’s wrists were bound in front of her, and all around her stood other goblins, staring with their glowing gold eyes. She was covered in their ejaculate, gold just like the fluids that poured from their eyes, but still warm and sticky. It ran in thick streams across the Amazon’s curves, covering the scratches and fresh scars the goblins had recently inflicted on her. She felt it running down her chin, a gift from the goblin who had just finished with her, and she gritted her teeth as the goblin behind her drove himself home, over and over again. His pelvis slapped against the ample meat of Xera’s ass, and her tits swung back and forth with the motion. She felt the goblin cum in her ass, and his golden ejacluate spill out, covering her legs as it dripped onto the ground.

Xera looked around the chamber, trying to work out an escape. She noticed discarded weapons near the statues, no doubt tools of those unfortunate adventurers, and she fixated on a sword in particular, something to keep her mind on what she felt had been hours of abuse at the hands of the silent, infected creatures. The Amazon steeled her mind against the horror, part of her training on her home island, where the veteran warrior told her as a young trainee the terror she would face as a women in the wider world. As the goblin pulled out and emptied what was left in his balls on Xera’s bare back, she forced a smile at the thought of gripping a sword and ending these small menaces. It was a small comfort. For all she knew, Minerva and Gurka were dead, but Ava still lived.

Ava was close by, a goblin riding her face with another between her thick legs, which the goblin held up in the air as it fucked her. Ava let out muffled cries, her exposed tits jumping with the motion of being fucked, and the goblin forcing his cock down Ava’s throat grabbed the sides of her head. She too was covered in their golden ejaculate, her body bore the scars and bruises of their long abuse. The goblin riding her face pulled out and finished on her face and naked tits, and Ava gagged and spat, fury in her eyes.

“Bastards! By the goddess, I swear I’ll kill you all!”

Xera smiled, seeing her friend hadn’t been broken.

Ava then screamed as the goblin between her legs finished inside of her following a few forceful thrusts. When he pulled out, liquid gold dripped between Ava’s shaking legs, and she lay back, her tits heaving as she breathed. She looked over at Xera, and rolled over before crawling to her. The goblins didn’t try to stop the women as they held hands and supported each other.

Heavy footsteps then sounded and when they looked up, they saw Gurka emerge from among the statues. She loomed over them like a great shadow, her golden eyes going from one woman to the other.

Several silent moments passed before Xera and Ava stood, keeping close to each other.

“...We...are...impressed,” Gurka finally spoke. “You...resilient...You...will...do.”

“Gurka…” Xera said. “What happened to you?”

“...Gurka...no...more. She...is...us...we...are...her.”

“Who...who are you?” Ava asked.

“No...name…” the thing speaking through Gurka said. “...You...call us...a swarm...intelligence. All... are one.”

Xera looked at the goblins, who stood around them, staring. “This thing is in all of these goblins…”

“Yes. We can...adapt...to these green creatures. The small and the large. Your kind...is...more difficult...incompatible…We have tried. Your kind...reject us...so...we preserve...for food...”

Ava looked at the gold statues and went pale.

“But...you...resilient...different somehow…” Gurka circled around them. “You...perhaps..show us...how to change others...like you…We...evolve...adapt to your kind finally…” Gurka stood still. “You...spawning pool…” Gurka said, glancing back at the pit in the center of the room. “Survive...unlike others.”

Xera looked around, finding the sword she saw on the ground. She slipped close to Ava. “On my mark...grab a weapon…” Xera whispered.

Ava simply nodded.

“All...will...join...swarm…” Gurka said.

“Now!” Xera shouted. She and Ava ran in different directions and grabbed discarded swords. The goblins attacked, but the two warrior women advanced on them, cutting them down as they came and carving a path out. They ran for the exit, just to yell when strong hands grabbed their hair. Gurka slammed their heads together, and Xera and Ava collapsed in a heap, their weapons falling from their grips.

Both women groaned and writhed on the cold ground. Gurka then knelt down and grabbed their hair and dragged them away from the exit.

Xera looked up, kicking and beating at Gurka’s thick, muscular arms. Her fighting grew more desperate as she realized they were being dragged to the pool. “Gurka! No! Stop!” she begged.

Gurka looked down at the two of them. Ava recovered and didn’t have time to process what was happening before they reached the edge of the pool. With impressive strength, Gurka lifted them both up by their hair and threw them, screaming, into the spawning pool.

Ava and Xera landed on top of the writhing mass of parasites and tried to upright themselves on the shifting, living ground beneath them. Xera’s arm sunk in, and the insects then pulled her leg in. Within seconds, the Amazon was pulled under, screaming as they overwhelmed her.

Ava’s fate was the same. Insects slithered up her body, pulling her under the teeming mass. She tried to claw her way out, but they were too strong. She simply watched Gurka, who stood at the edge of the pool, and tried to say something to her before the insects filled her mouth as she went under.

IV

A great explosion blew a hole in the giant monster’s body and Minerva tumbled out, covered in the creatures innards and parasites that fell uselessly to the ground.

The sorceress’ robes were all but dissolved by stomach acid, and she lay there, breathing heavily with the cool air on her naked chest. She eventually sat up and looked around. “Xera? Ava…?” She stood up, grunting as a lance of pain shot through her leg, and she limped off, deeper into the ruins to find the others.

The long walk ended with Minerva entering the chamber with the spawning pool, but she found it empty except for the gold statues. She walked among them, staring at them in awe and touching a few. She paused at one, which looked to be an elf woman, and Minerva looked it in the face. Suddenly, the eyes shifted and looked right at her, a look a cold, naked terror. Minerva screamed and ran, getting away from the statues.

Gurka then blocked her path.

“Gurka! Thank the goddess! Are you okay?”

The orc said nothing.

“Did Ava and Xera come this way? Are they here?”

Gurka looked up.

Minerva followed her gaze and glanced at the ceiling. Two pulsing, writhing, human-sized cocoons hung above the room, and whatever was inside was fighting to get out. She turned to Gurka. “They’re in those things?! We have to get them out!” She formed a fireball on her hand, only for Gurka to grab her wrist and twist her arm behind her back.

“Ow! Gurka! What are you doing?!” She then looked in the orc’s eyes and saw they were gold, and she remembered. “No…” she gasped.

The cocoons opened at the bottom and a body fell out of each and hit the ground. Ava and Xera stood, their naked bodies covered in thick, liquid gold. Their eyes, too, were gold, and Minerva’s heart sank when the women opened their mouths and she saw they were full of parasites. The infected Ava and Xera walked toward Minerva.

“No!” She screamed, trying to pull away from Gurka.

“We...have...achieved...perfection…” all three said with one voice. “You...will join us…”

“NOOO!!!” Minerva screamed. Ava and Xera grabbed her arms and legs and carried her to the twisting, shifting mass of parasites that were the spawning pool. With little effort they tossed the naked sorceress into the air and she landed on the parasites in the pool, screaming to her last breath as the collective mass swallowed her.

The End