I knew I was dead the moment I woke up to a nightmarish hell beast standing over me.
I am sad to say I let out an undignified, bloodcurdling scream. Standing over me was a creature straight out of Lovecraftian horror—part Greek myth, part nightmare. It was easily 30 feet tall and 40 feet long. Its upper body was that of a heavily muscled man, with a humanish face surrounded by a lion’s mane of golden hair. Its eyes were a toxic green color and slit like a cat's. When it opened its mouth to smile at me I saw rows of knife-long teeth and a flicking forked tongue.
As if that wasn’t terrifying enough, the lower half of its body was worse. From the waist down it looked like a cross between a lion and a goat. Its back legs were cloven like the hooves of a goat, while its two front paws were clawed like a lion’s. It was covered in the same golden fur that comprised its mane. Two tails flicked in amusement at its rear, one looked like it belonged to a lion, and the other looked like a scorpion’s tail. Sprouting from its humanoid back were a pair of massive bat-like wings.
It didn’t move or speak as I continued to scream. Listen I know I am a terrible person, and I knew when I died I wasn’t going someplace pleasant. I just hadn’t expected to meet a freaking Kajo who was looking at me like I was a midday snack. I also hadn’t expected everything to feel so real. I had always imagined the afterlife as having an almost dreamlike quality, but this was something else entirely. I could feel the ground beneath my prone body, the way my heart thundered in my chest. The gentle breeze blowing across my skin. Even the way the platters of food laid out next to the nightmare behemoth smelled. Savory and sweet, and oh so inviting. My stomach gave a loud gurgle, and I realized just how hungry I was.
That was when the creature surprised me by inviting me to eat with him. He motioned to the platters of food telling me to dig in. I slowly stood up and took in my surroundings. I was inside what I could only describe as an ancient Greek gazebo. Tall, fluted columns lined the perimeter, and the floor was made of marble so finely polished I could practically see my reflection. Nearly every inch of the floor, save for where I had been lying, was covered in thick fluffy pillows. Outside the gazebo, I saw a cloudless blue sky and tall rolling hills covered in lush trees. The gazebo stood atop its own hill much taller than the rest overlooking the rolling landscape around us. In the distance, I could just make out winged shapes soaring through the air.
In the center of the gazebo stood the table filled with food and the nightmare creature sitting next to it, eyeing me with amusement. “You’re not just trying to fatten me up for your next meal, are you?” I asked, trying to sound funny and not at all nervous. The creature let out a booming laugh that shook the ground beneath my feet.
“Sit human, I mean thee no harm,” it said, its voice deep and rumbling like an earthquake given speech. I swallowed hard and plopped down on the pillows. I grabbed a plate and placed a few grapes, what I hoped was a chicken leg, and some pasta. I sat back nervously and began eating. The creature leaned down plucking a whole turkey three times the size of my head from the table and began tearing into it. We sat in silence for several seconds as it chewed, eating the bones and all. Once the entire turkey was gone it wiped its clawed fingers on its golden fur and turned its toxic gaze on me.
“So, tell me human, how did thee die?”
Not wanting to piss off a giant nightmare behemoth I quickly told it about my life on Earth and everything I had done. It nodded along at key moments and when I finished it let out a bark of laughter that shook the ground again.
“Truly remarkable human. You are everything I hoped you would be,” it bellowed in amusement.
“Um… thanks,” I said uncertainly, “Forgive me but who or what are you?”
Again, the creature barked with laughter, slapping its meaty hand down onto its right paw. “Apologies, it has been many years since I have spoken with a mortal, let alone one from another world. I am Carificux Lord of Monsters, and I have brought thee to my realm.”
I cleared my throat and tried to think of a better way of asking the question. When I couldn’t think of anything I finally said, “Yeah sorry dude still not ringing a bell.”
“I rule over the monsters of Iaccatia. I have brought thee here because my world is in peril, observe,” he said and waved his hand in the air. To my astonishment, the screen of a freaking 100-inch 4k resolution tv appeared in midair. I stood up and approached the floating TV, the resolution was incredible. So much better than my crappy tv, I was seriously jealous. “Do you have Netflix on this thing?” I asked, but Carificux ignored me waving his hand. The screen shifted to show rolling hills, deep dark swamps, vast mountain ranges, and wind-swept deserts. Finally, it focused on a town, or perhaps it was a city, it was hard to tell. The houses and shops were made of wood or brick and reminded me of pictures I had seen of quaint Victorian villages.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
However something was off, many of the houses had odd metal piping that ran from the ground into the houses. I also saw what appeared to be telephone poles complete with wires running across the streets and connecting to the various homes and shops. I wasn’t a big history buff, but I was fairly certain electricity hadn’t been widely used during that time. That was when I noticed the people walking through the streets. All looked human, the women dressed in flowing gowns and the men in top hats and tails, but it wasn’t them that caught my eye. Rather it was the strange metal men walking alongside nearly every person.
I moved a little closer to the screen trying to get a better view of the strange metal men. Carificux waved a hand and the scene shifted to a close-up of one of them. They looked vaguely humanoid but without any human facial features. They had eyes and a mouth but no nose. Their eyes were rectangular slits and faintly glowed from within. Their mouths were also rectangular slits but the jaw hinged open to allow them to speak. They moved with stiff robotic movements.
I was completely fascinated by them. It was then that I realized every single one of the metal men was carrying armloads of packages or bags, and the women they were following held nothing. Some sort of robotic servant then, that was until I saw a pair of women sitting at an outdoor café enjoying lunch while a metal man tried to calm a fussing baby a few feet away. One of the women, possibly the mother, glared at the metal man as if telling it off for not quieting the baby. I glared at her, wondering why she didn’t just get up and take care of her child herself.
Then the scene shifted as the camera panned to face the outskirts of town. Far outside of town, a billowing dust cloud rose into the air. I squinted at it curiously and the scene zoomed in to reveal the dust was being kicked up by a half dozen or so wolves the size of ponies. Each wolf had a pair of creatures on its back. The creatures were small, maybe only 4 feet tall. Covered in coarse brown fur, with bulging black eyes, a mouth full of gleaming broken teeth, and large round ears, they looked like a cross between a small human and a rodent. Each held a crude sword, axe, or bow.
The scene shifted as the camera spun to face the townsfolk. At first, the townspeople looked on in curiosity, then dawning horror as the creatures got closer. Many began to scream and run, ducking behind tables or inside shops to get away from the creatures. Within moments the once busy street had been cleared of all traffic. The creatures reached the street launching themselves from their mounts and began looting everything they could. Any unfinished food was devoured or tossed into worn-looking sacks. Someone screamed as a window shattered and five of the creatures darted into a dress shop. A woman ran out screaming as the creatures ransacked her shop. Gathering armfuls of dresses and tossing them out into the street. My eyes widened in horror when I saw the metal man still standing in the same spot trying to calm a now screaming baby, the mother was nowhere to be seen.
Despite there only being about a dozen or so of the creatures and maybe 50 or more humans hiding around the street, not a single person stepped up to try and stop the looters. At some point, one of the creatures grabbed an abandoned wagon and they happily continued looting. Nearly ten minutes passed as the creatures looted without issue, then I noticed them dragging a pair of chained women from a shop and tossing them into the wagon. I was fuming at that point and wished I could reach through the screen and stop the monsters.
Once the wagon was full, they mounted their wolves and headed off to wherever they had come from. The screen went blank, and I turned to Carificux, “Why didn’t anyone try to stop them?” I realized I was shouting in frustration and took a deep breath to calm my nerves. Carificux let out a low rumbling chuckle.
“Humans and monsters have always been at odds. Monsters thrive on chaos and humans have made it far too easy for them. If any of the humans had stood up to the volblins, they could have scared them off, but they were all too concerned about saving their own skin to worry about anyone else,” Carificux said with a low growl.
“They let those two women be dragged off, no doubt to a terrible fate at the hands of those creatures,” I snapped, pacing back and forth in my frustration.
“Undoubtedly,” Carificux shrugged, “That is why you are here.” I stopped and rounded on Carificux, “Wait, what do you mean?”
“I want thee to help the humans. They have grown too selfish, too narcissistic, and too lazy. They need someone to challenge them, to help pull their collective heads out of their butts,” Carificux said menacingly.
“Me! How am I supposed to help them?” I spluttered.
“I shall send thee to Iaccatia, there thou shall be granted special powers. Use them to help save humanity from itself,” Carificux said with a smile.
“What like some kind of superhero? I don’t know if you were listening bud, but I am not a hero. My way of helping people is murdering those who deserve it,” I said firmly.
“Exactly,” Carificux said his grin now feral, “I don’t need you to be the hero, I need you to be the villain.”