Monster Mankind Chapter 5
#5 of Monster Mankind
John felt like he had a good nap until the wave of bodily aches robbed the temporary feeling of serenity from him. He questioned the pain that he was experiencing until he remembered what had happened before. He'd been knocked out by the Nemean lion. Then again, he wasn't sure that he could win against someone who is practically invincible. Then again, his morality altering did seem to work on him, but still, that was the only mental ability that he has in his arsenal. But, even then, he couldn't blame himself for being unable to control his powers. Or...maybe he should? His morality alter was beyond his control, he felt that if he so much as thinks then someone will end up murdering someone else in his vicinity. And it's only a matter of time before all that blame points towards him.
As the wendigo's eyes came to life through the eye sockets of his deer skull, he realized this wasn't his house. Indeed the housing was of modern style, shown by some of the minimalistic furniture around the room. Everything was a mix of brown and grey, a more down-to-earth feeling comes from the paint of this household. But it felt spacious, and he noticed some stairs leading to a second floor. Heavy steps came from those stairs, the wendigo tensed up, confused on who is going to meet him. Then he noticed him, the lion with a glow to his body and a fiery mane, Chris.
"Oh, you're up. My mom and dad were worried that I knocked out your teeth or something." Chris greets the wendigo.
"Oh, thanks...wait. I'm not at my house."
"That's right. Mrs. Luna dismissed class and left you as my responsibility. I didn't have the time to look for your address, so I just took you home with me. I'm sure you didn't mind, because, you know." Chris sighed.
"Oh..." John realized something. "I don't want to bother, but I never got your last name."
"Solar. Chris Solar." answered Chris. "By the way, do you feel alright?"
"Maybe-" as the wendigo tried to get up, there was a significant amount of pain that ached his body as he attempted. "Okay, maybe not."
"I got some painkillers, one moment." Chris headed off to the kitchen, where John guessed where the painkillers were.
The Nemean lion came back, John would've raised his brow if he had any. From what he remembered, such painkillers were not in such ridiculous dosages. Ibuprofen is 200 milligrams, this version of Ibuprofen is twice that amount, and that is per tablet. John felt a sense of mistrust towards the lion. "Are...are you trying to kill me?"
"No no," Chris raised his free hand in defense. "My mom works for the hospital as a nurse. She's also a lion, like me. Most monsters need to take higher dosages of medicine. Since mankind isn't around, we had to increase the dosage amount per tablet to mimic effects for monsters so the Ignorant don't get suspicious."
"Oh. Sorry, I thought I just-"
John felt a hand clasp around his neck, strangling him as he saw the lion's eyes. His pupils are slits now, the same incident occurred during their introduction in Conscious Control Class. He was confused, unsure of what he exactly did to trigger his ability. But now wasn't the time for that, if he can't get the lion off of him he will end up dead this time. John noticed something else as he tried to toss the lion off. In Chris' other hand was the pill container, all bent and mishappen by his strength. It explodes, sending tablets across the floor as the broken container was being shoved to John. He did indeed have a mouth, so he tried to keep his mouth shut so the hundreds of pills don't drop into his stomach. Now the wendigo had two fronts to fight, getting the lion off of him, and making sure he doesn't swallow the painkillers.
But the thing is, Chris is heavy. He may not be as tall as Chris, just 6 feet in the estimation, but he has much more weight to him. Fortunately, in a heave of mental effort, he managed to shove the lion off, and dart off the couch he was sleeping in while the lion rebounds. John was panting already, his condition is not well. The bruises from his sparring match had yet to heal. And this time, Luna wasn't there to stop Chris. And now...there is no one in the house to stop him.
But in an ironic twist of events, his parents came in. Both of them were Nemean lions.
"What is going on here?!" bellowed the father, but soon found John weaving around the kitchen as Chris threw a chair as it lands on his chest, sending the wendigo to the wall as the chair shattered into splinters on impact.
"Shit! What the hell Chris?!" Chris' father attempted to intervene until Chris swung unexpectedly, the right hook connects as the father reels back in pain.
"Are you alright?" Chris's mother moves towards John as Chris was being dealt with by his dad.
"Yeah, I'm sorry for causing all this." John apologized as the mother helped him back on his hooves.
"Did it happen again?"
"Wait, how did you know that I have-"
"Chris told us everything, and...I'm guessing it happened again."
"I didn't mean to." John squeaked.
"I know you didn't." Chris' mother nods with understanding.
The spirit turned to see that the Nemean lions had nearly concluded their fight. While Chris had the initial advantage, his dad took the opportunity as a gap was created. Chris took one moment too long to throw a strong uppercut, which swung wide as his dad rushed right in, throwing in all his weight into a right hook to the cheek, instigating a knockout as the young lion dropped to the floor, caught in a daze by the blow.
"Still needs a few more years to get to my level." the father commented, rubbing his knuckles as he felt a dull ache in his bones.
"Ah..." Chris had a surprising recovery, he was only stunned a few seconds ago and already he was coming back from the sudden assault. "Did, did it happen again?"
"I'm very sorry!" John whimpered.
"No. No, it's fine. I think I figured out something." Chris shook his head.
"About how my power is triggered?"
"Yeah. What did you think about me, when I showed you the Ibuprofen?"
"I...I felt mistrust. Well, I didn't initially trust you." said John, looking away.
As Chris' mother went off to clean the mess, and his father having to head off to work, Chris himself stood next to the wendigo but refusing to make eye contact despite John doing so. "I think, from what happened just now, and several times before, that your morality altering is triggered when you have negative emotions of a person."
"So...I can't have any negative emotions towards a person?"
"That's what I'm getting from it."
John shook his head. "I see. But...doesn't that plan seem too unreal?"
"It's better than no plan at all," Chris replies.
"Yeah..." John paused, considering the new plan just offered to him. "I'm sorry if I mean any offense to you. You just...you look like the school bully, or something equivalent to that."
"I get that a lot." Chris chuckled, "But I guess you aren't far off either. I used my invulnerability to carry the weight of my problems. Let me tell you, I did some really risky shit." He gestures the wendigo to come with him to the couch, which the wendigo obliges and comes and sits next to the lion, listening to his background. "But I still have definite weaknesses. Thing is, Nemean lions are only invulnerable through their skin. Meaning..." gesturing to John.
"Anything that can attack you from the inside..."
"Can kill me," Chris shuddered, John now seeing his insecurities. "I'll be honest with you. I'm a bit envious that you're a spirit. Many abilities won't affect you."
"I...thank you." John nodded. "Please, don't be envious of me. At least you get to live a normal life."
"Normal life?"
"I don't..." John sighed, composing himself. "I don't want to eat meat. Human meat, I mean."
"But you're a wendigo, you have to."
"Yeah, but I once thought I was human." John looked at his hands, how drastically different they were. "Now it turns out I was eating them my entire life." John turns to Chris, who was absorbing his melancholy. "You get to live a normal life. From what I know, wendigos have to always eat humans to survive. I didn't think I would be so...inhuman."
"Hey..." Chris puts a hand on John's shoulder. "It's alright to be scared of yourself, every immigrant to Mythos is like that. At times, it's hard to accept the fact that you are no longer human. That the life you lived before was an illusion. The reason why the Ignorant exist was to give the world a sense of normalcy, that whatever happened in the Last War was something that could be recovered from."
"But all the humans are dead now," stated John.
"Not all of them." Chris smiled, poking John's chest as he reacted by covering the area that was touched. "We are the last humans now, just inside the bodies of monsters."
The wendigo smiled at the sentiment. "Thanks." though he had to add something. "By the way, wear some more casual clothes, it will make you look less like an ass."
Chris shrugged. "My father's business deals with high-end brand stocks, so I kind of get these things for free, sorry."
"Well, was worth a try." John sighed.
"Where are they?" Mrs. Luna was checking on her watch, noticing that a certain pair was missing.
Chen's ears swiveled. "Don't worry, they're already here."
"They got one minute," Luna remarked. "Any second later, we're ditching them."
The sound of stumbling steps echoes across the hall before the door swung open. The werewolf, moon rabbit, and tikbalang were all looking at a pair of two males that seemed to laugh from their predicament. Because the Nemean lion was, apparently, carrying the wendigo all the way to school like some damsel in distress.
"Hahaha! You're really strong!" praised the wendigo.
"Boxing and bodybuilding help keep my temper in check," Chris panted but was very much happy for the compliment. "Looking back, I'm glad I'm doing these things. I was a huge asshole in high school."
Luna coughed, snapping them back into attention. Chris dropped John, while John immediately stood up like a plank of wood. Both of them were mirroring the same stiff standing posture. The lycanthrope raised a brow.
"We're about to leave to Mythos park again."
"Why did it take you so long to get here?" asked Iris.
"Long story short." Chris brought his hands up. "John convinced me to carry him all the way to the university."
"That and we found a temporary solution to my problem," added John. "I basically can't have negative emotions towards someone."
"That seems unrealistic," said Iris.
"It's better than nothing," John replied.
Luna huffed. "Come along now. We got some place to be."
But John swore that there was a little smile on her muzzle. The group followed along, wondering what might happen next. Though the wendigo noticed that the moon rabbit had a large plastic bag next to his backpack.
Once again entering the park gates, the class would take a new spot within the outer layer of the forest park.
"Mind if I ask something?" asked Iris.
"You may." As Luna sat down, the others followed along.
"We never got to see Chen's abilities. Nor Chris, we only got to see him fight," noted Iris. "I'm sorry if I seem rude or intrusive, I'm just curious.
"No need to worry." Luna smiled, turning to the moon rabbit. "We were already planning this."
Chen opened his plastic bag. John and everyone else would watch as he took out a mortar, pans, small bottles of sauce and cooking oils, and smaller versions of cooking utensils. Which was pretty obvious, since Chen seems to barely pass over 5 feet in height. But the wendigo noticed something else, seeing the rabbit take out a classical styrofoam food container. He brings it up to John, which the wendigo was pretty hesitant until he smelled meat, which his mouth watered and opened it to find several slabs of meat.
"For you." John also noticed that the rabbit wasn't making any eye contact.
The rest of the eyes fell on the wendigo, making him feel uncomfortable. Looking at the meat, he slowly picks it up and smells it. The scent gave hint that it was pork, but the scent of such meat was clouded by other scents. John guessed that the meat was marinated and cooked to a medium likeness. Invited by the aroma of such meat, he opened his mouth and swallowed the pork whole. Iris and Chris were feeling awkward, seeing the wendigo's mouth for the first time. It was barely holding on with a thin layer of tissue connecting the skull to the body, but the inside of the mouth seems perfectly normal, albeit with canines despite being a deer skull, and the inner tissue having a darker shade of purple-red. But John's eyes bulged as he quickly picked the other slabs of pork and dropped them into his mouth, giving a few tasteful moans before swallowing them.
John laughed with enthusiasm, clearly having enjoyed the taste of the pork. "That was great! Oh my god, that was AMAZING!"
"I'm glad you liked it." Chen seems to sigh with relief.
"Not like. Love." John chuckled.
John took out his hand, which the Usagi took and shakes, bowing out of respect. John bows as well, albeit he didn't do it so formally in comparison to the rabbit.
"How are you feeling after your sparring match?" said Chen.
"Well, I took the pain killers earlier, so I should be mostly fine."
"Have you been bruised? I would like to check you please." Chen inched closer.
"Sure, go ahead." John brings out his forearm, which had been bruised significantly since his sparring match with Chris.
Chen hopped over and pulled away the fur above his skin. John's eyes widened as he noticed the purple bruises he just got yesterday seemed to turn green, then brown, before returning to the same shade as his pale skin.
"Wh-What?" John could not believe his eyes.
"I marinated the steak with small samples of goldenrod and yarrow." Chen murmured, watching more of the bruises fading from the skin layer. "It should help with your injuries."
"You're a really good cook and all, but I don't think yarrow and goldenrod are supposed to do that," says John.
"You are right with that." Luna stepped in, observing the remainder of the purple bruises now in the final steps of John's healing process. "But a moon rabbit's ability centralizes around cooking, combined with medicine. Normally such herbs have more minuscule effects, but a moon rabbit can amplify the effects of medicine to greater degrees."
"My mother and father are chefs of the Jade Moon restaurant, it's...a family business." Chen seemed to blush slightly.
"Oh!" Iris exclaimed, but it was an exclamation of great surprise. "You're the son of Guang Kuo?!"
"Y-Yes..." Chen blushed, pulling himself away from the wendigo.
"Can we get free food?" Chris chimed in.
"No." denied Chen.
"Awww." sighed the Nemean lion.
"Hey hey." Luna snapped his fingers. "Enough right now. I need John to be with Iris because they have some abilities they share. Chris and Chen," eyeing the two. "Be there for them, alright? I got to make some homework for you guys."
"Ugh, homework." groaned Chris.
"They're going to fire me if I don't," Luna smirked. "Don't worry, I'll make it simple for all of you...just make an essay."
Chris toppled over as if struck by an arrow to his heart. Chen shrugged, having oriented himself for such work. Meanwhile, Iris and John were a distance away, watching as their teacher was calling on her phone. Mumbling a few words, a sudden flash of light would flare in the middle of the air, followed by a creeping coldness. John knew this coldness, turning to see Ephenel. Everyone froze in their activities, but Luna conversed with the angel of death.
"Mr. Ephenel, it's good to see you." Mrs. Luna turned formal, out of respect of the university counselor.
"And it is well to see you too Mrs. Luna." his smooth yet haunting voice pierce the hearts of the students.
"I am heading back to the university to make some homework for my students. Is it alright if you may oversee their activities for the rest of the duration?"
"Indeed I may. Rest assured they are in safe hands." Ephenel puts a hand close to his heart, eliciting a promise to keep them safe.
Luna narrowed her eyes for a moment, before nodding and heading off to the college university. No one dared make a move, especially John despite being familiar with the presence of the angel of death. Ephenel turns to the four, a small but noticeable smile curling his lips.
"How is your progress?" the angel asks the four.
"Um..." Iris felt beads of sweat damping her thin coat. "John is the only one who needs control of his abilities. The rest of us are in this class because it is mandatory."
"I see." the deep blue eyes zone down onto the wendigo. He could feel his heart jumping up and down just outside of his throat. "Might I spar with you, John Carter? I heard this is what Luna was doing with you to help further develop with your developing abilities."
John didn't say anything. No, he refused to say anything. The undeniable sensation of fear crawled over him like ants on their hill, and he felt that if he said no, or even yes, he would be a guaranteed dead monster. But the angel would try and calm the monster down, which bore little fruit in success.
"It is alright if you are afraid, I will not fight you directly. I will summon one to fight in my stead."
With hand outstretched, deep violet lines wisp around the air, like strings in the wind. These lines would form together into what all four monsters would guess would be a magic circle. Death and fear emanate from both the counselor and the magic circle being tinkered in his hands. John had memories of watching Doctor Strange, where the magic circles sparked and the use of motions of one's arms determine the strength and use of the circle. The one before him contrasted greatly. There were no sparks, instead, it was as if the light was hardening and distorting around the magic circles, similar to how a shattered mirror would reflect different proportions of light in the individual shards. The magic circle developed and evolved by itself, expanding further until the entire circumference was comparable to the counselor himself. A pulse of magic sends a wave of distorted light across the environment, the world darkens as the light concentrates into a small orb. No...it was not an orb. John looked at the orb of light, a hunch in his mind telling that this light was alive somehow. Soul...it was a soul, that's what John interpreted.
"Come forth, and serve my purpose." ordered the angel, his words laced with authority but blanketed by the tranquility of tone.
The light takes a form, one to that of a human. But it lacked the features to distinguish it; a lacking face and any form of hair. At best interpretation, the figure of light resembles those posture figures that John notices in stores, where they're used to break down the human form into simple shapes. The figure was transparent, the solid light tracing the form it has taken. The concentrated light remained within the chest, like a core for a machine.
"This soul shall spar with you in combat." Ephenel said, stepping back as the soul stepped forward, towards the wendigo.
John's eyes shrank as he noticed as more light solidifies; right in the figure's hand. The vapor and light give this new long rod a misty effect, but John could tell this rod would be the figure's weapon. From his guess, it would be comparable to a sword.
"Um, Mr. Ephenel?" John whimpered. "I don't think I'm ready for this-"
The sound of what can John interpret as an explosion of pure energy forces his ears to ring. Pain, upon his backside, the force of gravity bringing him down to earth as he lands on his bottom of the forest floor. Flying, he was sent flying right into a tree. He was surprised he didn't break a bone from the impact. His vision couldn't come into focus, but his swaying eyes manage to close in to what's happening. Or rather...what the others were doing. His vision stabilizes, seeing what the wendigo could expect to be teamwork.
"Goddamnit!" John felt the light-sword bash him across the head. But he barely flinched as he throws blurring punches towards the figure, who veers away from each blow with ease.
Chen was a blur of speed, keeping up on his paw-feet in a constant bouncing motion. The soul would try and kick the lion, knowing that boxing doesn't utilize the legs, but the Usagi would nearly disappear as each kick was deflected by the bunny's blows. But the soul was learning while darting from the Nemean lion's swings, it would fake out kicks, causing the bunny to sometimes launch himself far from the scene. The latest one sends him beyond the trees that can be seen, leaving the lion alone to fight the opponent one on one. But the Tikbalang came to aid, the grass beneath them thickens and wraps tightly around the right leg of the soul's body like a cuff with a metal weight. The figure was stuck, Chris managing to land a swift but strong knuckle to the chest which sent the soul flying to a tree behind it; force so great that the bark splintered when the body of light met the wood behind it.
But John was helpless as the next events unfold. He witnessed the soul bounding back with greater speed than before, catching both monsters off guard. The light-sword was flung with great speed towards the Tikbalang, exploding right in her face. There was no damage, but she screeched from the explosion of light. John guessed the explosion was like a flash-bang grenade to her, seeing how she curled up onto the floor and covered her ears and eyes, trembling in the grass.
"SHIT! IRIS!" Chris veered his eyes away to Iris, which turned the fight against his favor. The one moment he took his eyes from his opponent, he was sent reeling back from a blow to the side of his head from the figure's fist. He was forced into a defensive position, but even the boxing training was not enough to push away the blows thrown at him. Especially the kicks, every one of them slips through his defenses to land a blow to his head, his teeth shaking and head throbbing from the pain of each blow. But Chris was still standing, panting as the blows became too fast for him, the last hook to the right side of his head sends him toppling onto the ground. The faceless head turns to the wendigo; he tried to stand but his legs buckled from their numbness of the impact he took.
But Chen was far from finished. From the darkness of the woods in the distance, he sped through the air like a bullet, catching the figure off guard as the blunt of his kick sends it tumbling to its knees. John felt like he should help, trying to get back to his legs as his body was refusing to cooperate with him. All the while, Chen took the soul on his own. John hugged the tree, using the body of the tree as support to slowly but surely bring himself up. The moon rabbit was flying through the air as if the gravity of the planet meant nothing to the monster. Another blow from his legs connects, the Usagi had used the tree as a launchpad to send the figure toppling over as it tries to get up. But the response was quicker, this time using the momentum left over from the connected attack to roll and recover. Chen jumped away as the figure attempted to strike the bunny with a newly manifested light-blade, soon jumping into the tree branches above. The figure looked around, trying to find the bunny that was now hiding amongst the branches and leaves that blanket the world above. The rabbit suddenly comets down, right above the light figure with foot outstretched with the intent to knock the figure's face right into the dirt. John watched as time seems to slow down. He did not know why his perception suddenly accelerated, but he was a witness to what happened. Even though the rabbit was dropping like a dumbbell in the water in this new perception, the figure was just a tad bit faster. Like a dance, the figure would just inch itself away from the vector of the rabbit's attack, then curled a hand into a fist, gaining momentum for the first and final blow. It was a deep uppercut, using the rabbit's ability against himself. The fist connects to the chest, knocking out all the breath the rabbit's lungs had. But the rabbit's ability continued to affect him. He crashed down into the earth despite being hit with enough force to send him back up at least a foot or so, the ground cracking as the wendigo noticed the rabbit was distorted, the air around the Usagi was pushed down, gravity forcing it to fall like the rabbit's predicament.
John's dead heart exploded as the soul figure turns to him as he continued to struggle in standing on his own two legs.
"Hey. Mr. Ephenel?" John's voice quivered as he saw the light-blade flare with air-bending heat. "I lost right? Please make him stop."
Ephenel did not say a word, watching the events unfold. Everyone was out of commission, leaving the wendigo to fight the light-figure all on his own.
"Mr. Ephenel, please! Make it stop!" John begged, crawling away as fast as he could.
There was a tension in his stomach. Hungry, he was so hungry. He felt like he was starving, having eaten in days. It was growing, his stomach hurt so much. Mouth salivating, drool puddling all over his chest, he turned over to the angel, speaking words of desperation. Tears flow from his skull while his illusionary eyes plead for salvation. His voice, while he never remembered it, was almost demonic.
"MAKE IT STOP!"
The pain in his stomach explodes throughout his entire being, and his vision turned white. The last thing he remembered was Ephenel's look of mild surprise, eyes widening ever so slightly
Iris shook her head as the ringing in her ears stopped and the white in her vision faded. She was recovering from that explosion of light, blinking multiple times to try and clear the remaining spots. Cold, another sensation could be felt across her entire body, she felt like she was in winter and the sweater on her body provided no insulation. She shivered, standing back up on her feet as she looked for the others, Chen was fine, but he seemed to be surrounded by...ice? No, he was in clear area, the ice that was supposed to swallow him whole hadn't touched him. Chris was fine, though various veins of ice crept over him. Ephenel was also fine, wisps of darkness melting the ice around him. Mrs. Luna was back as well, and she seemed to be shocked.
"Ephenel...explain yourself." Mrs. Luna grit her teeth, restraining her rage.
"I summoned a soul to fight them. I...didn't expect John to...do this."
Iris finally comprehended what was happening. The entire field of grass and parts of the trees were frozen over, spikes and pillars stretching across the ground. Chris and Chen were coming back to their senses, now giving witness to John's untapped potential.
"What the hell...?" Chris stared at the ice, breaking it easily before standing upright again to join the tikbalang.
"Is this...?" Chen Kuo canceled his ability immediately, allowing him to stand.
"John's power." said the angel of death, meeting up with the students, along with the teacher following behind.
"He could do this?" asked Chris.
"Not intentionally. John's fear tapped into his potential, forcing his powers outward and all at once."
Mrs. Luna saw John's frozen body, the core of where all the cataclysm took place. Black solid darkness etches from his skull like the branches of a tree, stretching out and grabbing wherever they could get to before being frozen over. His eyes were gone, hollow as a skull should be. But one thing that the werewolf found interesting was that she is unable to approach the frozen wendigo, the air was solid, though had flexibility, like an invisible balloon, was protecting the monster. His position remained the same, mouth outstretched in a howl for mercy, turned to where Ephenel used to be.
"We'll need to get this place locked down." said the angel, his halo manifesting as he heads off to speak in private.
"Yeah, but be sure to treat him well," added Luna. "He means no harm you know, despite having everything at his fingertips."
"I know, I'll be sure to add that."
The trio of students head over and group with Mrs. Luna, who was staring right at the wendigo frozen in ice.
"What should we do?" said Iris.
"We can't, at least not now." Luna sighed. "He's a good person. Just...given more than he needs. Right now, let's plan on how to get him out of there. Homework can wait." motioning for the others to follow, they head back to the university, leaving the wendigo all alone.
Iris' head glanced over, she felt like she heard John crying out to her from the ice. She frowned, but with no idea what to do, she could only say a prayer under her breath as she moved along.