~Leather-Winged Oddity~
XXIV - From The Inside Out
What are human beings? Or, more simply, what are people in general?
I’m not looking for the typical answer you or I would respond with when presented with this seemingly simple question. What I mean to ask is, what are people really?
See, here is the thing: we, as people, “label” other people obvious things for obvious reasons: “liar” for those who deny people the truth, “bitch” for those who are insolent and demanding, “annoying” for those being clingy and downright obnoxious, “gay”, which instead of actually meaning to describe a homosexual person, is now being slung back and forth by immature, prepubescent teenagers, thinking that the word means “stupid” or “wrong”, instead of its actual meaning. So on and so forth.
You know: it’s how humanity bastardises the good things in life; why nothing can be sacred for long, or at all, for that matter.
But my philosophy that I’ve usually stuck with is that there are four kinds of people; four of these “labels”, per se. There are the followers, the leaders, the arbiters, and the rampants. The followers are the moving force of mankind; they are as essential to us as air and water. Then there are the leaders, who spearhead this force of mankind, focusing it on a goal, which the followers will reach like a honeybee to pollen. Then there are the arbiters, the free-thinking individuals that evolve and innovate the power of the whole; some followers and leaders usually disagree with the arbiters’ opinions, yet most still respect them and listen to them. Lastly, there are the rampants, those who indulge endlessly in their selfish needs, their pity and sorrow, and accept no help from their fellow men. They only exist to destroy themselves and those around them. The earlier three frown upon the tyrannical rampants, and wish to rid them from existence before vice versa occurs.
The rampants aren't powerless, however. Many have taken the forms of the leaders. They attempt to control everything for their own selfish needs by taking over the mind. Whether we realise it or not depends on the individual. One can only hope that the followers stop the false leaders, those that usurp the throne and desecrate the sacred power of it, and initiate leaders that use their power for good.
So, for those of you still bothering with what I’m saying, take heed this piece of advice: praise the followers, for they give us body; praise the leaders, for they give us mind; praise the arbiters, for they give us purpose; but be damned the rampants, for they are the self-sustaining darkness that destroys us.
Staring up at Apep and his horrifying physique and appearance, sticking to my so-called philosophy becomes harder and harder to achieve as if I were catching smoke with my bare hands, my brain manufacturing labels I more often than not abandon: labels such as “huge”, “terrifying”, “fearsome” ... “morbidly obese”, even; and, as I start risking quick glances out of my peripheral vision towards the others, I can see that their thoughts on this mammoth monster also go along the same lines as mine.
“I sHaLl AsK aGaIn... WhO dArEs To TrEsPaSs HeRe AnD dIsRuPt My SlUmBeR?!” Apep’s voice increases in decibels and lowers in pitch, the gravelly and horrific voice almost rupturing everyone’s eardrums. All of us cringe at the sheer volume and depth of his voice.
“If we tell you, will you please stop shouting?” Osiris digs a talon into his ear. Apep, in a blinding fit of rage, howls again, the force of his bellow almost blowing us off our feet, hooves, paws, claws, or in Mat’s case, roots.
“InSoLeNt CrEaTuRe! YoU sHaLl PaY DeArLy FoR yOuR dIsReSpEcT!” The giant reptile raises a giant clawed fist skyward, then proceeds to bring it down upon Osiris’s head.
“Osiris!” Mercutio hollers, sprinting to the griffin and tackling him out of the way of the attacking fist, which slams ferociously into the ground, leaving a relatively deep and wide crater only moments where the griffin had been only seconds before. “You OK?” He asks of him.
“I’m fine!” Osiris says, pushing the large charcoal Diamond Dog off of him. “Damn it, what do we do?!”
“I’m too young to die!” Fleur de Lis cries.
“I’m not, but I still don’t want to!” Fancypants says, gulping nervously.
“Relax, we’re not going to die!” Mat reassures the group, putting his hands up to add charisma to his words. “Trust me!”
“Mat’s right, guys,” I say, licking my chapped lips with worry. Fear is bubbling inside me like a vicious volcano. There’s no way we’d be able to take this guy, even with all of us giving our all. It’d just be suicide, since Apep was, as we know, is the sun-eating snake. Ra’s great enemy, if I recall. Compared to us, we’re just like little ants he could simply decimate without even batting an eyelash. “Just relax. We’re not gonna die.”
“Oh sure, let’s take your word for it, freak!” Osiris shouts, pupils contracted to pinpoints out of anger and anxiety.
“Freak? Says th’ filthy love child o’ Woody Woodpecker an’ Garfield.” Osiris, not having the foggiest by what I meant by that, charges at me nonetheless, understanding that I still insulted him. However, Mercutio holds him back. Mat is the only one who laughs, but he stops when Apep starts growling like a feral Doberman. The growl alone reluctantly brings my attention back to Apep. “Ah, right. I have a solution.”
“We really could use one right now,” Kaileena demands hurriedly.
With a nervous smile, I lick my lips again and take a deep breath. “RUUUUN!”
Yes, it seems cowardly to run away from a fight, but even I know when to back out of one that I can’t win. Besides, just because I’m stupid doesn’t mean I’m crazy.
Without warning, I start flying in the opposite direction, trying to get as much distance between me and Apep as possible. Looking behind me, I see Mat and my entourage trailing right behind me, a few of my friends wailing at the top of their lungs... with me being among them. “What are you doing?!” Kaileena shrieks.
“Runnin’ fer dear life!” Apep roars again and chases us down. I don’t dare look back, especially since doing so would skew my flight path due to my oddly-attached wings. But judging on how the noise was getting louder, I’d say he was catching up.
Oh God, I hear him running. I bet it looks hilarious!
Brain, now is not the time!
“Guys, we need ta find a way ta get ‘im off our asses!” I yell to the group. Apep does this... awkward, fat-kid version of a leap, and pounds his fist into the ground again, launching a vast squad of enormous boulders towards us. We split up in two directions to avoid the stony rain above us, the boulders plowing into the ground and shaking the earth viciously as we swerve and weave left and right to evade the stony harbingers of death.
“We need another plan!” Mat shouts as we regroup behind Apep, who swipes his large hands at the dust and debris to clear it, just to see if his attack ensured that we died. The Ent’s statement, however, makes the sun-devouring snake whip around and charge at us. He opens his serpentine maw wide and lurches forward, spewing forth a column of fire at us as if Dragonfyre resides in his lungs. We barely manage to escape the crimson and gold blaze that trails behind us, each one of us hiding behind the large boulders from earlier as the flames smash into the boulder. The temperature drastically increases, the heat causing me to sweat and the scythe in my hands to reach the heat levels of a bed of hot coals.
“Mat, think you can toss these boulders at him?” Kaileena shouts to the Ent, who was hiding behind a huge stack of rocks, once the flames from Apep die down and diminish.
“Of course!” Without a moment’s notice, Mat grasps the huge dark stones surrounding him with his wide hands, and heaves them up above his head before chucking them at Apep with vigour. “Have at ye, infernal lizard!”
“GRAAAAGH!” How lovely, he’s madder than all Hell.
I notice that with each big rock that strikes the monolithic serpent, Apep starts becoming just a bit more sluggish than prior each toss. Nut, can you explain why this is? I ask the sky deity that resides in my head.
'Sure. You see, Apep had just awoken from his everlasting slumber. Just awoken. He’s still groggy and weak due to his waking up early.'
So you’re telling me that if we fought Apep when he was already up and about, we wouldn’t even stand a chance?
'Yep. You’d have been nothing but ash and crushed bones within moments.'
...Oh joy. That’s rather comforting to hear. Thus, I tune out all that Nut had to say. I understand that she’d most likely chew me out for ignoring her, but right now, I care more about my life and the lives of my companions than anything else.
“Keep at it, Mat!” I grab Ellipsis as I rush forth and slash violently at Apep. The huge pieces of armour-like scales barely part for the ultimately-sharp scythe as the blade grafts small, but deep gashes into the monster’s hide. Apep lets out a wail of gorey rage as gold blood - ichor, I believe - gushes out from the wounds in thin streams.
“Show him what for, old bean!” Fancypants hollers at me. I go to remove my blade from the flesh, but am met with a complication.
Ellipsis is stuck.
Despite my best attempts, Ellipsis simply refused to move from its location on Apep's scaly carapace. "Shit!" Apep whirls his other head, or tail, at me, which proceeds to slam me in the chest with a fist, expelling the wind from my lungs and knocking me into the air, Ellipsis slipping out of my grasp. I try flapping my wings and regaining my breath, yet Apep plucks me out of the sky like God would an airplane before I even get the chance to regain my balance.
“RUN!” I screech, my lungs still void of the precious nectar of air.
“ArRoGaNt ImP!” Without warning, Apep brings me closer to his open mouth. “YoU wIlL pAy!” The last thing I hear is the forked tongue of the sun-eater and the screams of my friend. Before I know it...
I’m sliding down the guy’s throat, whole.
“Oh, shit!” Mat watches with a slack jaw at the sight of Damien being swallowed whole.
“DAMIEN!” Kaileena screams. Fleur De Lis, still up in the hammock of the Ent’s foliage, screams loudly and clambers down as quick as she could, fearing the snake would eat her and Mat in one bite. Fancypants rushes to the Bast’s aid as her legs take the solidity of gelatin and crumple beneath her. She places her face in her palms, not wishing to accept the reality of the event as the two alabaster ponies drag Kaileena behind a boulder and away from the fight.
Mat picks up another boulder in a fit of anger and launches it at Apep’s head, the large rock breaking into pieces on contact with the monster’s head. “Release him, fiend!” Apep snarls at Mat in a fit of rage. Mat lets out a low growl in retaliation as well as he heaves another boulder above his head.
“Do YoU wIsH tO DiE aS wElL, fOoL?!” An arrow composed of magic enters through Apep’s right eye and exits through the left, impairing both the windows to his malevolent and vile soul. He screams violently, looking around blindly for who would dare to assault him.
An airborne and scowling Osiris pulls back on the bowstring of his magical weapon, and another magical arrow coalesces and notches on the string. “Let him go!” He yells.
Mercutio below hefts his massive maul, the large warhammer just itching to pummel flesh. The Diamond Dog, maul high in the air, blasts forward, hammering the maul into the wounds that Damien had earlier inflicted, yet the scales toughness refuses to yield against the maul's might.
Apep’s commences to fight back as the onslaught continues. “PaThEtIc WhElPs!” Apep roars over the din of combat. “YoUr EfFoRtS aRe FuTiLe!” As much as they try, with Mat now bringing out a sword of his own into play due to the lack of rocks to chuck, they had to realise that Apep served a point. Despite the damage they’re dealing him, it is no use against the thick, hard, dragonlike scales of his. In order to deal more damage, they’d require either sharper weapons, or to attack from the inside.
And speaking of the inside....
Urgh... The inside of Apep is so much worse than the outside. It’s absolutely horrendous in here. The smell, the fleshy walls of his belly: I praise the Lord above that I wasn’t made to have claustrophobia. I was too large to fit into this place in my regular form, so I’m forced to shapeshift into my smaller blob form. The white puff of smoke and the weird alteration to my anatomy makes my transfiguration evident.
“Alright... Now I just have ta find a way out o’ here,” I muse in my high-pitched Irish brogue of a voice, using my vision to glance around me. The acidic liquid below me is mixed in with the glowing lava of a volcano, bubbling and letting off a putrid, blazing stink. Looking around, I see only two different-sized exits, which I’m sure lead to the heads. The jolting movements from Mat attacking Apep keeps rumbling into the bowels of the monster’s belly, disturbing the acid and lava amalgamation below me. The manifestation of the fiery corrosive drink below me blasts tsunami after unbearable tsunami of nausea into my small body, making me sick to my own stomach.
It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that I have to get out. Now.
Zooming around, I take the wider of the two fleshy caves, working my way up through the esophagus of Apep’s larger head. I want to get out, but at the same time, this could be my chance. My scythe barely managed to get through the beast’s scales. If none of the others could attack it from the outside, I’ll have to finish him from the inside.
First, I have to locate the heart of this infernal thing.
I look around carefully, the diluted magma below letting off just enough light to give me vision. Scanning the walls of the gullet for a clue of where the heart is, I spot a redundant throbbing to my left. I grin maliciously as I take a breath and transfigure into my humanoid figure again. With my talons, I gash the pumping wall over and over again, more golden blood pouring into his throat.
“ROOOOOOOAOOAOAOAAOAOR!” The bellow of pain belting from Apep almost blows me out of his mouth, with my hanging onto the lip of the new gaping laceration I have created. Not yet, you fucker! I mentally berate.
I wriggle through the wound, and there it lays. The large, golden-red muscle, beating a bit more rapidly than before, pumping more ichor throughout the body. The space between the large rib cage and the heart, however, is very small and cramped: trying to recall Ellipsis will be next to impossible.
I need another method of taking this thing out....
I look around for something I could use to end the infernal muscle of this damn snake. I see my left hand, the way the gem glows like a lantern. I use my other hand to feel around for a button, a switch, anything that will help me. Something else happens, however, when I run a finger over the gem on my hand. I hear a clicking sound, such as what a simple dial would emit when turned. I look deeper into the gem’s light. A lightning bolt, resting atop a clenched fist, showed up in the light. I prod it with a finger, and the gem seems to... sink into the back of my hand a bit, like I had just hit a button.
Why the hell does this process remind me of the Omnitrix from Ben 10? Odd...
*ZZZZZZT*
My metal hand starts crackling and surging with... energy? Indeed so. Dancing and sparking around my mithril arm is pure, blue electrical energy, the sight sending my hairs on end and polluting my body with goosebumps. Oscillating my glance between the electricity gushing around my hand and the still-pounding heart of Apep, the rusty gears in my rather unhinged mind begin turning: A heart technically works via electric currents, which is why defibrillators are used to correct the irregular or nonexistent heartbeats of a recently deceased patient, right? Vice versa works as well: a strong enough electric current can interrupt the heart’s typical beating pattern and stop it altogether.
“Here goes nothing,” I grit my teeth and plunge my fist dead-centre into Apep’s heart, sinking all the way to my elbow. On contact, the electricity from my arm blasts into the heart, making the muscle bounce and throb rapidly. Lightning energy blazes through Apep’s body, causing the sun-devouring serpent to shriek in pure anguish, his body lurching and twisting horrifically.
The writhing of agony dies down as the heart stops beating and Apep’s body, now flaccid and cold, flops onto the ground. The body explodes and disperses a huge miasmic shockwave of yellow dust, such as how the monsters from the Percy Jackson books would erupt when slain. Sitting in the middle of the sulfur-scented powder, covered in dust and ichor, is-
“DAMIEN!!!” Kaileena leaps out from behind a boulder and sprints full-force at me, hazel eyes brighter than floodlights. With a huge bound, she tackles me into the volcanic earth, hugging me as if I'm about to cease existing in the next few seconds. “THANK GODS YOU’RE ALIVE! YOU-” She halts in the middle of her sentence, her nose sniffing me. Detaching herself from me, she pulls a face of disgust and gags out a “blegh” in response to my stench. “You really stink.”
“No kiddin’,” I sigh. I’m pretty sure I’ll be cleaning out this cantankerous odor from my nostrils for the next week.
“It’s wondrous to see you alive and well, Damien!” Fancypants declares, Fleur nodding her agreement to the statement. The duo of unicorns are clenching their nostrils with their hooves.
“Thought you die in there!” Mercutio says, hugging me, despite my horrid smell, and giving my face a lick like a regular dog would his owner or companion, only for him to spit vehemently onto the floor, pawing his tongue of the nasty powder-ichor mixture. “BLEGH! Terrible taste!” he mumbles as he continues to cleanse his maw of the tainted blood.
"No duh: snake-god blood an' dust that smells like rotten eggs an' dirty diapers're not a good fusion."
“Well, regardless, it’s nice to see you alive, Damien,” Osiris nods in my direction.
Matsimela launches a smile my way, as he was also covered head to root in the dust. With a massive and almighty shake and twist, the dust unsettling from his timber body and falling onto the floor as he sheathed a large sword back into his knuckles as if he was Wolverine with his adamantium claws. Where he got the sword and how he manages to fit it in his huge stump of an arm is a miracle in and of itself. “Glad to see you’re safe and sound!” he says, a grin of acknowledgement spreading across his face.
“Thanks, everyone.” I stand to my talons, weak-kneed from having to exert so much magical power into that finishing blow. The gem on my hand, no longer billowing with energy and now dimmer than before, makes that much evident.
DoN’t ThInK tHiS iS oVeR yEt, ImP. I’lL bE bAcK.... Apep’s voice blares in my head loudly, not unlike the sirens of a fire engine. Shivers bombard my spine, my eye twitching slightly as I cringe uncomfortably at the thought of that menace still being alive. Will he pull a dick move like what the bosses do in Resident Evil, where the boss fakes his death only to return in a different and more powerful form?
“Damien, are you okay?” Kaileena puts her paw on my shoulder, eyes flooding with concern. Her orbs of sight were tainted with red cracks and puffy lids: she had been crying. Hard. "You went all twitchy there for a moment."
“Yeah...” I place my hand on her paw and nod. “I need ta wash up. Badly.”
“I think I saw a hot spring a few kilometres away from here, next to that volcano.” Osiris suggests, pointing to the aforementioned spot. The others nod in almost synchronised unison, since they, too, are all caked with the sulfur-scented dust of Apep.
“Brilliant. Let’s go.”