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Commission for  impximon

Ixx the Imp is a stalwart protector of the desert which he calls home. But during one of his patrols he notices something strange has been erected in his territory and decides to investigate

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The Long Walk

I could feel the warm sand between my toes as I walked forward through the desert. High above me, I could hear carrion birds cawing as they flew around me in the summer heat. A thin layer of sweat was already building up around my small, toned, white-furred body but I didn’t mind since this was just an average day and a little sweat never hurt anyone. For some of the outsiders that wandered into my territory a day under the sun would tire them out immensely but honestly that just made it easier for me to track them down. It also didn’t help that they tended to travel with clothes that covered a lot of their body whereas I moved with only a red and white bandana across my forehead and a tanned leather loincloth.

The desert, this "barren wasteland" the outsiders sometimes called it, was mine. I had lived there for many years, it was my home and it was my place to protect it from those who wished to do it any harm. Whenever I spotted trespassers on my land I made sure to follow them so I could figure out their intentions. If they were just passing through to get to the next town, I left them alone, but sometimes there were those who wished to mine some of the plateaus or caves for gold and other times they were banditos who wished to hide out and harass any travelers for their valuables.

For those who had ill-intentions in their hearts, I made sure to track them down and sabotage their plans. I would steal their food and water, maybe harass them in the dead of night and even on occasion get into a fistfight or two. In the end, they always left and I was filled with a sense of pride for protecting my home.

As I continued on my patrol, I began to ascend one of the larger plateaus in the area. With dexterous hands and equally agile feet, I climbed up the jagged rocks with ease. Since I'm small, it was easy to find narrow places where I could squeeze my hands in, and my feet were easily accommodated by the smallest of perches. It wasn't long before I was already up the plateau and looked around its edges for any signs of intruding life.

To most people, the heated stone surface of the plateau would be unbearable whilst barefoot, but thankfully I was attuned to it. Every step across the rough stone wasn't any hotter than the sand below me. In all honesty, I even liked the tactile feeling of the warm sand across my soles anyways.

I looked over the edges of the plateau, scanning the sand and the rocky terrain for any signs of trespassers before I saw a twinkle in the distance. Instinctively I got down onto my belly to ensure that I hadn’t been spotted before I narrowed my eyes to see if I could make out the details of whatever was ahead of me. Whatever it was, it was shiny and made of a gray metal but was otherwise devoid of any nearby life.

Whatever it was, it gave me a bad feeling but nonetheless I knew I had to investigate. I slowly got up into a crouched position and decided to stealthily make my way down the plateau before I skirted around the object so that I could see it from afar and at different angles. As I did, the only information I could gather was that it was just four innocuous looking metal poles sticking out of the ground in a square. In the past, I had seen trespassers carry metal tools like shovels and pickaxes and sometimes swords or knives, but these poles appeared to be completely plain.

As I observed the poles further, I couldn't help but feel a pang of guilt since I hadn't patrolled that particular in a couple days. Apparently, in my absence someone was able to place these poles in the ground, but whatever their purpose was I still couldn't figure out. After another hour and a half of observing I could tell that the poles were harmless enough and decided to move in to see them up close. I stood up from my perch atop a larger rock and leaped off of it before my white furred soles hit the sand below.

It didn’t take me long to pass through the barren wasteland before I made it to the poles and closely inspected them. I drummed my fingers against them and kicked them but that didn’t cause any kind of reaction. I then tried to pull them out, but they wouldn’t budge at all. Frustrated and confused, I wiped a bead of sweat off my brow as I just carelessly wandered in the middle of all the poles and sat down on the sand.

As I sat there I looked at the poles and let out a heavy sigh. Even though they weren’t bad or negatively impacting the environment, I just thought they were an eyesore and symbolized someone staking their claim in my territory. I would not stand for such an affront, but that meant I somehow had to get rid of them.

After I spent a couple of minutes trying to devise a way to get rid of the poles, the sand below me began to quake and shudder. I immediately jumped to attention as I could feel the world vibrating below my feet. I was hyper-aware of my surroundings as I looked around cautiously and tried to assess what was going on because I knew that there were never any earthquakes in the desert.

The world continued to shake before the sand around me burst upwards. The only thing I was able to do in reaction was cover my eyes and head as the sand came raining back down on me. During the whole event I accidentally inhaled some of the sand and began to cough erratically as the dust began to settle around me, and once everything was clear I let out an audible gasp.

Four cage walls now surrounded me and extended a few feet into the sky. I immediately slapped myself mentally for falling into such a trap before I refocused on the situation and charged the bars set in front of me.

As I got closer I jumped as high as I could before I grabbed onto the bars and desperately tried to climb up and over them. At first, I was able to ascend a by a foot or two, but I soon discovered that the bars were somehow slick to the touch despite not being wet whilst at the same time they caused my hands and feet to tingle as I made contact with them. It felt like ants were crawling over the surface of my palms and on my soles as I climbed and regardless of my endurance I made no progress as I slowly slid back down.

Once I was back onto the sandy floor, I growled instinctively as I massaged my feet briefly and shook my hands a bit to get rid of the tingling feeling. I figured the bars were somehow empowered by the so-called "technology" from the world outside of my home and that only made things more difficult. Even with that in mind, I wasn't deterred and I took a few steps back before I charged and leaped at the bars again.

My fingers wrapped around the bars once more as my silken soles tried to find purchase on the oddly slick metal. I let out a grunt as I moved slowly and carefully up, hand over hand, foot over foot, but with every move I made, my body slid down. Much like my first try, my escape attempt ended poorly as I ended up sliding all the way back onto the sandy floor with tingly hands and feet. The second failure made me growl with frustration as I stood up and tried to figure out a new approach to my situation but once I did someone started to laugh from behind me.

Admittedly the sudden noise startled me for a fraction of a second, but I recomposed myself instantly as I spun around and took on a defensive position.

“Wow, you really are the savage Imp of the wastelands,” came a gruff male voice as a large black coyote approached me.

I instantly cursed myself inwardly at the sight of him. I was so fascinated by the metal poles and observing them from a distance that I didn’t take the time to look around for any signs of foreign life and I knew that the mistake would cost me dearly.

The black coyote wore the strange clothes that most of the trespassers wore and thankfully after spending so much time stalking and harassing them I eventually learned what they were all called. A gray stetson sat atop his head while his ears poked out of the side while a white neckerchief was tied around his strong neck, he also wore a sand brown button-up shirt, jeans and a pair of boots with clinking metal spurs on the heels. The mere sight of him made me narrow my eyes as I took a step back, unsure of what to do now that he had me trapped.

“You know, rumor is that you can heal a lot faster than most other furs, and since you’ve been trouncing around this here desert for so long without keeling over, I’m inclined to agree,” he started, his voice carrying a drawl that most trespassers had.

Conversing with such a person would get me nowhere, so instead I just scowled at him from across the bars whilst I kept my distance. I didn't want to admit it, but he was right, I have regenerative abilities that not only help me survive in the desert but also heal from a variety of wounds that the outsiders inflicted onto me. That being said, even though the coyote didn't look like he had any weapons I was still wary. A lot of the trespassers carried small pistols that could be easily hidden underneath their clothes and I have learned from experience that they hurt tremendously when the bullets landed.

He cocked his head as he stood a good foot away from the cage. “Huh, do you even understand me?” he asked curiously. “Some people said you spoke English pretty damn well, other said you cursed at them in some kinda witch-tongue, so which is it?” he questioned me as he tipped his hat up with his thumb.

I didn’t answer him and instead just continued to growl. I could already tell that this trespasser would be trouble. All of the previous outsiders I had to get rid of only came to my desert seeking fortune whether it was through the land or by plaguing others; the coyote however came here looking specifically for me.

“Not much of a talker eh?” asked the coyote rhetorically before he shrugged. “Oh well, talker or not, you’re gonna get to know me real well since I can chat someone’s ears off,” he chuckled as he reached into his back pocket and retrieved some kind of odd metal slab with symbols on it.

“You see here, I figured that there’s probably a lot of cash to be made from selling you to some researchers or doctors or something. They can figure out how you heal so fast and probably put that to good use for something or other,” the coyote explained. “And those big city colleges are a long ways away so you’re gonna have to listen to my yakking for quite a ways,” He chuckled before he aimed the metal slab at the cage and pressed on the single symbol on it before my world turned white.

Forks of lightning arced from the metal bars before they all aimed inwards at me. With nowhere to run, I was helpless as I felt a surge of energy run through my body and all of my muscles clenched in unison. I screwed my eyes shut and grit my teeth as I grunted through the shocks before they all suddenly came to an end.

My body instantly fell onto the sand in a clump. My muscles ached and my chest heaved up and down as I gasped for breath. I was just barely able to keep my eyes open as I saw the metal bars of my cage slowly descend back under the sand and the black fur walk over to me. He squatted and looked down at me with an impressed whistle.

“Well hot damn, I was worried that maybe this would burn you to a crisp,” he snickered as he prodded my body with the tip of his boot. “Looks like those healing rumors are true eh?” The coyote asked me as he laughed and walked away from my fatigued body.

It wasn't long before he came back with coils of rope in hand and with a smile on his face, he started to carefully tie me up. I could only groan and growl a bit at him as I felt him ball up my hands into a fist and shove them into a tight cloth sack before he tied my wrists together behind my back.

“You know, I was originally a part of a larger group of folks who wanted to just kill you,” he mentioned idly as he started to wrap the rope around my chest. “Yeah, those idiots thought they could just storm the desert and charge into every cave to find you,” the canid snickered, amused at the stupidity of such a tactic.

The coyote wrapped lengths of the rope around my chest and linked it up to further bind my arms behind my back. He actually seemed careful not to make the bondage too uncomfortable but in either case, it was still inescapably tight. I could already feel myself healing up to the point where I could shake around a bit, but by the time I had regained my full range of motion, my upper body was rendered helpless.

"I'm much of a-uhhhh… a tactician! Yeah, that's the word!" He sounded impressed with himself and that just made me groan skeptically. "I bet you could give us the slip if we tried to just bum rush you, so I figured I'd just let you come to me!" The coyote chuckled in a self-aggrandizing manner.

As he spoke I tried to flex my fingers out of the cloth sack, but the material was too strong. The rope that he used to tie my arms was also thick, so I knew that using brute force to break out wasn’t an option.

“You’ll….” I managed to say scornfully. “Regret this…” I finished with a wheeze.

“So you can talk!” The black bovine said with a smile and laugh. “Man, you get cuter by the second you know that?” he asked as he moved onto my legs.

“Once I break free, I’m going to break your jaw,” I threatened him angrily as I saw him connect my ankles together with a piece of rope that was roughly half the length of my arm.

“Oh now you’re just hurting my feelings,” he snickered in return as he finished the knot and pulled me to my feet. “You know what? You just lost your talking privileges for a good couple of hours,” the coyote said as he fished something out of his back pocket.

“WHAT!? I WILL-”

Before I could finish my sentence, the other fur shoved the center of a knotted length of cloth between my teeth. I had no time to spit it out as he quickly started to tie it tightly around my head.

"MMMMPH! MMPH MMPH!" I just muttered at him uselessly as I tried to turn around and headbutt him between the legs.

“Woah now!” the coyote then yelped as I heard a familiar clicking.

I was only a foot away from him and ready to attack but in the bull’s hand was a shiny metal revolver with the hammer cocked back. I stopped dead in my tracks at the sight of it as my heart dropped. He was armed after all.

“See, I know you heal fast and all, but a bullet’s a bullet, and I’m pretty sure one of them could at fix your attitude for a bit,” he ventured with a knowing smile. “And judging by your reaction, you at least know how much damage one of these things can do,” he deduced expertly. “So how about you turn around and let me finish up or else I’ll be dragging a bloody body with me into town.”

Knowing that both of my options were equally grim, I let out a defeated and irritated sigh as I turned around for him. The coyote chuckled cockily at my action before he stepped towards me and finished my bondage by tying a length of rope around my neck to act as a leash.

“Now then, get walking, my ride isn’t too far from here, and please don’t make me shoot you,” he ordered me before I acquiesced and started to walk towards the indicated direction.

It wasn't long before we came upon his steed, a large four-legged reptile that was tied to a dead tree. As we approached I noticed that the beast I noticed that the saddle atop its back only looked big enough for one person. I began to wonder how he expected me to travel with him without a ride and my answer came in the most horrifying of ways.

“Let’s see how good your healing abilities really are,” the jet-black fur chuckled in a playfully evil way as he tied the end of my leash to the back of the beast’s saddle.

"MMMMPH! MMMM!!" I let out a stream of muffled curses at him.

My yelling went unanswered as the coyote untied the lizard from the tree and leaped into the saddle "Hya!" he then yelled as he grabbed the reins and the beast started to move forward.

“MMMPH!” I yelped as I felt the leash around my neck get tugged by the beast moving and I was forced to follow close beside it.

Thankfully the coyoteslowed the lizard down to a comfortable walking pace, but even then the mere fact that I was being forced to follow him was unbearable to me. I grunted and groaned irritatedly as I felt the warm sand invade the spaces between my toes as I walked with the fur and his lizard transportation.

I was already fairly tired from patrolling the desert earlier and after hours of walking next to the bull’s steed I was beginning to feel the fatigue creeping into my muscles despite my healing abilities. I grunted and groaned, hoping for some kind of reprieve, but every time I looked up at the black bovine he only shot me a sadistic grin as we kept walking. Sunset wouldn’t be for a long time, and I knew that this unexpected journey would last a very long time.