The skies were beginning to break into dawn. The dark purple of night fading slowly into the light blue, transforming across the ensuing spectrum between the extremes. The light that was slowly forming made things so much more clear.

Especially for Calypso, as she carefully divided up the corpse into pieces.

She couldn’t exactly hide her pouting face. Thinking about it, thus taking her mind off it, she figured that her monster guise is tied to her emotions, not just the primal instincts. But as soon as she focused back on her task, it really didn’t matter and she really didn’t care.

Calypso turned her head towards her teacher. “Are you sure that we have to save these for later…?”

The woman was taking the stacked Tupperware into her pack that hung at the back of her chair. Mrs. Moses proceeded to give an unimpressed look.

“I’ve hammered in ‘not letting one side take dominance’ how many times this night--?”

Calypso sighed that trailed into a growl. With a sneering glumness, she resumed cutting what little of the flesh the “failure” Subsumed had, flinging it into her set of Tupperware with a longing look.

“Besides. Despite the innate connection we share, a Subsumed is still paranoid. They prefer to hide, stalk, it’s their nature and makes confrontation tricky. You need to ration out your kills. Both out of pragmatism and…”

There was a horrible sound. Something between a hiss, and gargling. The sound trailing off with the bass of a foghorn.

It immediately caused Calypso to jump up, and proceeded to get on all fours towards the threat. Only to see Mrs. Moses, holding the side of her face as her other hand was shaking with the Tupperware in tow.

Her glasses were at the end of the bridge of her nose, and now she once again sported black eyes with aquamarine pupils. Despite still sporting a tired face, her features were twisted and became razor sharp near the edges.

“…As I was saying…” the woman panted out. “Sorry… It teaches restraint above all else… A lesson you still need to heed, regardless of your tenure…”

“Man…” Calypso rose from the ground, flicking the dirt from her claws. “If I’m allowed more questions…How long is your tenure, professor?”

Mrs. Moses let her hand fall from her face, and righted herself.

“I’ve turned around the same age as you.”

Calypso’s face fell. “And you’re 33?”

Her professor smiled, “At the very least, let’s focus on the fact that I’ve managed to get to 33, considering. There’s going to be pain and strife from this life, Ms. Grimes. But it’s not impossible. Especially if you dedicate yourself to learn along the way.”

Calypso shook her head and raised her claws, “So you dealt with all of this while getting your Masters to teach as well?”

“While taking personal trips here and there to research more about these phenomena, also being the head of a now-defunct Coven to protect this city from the Deep,” Mrs. Moses adjusted her glasses, before sighing. “I still question how I managed to function without sleep, never mind not dying during any of that…”

“…You really could’ve killed me,” Calypso stared on, awestruck.

“I work on a case-by-case basis anyways,” Mrs. Moses assured. “No matter how draining that is.”

The monster girl couldn’t help but to smile gratefully. To be mentored by such a triumphant woman.

She looked down at the remains she just picked clean. Remembering how her professor told her that it was her, in a sense. A representation of her very tangible end. Then she looked back onwards, at her possible future.

There was something—that wasn’t a fully formed thought nor a primal desire, to crouch down. Her body wanting that versus standing upright, like a human. Calypso proceeds to squat, her claws planted firm in the dirt. Continuing to look up in reverence.

“So I managed to luck out and move to the town where the only Consumed/Subsumed expert lived…” Calypso shook her head in disbelief. “Which leads me to my next question… How did this happen? What’s the history of all this…?”

Mrs. Moses shifted in her chair. Straightening her back and leaning upwards in reconciliation.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

“It’s rather simple, really. The Subsumed… Are our distant family. Estranged brothers and sisters, if you will.”

Calypso tilted her head. Making her confusion apparent, but elected not to voice it so her teacher could continue.

“There’s hints, throughout our history and our world, that there existed a lost era. Even with the scraps I’ve managed to gather, there’s little documentation of it. But this early, lost era of history—it was us at our darkest as a species. In fact, we weren’t called ‘Humanity’… But ‘Monsters’.”

“Bu-but that doesn’t make sense…”

“Of course. Saying this now is utter madness, and rightfully so. But language is an interesting thing. What was once terms describing one thing morph and evolve along with us. Words, titles, names… Once applied to something, only to apply to something else entirely. And that was the same with the term ‘Monster.’”

Mrs. Moses tented her fingers together, resting her elbows on her handles.

“Us Monsters and the Subsumed… We were different yet similar clans. We equally dominated our environments in different ways, the Subsumed hid, undermined, became the shadows themselves. We Monsters adapted, hunted and gathered, and from nothing we became apex predators. The Subsumed were shapeless, us becoming sapient. There was… An odd kinship, born out of mutual fear… And respect.”

Mrs. Moses raised her finger. “But that’s what ultimately drove us apart. Our sapience.”

“Us evolving…?” Calypso asked. “They… Felt cheated over us progressing?”

“Indeed. Not only had we rose out of the blood soaked and tribal lifestyle, but away from such. Developing reason, intellect—and ultimately society. They hated that because they can’t break free of their habitual tragedy, and seeing us move on to the point of forgetting this storied history… Well, they went mad.”

She combed her fingers through her messy black hair, before pressing her fingertips together. “As I’ve mentioned, they’re a ritualistic sort. Their very identity revolves on their complex narrative they uphold as a species… So they performed a hex, on themselves and those who come after them. Their mission to force us back into our tribal roots. Or die trying.”

Calypso covered her mouth with her claw. “So all of this… Is millennia old revenge to them…?” the question whistled out of the gaps.

Mrs. Moses glanced across the forest afar, “Vengeance. Necessity for survival. A purpose for existence? It’s all of those at once.”

The monster girl looked behind her, eyeing the dead Subsumed.

“How did we…” Calypso turned back towards Mrs. Moses. “What makes our society so… Scary to them? They’re just buildings. You said yourself, they could easily take over—an-and I know it’s mainly them being irrational, but I’m trying to… Understand the context.”

“It was a lot easier for their tactics to work in our past,” Mrs. Moses gestured her open again towards her student. “Hell, it inspired most of our folklore and they proceeded to copy it to refine their methods of undermining our society. It was easier to kill, to kidnap, and ultimately disappear into the night. They adore gaslighting us, so we could accuse each other and fight and of course, sink back to the worst parts of ourselves.”

A flicker of realization shined in Calypso’s otherwise dead eyes.

“Now we have phones,” Calypso nodded, beginning to understand. “And surveillance. Contemporary times ushered in unprecedented progress that they’ve been at a loss to handle. Am I right?”

“It’s a shame that you’re such a terrible student, otherwise you would be such a great academic,” Mrs. Moses smirked.

Calypso smirked in turn, “I get straight A’s without trying~”

“Half of the battle,” Mrs. Moses replied back sternly. “Otherwise, why bother with the other aspects?”

“F-fair…” Calypso lowered her head. She quickly raised it back up, “Oh yes, I forgot—the nature of my powers? Why am I so special…?”

“I thought that the question before was your last one,” Mrs. Moses teased.

Calypso wondered if she were capable of blushing as she was, and how that looked like right now.

“Luckily, I’m a teacher, and I adore questions~ But… For one, you boast a rather ancient type of monster, the Grim.”

Calypso’s eyes widened. “I thought there was just… T-the one--?”

“Oh no, they were a race,” Mrs. Moses shook her head. “They had to be, in order for the legend of the Grim Reaper to work completely, otherwise it’d be localized. But they were a rare breed, considered themselves as harbingers of death itself. Therefore, thought they could dictate who lived, who died, when and finally how. All by their hand. They’re very much endangered because of that self-appointed title. Both humans and Subsumed fought back against them.”

Calypso looked at her claws, flicking them against each other. “I’ve gotten the best monster…?”

“Well, not THE best, but certainly a rare and hard to counter kind. Not only that… From what you told me—your ritual involving spirits, the fact you could feel the Subsumed inside of you—all of that is considered the best-case scenario. The process of being Subsumed is a lotus-eating trance all but in name, it’s the bog standard.”

The professor put a hand on her chest, “Even I didn’t understand until I’ve seen the signs multiple times. You knowing from the off and having help as well… It’s all very interesting. I’m very eager to see how your career turns out.”

Calypso slowly became crestfallen. “It feels unearned.”

She jumped once more, again at a rather strange sound. This time, it was her professor’s chuckle.

“To be fair, who in their right mind would want to become a soulless creature of the night?”

“…” Calypso put her claw on her forehead. “Once again, good point—”

There was a cold, yet liquid touch on Calypso’s bare shoulder, causing her to look at her teacher, who extended out her water hand.

“Remember what I’ve taught you. Use this lull you’ve been granted to breathe, to heal. But understand that this is your responsibility now, and there can’t be self-pity anymore. You’re a bright woman, Calypso. It’s time you stop cutting yourself off.”

It took a moment for that to sink it. And it didn’t take long for Calypso’s eyes to well. The tears rolled down without resistance.

But once they got to her cheeks, though faintly, Calypso saw that they were crimson red. Immediately bubbling before evaporating into the air.

Calypso reached up with her claw, and grasped Mrs. Moses’ hand. Letting it break apart and wash down her body as a result. It didn’t matter if it wasn’t the actual hand.

She’s just so grateful that someone like her offered themselves to her, after so long.