monster

                                                       Monster Taunting

                                                     by Derick Walburger

       Malice.
       Silence.
       Vile anticipation.
       Cold stone walls draped in darkness defined the monster's prison. Futile pounding had marred those once impossibly smooth surfaces with spidery cracks. Frenzied pacing had worn the floor glassy smooth. The monster's howling had shaken the earth. It had descended into a claustrophobic mind and had nearly drowned in the bitterness. One of the mightiest powers on earth, tricked, fooled as easily as a petty mortal. The roots of the mountains had quaked at the titan's insanity. Volcanoes had erupted because of the titan's insanity, unable to contain the rage. But brute strength could not breach the magical walls. Deep grooves scarred a prison door which stood impossibly stronger than before. There was no way out. Freedom lay just beyond the door, but there was no way out. That had been the madness of the first hundred years.
       Now, centuries had passed without the slightest noise other than the deep, rhythmical breathing of the beast. Four hundred years it had waited. Schemed and waited. The monster that still chilled the nightmares of stoic warriors crouched in the darkness and stared with smoldering hate at the door. It had a plan--a devilish, intelligent plan. Someone would open that door and it would be free. The dark hope bubbled in the monster's blood. FREE. Then the world would suffer.
       That time had finally come.
       The iron portal grated open, squealing in agony. One could almost hear in the wailing of the rusted metal a warning of doom. Brilliant sunlight stabbed across the cavern but was soon lost in the depths of the cell. Ravage shrank away from the brightness and the pain it inflicted to its deadened eyes. But that was not the only reason. Darkness hid the frightening beast from the view of the intruder, and this was essential to its plan.
       Agonizing moments passed before a human--a knight-- framed himself in the light of the door. Venomous thoughts poisoned the monsters resolve. It needed to scream, pounce, rip the human to shreds. Instead, it waited. The knight advanced slowly but deliberately into the mouth of the cave. The human reeked of courage. Undaunted by the immensity of the cavern and the thick silence that hung oppressively in the air, he moved to the edge of where the column of warm sunlight died in inky, cold blackness.
       Brilliant flashes of light reflected off the knight's armor. In his left hand he held a long shield emblazoned with the emblem of a scruffy hyena. The other gauntleted fist brandished forth, not a sword, but an ivory tooth, two feet long and capped with gold. The artifact caused the creature to recoil until its back pressed against the far wall. The human had the tooth. The titan would have to be careful.
       The knight paused, peering boldly into the shadows, then began to speak. "O, great Ravage!" His voice nearly caught on the first word, but he finished bravely. "Annihilator of cities and destroyer of kingdoms, hear me and obey. I release you do my bidding and to slay my enemies. All shall feel thy power, either to flee or to die at your coming. I free you of your bondage if you will but do my will."
       IF.
       The knight beamed confidence as he finished his rehearsed speech. The last bold notes of the proclamation resonated off the impossibly high ceiling, invading every corner of the prison.
       Ravage seethed with anger at the knight's impetuous words, but the titan retained firm control. It had waited too long for this moment to make any mistakes. It paused for an uncomfortable length of time before answering. "Thank you . . . but I am not interested."
The knight started as the words invade his mind. He quickly regained composure though.   Ravage spoke telepathically. Obviously, this method of communication was not at all what the warrior had expected, nor was the message. Perhaps thinking that his mind was playing tricks on him, the human continued as though nothing had happened.
       "My enemies are yours." He held the pointed tooth above his head. "I release you from your prison for a short season to wreak vengeance upon those who have wronged me."              The knight made a sweeping gesture toward the entrance with the unusual artifact in his right hand. "Go! Kill, destroy, ruin! I release thee!"
       Another uncomfortable delay followed. "Again, I must decline," Ravage finally projected.
       The knight shook his head, visibly shaken by the response that again thundered in his mind. He could not ignore the voice a second time. He replied in typical human fashion.              "What?" the knight asked, visibly confused.
       Doubt. The plan had taken effect.
       "I am sorry, but I am not like that anymore. I am not going to run off and start killing people just because you think that you have done me a favor."
       The human wore a mask of shock. This was obviously not one of the scenarios for which he had planned. He stood there for some time with his mouth open before he came up with another generic question that is invariably asked when at a loss for words. "What do you mean?"
       "I mean . . ." Ravage fought back several vicious names before continuing, "I have changed. My imprisonment has given me time to think. I realize that destruction will never bring me happiness, nor fill the dark void in my soul. What I really want now is to be left alone."
       The knight shook his head in confusion. "This is the right cave, isn't it? You are Ravage, the ferocious monster that destroyed the Chaldeen empire, sank the entire Macthron fleet of more than one hundred warships, ate Zirakx the dragon, and cracked the Rylothian continent in two. You are Ravage, aren't you?"
       If the titan were capable of smiling, it would have been beaming with pride. "I am indeed guilty of those crimes, but I have changed."
       "This is impossible," the knight shot out a perplexed reply. "I have spent the last three years of my life searching for the instrument of my revenge, and I get a monster that doesn't feel like killing any more."
       Ravage listened intently as the human strung his own noose. The plan could not fail.
       The knight continued ranting in frustration. "I went to the oracle and asked her to find me a way to exact vengeance on an entire city. She told me about you. I paid her three gold coins for heaven's sake. I spent the next year trying to find a way to steal this," he waved the tooth menacingly towards the darkness, "from the god, Phractus. That certainly wasn't easy. Then I had to go back to the same stupid witch to find this place, but she only talks in riddles. I spent the next two years following wild goose chase after wild goose chase until I finally figured it out. Now I get here and you tell me you're not interested?"
       "Not in the slightest."
        The knight wore his anger as visibly as a spoiled child before a tantrum. Still, he maintained some mastery. "Would it help in any way if I told you I need help to avenge the murder of my fiancee?" He sounded more annoyed than upset about his lost love. "We were destined for a wonderful life together when the Childeans kidnapped her and sacrificed sweet Gretchen to their gods. You said that you have changed. Would that convince you to help?"
       The human was reacting exactly as Ravage had expected.
       "It is a tragic story, but as I said before, all I want is to be left alone." Ravage tried to sound sincere. It was more difficult than he had ever imagined. "I have finally found peace.        All I don't need right now is to anger the gods again, and have them throw me into an even deeper pit. I really wish I could help, but I don't lay waste to civilizations anymore."
The knight huffed in irritation. He stood there for some time before he got another idea. Looking down at the three-foot tooth in his hand, he spoke again. "Can't I just make you do what I want?" Ravage shifted nervously in the darkness. "This is one of your teeth, enchanted by Phractus, the god of mischief himself. This is how you were imprisoned here in the first place. The legend says that it," he held up the ivory artifact, "gives the bearer power over you. The oracle told me the same thing, in a rather peculiar way, but nonetheless. I can force you to do my will."
       If Ravage had any sweat glands, the knight would have been standing in a lake of perspiration. Luckily, the monster had foreseen this.
       "You humans dream up the strangest legends." Ravage tried to make his thoughts sound amused. "Five hundred years sure has produced some wild rumors.   Or more likely, your oracle is playing with you. I don't have the slightest idea what that is," Ravage projected a mental image of the tooth into the human's mind. "I would go to the witch that sent you here and get my money back if I were you. Now, I am getting tired of this conversation, so if you could close the door on your way out, I would appreciate it."
       The human stood there smoldering. He stared at the artifact as though it were only a useless piece of rubbish..
       The same emotion that had trapped the titan provided the fuel for its liberation. This was the moment of truth. Sweet revenge would not wait much longer. Phractus would curse the rest of his eternity spent in the acid stomach of a titan. Ravage fretfully anticipated the human's response.
       Finally, his outrage exploded to the surface. "This is insane," the warrior shouted. "I can't believe I have been searching for Ravage- the-Friendly-Monster for the last three years. I could have assembled an army by now and wiped the Childeans off the face of the earth. I will kill that oracle if I ever find her. I risked my life sneaking into the lost palace of the god of mischief to steal heaven knows what, carried it around for two hellish years, and you tell me it doesn't even work."
       The knight's face burned red. He was losing control.
       Ravage added fuel to the fire. "You know, this whole thing sounds like one of Phractus' jokes. I bet your oracle was the mischief god in disguise. You have played the dupe this entire time"
       The knight lit up the cavern with a sting of vulgarities that even impressed Ravage. Reason fled as anger seized command. He began to stomp and rave, cursing Phractus for years of lost time. Ravage had provoked the human into a mindless fury. In his madness, the human hurled what Ravage had pronounced a worthless object into the ebony blackness of the cavern.
       Ravage reacted instantly. In a single bound, he pounced on the tooth. The hideous outline of the monster's bulk must have been visible in the half-light because the human screamed in terror. Raising the tooth with a serpentine tentacle, Ravage crammed it back into the hole from whence it had come.
       The monster screamed in ecstasy. It was free. The cave had only been one of its prisons. The real fear had come from the enchanted tooth.
       "You made a fatal mistake, human. You though that my only weapon was strength. In your pride, you threw away the only thing that could have saved you."   Ravage let out another deafening roar that shook the cavern. "The world is doomed. Ravage is free."
       When the earth trembling echoes of Ravage's triumph abated, a new sound replaced them. Laughter. Ravage couldn't understand why the human would be laughing. Maybe the realization of what he had done had driven the human insane. Ravage turned toward the human. The monster decided to recompense the unbalanced knight. For its release, Ravage would grant the human a quick death.
What Ravage saw set his blood on fire. Instead of the careless knight he had expected, stood the all too familiar figure of its most hated enemy. Phractus, god of mischief, laughed hysterically, nearly doubled over in his mirth. Ravage howled a challenge, preparing for a fight. The long spines along the titan's back bristled in defiance.
       Phractus, aware of the situation, halted his mad cackling, although the odd chuckle still squeezed past his new serious mask.
      "What are you doing here?" Ravage projected scornfully. "I am free. There is nothing you can do to stop me."
      Phractus only answered with a malicious grin. It unnerved the beast.
Ravage could not long endure the god's silence. "What have you done with the foolish human that released me?" he asked, gloating in the magnitude of his success. "I want to reward him."
       "You still don't understand," the god replied in a deep voice. He again burst into mocking laughter.
       Ravage would not fall again for one of Phractus's tricks. "You may have saved the human for now, but the earth is doomed. You can't stop me from leaving. The only power you had over me was in the tooth. I have it now. You're control over me has ended, and I certainly won't be tricked a second time."
       The god of deceit gasped for breath. "You stupid beast! This is all a joke. I was the knight you fool. This is all an illusion." Phractus bent over double, holding his sides as if he was about to explode. "You should have seen yourself. You thought you were so smart."
        The god's mocking words sliced through Ravage like cold iron. "You are lying, stalling for time," it thundered. The reality of the situation still hadn't penetrated the monster's thick skull.
       "I may be lying," Phractus said, suddenly serious, "that's what I do best. But sometimes the most malicious jokes are the simple truth. You didn't really think other beings allow their anger to control them the way it does you?" This being said, the god disappeared in a flash of blue flame.
       Ravage was alone. The iron gate still stood open. Sunlight streamed through, lighting the path to freedom. The titan would not believe that after all its planning, it had been tricked again. Ravage rushed towards the portal, afraid that at any moment it might close, trapping it.
       Instead of bursting from the cave to long awaited liberty, the monster smacked into something hard. He rebounded backwards, screaming in surprise and pain. Once disturbed, the illusion slowly began to dissipate. The sunlight evaporated, the iron gate rematerialized, and all hope of freedom faded into a nightmare. A forked tongue snaked through the hole where a recaptured tooth should have been. It was gone. The illusion had vanished. The light had vanished. All hope had vanished. Ravage wailed in rage.
       Sharp claws dug at the magical door. Tentacles pounded a frantic beat against cold walls. There was no escape.
       Howling.
       Laughter.
       Madness.

                                                    -The End-