Dark Magic 2 - Darker Magics by Longshot (f/m, qs, grim) Kristen looked down at the muddy garment on the floor in pure shock and horror. The first thoughts running through her mind were, 'But ... it was a dream, wasn't it? And if it wasn't then, how did I get back here? Why aren't I dead?' Thoughts raced through her mind as she laid back down and stared at the ceiling. Finally she decided she would investigate this. "The best method is to recreate the dream," she reasoned, "and as incredibly stupid as wearing a dress out to the swamp sounds it is what I was wearing ..." Kristen found the dress from her dream and another pair of pantyhose as well as a pair of black heels. She laid them out and looked at the clothing selection for a long time. "I must be crazy," she muttered to herself. "I know the location, what I was wearing and the probable outcome. What in the world would possess me to go out to the swamp in the middle of the night?" She sighed softly to herself knowing full well that she'd go crazy if she didn't investigate. "I'll go tomorrow night at midnight, that's probably most likely when that ... group will be there, and it will give me plenty of time to talk myself out of this." Kristen then proceeded to go back to bed. That night she barely slept and her dreams were haunted by images of her sinking into quicksand with a strange man in brown robes laughing and saying, "Quagmos will be appeased ..." Kristen awoke the next day obviously tired. She sighed softly to herself as she knew what the days events would bring. She put on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt as well as some tennis shoes and hunted down a suitable rope. 'I may as well look around during the day and get an idea of what I'm up against,' she thought. With that she got into her car and drown down to the swamp. The swamp itself was dark even in daylight as the overhead trees seemed to make a huge canopy which refused to let the light of day in to illuminate the swamp. Kristen wandered for several minutes before finding the place she remembered from her dream. Currently it looked deserted so she decided it was safe to poke around. There really wasn't much to see, it was a drier spot in the swamp. A few rocks were stacked in what looked like a platform where she remembered a man standing talking to a group of others. Kristen sighed softly as she found no clues here. She noticed that poking around had taken the better part of the day and decided she'd better return home to prepare before her final showdown. Later that evening Kristen was dressed in her dress, hose and heels and was getting ready to drive down to the swamp again to try and solve the mystery which she reasoned could cost her her life. As she made her way into the swamp she heard the voices that she heard in her dream and made her way to the same bush that she remembered. She cursed silently to herself as she felt her heels sinking into the soft mud below her. 'It's happening just like in the dream,' she thought. 'Oh please, don't let it end the same way! It was a mistake to do this.' Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard the man on the rock platform start to suddenly speak in English. "My brethren and sisters," he said aloud. "The chosen one has come to us. Quagmos has delivered to us the one who he has chosen." Kristen didn't bother to listen to more she stood and started to run, almost tripping as the mud refused to give up her heels and her stocking feet came out of them. She ran blindly though the swamp before stopping herself. "Damn it, Kristen!" she said softly to herself. "What's wrong with you? That's what got you killed in the dream, running like a mad woman through the swamp!" She looked around and then down at her feet pleased to see that they were still visible on the muddy ground. Kristen never even heard the man behind her until it was too late. She had been too busy trying to calm herself down and think logically to notice the man creeping up behind her until he'd already grabbed her from behind pinning her arms to her sides with one hand and clamping the other over her mouth. "Foolish girl! You can't hide from us!" She struggled and tried to kick but to no avail the man holding her was much too strong. She heard him utter some strange words in a mystic tongue and then her head began to swim. She felt an overwhelming dizziness then blackness came. The man slung the Kristen's limp body over his shoulder and proceeded to carry her back to the clearing where the others waited. "I have her my Lord. We were fortunate she had not yet wandered too far." The man on the rocks chuckled. "Of course you caught her. It was Quagmos's will. This night hunger will be quenched and we, his faithful servants, will be rewarded." The followers nodded and chanted in unison, "Quagmos be Praised!" Kristen awoke some time later. Her hands were bound and above her head, her feet weren't touching the ground, or anything else for that matter. She shook her head as if she were trying to shake off the grogginess and looked around. She was in the swamp, her dress was torn in places as if she had been dragged through the swamp, but it wasn't muddy. She seemed to be dangling about a foot off the ground over some blackish ground. "Hello? Is ... anyone out there? Please ... let me go! I swear, I won't tell anyone you -" Her word was cut off by a harsh voice "Silence child." A figure appeared before her dressed in plain brown robes. Kristen blinked. "I saw you in my dream ... Who are you? What do you want from me?" The man looked her in the eyes. "I am Dallon, High Priest and servant of Quagmos Lord of the Earth. Quagmos has selected you for a great honor. You are to join him forever in his kingdom." Kristen looked down at the black earth below her and realized quickly what her fate was to be if she didn't do something. "Please," she pleaded, "don't do this! I'm not the chosen one. I don't even know who Quagmos is!" The man shook his head. "You said it yourself child, you saw me in your dreams. That is how Quagmos communicates with us. I saw you many days before in my own dreams. You are her or else you would not be here. Quagmos drew you here and now your destiny is to be with him." Kristen shook her head and pleaded a few moments longer, but to no avail. The man drew a knife from his robes and looked at the rope that suspended Kristen by her wrists above the quicksand, took aim and threw the knife, severing the rope. Kristen fell into the mire with a soft *SPLOOOSH*. Kristen immediately sank to her knees in the mire and screamed in terror. Her wrists were still bound but she did her best to grab her legs and try and pull them from the mire. The futile tugging and pumping of her legs only serving to drag her deeper down into the sticky trap. The man sat down next to the edge and watched. Kristen now up to her thighs gave up on trying to free herself remembering in the dream that only served to make her sink faster. She looked at the man, tears beginning to fall from her eyes. "Please! Don't let me die! Please ..." Dallon looked back at her, a look that said he wanted to help her but he dared not to challenge his master's will. "I am sorry my child. Quagmos has spoken his will must be done." Kristen felt her legs sliding deeper into the mud as it gave way beneath her stocking feet. The skirt of her dress was fanning out around her and even beginning to disappear into the mire as she sank. "But ... I don't even believe in Quagmos! I've never even heard of him before today." Dallon sighed softly. "Please child. Don't make this harder for me than it has to be. Usually Quagmos does select one amongst our band and although it is odd to select an outsider it is his will." Kristen looked down at her body, her waist was sliding under the mud and her dress had almost disappeared. She looked back at Dallon. "Please," she begged. "Please ... don't let me die!" Dallon closed his eyes and shook his head. "I cannot save you child. As much as I may want to. Do not ask it of me." Kristen felt her body beginning to sink into the constricting mud. She tried to move her feet below the surface to find a bottom to the pit but her efforts were futile and only caused her to sink deeper. She felt the mud creeping up her breasts and her breath was getting shorter. She had stopped pleading to Dallon for the moment and seemed more worried about how to escape. Dallon watched Kristen sink with sympathy and a bit of jealousy. "Why is it this woman is allowed to join the master? She is unworthy of his glory. She does not even believe in my lord." Kristen felt the mud creep up her shoulders and start to claim her neck. Her hands had slipped below the surface and only the bit of rope that had suspended her above the surface even showed where they had once been. She tilted her head back as the mud continued its relentless devouring of her body. She closed her eyes, the tears had long since stopped flowing and she was at the point of silent acceptance of her fate. She took a last breath of air as she felt the mud claim her face. The rope that had suspended her was the last thing to start going under. Dallon watched and finally he acted. Dallon chanted a few words and with speed that no man could match he grabbed the rope and began to pull. Moments later Kristen's head appeared from the mud, covered in the black goo. She took a gasping breath and before she had time to ask questions she felt her body being pulled from the quicksand. "The glory of joining the master does not belong to you!" Dallon screamed. "It is mine and mine alone!" Kristen was confused by this but wasn't about to ask stupid questions. She felt the mud tugging at her legs as they were freed and finally her entire body. Dallon pushed her aside and dove head first into the quicksand with a scream of "I'm coming to joi-" His last words cut off as his body disappeared into the mud. Kristen watched horrified as the man disappeared into the quicksand. She quickly edged away from the pit and worked her hands free of the ropes. "I ... don't want to know," she said softly to herself and ran quickly as she could back to her car. Kristen arrived home and cleaned herself up, and got into some fresh clothes tossing the muddy garments into the washing machine. She sat down on her bed and contemplated the nights events, completely baffled. She laid down and quickly drifted off to sleep after her ordeal. She slept well and no dreams of strange men in brown robes came to her that night. The next day Kristen went back out to the swamp and went to where she was sure the clearing was to find. Nothing. The platform was gone. The clearing was overgrown with swamp plants where it had been previously brown earth. There was no trace of anything. Kristen even made her way to where she though the quicksand pit was. She found the blackish mud again but there was no trace of the ropes that had held her suspended above the pit or the ones that had bound her wrists. No traces that anyone but her had even been there in a long time. All traces of the mysterious cult had vanished.