The bullet-ants crawled through the darkness, feeling their way through utter blackness towards their prey, in their thousands they scuttled, their tiny pin-prick hairs feeling out towards something, something cold, something wet, and something Fluffy.
The first ant clambered onto the body, crawling among the thick red coat to find the soft flesh between, it raised its slick, black mandibles up, and slammed its jaws down.
“YYYEEEEAAAAAWWWGGGGHHHHH!!!”
The red Fluffy jumped up as though he’d been shot, several of the ants scattered from the sudden noise but many still clung onto him, biting and clawing at their prey, with each new attack the Fluffy was filled with a new burst of neurotoxin agony, wave after wave of crippling, debilitating pain coursed through his body, shredding his nerves and turning his muscles into jelly.
The worst part was that in the pitch darkness, he couldn’t see his attackers.
“Fwuffy am nu nummies git fukin bak.” He cried, stomping into the black void. Unsure and unaware of what he was hitting, the Fluffy crashed his hoofs down onto the insects, crushing at least one of them underneath. Whatever was attacking was alive.
And if they were alive, they could be killed.
“Take sowwy-hoofies yu fukin munstahs.” The Fluffy gave out a war-cry as he stomped and jumped and crashed and crushed everything around him, listening out for the wet crunch of a dead bug beneath his hoofs.
But they just kept coming, he could feel them tearing into his nervous system, every time he thought he was getting ahead of them, three or four of them would bite him at once, dropping The Fluffy to his knees and allowing even more to climb onto his Fluff.
He didn’t stop, he shook and he leapt and he did everything he could to throw the hell-beasts from him. Every agonising movement, every blind stomp, it was all he had to fight against them.
Slowly but surely, he felt the bites becoming less and less frequent, the pain still shot through him like his skin was being set ablaze, but it was lowering in intensity, The Fluffy could move again without feeling like his body was about to explode. With an almighty squash onto the final ant, The Fluffy stood in the crunchy, broken shells of his attackers and realised that all he could hear was his own breathing. His flesh was burning, his muscles twitching, his nerves pulsing, but he was alive, and now he was alone. The Fluffy looked around the blackened void of his new space.
“Whewe da fuk am Cwimson nyo?”
“CWIMSON!”
Crimson jumped three feet in the air at the sudden booming voice that felt like it was screeching from inside his own head. In a violent flash, the room was lit up in a Hellish Inferno as a gigantic flaming skull of a Fluffy appeared, beset on either side by a burning pillar of flame, all of it seemingly floating in mid-air. Even with the new light source, Crimson still couldn’t see the edge of the room.
The flaming skull spoke, it’s voice was low, crackling, and yet clear as day. “Cwimson. I, am The Iniquitous, an I…”
“Sowwy, da wha?”
“The Iniquitous!”
“Da I-nig-a-tus?”
“INIQUITOUS!”
“I-nik-a-twist?
“SIWENCE!!!”
Crimson felt his all body explode into flames of the most skin melting temperatures before the heat disappeared as quickly as it arrived. The skull sneered at him and kept talking.
“I am The Iniquitous, judga of aww Fwuffies. An YU, Cwimson, am da wowstesh Fwuffy since Mawoon da Pointie Meanie.”
“Oh, is Mawoon hewe, Cwimson am big fan of his wowk.”
“Nu, STOP DAT! Yu am hewe to face da punishment yu desewve. Yu wiww face tasks an chawwenges dat wiww teaw yuw psy-key, wiww bweak yuw bod-ee, an wiww wuin yuw soul.”
“Pass.”
The Iniquitous was taken aback by Crimson’s complete disregard of his threats. “Yu… wha?”
“Cwimson nu intawested. Jus send Cwimson tu da neawesh towtuwe pit an git dis oba wiv.”
“Dat… dat nu how… NU! Yu hab nu choice, yu wiww face dese tasks becoz dat is wha yu desewve.”
“An wha if Cwimson say nu? Wha I-nik-a-twist gun du? Kiww Cwimson gain?”
The Iniquitous scowled at Crimson, who just looked smugly at the flaming skull. That is until he felt a sharp, tearing pain in his genitals, Crimson looked down and saw a long thin slice of his penis was being skinned away like peeling a carrot. Crimson doubled over in pain as another slice was slowly and horribly peeled off of him, tissue and nerves ripping and tearing in the losing fight against the Demonic Creature.
“OK! Cwimson undastan, wiww du yuw dummeh tasks.”
The Iniquitous stopped his assault on Crimson’s genitals and allowed him to compose himself.
“Da fiwst task is thwough dat doow.” The Iniquitous said as behind Crimson, a rectangular hole of fire appeared as if from nowhere. “If yu compwete evewy task, den yu shaww be wewawded.”
Crimson shook his head. “Dis am fukin dummeh fing.”
But since he had no other option, he headed towards the Flame Door and walked through it. No sooner was his last leg on the other side, then the door disappeared. The Iniquitous smiled, he saw right through Crimson, he’d ruin that little monster for every Fluffy he ever hurt.
Nobody ever escaped The Hellgremlin Trials.
We got ourselves a big one here. Every day through Flufftobuh, I shall try and write a short story regarding Crimson’s travels through the Fluffy underworld and what challenges he will face in his time down there.
Do I have any idea what I’m doing? Have I got an idea for every day already? Will I even be able to do a story a day for the whole month?
The answer to all these questions and more… is No. But I’ll do what I can to try.
