"Blaaaaaargh!!!"
That was me barfing the food I was fooled to eat. No, I did not reach down my throat to force the food out of animosity for this cunning village; I was retching because of what was waiting for us outside of the chief's house.
There stood a woman with her chest wrecked open as if something had crawled from the inside. The head was missing and so were her organs. Blood and gore had splattered everywhere on the floor. Recognizing the tattoos, my blood ran cold. All the tiny hairs on my arms and neck rose from the shiver that coursed down my spine.
She was the one who cooked my meals. I thought she was one of them.
"That's Matka... She's Matka!" My crooked finger kept shakily pointing at the beheaded figure.
Those things left her in such an undignified appearance after devouring the most nutritious parts of her. Smoy cleared its throat. It pointed above me. My knees wobbled. I scrambled back and in between Aki and Smoyashi. My eyes had nearly popped out from their sockets.
The head that was missing was on the branch, unmoving. The lungs, the liver, the heart and the intestines were all there attached to the head. Her teeth were fangs and her eyes were open yet unblinking.
A part of the intestine slipped a bit from the branch, giving a way for the meters long organ to loosely fall like pasta noodles. The head and the rest of her followed, smacking on the ground with a wet sound. As if by coincidence, the head rolled to face us, her eyes glimmering red.
"Shit shit shit shit!"
I hurriedly grabbed Aki by his fur, the tongue was long forgotten. I struggled to get on his back. After so many failed attempts to raise my leg over his back and with Smoyashi pushing my ass up while holding Burger-meal's tongue and its bindle, I managed to get on and haul the sprout with me.
"What the fuck is that? What the hell did that to her?"
I couldn't keep track of the words coming out of my mouth. Each word came out in screams, pressured with panic. Aki flew off. Smoyashi faced me to instruct me to breathe properly.
"Smoy smoy smoy."
"Calm down?! How do you expect me to calm down after seeing someone's organs hanging by a tree like they're Christmas garlands?!"
"Smoy smoy smoy."
The sprout inhaled and being tired and defeated by everything, I followed its wishes. It took me three breaths before I calmed down. Smoyashi was pleased and relieved.
For a few seconds...
I screamed at the tongue it was holding because I forgot to do so earlier.
"GET THAT THING AWAY FROM ME!"
A slap that was cushioned by the sprout's fur snapped my head to the left. It was more like a punch than a slap. I should be grateful that its hand had fur or that would have hurt a little more.
"Smoyfu!" It reprimanded.
It handed me the tongue so that it could focus on holding its bindle. I zoned out, feeling the lingering disgust for myself, for the village and the villagers, and this world.
We stayed suspended in the skies for a long time. They let me settle my nerves before messing with me again. From the distance, the bear stood from the nest of trees. He gave off a dead and blank stare at the horizon. Flies wheeled repeatedly around him, handing an illusion of a forming hurricane. He seemed to be drawn to the sunset. At that moment I felt sorry for him. He was glazed by the warm orange sunlight as he stood still, showing briefly how he was once a gentle giant.
"The tongue I'm holding belongs to him, right?"
"Smoy smoy."
"And there's no other way to return it other than sky diving into his mouth?"
"Smoy smoy.'
"Why do you guys keep trying to get me killed?
The sprout acknowledged my fear, patting my hair as if I was whining about an aching tooth. It placed its hand on its chest and said "smoy". I deciphered it as 'I'll do it, don't be afraid now.'
As much as I didn't want to do it, I didn't want them to die in my stead too.
"Do you want to help the bear?"
Smoyashi beamed at me. It made circular motions with its arms, portraying that it wasn't just the bear it was aiming to rescue but the entire world. I was getting good at understanding it.
"Smoy."
We glanced at Bergelmir who had taken notice of our arrival. He let a low rumble vibrate within the walls of his throat, swinging his rotting arm recklessly, trying to hit us. The breeze carried his decaying and repulsive scent to my senses. It was so pungent that I had to pinch my nose and cease my breathing.
Aki skillfully evaded the strikes and gave the air smooth strokes of his soar. I held tightly on the tongue, making sure that it did not fall off. My hands and feet were tingling and cold from my rattled nerves.
Elastic water coming from Aki's mouth gave Bergelmir's face resounding whacks. The feline gunned his face with a series of water balls that melted his fur and skin, exposing the underlying muscle.
The flies came together and swarmed us. Their buzzing sounds came along the piercing sensations from the toothed suction of their mouths.
We flew erratically. Aki was equally plagued by the assault. A water globule took shape, trapping all of us inside and immersing the insects with us. I held my breath and prodded Smoyashi with my finger. It held its hand up, telling me to be patient. Just as the globule was blackened by the flies that penetrated, it exploded and left the insects unable to fly because of soaked wings.
"A little warning next time?!" I admonished them through pants.
I started to believe that they communicate telepathically and I was the third wheel. Smoyashi took the beehive from its bindle, letting its other belongings fall to the forest. It patted Aki's neck, giving him a rub before glancing at me with a smile.
"Smoyashi?"
"Smoy smoy!" It chirped.
It grabbed the tongue from my embrace, jumping from the feline's back and straight into Bergelmir's waiting mouth.
"You crazy vegetable!"
Burger-meal shut his mouth like a venus flytrap, crushing Smoyashi with a few chews.
Even Aki couldn't react fast enough. Our cat was aggravated by Smoyashi's leap of faith. The bear swung his hand and backhanded us. We were sent flying to the other side of the forest unconscious and lacking one sprout.
That small stir fry had all the guts in the world... Unfortunately, the tongue slipped out from its hold before the sprout was munched like celery.
It was a sacrifice in vain.
'Ori, wake up. Come on, mom is going to kill us both.'
'We have a mom?'
He snorted. All I could see was white yet my eyes seemed to be shut. I tried to pry my eyelids open but they felt glued together.
'We do and she'll hit you with a spatula if she finds you in your pajamas in the next five minutes.'
The sweet and homey scent of pancakes swirled in front of me. Warm tears moistened my cheeks . As soon as I was able to open my eyes, the child beside me faded, the room becoming pitch black.
'Why did you do it, Ori?'
'Do what?'
He started crying. He racked with sobs as his voice thickened from grieving.
'Why did you leave me alone with her? I thought we'd protect mom while dad is missing? Why...why did you have to leave too?'
I raised my arm to find him but all I could touch was cold air.
'I didn't want to leave. I didn't want any of this to happen!'
'It's too late. You're gone, Ori. No one can save you now. Not even me…"
I stood and ran, not knowing where I was heading or if I would hit something.
'Wait, I want to go home! Take me with you!'
His cries grew distant. My chin trembled as our grievances echoed in this empty space. I plopped to my knees, the rope around my neck felt tight and suffocating.
'Wh–what…' I coughed. 'I can't breathe…'
My hands fumbled with the rope. My entire body was hoisted up by an abrupt pull on the cord. I was hanging in mid-air. I flailed my legs, my hands trying to remove the loop around my neck.
'Ori? Ori! Mom, mom help!'
My eyes snapped open. More tears rolled on my cheeks. Aki glanced at me with worry. He placed his paw on my chest, trying to soothe my sharp gasps.
Who am I?
How do I get back home?
"Meow?" The feline queried when I sat up, my breath calming down.
"Yeah...I'm okay now."
"Meow."
He put out his paw and I bumped it with my own fist without thinking. It felt natural to do that and he didn't object.
"Do you think...Smoyashi is alive?"
Aki, upon hearing its name, was quick to respond with a loud and enthusiastic: "Meow!"
And I was quick to interpret that as: "Of course it is, it's Smoy!"
I slipped on his back. There was no time to waste. If Smoyashi was alive, it would be expecting us to help it.
"Let's find Berg's tongue first."
That tongue should be put back to its rightful place with packaging tape and cement. Aki scampered through the woodland. I held on to him tightly, raising my butt a bit because my balls were getting beaten up and I couldn't afford them to be cracked.
Berg's legs became visible. He was on his hinds, minding his undead business. The tongue was hanging by a tree branch with crows having multiple eyes on their body pecking on it. Aki sprung, causing the birds to flutter, and giving me the opportunity to seize the muscle. There were still flies around Berg, their number was denser this time.
It was getting progressively darker. The orange skies had turned darkish pink to purple. As we landed, the banshee from before was eerily peeking from behind a tree.
I didn't feel fear.
Okay, I was a little scared but not much like before.
"We're going to save our friend!"
I had no idea why I had to announce that. Was I expecting a: "You go boy, kick his hairy ass!" From her?
We had no concrete plan because plans wouldn't go as planned anyway with this big guy. The bear's clouded eyes caught a glimpse of us. Flies sensed our approach in their buzzing radar. They spiraled around the corpse to make a U-turn heading to our direction.
"Trap them in water!"
Aki shot them with as many water bullets as he could while dodging the bear. Two leaf sprouts that grew on the biggest pad of his paw hooked my focus.
"Is that...Smoyashi?"
I reached forward, attempting to grab the sprout, but my fingertips merely grazed it.
"Aki, let's get closer to the palm!"
The remaining flies chased us around Berg. The bear was turning about, trying to keep an eye on us. Aki dodged the left arm but the right paw came from above.
"You take care of the flies!" I yelled and used his back to jump. The feline successfully evaded. thinking that I was stricken, he looked back in horror.
"I'm okay!" I wheezed. I was hanging by a sprout. It should be thread but the sprout leaves were the only things keeping me alive.
"Smoyie..."
Smoyashi's head popped out. It was teary eyed because my weight was pulling on its not so fragile leaves.
"Boy, I'm so glad you're—woaaah!"
Berg swung his arm to hit Aki who was aiming to rescue us. Smoyashi whined by the stretch I was causing on its scalp.
"Come on, can't you wriggle out, Smoy?"
The forest guardian became even more violent and hostile. I released my hold on Smoyashi, rolling away before getting flattened like a pancake.
"Just get your damn tongue!" I screeched.
Berg snarled savagely in response. He raised his paw to crush me from where I was lying down. I closed my eyes in anticipation for a bitter and bloody end. A banshee's scream erupted to probably signal my death.
Thanks lady. As if I wouldn't get that I'd become fertilizer this early.
I was dragged away by my neck, earning a forced "urk!" From the sudden tightness of the cord. The banshee lady was scowling at the corpse.
"Are you...helping us?"
Aki jumped over me, biting on a metal pipe to which he dropped in front of my feet.
"Where did you get this?"
Flies came charging in and corrupted sprites emerged from the shadows. Aki released another bubble of water and trapped the two of us inside, causing the flies to drown and melt. When the bubble popped, I grabbed the pipe and hit the sprites coming close.
I was swinging wildly. I did accidentally hit Aki to which he angrily snarled at me, yet I continued nonetheless. The feline was preoccupied with Bergelmir who looked like he was playing hit-the-mole with the cat.
"I'm not afraid to break your toothpick legs in half!"
I swung around, aiming for the monstrous women that backed away either because my screaming was turning them off from eating us or because I swung so hard that I managed to snap some of their spider legs.
"I'm kicking their ass Aki! I'm--"
A leg went through my shoulder, blood coating its hairy limbs. A scream left my throat. Instead of cowering like before, I pulled myself off the leg, screaming and bashing the sprite's head until I caused a deep hole in her skull. Spiders crawled out of the crater.
The banshee was behind me, shadowing my every move. More spider legs stabbed through my flesh. The obscurity inside of me augmented, numbness took over, a smile conquered my lips.
More.
More.
I would ruin everything that would hurt me.
A leg jabbed through my stomach, behind my knee, my back and my stomach. I was kept in place; my flesh was pinned from different parts. I tried to struggle—recklessly pushing forward to get one leg off only to have one leg in front of me pierce deeper into my stomach. They closed in. The monstrous women suddenly became young boys, probably the same as my age. Their eyes glowed red. They were chattering amongst each other yet were mockingly staring at me with judgment.
'Are you even sure that you and Akihiro have the same dad?'
'Maybe that's why your dad left, your mom is a whore.'
'I saw your mom in the club the other day, my brother said she was good.'
'Haha! Son of a bitch.'
I covered my ears. The pipe fell on the ground. Instead of whimpering like a wimp because I was so well-known for that, I was laughing through it all.
They stared at me weirdly. I glanced at them joyfully.
"I know! I know what I'll do now! It's all clear to me!"
Loops of ropes hooked each of them by their necks. There was one in front of me that merely hung and meant no harm. The boys panicked and wailed. They tried to remove the ropes from their necks but it was futile.
I grasped a lone rope before me.
'Let go of us!!!'
'You can't do this!'
'I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Mommyyyy!'
"You all deserve it," I chuckled.
"No Ori!"
I pulled the rope down. As if they were connected in a pulley system; they were yanked up, breaking their necks with a resounding snap that finally brought a wave of peace to me.
They deserved it, not me. They deserve to be hanged.