Tall Tale TV SciFi and Fantasy Short Story Audiobooks
Of Monsters and Mushrooms by Lesley Herron
Chapter 21 - Lentinula
"Who am I?"
Alpha asked the question aloud, almost as if he was expecting a response.
He turned on his heel, gazing at the flickering remains of foliage around him.
"I am the darkness that envelopes the night.
I am the conqueror of thousands of civilizations and the devourer of worlds.
I am the first of my kind and the end of yours.
I am Alpha."
He kicked over one of the many charred muskets at his feet, scoffing at it with a slight
shake of his head.
"Until recently I was but a humble god.
Outcast by my creators to an unseemly rock of a world."
The sneer in his words made his hatred almost palpable.
"A weapon cast upon an unsuspecting land to test my destructive force.
I quickly spread across it, spawning my children and consuming life.
Well, only those -worthy- of assimilation.
I grew from a mindless abomination into what you see before you."
He waved a hand down the length of his torso, the black ooze on his face pulling into a
wicked grin.
"A fully sentient and superior being."
"I do not know if my makers suspected my full potential or not.
I like to think I exceeded their expectations, even frightened them with my veracity.
For they never came to retrieve me; never came to welcome me home.
And when a portal rent the fabric of reality in my kingdom, I crossed its threshold with
hopes of praise, only to find a weak minded race beyond.
Obviously not -my- creators, as they were barely more than clever hairless monkeys.
"And so I returned, waiting for the homecoming I knew I was deserved.
As the centuries ticked away, bitterness gnawed at my soul.
It grew into resentment at my careless dismissal.
Though I was patient, I knew in my heart I had been abandoned."
"I decided that my children, a race born from my own flesh, were far more deserving
of my affecting than any of those absent progenitors.
My offspring was present, tangible, and in need of my guidance.
"They were starving.
We had sapped the last of the resources our pathetic and barren world had to offer.
Without new stocks of life we would surely wither and die.
I decided it was time to leave.
Together we would strike out into this new realm, find other gates, should they exist,
and spread across the multiverse.
And I would pity my makers should we ever find them.
"I sent many of my children through the gate, an advance party if you will.
They were tasked to bring back beings of exceptional genetic stock, fortifying our forces in preparation.
My progeny began to grow both in strength and intellect.
"But we had learned our lesson.
This time, I would not sap the world dry of life.
As soon as our forces were ready, we would descend upon the new world and consume only
what was sustainable.
Enough to quench our thirst; enough to crush the spirit of those who would rise up against
us.
But never so much as to drain the well -completely- dry.
"You may be asking yourselves, 'What has this got to do with us?'"
Alpha's form seemed to bubble with rage as he paced, the edges of his body rippling in
anger.
"Good story telling is an art, and it takes time."
He took a slow steadying breath, willing himself to be calm, before beginning again.
"All was going according to plan.
We were nearly ready to make our move.
And then -they- appeared.
I recall that when I awoke that day it felt as though there was a ticking in my brain.
A rhythmic hum, like a tune that refuses to end and one that slowly eats away at your
sanity.
As it pounded against my mind, I concluded that it was emanating from something outside
my being.
"Quickly I realized that whatever it was, it was altering the gate.
At first, I thought perhaps my creators had returned at long last.
I was conflicted about this, unsure of how to react.
Kill them?
Torture then kill?
Just torture?
Or perhaps imprisonment for several eons.
But the point became moot, as I realized it was only another hairless monkey.
A rather...exceptional hairless monkey.
"He and his kin were more evolved than the others I had met, a race apart.
Travelers of the realms, I assume.
I am loathed to admit it, but this creature had done what I could not.
He had deciphered the underlying matrix of reality, crafting a device that could not
only stabilize the anomaly of the gate, but alter it.
I understood what he had done, and my eyes had finally been opened.
I could traverse the realms, find my creators, and at long last return the favor for their
callous disregard.
Alpha bent down and plucked something up from the ash, examining it carefully.
"Unfortunately, the machination of my freedom also posed a potential for imprisonment.
The anomaly could, in theory, be collapsed, effectively cutting my race off from any chance
of food and survival.
The hairless monkey realized this as well.
What was I to do?
I'm sure you would agree that a -single life- is not worth the lives of an -entire- race.
I decided to consume his mind and those of his companions.
"Admittedly, I may have miscalculated in my estimation of their prowess.
Despite the odds, they managed to retrieve that lovely device from me, and escaped through
the portal.
It was...infuriating, to say the least.
"I dispatched a battalion of my children to retrieve them, some of my -very- best.
They entered the portal, and I awaited their return.
And I waited.
And waited.
Eventually I decided to give chase myself and stepped through the swirling vortex.
"Once through the gate, it became apparent why none of them had returned.
I found myself hurtling towards the ground like a meteor.
The portal had emerged hundreds of feet above a forest canopy.
My hope was that the massive foliage would slow my decent.
I may not look it, but souls are a heavy thing, and my form is quite dense.
I ripped through the flora like a brick through tissue.
Alpha paused, taking a deep breath.
"When I regained consciousness, I discovered the fate of my offspring.
They were not as robust as myself, and had, regrettably, exploded upon impact.
It was a grizzly scene.
Black goo spattered across the forest like paint flung against a canvas.
My heart ached for them.
"I searched the area, not daring to hope for survivors.
At the very least, I was comforted by the thought that at least the hairless monkeys
would have met the same, sticky end.
But there it was again.
That nagging in my brain had returned, and in a fit of anger I realized they had once
again slipped through my grasp.
"For days, the hum in my brain drove me to madness.
But I endured, using it like a compass, pointing me directly to my quarry.
The more I focused on it, the more attuned I became.
I would have traveled more quickly, but I must admit, the jungle was not short of animals
willing to chance a bite.
Or plants for that matter!
How could a band of imbeciles not only survive, but make better time than myself?
The more I pondered on this, the angrier I became.
"But as I closed in on their location, I finally discovered my answer.
The cowards had gained assistance from primitive locals.
The cowards!"
Alpha slammed a balled fist against the surface of a large boulder, sending a fissure ripping
down through the stone.
"The tribe had escorted them to yet -another- gateway.
And despite my greatest efforts, they managed to step through the other side and alter the
gate behind them.
"My fury was boundless and I swore that my wrath would be biblical!
But, they were gone.
The portal was no longer leading to where they had been moments before.
Were I to step through, I wouldn't even be in the same universe as them.
I willed my mind to be calm.
"To my surprise, there it was.
The gentle hum, the mental ticking that pointed the way.
Ever so faint, but still present.
With great effort, I found I could track them through the multiverse.
"I am not...what you would normally consider as vain, but I must say that only one as impressively
intelligent as myself could have achieved what I did.
I created entirely new fields of mathematics.
I formed revolutionary quantum theories!
I reworked the basis for the understand of -reality- itself!
And in the end, I found them!
I nudged the portal with my mind, and I was on their trail once again.
"Upon stepping through the swirling vortex, I entered a whirlwind of steel beaked birds,
and -no- hairless monkeys.
I had never given birds much thought before then.
But after five minutes in that realm, I don't think I've ever hated anything more.
They were loud, obnoxious, and messy.
Covered in a layer of thick white goo, I altered the portal to once more mimic their trail.
"Again, I found myself flying the air.
Shot over the edge of a cliff, I landed in a soft pile of fluffy ice.
I had never seen such a thing!
My home world contained barely a drop of water, but here was a land covered in a solid form
of water crystals.
It was...delightful.
Alpha's face pulled into a genuine smile as he recalled the memory.
"I reveled in the feeling of the flakes landing on my body, the joy of causing it
to billow up before me as I moved through the mounds of white.
It swirled and danced before my eyes, hypnotic in its wonder.
"And then it dawned on me that sub freezing temperatures do not agree with a being comprised
of metamorphic gel.
My movements became stiff, my mind began to slow.
In short, I was freezing to death.
"I resolved to give up my hunt, to return to the warmth of my home world and lead my
people once more.
No minor threat was worth this.
"The innocent white flakes of ice took on a sinister nature, each one burning my skin
as it fell.
Each step was harder than the last, my very essence forming into unresponsive slush.
But in time, I was able to make it back to the summit, back to the portal.
"To my surprise, the hairless monkeys had left a message to -taunt- me.
The portal was surrounded by sculptures of, well, humanoid -piles- of fornicating ice.
Naturally, the insult wouldn't stand.
And I was spurred on to resume my pursuit.
"As soon as I stepped through the portal, I was swept up into the air by a hurricane,
and tossed out to sea.
Still half frozen, it was all I could do to not drown.
But the warm waters slowly thawed me as I sank beneath the waves.
After fighting off the inhabitants of the deep, I slowly dragged myself back to land.
Had it not been for that nagging in my mind, leading me to the portal, I never would have
found my way back.
But I did, and more determined than ever to end this charade.
"I was then dumped into a rather peculiar, albeit pleasant enough place.
It was a bit dark, and the inhabitants were overly pessimistic, but at least nothing tried
to drown, freeze, or -eat- me.
It gave me a moment of respite and allowed me to clear my mind, gather my wits, and,
of course, dry off.
"Which was wonderfully ironic as my next landing was face first into an orange swamp
that smelled of old feet and beet juice.
Disgusting.
But the alligators were the last straw.
The moment I landed, they attacked.
As though they had congregated at the base of the portal, just waiting for me to emerge.
"I may have lost more than few mouthfuls of flesh, but I made them pay for every taste.
Eventually I sat, perched atop a heap of their lifeless reptilian bodies, considering my
predicament.
I could continue my pursuit or I could turn back and return home.
Given my current track record with the portals, I was beginning to lose heart.
Home it is, I thought, where I could rally my forces and hope to outcast the memories
of this misadventure to the furthest reaches of my mind.
"As I began mentally adjusting the portal for my home world, I noticed a mathematical
quirk to all of the landing points thus far, and a third option occurred to me.
You see, the fool wasn't spinning the dial on his device -randomly-.
He was simply spinning it as far as the dial would allow, and hoping for the best.
I was able to calculate several jumps ahead of them."
Alpha looked down at the charred skull clutched in his giant inky black claw.
Singed hair hung down low over empty eye sockets.
"Oh how very Shakespearean of me."
He gave a smug smirk to the bones, chuckling to himself.
"It was a simple, but delicious, happy accident that the world I chose to stage my ambush
was the same as their birthplace.
Then again, whoever said Fate doesn't have a sense of humor, eh?"
Alpha's grin wavered as he stared into skull's lifeless grin.
He rolled his eyes and tossed it into the pile of bones at his feet, huffing in frustration.
"Perhaps I should have left a few of you alive."
He looked around the endless forms of corpses strewn out around him.
"Monologue-ing to the dead just...just isn't the same."
Of Monsters and Mushrooms, an ongoing series by Lesley Herron, is a crossover fanfiction
mixing her own characters and settings with a few of those created by Author J.D. Wiley.
She writes for the fun of devising new ways of messing with her characters, and seeing
just how much trouble they can get into.
Honestly, how long does it take to traverse a handful of portals?
I mean, it's been days!!
Maybe I should take up a hobby.
Like.
. . collecting bottlecaps
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