Monster of Monsters #1 Part Two: Mortem's Contestant

by Kristie Lynn Higgins

  "They are my precious family," Shukujo told her. "And I cherish each and every one of them."

  "Don't banish them if that's the case. Forgive whatever they've done and bring them back to your arms. Nearly anything can be forgiven."

  "They have done nothing wrong," Shukujo told her. "I only sent them on an important mission that they must complete before I allow them to return."

  "Oh... that's different then. I thought your banishment was a permanent thing," Kein muttered as she fought closing her eyes that were growing heavier by the heartbeat.

  "You actually should be asking me where I banished them to," Shukujo told her.

  "No questions right now," Kein said. "I'm too tired to ask any..."

  She fell asleep just as a baker's dozen small dog size spiders descended on their webs down to where Kein slept.

  "Baka..." Shukujo spoke softly. "Sleep then... and let all your hard work be for nothing."

  The Kumo'usagi were not normal spiders as one might find in the human world. These spiders had a hive mind with whatever Kumovon they associated with. Shukujo ruled them as a queen, and she directed them to make their way to the human and arrange themselves, so that they could bite her all at once. The Kumo'usagi were very light for their size, and Kein was such a heavy sleeper that she never woke when they moved across her. Eight Kumo'usagi maneuvered themselves and took up position two on each pant leg and sleeve covered arm. Four Kumo'usagi took position on her jacket protected chest, and one spider made its way to her face. They were all in position, but the one moving for her face. It crawled up her neck and stepped across her cheek, then Kein's eyes popped open, and she quickly put a hand to her cheek. She noticed the other spiders on her and stood, shaking them off as she pulled the one off her face. She looked down at the twelve as she clasped her gloved hands close to her chest as if protecting the one spider.

  "Stop!" she yelled, and the Kumo'usagi did so.

  "What are you doing?" Shukujo questioned her children. "After her... You cannot return until you have sunk your fangs into her."

  The twelve Kumo'usagi started after her once more.

  "Stop!" Kein ordered them again, and then she looked to Shukujo and told her, "Make them stop before it's too late."

  "You cannot simply step on these spiders and kill them," Shukujo told her. "They are hardier than they look."

  "I know, just don't let them touch me," Kein said as she pulled her gloved hands away from her chest and looked at the thirteenth Kumo'usagi, she looked at it as if she had accidentally crushed it. "I'm afraid it's too late for this one."

  "What do you mean? You could not have killed it."

  "You'll probably think I did something worse," Kein told her as she showed her the Kumo'usagi in her hand.

  Shukujo looked at what had been a bloodthirsty Kumo'usagi bent on doing his Kumovon's will, but now... Shukujo noticed a different aura about him. It was as if she was looking at a fluffy kitten instead of a deadly creature.

  Shukujo shrieked, "What did you do?"

  "I'm sorry..." Kein sincerely spoke as she held the thirteenth Kumo'usagi tenderly in her hands. "I was so tired... I didn't mean for him to crawl on me and touch my cheek." Kein turned her gaze to the Kumovon and told her with a heavy heart, "I'm sorry, Shukujo. I should have been more careful."

  "Return to me," Shukujo ordered her children, and the twelve Kumo'usagi immediately obeyed. "Return before you are also infected by..." she started, and then she questioned the human, "What did you do to my child?" Shukujo sensed she till had a connection with the Kumo'usagi, but his affection and allegiances were split, and she knew of nothing that could do that, so she questioned, "Is it some sort of spell or curse?"

  "It's just me," Kein told her. "Spiders like me. If I make contact with any, they seem to like me even more."

  "Kumo'usagi are not spiders. They are of the Kumovon, and they only hate humans."

  Kein set the thirteenth Kumo'usagi on the ground near the white borderline and said, "Go on... Go back..."

  The thirteenth Kumo'usagi looked up at her with his eight large puppy-dog like eyes, then crawled back to Kein, and rubbed up against her like a cat.

  "No... Go back... Please go back..." she said, and then she directed her next words to Shukujo, "Please take him back. I can't keep him. He needs to stay with his family."

  "I will not have him back. He has been infected or you have cursed him."

  "Please don't. Kumovons love their Kumo children as if they were family. Please... call him back. I can't be responsible for him."

  "You need to take responsibility," Shukujo yelled at her. "You are the one who did something to him."

  "Please, I'll do anything you ask of me, just take him back."

  Shukujo thought about it, and then she said, "Bring him to me... Bring him to me over the Kumo'sakai, and I'll accept him."

  Kein knew that would mean her death, so she asked, "Why is it so important that I cross the white borderline?"

  "I merely want to kill you," Shukujo replied. "I hate all humans."

  "Why is it so important that you kill me? You don't seem to be after any of the others down here. Why do you hate humans so much?"

  "The only importance that you have is that you are human, and all humans must die."

  Kein bent and picked up the Kumo'sakai as she told him, "Come on Thirteen. I'll take responsibility for you." She walked over and lay down back in her spot, keeping the Kumo'sakai close to her chest as she stated with a little anger, "Keep your children away from me unless you want something like this to happen again. A child should never be abandoned by their family. You should have taken him back no matter what, but I promise..." Kein spoke with compassion in her voice, "I will love him in your place."

  She turned Thirteen and set him on her chest so that he faced her. Kein had never seen this type of creature before. All the spiders around the lady were actual spiders, not Kumovon children. Kumovon children made it sound like these creatures were Kumovon offspring, but they were more like pets, cherished pets. Kumo'usagi would appear to any human like some sinister demonic rabbit with eight large eyes, but Kein saw them differently. The Kumo'usagi did look like rabbits, but more like fluffy gray bunnies the size of a small dog with eight dark black eyes, and eight legs instead of paws. What made the Kumo'usagi look like bunnies were these large furry antennas that came out of the top of their heads that spiders normally didn't have. The antennas looked like fluffy bunny ears, and the Kumo'usagi used these ear-antennas as an additional way to hear. Kumo'usagi like other Kumo children could understand speech. Kein gently stroked these ear-antennas which calmed her and Thirteen, and she forgot about the trauma she just experienced and hoped he had found the same simple peace. She continued to stroke his ear-antennas, and as she held him, the large spider-like creature reminded her of the joyous times she spent with the lady.

  Shukujo paced along the Kumo'sakai for a few minutes, and then she asked, "Where did you get this curse? Did you trade something with the mummy? Of all the Residents, I fear him the most, him and his curses and scarab beetles."

  "I'm not talking to you," Kein told her. "You tried to kill me while I was sleeping, but more importantly, you abandoned Thirteen."

  "You have named my Kumo child already. I guess he cannot keep the name I had given him since he is no longer mine, and you have no right to criticize me about the care of my children," Shukujo told her. "You are in the Mortem, you should expect anyone of the Residents to try to kill you at any time, so do not chastise me for seeing an opportunity and snatching it. Now tell me where you acquire such a thing to sever the link that is between me and my children."

  "I didn't sever your link. It's still there. I've learned to always be on my guard so that I don't cut any threads between those of family, and anyway, I'm not talking to you," Kein told her as she pouted. "Go away. I have to think."

  "What is there to think about? You are going to die here, most likely by my hands and fangs."

  "I n
eed to find the Atlantian a book he has never read," Kein told her. "The problem is that I heard he is very old, older than King Ammon, so he has read a lot of books. I could find him a very rare book, but there's still no guarantee that he hasn't read it." She glanced at her backpack as she added, "I do have one very rare book, but I don't want to ever part with it. I'm still learning from it."

  "Why not tell him the story of your soon to be short boring life?" Shukujo said, mocking her.

  "Tell him my story?" Kein said as she sat up. "That's not a bad idea. Thank you. Thank you, Shukujo."

  "Why are you thanking me?"

  "Your idea is good," Kein told her. "And I don't think I would have ever thought of it on my own."

  "Do not thank me. I did not intend to be helpful. Never thank me... Actually, I take my idea back. You cannot use it."

  "Too late," Kein spoke excitedly as a little light trickled into the hopelessness she had. "The idea has been planted, and I'm going to run with it. Thanks again."

  "Do not thank me! Never thank me, baka!"

  Kein set Thirteen on the floor and quickly left, heading to Dr. Jekyll's room.

  Sometime later...

  Kein left Dr. Jekyll's lab, went to the Atlantian's swamp, and she called out, "I'm back!"

  He soon appeared out of the water and moved to the dock below the twenty-foot one.

  "Mi cha, do you remember my warning?" he questioned her.

  "I do," she replied. "That is why I brought you a one of a kind story that has never been published."

  Kein tossed some papers that had been stapled together, and he caught them and flipped through them.

  "Did you make this?"

  "I did. I also wrote it. Dr. Jekyll said I could use some of his office supplies."

  "I see that you have all of your appendages," the Atlantian started. "What did you have to trade to acquire these?"

  "Nothing. I just waited till he was really really busy and asked him if I could have some of his supplies. He waved me away, so I took it as I could have them. I'm not sure he even knew I was in the lab."

  "He can get that way when he is working," the Atlantian told her, then he looked at her crude book, and read its title, "The Kumovon And The Little Girl." He peered up from the book and said, "Is it a fairytale?"

  "No, a true story. I was never one to make up things, so all I could write about was what happened to me. Does it meet your requirements?"

  "Allow me to read it, and then I will tell you if your life is yours for a few minutes more."

  The Atlantian sat where he stood, and Kein waited while he read through the book, and after some time, he closed the book and stood.

  "What did you think?" she asked.

  "It meets the requirements of a book I have never read, so I will acquire the Waters of Life that you requested."

  "What did you think of the story?"

  "The book's binding was put together in haste. The drawings within it are crude, but they were drawn with care and love..."

  "You can tell that just by reading it?" Kein interrupted.

  "No, I can get a sense of things when I touch objects. I can tell if someone is telling the truth through the air, but I have to make physical contact with a person or object to get a sense of things," he answered, and then he said, "The story's style is as if a child wrote it. Was that intentional?"

  "No, I don't think so. My writing is still... I need more practice."

  "I do like the story. It is... what is the word I am looking for. It is endearing, and you say it is all true?"

  "Yes," Kein replied.

  "Why did the Kumovon not devour you?"

  "I upset her," Kein replied. "I did something very wrong, so she didn't devour me."

  "I do not think you understand my question," the Atlantian stated. "At any time the Kumovon could have eaten you and left the cavern. Human flesh is very nourishing, so no matter how small you were, she could have eaten you, healed any injury she might have had, and left at any time."

  "Eat... Devour..." Kein spoke softly. "I thought they had different meanings. I didn't realize back then that they meant the same thing. I think I took her wanting to devour me as..." She paused and then said, "Clans and houses devour those who they want to bring into their family, and so as a lonely child, I thought she wanted me as her own."

  "The book you wrote actually gave me my answer," he told her. "I just wanted to know if you had accepted the truth yet. You must have been a very lonely and desperate child if you wanted a Kumovon to devour you."

  Kein thought fondly of those seven months with the lady as she said, "I was lonely, but..." She placed her right palm on her chest over her heart, then she made a fist as if grasping her heart, and said, "I also really cared about her, and at the time, I thought she cared about me." Kein dropped her hand to her side as she continued, "I now doubt the feelings I thought she had towards me. I believed with all my being that when she was better she would take me with her, but the lady abandoned me. She left without saying good-bye."

  The Atlantian spoke, "I still do not believe you realize the extreme danger you were in. The Kumovon wanted to slice you open and eat your intestines, and yet you treated her as a dear teacher, no... more than that. You treated the Kumovon lady as if she was your birth mother. You are not Kumovon, but you were a very confused little girl."

  The words he spoke had a power to them, almost as if he touched her very soul with them and brought the memories dear and tragic to life in a way that rampaged through her defenses, and it allowed uncontrollable tears to stream down her face as she said, "I know... The more I'm here, the more I realize that." She wiped the tears away as she said, "Why would she want me to be part of her family? I was just something to pass the time. I was just food to her. I was a way to escape her prison. I was just..."

  "I see I have touched on something sensitive," the Atlantian spoke, and then he said, "I am sorry. My intentions were not to make you cry."

  "It is fine. I have already stopped crying," Kein told him.

  "You have fulfilled your part of the bargain, so I will go now and acquire the Waters of Life in the vessel you left. It will take me some time. Return after the witching hour, and I should have it by then."

  The Atlantian went and stored the book Kein had written in one of many wooden chests that lined the docks, then he went and grabbed the vessel, and returned to the swamp water. Kein watched as he went, then she went and sat on the end of the dock, and since she was alone, Kein wept bitterly into her palms.

  Elsewhere...

  Controller's room...

  "The Atlantian has made the human cry," Blue Wolf spoke up. "My Resident has earned quite a bit of points for himself."

  "He has also earned you a lot of money from the Emotional Fund," Controller told her.

  "What is this Emotional Fund?" Yellow Dragon questioned.

  "It is an endless pool of money that pays out to Coaches in money and to Residents in points when certain criteria are fulfilled."

  "I understand," Yellow Dragon said. "One of the criteria must be to make a participant cry. What other criteria are part of this Emotional Fund?"

  "There are many," Controller told him. "Examples are laughing for joy; it is rare and one of the highest payouts, and there is also screaming in rage or anger, but it is one of the lowest payouts. This particular fund has blind criteria, so only after they have been met and paid are they known."

  "I understand," Yellow Dragon stated. "Would any of the Coaches like to strike a bargain with me? I will pay to know what other criteria are known by them for the Emotional Fund."

  "I will take you up on your deal," Blue Wolf spoke up.

  "You are nearly as new as me," Yellow Dragon said. "I would prefer to see if one of the other Coaches will take my offer."

  Green Serpent said, "I will if the reward is worth my time."

  "Here is what I will pay for each blind criterion that is known to you," Yellow Dragon stated as he sent the amount to Green Se
rpent.

  Green Serpent looked over the amount and said, "A bargain has been struck."

  "A bargain has been struck," Yellow Dragon replied even though he had already said it.

  The two Coaches switched to a restricted feed that only the two of them were on.

  Yellow Dragon said, "Tell me what you know."

  "I know of three blind criteria for the Emotional Fund," Green Serpent began. "Someone reveals a secret to another, and both the one telling the secret and the one hearing the secret earn points and their Coaches earn money. The second is a reunion takes place within the Mortem. The more joyous the more reward. The third thing is a wrong is revealed between two participants. Either someone informs the others through the Inquisition Seat or a confession is made. Those are the blind criteria that I..."

  Yellow Dragon interrupted, "I know what the Inquisition Seat is, but I thought it was against the rules of the Mortem to... how should I put it? It is against the rules of the Mortem to reveal anything about a participant that is not revealed within the Mortem."

  "You're correct about that," Green Serpent stated. "But there are also exceptions to that rule." He paused and said, "We should return so not to miss too much."

  They disengaged their restricted feed.

  "Good, the two of you are back," Controller spoke. "Let us go around and see if anyone would like to make any new wagers."

  "I would like to wager that my Resident the Kumovon will kill the human by the end of this day," Green Serpent spoke.

  "I will take that wager," Red Phoenix stated. "I wager this human will last at least four days among the Residents."

  "I will take that wager," Purple Rose said. "I believe the human is too kindhearted to survive within the Mortem, so I would like to add something to our wager."

  Red Phoenix said, "I will hear you out."

  "I not only believe this human will perish, but I wager she will perish in a very painful way that will last several hours."

  "What a terrible thing to say?" Blue Wolf spoke up. "Are you wishing this poor human ill-will?"

  "I have no feelings either way towards this human," Purple Rose replied. "I am merely forecasting her inevitable end."