As the reddish glow increases in intensity, I grip Slayer more tightly and prepare for the inevitable battle. I do not know what I am about to face, but I know it is not of my world. I fear that my Ancient Enemy has allied himself with another force for Evil. I know in my heart that I am all that stands between them and final victory. I begin the ancient incantations. Solemnly, the eldritch words in tongues unheard for millenia roll off my tongue. The air within the chamber thickens and a bluish tinge surrounds me. Slayer, too, brightens with each passing second until he is like a brilliant sapphire flame. In less time than it takes to tell, I see my enemy appear in the well. He towers over me; his form shimmers and it is difficult to distinguish any features. I see what I think are tentacles stretching out from its bulbous body, a great orb at their center. I feel a chill run through my blood. I continue my incantations, stretching Slayer toward our enemy, calling on all the forces at my disposal to aid us in this hour of our greatest need. With a final ululation, I toss Slayer in the air and I transform! Now facing our enemy is Slayer, ancient scion of the stars, and I, The Bear Who Walks As A Man. My roar echoes through the chamber and shakes the very walls with its thunder. Slayer, freed of its temporal constraints, weaves a deadly skien before the monstrous creature that sways in front of us. The moment passes and the creature plops from the well, landing with ponderous weight on the stone floor, which groans from its unimaginable weight. Its silence is more terrifying to mortals than the roar of a thousand lions. It serves only to firm my already formidable resolve to rid my world of this unnatural creature. Though dwarfed by the huge size of my opponent, I do not hesitate. I crouch, then leap straight for the monstrosity. Slayer, too, attacks, slashing and thrusting at the flailing tentacles of the enemy. With a crash, I impact the creature. Its mass barely flinches beneath my onslaught. My powerful jaws clamp down over an exposed appendage. Boiling green ichor squelches into my mouth, burning my lips and tongue. My pained roar is muffled by its flesh. It lifts me into the air as my huge paws seek to score any part of its body. Slayer flashes in, slicing cleanly through flesh. His blue fire-blade hisses and spits as its heat boils the creature's blood. The creature flails its tentacles about us. I feel some wrap themselves about my body, trying to pull me free. They are tipped with curved hooks, which bury themselves in my body and rip gashes in my hide. Its tries to reach Slayer, who dances just out of its reach and leaps in to score the foe before it. I become dimly aware of others gathering in the chamber. I do not see who they are, but I sense the ancient protector of the land, Cidwm, the Phantom Wolf of the Silures, is here and joining in the battle to rid our world of this abomination. I feel a strange force building in the chamber. I cannot tell if it aids or hinders my battle. Dangerous though it may be, I must ignore that unknown danger and concentrate on defeating the greater threat. The creature pulls me off and tosses me across the room. My powerful jaws still hold part of the tentacle I had bitten into. I impact heavily against some of the instruments of torture that are all about the room, splintering them from my weight and feeling pain lance through my battered frame. I get to my feet and shake my head. With another roar, I charge across the room at full speed. I see the orb centered at the base of the mass of tentacles. Some are mere stubs where Slayer had slashed them off and they lay writhing about the floor. Again, I pounce, seeking to hit the creature as near its great eye as I can. It swings its tentacles into my path, but my rushing weight is enough to knock them away. I can almost reach that great orb, glaring at me with an alien intelligence and animosity that I can feel striking at my soul. My wrath grows with each passing moment of the battle. My great paws bat away the tentacles that slash at me, rending my flesh and burning my fur. A loud, metallic clang rings through the room. I see from the corner of my eye the Slayer leap from the floor where it had been knocked by a flailing tentacle. He penetrates deep into the globular body of the Enemy. It finally utters a sound! A loud, soul-wrenching screech rings through the chamber, echoing off the walls. For a split moment there is an opening and I bound in to the attack. Two mighty swipes of my gigantic paws tipped with mighty claws slash across the cyclopian eye. Another mighty shriek rings out. The creature's tentacles flail about madly, catching me off-guard and tossing me again across the room. I lay a split second, unmoving, stunned by the power of the tentacles and the impact against the solid stone of the chamber. At that very moment there is a brilliant flash of light and thunderous clap of thunder. I am blinded and deafened by this event. I gain my feet slowly. All about me is silence. When I can again see, I find that the alien evil is gone. Exhausted, I collapse to the floor, my form reverting back to its human shape as both Cidwm's wolf-form and the Slayer hover about my bleeding and battered body. I can feel my consciousness slipping away and I welcome the darkness of the clean night.