Our sister rat took us unaware. Hell broke loose as rats cried and screamed. Some of the little furballs flung at each other in fright. Others simply wailed while anxiously looking around. This, of course, escalated when the monster rat, in order to manage the situation, dropped the curtains of shadow. The large four-eyed creature smiled innocently and broadly. Some small rats nearly fainted.
As the chaos and disorder passed, four ratwomen and four ratmen found themselves in an anxious half-circle, looking at a grimacing, bear-sized rat. The eight of us had hushed and gathered to sit around the big guy. Although much of it was thanks to the friendly coercion of my dear sister. The bunch of furballs murmured in confusion, gingerly making acquaintance of those they were just brawling with. Or bawling with. I sat between two little black guys, contemplating.
Nine ratmen in total. Or rat people? Anyhow, it was a discovery to find that, except for me and a certain violent ratgirl, all of them were absolutely terrified of the beast that politely asked them to gather for a chat. Except for one little guy who sat there giggling and drooling. There was a point to that. Objectively, he might be scary. That means I must be a badass! Of the highest degree!
It took us a while to convince the new stragglers of the big guy’s aversion to the eating of small things. Which somehow was a discussion I had involved myself in:
'Now I see it looks bad, but I've not been eaten yet, have I?'
'YET?!'
The creature cleared its throat and spoke, somehow dignified with its gravelly voice. Like grinding expensive stone into a monologue.
‘I’ll start by explaining where you came from. It’s all connected to the green stone in this room. This majestic gem. You see, it is very old and holds great power from a time long ago.’ It mused, its deep voice stretching out every word to its full extent, unfolding to a rumble. ‘There are unexplainable powers in this world. Somehow, a great deal of it was sealed, with old magic I suppose. In one way or the other this stone, over a long period of time, absorbed that power, or… no, that’s not quite right…’
‘Excuse me,’ A shaky girl's voice quivered. Silence ensued as the big guy gaped at the small figure, and halted its introspective speech to open his eyes wide in astonishment. It looked down heavily on the small shivering black shape. A little girl under the scrutiny of a bear. The quiver carried onto the cadence of her voice as she muttered ‘H-h-h-h-how d-d-does this relate to us?’
‘Bite your tongue until I finish speaking. Or I will. It’s been a long morning. I have figured out the precise order of which I should explain this. It starts with the stone.’
A flat kind of silence hung in the air. You could put a cup on it. Someone coughed.
‘Can’t you just start with who we are?’ A boy’s voice squeaked before the creature resumed, but with a raspy moan, the boy was dismissed.
‘No! For Gloria's sake. You would just get confused if I did that.’ It said, still disgruntled about being interrupted in the first place.
Looking to my right, I could see the boy’s icy fear mixing with stupid frown. ‘But we’re already confused.’
‘Look! I am providing you with context. Just stay quiet!’ The Creature seemed to have lost its patience. It barked and groaned annoyedly. But they were quiet, if not a bit spooked. It growled some more, seemingly thinking some more. ‘I’ll keep it short and easy for you. Concise. The power sealed inside this stone condensed into pure liquid soul. It broke, evidently, unceremoniously releasing the liquid on the cold stone floor. Gloria knows for how long. After which, a thirsty pregnant rat decided to test its edibility, which it wasn’t, or at least, was not meant to be.’ It pointed at the giant rat stuck in the entrance. The small ratheads turned and gasped at the giant tail, uncoiling along the length of a wall. A part of me nervously dreaded having to calm them again. ‘The magic in the liquid grew her to a preposterous size, into her untimely death, crushed as she grew too large whilst inside the tunnel to the outside. A dilated amount,’ It said and paused to frown. ‘not that you know what that means… got into the young she was carrying, which made them grow too, forcing the mother rat to give birth prematurely. Which brings me to us. Ratmen.’
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Seven pairs of eyes shot another glance at the giant figure, seemingly stuck in the wall. From that moment, they too were siblings.
‘Now, you might be confused as to how we became ratmen. Being born from a regular rat.’ It stated, and seven little heads moved side-to-side in confusion. Some questioned what a ratman was, but the big guy appeared not to notice, too deep in its musings. ‘I am not entirely sure, but I suspect that it has something to do with the power merging with your souls, making you more intelligent and elevated.’
‘Sooo, basically, You don’t know shit.’ A voice I recognized as the violent sister cussed. This did not seem to please the big guy. ‘Like who we are? You know fuck all?’
‘But I do.’ It answered menacingly. ‘Do you wonder why I look different from you? This is because I obviously received a larger blessing. My body grew to mend with the power, accumulating knowledge and power. Sadly, I appear to have lost some mobility in this process.’ It said, raising its out-of-proportion arms slightly. Still, it smiled in a monstrous way that didn’t leave any real emotion in its beady black eyes. ‘But I’ve gained much in return.’
‘So what about us?’ The girl said, grumpy with impatience. Meanwhile, the rest of us waited, our demeanour still, like scared mice.
‘I decide for you now. At this time you are nothing. To me however, you are my greatest blessing, my clean slates to fill, my army and vanguard. Within the coming day I’ll bestow onto you names and a purpose in my great kingdom.’ He declared, and his grimace broadened. ‘You must be wondering about me, who I am to declare this. You shall call me King. Thus I will be.’
‘You what?!’ Sister blurted out. She had been glaring as she conversed with the creature and seemed to ooze with dislike. She laughed loudly and cold. ‘What are you trying to pull here, demanding to be called king? Do you think you’re in charge here? Because you’re big??’ She stood up and took a bold step towards the behemoth. ‘Just you wait till I beat your ugly face into a bloody pulp. I hate arrogant shit stains like you.’
Tension strung the other rats tight, nearly crushing them. All eyes were on the creature called King, as you'd regard your superior after an awkward display of the uncivil and vile. They felt she was being disrespectful.
He let out a frustrated moan. For the first time, he let his grimacing sneer turn to a mean snarl. Calmly, he replied.
‘I understand where this attitude comes from. I shun you as well. Perhaps, the sentiment remains for both of us. But to your questions, I answer in kind.’ His snarl uncurled back into a grimace, running an icy chill through me. The girl frowned confusedly like she saw something puzzling. Then suddenly the air froze with stillness as he spoke. His voice rang, echoing through my being. ‘Corpse.’
‘How does that-?’ The girl started, but her words caught in the back of her throat.
Behind King, shadows seemed to grow and shudder. His shadow grew darker and thicker, until it seeped out from the wall, manifesting into the shape of a dark, hooked claw. A smoky tendril, splitting into four crooked spikes curled into a mockery of sharp fingers. It hung tensely above King, vaguely defined by smoking edges. It moved above his head like it was almost not there. Only visible through its exaggerated darkness.
Soundless, it shot forward from behind him, colliding with a staggering might, into the rude little rat, crashing her violently against the stone floor. It grabbed my sister's neck who let out a surprised squeal after being punched in the throat by the palm of the claw as it grabbed her whole body from the ground, and hung her in the air by her frail neck. Its hooks wrapped around her body and squeezed a crackling sound out of her.
The big guy himself hadn’t moved a finger. Sister tried to escape, flailing with all her limbs kicking and scratching, but all her claws failed to get a grip of the obscure hooks around her neck. She hung in the air as if the darkness strangled the light out of her. Her mouth opened wide to scream, but the claw squeezed her asophagus shut and cut of the sound. The other rats had gasped and crawled back in a gesture of escapism. The giggling rat had ceased and now wailed in wordless terror.
‘Oh yes, do squeal, for it’s so fitting.’ He said in a cruel growl. ‘I told you my grasp is stronger now. On many things. Do you feel that now? Oh, I'm sure you do. Let me be frank. Without me, you will all surely die. So, you will call me, King. Both in name and stature.’ The claw unclenched suddenly and stiffly, dropping sister to the hard grey stone. The next moment the claw quietly drew back into the shadows behind King. All remained quiet then, except sister twitching and retching on the floor, failing to breathe through the wounded throat and the gall then made its way through. Only a yellow liquid came out.
‘From now on, you are my possessions. You will follow these rules. Firstly, you will never touch the green liquid nor the stone. Secondly, you will obey me at all times. That doesn’t sound too tough to me. Now, all of this has made me quite fatigued. It might have been foolish to expect this to be sorted out curt and cleanly. So if you have any questions, ask me at a later time. In due time, you will all deserve my full attention.’ He declared. Behind the dignity, his voice felt icy cold. Shadows came undone, and tendrils of smoke reached from the walls to wrap around him, expelling us from his quarters, leaving darkness for us to look at. He vanished and left us, just like that, yet remained with us still.
Sister lay on the stone floor, gasping and wailing in excruciating pain, leaking a red liquid over the stone. Somehow, this spoke more than the monologue.