***
Those creepy Myyga had ruined everything and they wanted to sacrifice me for something I didn't even know had existed. With no warning, they dropped me in the middle of York.
I was disoriented at first. All the electricity was out, making the streets nearly pitch black. Perhaps the military had cut the power. Could the beast affect electricity?
After stumbling my way down a road and finding a bridge, I discovered the Myyga had put me in the middle of Low Ousegate, only a few blocks from the Viking Centre.
"You needn't go that far," came the deep rumble of the beast.
The low vibration returned and all the air around me felt heavy.
I thought of how wasted my life was; how much pain I had been put through by all the stupid people around me. I would die gasping, having accomplished nothing just as my father had predicted. Even if I lived, the world was a horrible place. What did it matter?
My ability to move became impaired under the increasing weight of the air around me. I tried to run but felt as though I was wading through pudding. It truly was a nightmare. My inability to go as fast as I knew I could confirmed that it was all a dream. I would wake up and be back on that wall at the fair.
"Perhaps that is when your nightmare began," the beast said. "The Myyga are nothing but pests. They even look like pests to the living. You barely noticed the small mosquito that marked you."
With its words, the weight of the air increased. It was becoming too thick. I couldn't breathe properly. In the middle of the bridge, I fell to my knees and doubled over. I could go no further. I gasped and wheezed into the paving.
"You could have lived a wonderful life with Amelia if it hadn't been for them," it said.
I could have. I would have loved her forever.
"You would never have let her go."
Never.
"How arrogant of those Myyga to treat you like nothing, like an idiot child. They created three more right in front of your eyes. With so many changes, they honestly think you are dumb enough to believe this has never once happened before?"
I can't be that bad. There are so many dumber people.
"And they have been around since the dawn of time and not once did they know that they could die?"
They know everything and they didn't know that?
"And they send you, who knows nothing about any of this, to defeat us? They want a scapegoat, not a hero."
Wait. Why would that matter?
"They did not tell you?" it asked.
As my confusion, fear, and despair grew so too did the low vibrations. I could feel the beast getting closer. I clutched at my chest just above my heart but it did not matter. The violation returned. The invisible point feasted upon my heart.
I looked around wildly, the need for air seeming inconsequential as I thought of nothing more than escape from the violation. Even death would have been better. I begged for it to kill me.
"God has tolerated them for too long," it said even as it continued its assault. "Their failure will bring him down upon them. He will stop their meddling."
The probing was too much as it caressed and penetrated my heart even further than before. My body shook with my terror. I hated the Myyga for lying to me. I was surely amongst the living for death could not feel this tortuous.
Then the beast touched upon the deepest point within my heart. Images flashed before my eyes even as my eyes squeezed painfully shut.
My hands were around Amelia's throat. Her eyes were wide and pleading. She was gasping. I could smell the fire and the dampness of the cave. I was there once more. She was trying to beg but I held her throat too tightly. My fingers ached and I pressed harder. She wouldn't leave me. I wouldn't let her leave.
I remembered every detail. A wisp of her hair caught around my thumb as I cut off her air. The cave smelled of hot rocks, burning grass, and wood smoke.
Her body bucked as she tried to fight back. With each detail, with each gurgle from her throat, I knew in that deepest part of my heart that was now being probed and searched that she deserved it. She had rejected me. She had hurt me, of all people. How dare she!
The violation could go no deeper. It had opened the way for the secret I had held longest. Only one other than I knew the truth at that moment.
The beast lapped at my hatred but my emotions were quickly evolving and it did not realize. Its efforts to eat from me soon felt strangely benign.
I took a deep breath. The air felt light.
I looked down at my chest. I still could not see the beast but it continued its work and I felt the pride of a mother nursing an infant.
In that second, the beast faltered.
I smiled.
"Wait," it said.
"I remember now," I said.
The beast tried to escape but it had too much of me within it. It was weighted to the spot. I climbed to my feet and looked down at it. I could not stop smiling.
"I didn't know!" it cried.
I laughed. "No one ever does," I said. "God was right and once again I didn't believe him."
"Please!" it begged.
I walked to the edge of the bridge and looked out over the water. The sun would be up soon.
"The Myyga have been keeping souls from me for too long," I explained. "That's not how it's supposed to work."
"I can help you," it said.
"Indeed you can and that is exactly what you will do." I let out a deep breath of relief as I turned to face its invisible form.
"You are not going to consume me?" it asked, confused.
I shook my head. "I am to get the souls owed me. I am to stop the Myyga. I can't do that with you destroyed. That would defeat the purpose of this entire ruse. The apathetic young man to bait them. The Devil to hunt them."
"Anything. I will do anything," it said.
This was the most pleasing to me off all. "Then do what you wanted all along. Hunt."
###
About the Author
Tara Kristen Young is a computing archaeologist who spends many of her days helping with the investigations of hunter-gatherer cemeteries in Russia and Japan. Other days are spent twisting her archaeological knowledge into new forms to create fantasy stories. Time not spent researching or writing is joyfully filled with the company of her daughter and husband.
Other Works by Tara K. Young
Memory's Emissary, Book 3 of the Moirean Tapestry (coming Winter 2011/2012)
Connect with Tara Online
Twitter https://twitter.com/TYoungWrite#
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/Tara-Kristen-Young/197334213614658
Website https://www.myriadmaia.com
The Monstrous Hunt Page 12