Page 2 of Wishing Upon a Monster
We moved like a well-oiled machine, as we should, with the amount of training we put in. Perhaps that thought made me overconfident. Because on my next thrust, I overshot, and my wrist, unprotected by my uniform, slid sickeningly slowly along the sharp edge of a red cap’s teeth. I sucked in a painful breath, the sting of the venom throwing me out of the zone and causing me to stumble. I was too close to Rocio’s tail, and I knew better. Gods, I knew better, but for some reason, I didn’t drop my weapon when I fell forward. My dagger found just the right gap in her scales, piercing her hide. With a bellow, she snappedher tail, and I, still attached to my dagger, went flying through the air.
I had, in fact, not trained for this.
This is going to fucking suck,I thought, trying in midair to curl myself into a loose ball as protection against whatever topographical feature decided to stop my current motion–– a tree, the ground, rocks, red caps––this was going to hurt.
But my special brand of luck kicked in like it always did, not quite as good as real luck, but a passable imitation of it, and I cannonballed right into the pond. I tumbled underwater, the breath knocked out of me as the venom made my responses in the murky water sluggish. I thrashed, trying to figure out which way was up, resisting the urge to take a breath, to succumb to the panic flooding my veins.
For once in my godsdamned life, I wish the gods would take pity on me and save my ass!
I felt a shockwave move through the water, and my body stilled, as if it were anchored to the muddy ground below. My lungs no longer felt tight, the need to breathe halting unnaturally.
“Very well, golden one, I accept you as the balance owed,” a dark rusty voice said from below. Something large and black rose from the deep, red lights glinting from two points within the mass like eyes. Inky tendrils wrapped around me, blocking out what little light there was. I was enfolded in darkness, the need to breathe returning as I gasped in air instead of water. The taste of petrichor filled my nose, that damp smell of the earth, of fall.
What in the everloving fuck?!I struggled against the obsidian bands.
“I am, as you wished, saving your ass,” The voice whispered in my ear, “but I am reluctant to return you to the surface. Do you care for the beings above?”
“Yes! How are you in my head?”
“It’s best not to ask the gods why they do what they do,min guldklump,you just thank them for doing it,” he said, his voice rough in my ear. “You seem to be the sort of human who would throw yourself back into battle. Shall I end it for you?”
“That would be great,”I responded, my mind fuzzy.
“You are injured,” he tsked, the sound echoing in the darkness, “I will have to do this quickly so I may heal you. Let us rise.”
We ascended, and for all intents and purposes, I felt like I was going up in an elevator. The darkness surrounding me receded, and the sounds of fighting became clearer. The shadowy tendrils solidified, and an overly long arm appeared, banding around my waist. I felt myself slipping and wrapped my legs around what was now a torso––a large torso, aligned so my eyes were parallel to a nipple–– that I shouldn’t be staring at!
I could feel the blood draining from my face as I looked up and up and up, casting my gaze over a grin accentuated with many sharp, triangular teeth, past a flat place where a nose would be, and finally staring into a pair of ruby red eyes. He had no hair, no ears, nothing a human face would have, and everything that would make a rational being pee themselves.
I squeaked, clutching onto the Eldritch horror that saved my life.
He chuckled, “Min guldklump,you surprise me.” He pointed with his free hand, a thick flaxen rope with gold threaded throughout on his inky-black wrist.
Shadows stretched from the underbrush, the trees, my team, and every blade of grass, swarming the red caps. They opened their mouths in silent screams before they dissolved into nothingness. Soon, only the stone red caps transmuted by Cece were left.
Oh hell.I swallowed, my throat feeling thick, my injured hand throbbing.
“Not quite, we’ve no time for the afterlife.” He muttered, pulling my hand to his mouth.
I didn’t even think to pull away as he placed my wrist up to his lips—did he evenhavelips?—and began to suck on my wound.
I stared numbly as he drew out the poison, heat invading my system with each draw.I don’t even… is this sanitary?
The horror chuckled, the sound corroded and unnatural to my ears. I shivered.
We floated across the lake to where my team stood, worse for wear. Rocio towered over the group protectively, still shifted, with Selene standing guardedly in front of Kenny and Cece, their weapons still drawn as they noted our approach.
“Who are you?” Cece demanded when we settled in front of the group, stepping up to us as if she were the same height as my Stygian savior and not roughly at his waist.
He lowered my wrist from his lips, licking the wound one last time. “I am none of your concern,” he paused, “you are welcome, if my––what is the word?” he looked down at me, his crimson eyes locking with mine, “contracted? Perhaps. If she had not wished so broadly, you would have died.”
“Contracted?” Kenny looked bewildered as I felt.
Selene’s fur rippled before she released her shift. She snapped back into her human form, her enchanted uniform, specially crafted to shift with her, covering most of her tawny skin.
“Contracted, you have made a trade?” she asked, her arms crossed, her chin stubbornly forward. “What did she offer?”
He grinned down at her, his bright white teeth stark against his raven-colored skin, “Trade is such a crude word. She wished.”
