Born a Monster

“Kid, look, I’m not sure I want to be your spirit guide anymore.” Manajuwejet started.

“Well, I suppose I owe you this from last time, if not more.” I said.

“Yeah, you owe me a lot, kid. There are spirit guides who would have just torn you open and eaten all the good parts.”

“Well, I definitely don’t want any of those as my spirit guide.”

“I know some spirits. What do you need out of a spirit guide?”

“Tonight? I need someone to guide me to a god or goddess of vengeance.”

His tail stinger came erect. “Kid, if you’re messing with me, I swear I will mess your soul up for all eternity.”

“No.” I said. “I’ve been wronged. By a dragon, but still wronged.”

.....

“Hrm. So, you’re wanting someone who kills dragons?”

“Not necessarily. I don’t want to destroy all dragons, I just want to make the one hurt.”

“Kid, dragons are like scorpions. You don’t just hurt them and not expect them to come back after you.”

“I don’t want him dead, I just want him to suffer as I have.”

“And then he’s going to make you suffer for HIS suffering. Then what?”

“Then I guess the vengeance gig continues until one or the other of us is dead.”

“THAT is the answer of someone who wants vengeance. Okay, hot or cold?”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Do you want vengeance now, or are you playing the long game?”

“I mean, a century or so. I realize this is going to take a while. He IS a dragon, after all.”

“Okay, cold vengeance. So, what about his family?”

“If they don’t bother me, I won’t bother them. My focus is currently only on him.”

“Kid. No. How many people have wronged you? What about them?”

“I... I don’t know. If I were that upset about it, I’d have committed to vengeance already.”

“Okay, so not EVERYTHING, but you definitely want to avenge great wrongs.”

“Yes.”

“Okay, next question. Open vengeance, or secret?”

“I don’t care if he knows; he can probably find out if it matters to him.”

“And other people? Do you want others to know you’ve taken your vengeance?”

“I don’t particularly care. I mean, I only have... My charisma is only...”

What was going on?

[Charisma: 2]

Since WHEN? No, focus. Focus. Vengeance now, buggy system later.

Stupid buggy System.

“I don’t need to make a public saga out of my vengeance. I just want to take it.”

“Okay, last question. Maybe. Probably the last question. Do you want his pain to last just a little bit, or for a long while?”

“I don’t know what’s a long while to a dragon.” I said. “But I want his regret to be something that eats at him for a month, at least.”

“Kid, that’s not vengeance. You’re just looking for justice. This doesn’t MOTIVATE you, it isn’t the core of who you are. This isn’t more important to you than right or wrong.”

“I don’t believe in right or wrong. Kobolds kill human children to keep their numbers in check; is that wrong?”

“Is that wrong? Is that something you would want vengeance for?”

“Humans are ignorant, repulsive creatures. I’ve suffered ENOUGH at the hands of humans. It’s time... crap.” I sat down there, on sand that had suddenly become a bed of stars. Because dream logic.

“Yeah, if you can’t even say it, you don’t want it, kid.”

“I don’t just want vengeance on some petty dragon for his greed.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m... wait, not just... Kid, what do you want?”

“It’s not this overwhelming thing that you’re talking about. But I have been tricked, and duped, and lied to. And playing nice has ended up with me all but enslaved. I want to break those chains, to become something that nobody will ever consider chaining again.”

“That’s power, kid. Vengeance is one way to that, but really, you’re talking about justice and then freedom, all the while pissing on civilization.”

“I was born without civilization. It’s brought me nothing but misery. Why do I care if it crumbles?”

Why DID I care if it crumbles?

“Okay, let’s take this from the top. What do you want, and why? What does your death and afterlife look like?”

“Well, I imagine I’ll die in combat, probably against something bigger and meaner than I am.”

“I can see that. And your afterlife?”

“I’ve never considered that I was going anywhere except to the hells.”

“Look, kid. You’re not fully committed, and that’s kind of mandatory. I’ll take this as partial payment for what you owe, and we’ll call it a night, how does that sound?”

I struck the ground, sending sand scattering. “It sounds like NOTHING will change! NO! I refuse that offer. If you will not help me, then I will...”

He loomed larger, about the size of my foot. The shadows seemed to gather in and about him, and his voice took on a sinister tone. “Go ahead, mortal. Tell me what you will do.”

“I will find a way to rip off your stinger, leaving you crippled among scorpions, with a lowly status such as you DARE to condemn me to.”

“Hyessss.” He hissed. “THAT is vengeance. Do you feel small?”

“Not so small as others see me.”

“Do you feel ignored?”

“Too often.”

“Are you certain? Do you want to refine that anger, that rage, that darkness? Are you ready to wield it as a weapon?”

“Not to the degree that it taints me.”

“You’re the one talking about Taint.” He clacked his claws. “This path, the path of vengeance, it costs. You will lose friends.”

“I don’t have that many to lose.”

“You will gain enemies.”

“I already have those.”

“Good, good. So, if this takes time and effort...”

“Time is something I have in abundance. Tell me of the effort.”

“You’ll need to learn to sneak, and to hide.”

“I can do that.” I said.

“And you’ll have to learn the ways of Intrigue.”

“I’m not sure how much of that I can do with my Truthspeaker Oath.”

“I’m not talking about lies, kid. I’m talking about misinformation and manipulation. About using people instead of being used.”

“I can’t... I guess I can. Okay. Next.”

“Next is you make a choice. Do you trust me?”

“You are the being who put me back together when I was broken.”

“Yeah, but do you TRUST me?”

“...”

I tried again. “No, but I don’t distrust you, either.”

“Welcome to the team, kid. You’ve been a scorpion all along. Let’s get to Serquet and get it made official.”

We crossed the burning sands, and came to a river, strong and broad.

“Damn it, never a helpful frog when you need one. Okay, let’s see if we can get across on one of those boats.”

.....

“Why? Just step into my hand.”

“Kid, what do you have in mind?” But he shrank enough that I could hold him.

I stepped into the shallows on the one side of the bank, and then stepped my next foot into the shallows on the other side. Because Dream logic. It cost me a point of River mana.

“How the hells did THAT work?” Manajuwejet asked.

“Because I allowed it.” Came a deep voice from behind us.

I turned, to face a crocodile, wearing a golden disk on his forehead.

“Sobek. Kid, meet Sobek. Sobek, this is Rhishisikk, he’s going to be a Scorpion.”

“I believe I have the right to speak to him, first.”

“Kid, just back away. He’s brother to Serquet, which makes him a vicious bastard.”

I sat at the edge of the river, set Manajuwejet on dry land. “He’s a god of rivers, if I recall properly.”

“Indeed.” Sobek said.

“Kid, kid, no. You’re so CLOSE.”

“Fortunately, so am I.” said Serquet, removing herself from the desert, and shaking herself free of sand. She also wore a golden disk, which just looks out of place on a scorpion. “Brother, are you coveting that which is mine?”

“No more than you covet that which is mine.”

“I don’t recall agreeing to be anyone’s.” I said.

“To be easily offended.” Sobek chuckled. “Perhaps he will be yours. But he is not, yet.”

“To adhere to process over politeness.” She turned her head and spat. “He MAY be yours, but he is not, yet.”

“Ahem.” A large black spider lowered itself from the sky on a thread of silk. “Anansi has sent me to entreat with this soul as well. Scorpions are not the only venomous creatures more suited to intrigue than direct combat.”

“Didn’t I see you just before Eihtfuhr died?”

“Did you? This is a common form for those who follow Anansi.”

“You have no place here!” Serquet hissed, striking with her tail at the air between her and Anansi’s advocate.

Sobek pulled himself closer to the shore. “So, little one. You seem to have more than two interested in you.”

“Aw, kid, I’m sorry.” Manajuwejet said. “Whichever one you choose, you’re going to offend the other two.”

“Why can’t I choose all three?” I asked.

The desert sounds went silent, even the river no longer making noise.

Sobek opened his jaws, snapped them shut. “I believe you need to explain. Before we become impatient and just tear you apart.”