Metamorphosis: Seven Sins VIII - Baleful Babysitter

Back to Metamorphosis: Seven Sins

Chapter 8 – Baleful Babysitter

True to its name, the Old Swamp of the Minegarde region had been used as a hunting ground for generations.

There was nothing that the Minegarde Hunter’s Guild didn’t know about this damp sub-region. Smaller, more densely forested, and less populated with monsters than its sister sub-region in the Frontier, it was an area that those of Minegarde were intimately familiar with.

In the caves, it wasn’t very dark. Rather, the cavern walls were often speckled with light-giving minerals that provided dim illumination. These mineral deposits were frequented by wandering Basarioses, who ate the pretty rocks to help build up their shells. The moisture on the floor also made these areas favorable for Vespoids and the occasional Khezu.

However, there was one cave that was unlike any other in the Old Swamp. For one, it was unusually warm – sometimes even hot. Water vapor filled the damp chamber, giving it a murky green light that made it look as if it was underwater. Unfavorable for all but the plants and fungi that had taken it over, this cavern was devoid of animal life.

But today, that was about to change.

Underneath the layers of warm mud that blanketed the floor of the humid cave, a tremendous heartbeat slowly started up, sending vibrations through the soil that disturbed the worms and other crawling things that thrived in this paradise of heat and water. The hibernating creature’s pulse thundered anew through its tired veins, kicking its metabolism back into gear.

Suddenly, the temperature in the cavern began to increase. Steam hissed off of the ground, which collected in the already-saturated air until the glow of the stones on the walls was quenched. It was this natural light that refracted through the fog and turned the cave green, but now there was so much steam that it painted the entire chamber with thick, opaque white.

A rumbling growl echoed through the cave, shaking loose debris off of the ceiling.

Muscles that hadn’t been used in many centuries strained to lift their owner out of the soil.

Earth buckled and shifted as a garden of metal spikes poked through.

A pair of wingarms longer than an Akantor was tall oozed out of the mud, gripping the ground with vast talons and further lifting the beast out of its prison.

Sludgy black oil dripped like rain onto the cave floor as the beast continued to rise.

Solid stone began to crumble as its back met the ceiling.

Two points of fierce red light blazed through the fog, followed by a somewhat duller glow that shone through the mud still stuck to the monster’s chest.

Now the cavern was shaking as the enormous creature fought to escape, grinding its thorn-studded back against the roof of the chamber and clawing chunks of rock out of the walls. With every struggle, the confines of its prison grew weaker. The creature itself was barely aware of this – its primitive mind was preoccupied by the ferocious hunger that was threatening to consume it.

All it knew was that it needed to be free, and that it wanted to feed.

Monsters all over the Old Swamp turned and fled in terror when the black beast exploded out of the cave, shoving its head and shoulders through the ceiling and shrugging away the walls that contained it. It took an earthshaking step forwards, further obliterating its surroundings. Its small front legs waved in the air while its back legs, wingarms, and tail supported its immense and under-exercised bulk.

For almost two millennia, it had hibernated. For almost two millennia, its body heat had warmed that cavern. For almost two millennia, it had waited for the familiar presence of powerful spirits.

Now it was awake, and the first stop it wanted to make was the human city. There was good food there, and valuable weapons to graft onto its oily back for protection.

The Gogmazios started its unhurried rampage, knowing that its target couldn’t run away. It moved deceptively fast, soon leaving the caverns far behind and smashing its way through the dank forest. A roar not unlike the tolling of a gong rang out across the Old Swamp, announcing the elder dragon’s unholy return.

“DRAAAAAAAYYYYYYRRR!”

It wasn’t long before the Gogmazios was gone, following the scent of food in its nostrils. Trees were smashed down in its wake as it vanished into the murky mists of the Old Swamp.

A lone figure came out of hiding and stared after the baleful elder dragon, smirking.

“Stealing the gunpowder from Dundorma paid off,” Avari, Spirit of Greed, said to himself. “Now that Gogmazios has awoken, he will eat what I have left him and immediately head to the Battlequarters for more. All will know that the Day of Destruction will soon begin anew.”

Keyren took a deep breath through her nose, feeling the familiar invigorating scent of Loc Lac City’s streets tickle her nostrils. As she led Swamp Boy further into the city, in turn following Cindy and the others, she noticed how much more lively this part of the abandoned city was from the outskirts.

At the city’s edge, where the buildings met the Great Desert, there was no-one. But deeper amongst the strange landscape of pavement and buildings in various states of disrepair, the hybrid community flourished. Keyren never got tired of turning her head every which way, watching her fellow monsters-turned-humans live their lives without fear of being discovered.

The Lagiacrus-girl turned her head to look at the unknown hybrid. “See, Swamp Boy? We can live in peace here until it’s okay to come out. Here, we can actually feel like we belong.”

“Sssss…” he hissed.

She turned away, slightly annoyed. That’s the only sound he would ever make, and it wasn’t like he was actually talking to her. All he was doing was tasting the air with that grotesque tongue of his. She hoped he’d give in to his human instincts soon and learn how to talk. Even Dissidia, a Deviljho for Fatalis’ sake, was learning faster than him.

“Dissidia like the desert,” said Deviljho-girl was saying now, to Melody. “No rain in desert. Rain make things wet. Dissidia not like wet.”

“No rain and plenty of good company!” she chirped back, beaming so hard her face was tinged pink. “You can even help out around here, if you feel like it!”

Keyren heard her friend socializing with the former brute wyvern, and sighed. Dissidia spoke softly and hesitantly, apparently not wishing to frighten anyone. That tail of hers got in the way a lot, and whenever that happened, she would always apologize. She had a heart of gold, that one.

If only I could say the same for Swamp Boy, she thought, casting him another glance. His hungry, orange glare was focused on a small Lagombi-boy helping his mother hang blankets on a clothesline. ''He’s still a monster on the inside. Thinking about nothing but food – and he’s a predator. I hope Duruhos doesn’t make me his caretaker.''

Instead, she hoped that Swamp Boy would be assigned to someone good. Her friend Kumono the Nerscylla came to mind, or Claire the Lucent Nargacuga.

MORE COMING SOON