You ever go out for a walk at night? Just to get a bit of fresh air and stretch your legs? I do it more often than not, sometimes at the most irrational hours, like 3 o’clock in the morning. Why?
Perspective.
The world looks very different at that time. The lights of the store signs are on the street lamps are lit, but no one is around to take it in. You don’t hear the near constant hum of traffic, or the hustle and bustle of pedestrians. For that small moment in the pitch of night, it’s just you and the emptiness of the universe. It feels like the world is in between heartbeats, and for just a little while, all is quiet.
I was walking down the middle of the street on such a night, it’s quite exhilarating in a strange fashion. Enjoying the quiet, the break from the general droning of a thousand other people, the sweet silence-
hwah HUWAGH WUWAAAAAAAAAAAGH!
So much for silence.
There, in a corner alley, was a woman regurgitating her dinner on the wall of the laundromat.
Now usually I don’t consort with drunks, too unpredictable for my liking, but I felt compelled to at least make sure this woman was alright. There are others out at these hours that tend to prey on the indisposed.
“Miss, are you alright?”
She looked up at me with warm amber eyes, which were complemented by her long auburn hair That flowed over her frame like a blanket of silk. She was certainly striking to say the least.
Though I must admit I felt a little bit of panic when I saw her eyes start to water over, crying spells with drunks rarely end well.
She charged forward with agility not normally associated with the inebriated and slammed into my stomach, wrapping me in a tight hug with head buried in my chest. I felt my chest begin to moisten as her shoulders jerked with staggering sobs.
Oh, dear.
“Ah’m soo StuPid.” The mystery drunk sobbed.
I patted the poor girl on her back, and do what everyone does in these situations, pander. “There, there, you’re not stupid, what’s wrong?”
“I messed up, bad, real bad. I was supposed to send my player a...” She paused, “What’s today?”
“September 10th.”
She turned her head so she was no longer muffled by my sweatshirt.
“How long ago was july?”
“About three months.”
She looked up at me with those bright amber eyes and suddenly pushed on me so she could return to a proper standing position. Unfortunately for me, I was not prepared for this little maneuver, so after some undignified arm flailing later, and my ass was firmly planted on the ground.
“Ow, what the hell!?”
This chick wasn’t listening anymore, she was frantically pacing back and forth.
“Damn, damn, damn, damn, damn!” she cursed, while occasionally pausing to chew her thumbnail.
“Say damn again, maybe it will help.” I muttered from my position on the sidewalk.
I don’t know if she heard what I said or just remembered I was here, but she rounded on me and grabbed me by the knees and leaned in close. To say her ample bosom was more than ample, especially from that angle, would be a criminal understatement. Naturally this proved distracting at what would turn out to be a rather critical time.
“Don’t you get it?! I was supposed to send my piece three months ago.” She looked like she was about to cry again, “Everyone’s going have head start, and I don’t even have anyone to be my...”
She stopped and I swear, I could see the wheels turning in her head. The twinge of fear I felt then should have been enough warning. Unfortunately the rational portion of my brain was slowly shutting down, she had crawled forward to to get a better look at my face and was practically straddling me at this point, so naturally, blood was being directed elsewhere.
“Say, would you like to lend me a hand with something.”
“Uh, maybe? What did you have in mind?” If I had access to a delorean I would be kicking my ass so hard right now.
“Well I need someone to do a few ‘things’ for me. Who knows, you might enjoy it.”
Now I don’t get this kind of interaction often, but to say this offer blindsided me is the understatement of the millenium.
“Uh.”
“Great! Just let me...” at this point she turned a slightly greener hue.
*hurk*
“Oh, no. No. No! NO-”
BUWAAHGH.
Not my proudest moment.
I don’t know if I blacked out or what, but suddenly it was pitch black and I snapped to attention, I could still feel the, stuff, all over my face. I wish I could say my reaction was measured and sedate.
“OH GOD GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!”
Keyword there, wish.
Unfortunately my body felt like it was bathed in molasses so my attempts at wiping the puke from my face was severely hindered.
“OH MY GOD SHE’S COCOONING ME! I DON’T WANNA DIE! HELP ME! SOMEONE! ANYONE! PLEASE!”
Definitely not my proudest moment.
However my panicked thrashing got me loose as I bolted upright and the darkness cleared from my vision somewhat, instead of it being pitch black a slow moving dark cloud swirled around me.
Ok, somewhat better... Still dark though.
I waited for the cloud to dissipate, it slowly settled around me at a rather unnatural pace, almost as if it was stuck in slow motion.
Once it had settled I could finally take a look around, though it was crazy dark I could still barely see.
Black plains sprawled out before me in all directions, as I looked around I heard an annoying grinding noise. Not unlike stone grinding on stone.
The hells that noise?
I raised my hand to my head to try to clear out my ears, except when my hand met my head it felt stone. After a few exploratory pats I learned I had a stone horn. Two in fact, one on either side of my head.
What.
After a few more exploratory pats I was quite surprised to learn that the majority of my head was now stone, and not ‘stone over flesh’ either, I could feel through it, like it was part of my skin. I felt around my face, its features familiar yet foreign at the same time. I had a mouth but I couldn’t move it, the stone wouldn’t budge, I tried to speak but only let out a low groan. After a few more tries I finally was able to speak understandably.
“WWWWWHHHHHHAAAAAAAAATTTT TTTTHHHHEEE HHHEEEEELLL?”
My comment thundered in my currently misplaced ears, As I was yet to find them. My syllables had dragged and my speech was slow.
I made to rub my eyes in exasperation, then made two horrifying discoveries.
One, my hands could be more accurately described as claws.
And two, I had no eyelids.
Obviously I was fascinated by my hand and arms, still had five fingers, and some giant bracelets that seemed to be made of some orange glowing crystal and lined with crystal. They only gave of a faint pulse but they were definitely glowing. My fingers were actually pretty normal, they just turned to claws at the last segment, other than that they looked human. After a mini-freakout I began to calm down, though it felt like I was missing something.
It took me a moment, but I realized that I hadn’t closed my eyes when I was trying to knead them. You would think that would be something easy to overlook, but trust me when your body doesn’t respond in the way you want, you take notice pretty damn quick. I tried to blink. Nothing. I reached up and rubbed my eyes, though I avoided using the pointy ends of my fingers.
Have you ever touched your eye? If you have contacts it becomes second nature, but everyone remembers that first terrifying time you put those puppies on. Add claws to the equation and you are the basic equivalent of a ball of nerves.
It was beyond weird, I felt like I was thumbing over some glass plates, and I couldn’t feel any pressure on my eyes at all. I pressed on them a little bit harder, nothing. I stopped messing with my eyes after that, not wanting to press my luck.
Why does this seem familiar?
It was eerie, I knew the look of these hands and the strange armor on my arm along with the bracelets... but from where?
I glanced down hoping find a clue of some sort, It looked like I was wearing a cross between some armor and an ancient building, even though it was caked in what I could now see was mud.
I looked closer at my hand, at the base there was a thick fur that seemed to be drifting in some unseen wind.
At this point I had calmed down enough to notice the freezing cold, it was far colder than I could have standed before, but it didn’t bother me as much as you would think. I was just aware it was very cold, to be honest it wasn’t nearly as bad as the pressure. If felt like I was being pushed in on from all directions.
That’s when It clicked, I swung my head upwards toward the sky, instead of a blue sky I was greeted with a murky green with a dim light wavering above.
Back on earth.
“Wheeeeeere am I going to find a piece at this hour?”
“Wait, I already did. Didn’t I? Where did he go?”
“Oh right! I sent him to the board. But where did I send him?
Uhh, Come on. Work brain!”
Back to our regular programming
I’m underwater.
Under-fucking-water.
Shouldn’t I have trouble breathing?
It was this exact moment that I realised I wasn’t breathing.
I froze, I was scared out of my mind, and tried to gulp in air, my mouth didn’t move and apparently my nose is just for decoration.
After a minute of not dying I calmed down enough to realize that I was not going to kick the bucket due to asphyxiation, at least for the time being.
Ok. One, how the hell am I able to talk if my face can’t move?
Two, what the hell am I, and why is this all so familiar?
I couldn’t take my eyes off the bracelets, where had I got them? What did they do?
They looked like-
Like-
HOLY SHIT! I’M MALUS!
Anyone who hasn’t played Shadow Of the Colossus may be a little confused. Long story short it’s a game for the PS2 where you play as a standard human equipped only with a bow and a sword. The object of the game is to take down the giant monsters, the Colossus, By using strategy and carefully climbing on them to strike at their weak points.
Malus was the last and by far one of the most difficult to take down. As soon as he saw you he would fire exploding bolts of energy at you. Other than that he didn’t move from that spot, his armor was designed to keep you from reaching the weak point at the top of his head. You really had to be creative if you wanted to kill him.
Wait.
I slowly reached to the top of my head and felt for the magic seal that marked the weak area. At the very top of my head, there was a small patch of fur, and I could feel it. Not in any physical sense mind you, but I knew it was there, one good shot there and I was done for. Hell, if I tripped and hit my head there, I would probably die instantly.
No wonder Malus never went anywhere, one badly placed boulder and I’m pushing up daisies.
Mental note: Invest in a helmet.
So to recap, I was at the bottom of the ocean probably at the bottom of some deep sea valley or something. I’ve been turned into a giant monster from a video game. And I no longer breathe.
Today will forever go down as the weirdest day in the history of weird days, or at least it’s a prime contender.
Deciding to pick the direction that seemed to have the most incline, I picked up my massive feet, thank God I still have those, and slowly began to trudge my way in what I hoped was the quickest way to the surface.
This is going to be one long walk.
Ponies, of the sea! Oh and a shark
“Another day, another shell.”
The coral armored seapony sighed with a bit of boredom, he had been guarding the summersea house of the mayor. He honestly didn’t know why the mayor needed a squad of personal guards, if the stories about were true he could take out a shark with a mere shake of his flippers. He sighed again after a while, he still had 8 hours to his shift and nothing really ever happened here, aside from the occasional large squid, but those never came close enough to be a threat.
“Why did I ever take this job?” He wondered to himself when alarm horns sounded in to the north, by the large trench just outside of the town.
“What in the world?” Just then another guard came swimming quickly in his direction, dressed in different colored coral armor. Blue with stripes of black, the markings of the Depth Guard “You there! What’s happening?”
“Something huge is coming out of the trench! Grab the largest weapon you can find and head there! I’ll alert the mayor.”
The guard seapony nodded and shot off towards the barracks. When he arrived he saw most of the guards had already gotten equipped and were leaving the barracks. “I’m always the last one out.” He grumbled as he swam inside. He grabbed the closest weapon, a trident. The weapon of choice for the mayor, except his was made of metal unlike the mayors ornate coral trident.
That was a weapon to be feared, encrusted with glorious emeralds. Any and all who had wielded that fierce weapon demanded respect. The guard wrapped his tail around the hilt of the weapon and swam out of the barracks, his trident weighing him down a bit. Soon he was at the edge of the town, where the trench was. A steady shaking came every so often, all the proof anyone needed that something big was going to emerge soon.
A conch horn sounded and the line stood at attention, soon after two seaponies dressed in rare black coral armor came into view, soon followed by the mayor, dressed in a blazing orange colored coral. Some called that coral the fire of the sea, as the coral itself radiated heat. At the mayors side, flowing in a gentle current was a large trident made of the same coral the mayor wore, also encrusted with emeralds. “Do you know what it is yet?” He asked one of the guards in the black coral armor.
“Not yet, nopony would swim down and see.” He answered as they neared the edge of the trench. “When we first heard it it was too far down, the pressure would have crushed most creatures.”
“I suppose we will have to wait and see what exactly we’re dealing with then.” The mayor sighed, and all the seapony guards waited in silence as the noise from the trench got louder and soon a huge length shot out from the dark abyss. It appeared to be a massive neck, topped with with five heads each with their own smaller, jointed necks. In panic a guard pony launched his trident at the creature. It made contact with the middle of a small flat area just below where the heads met the main body. Black liquid poured from the newly created wound, as if it were blood. It seemed to take a few seconds for the creature to register the gash, and when it did from deep within the abyss a ear splitting roar echoed out.
The sound was near to unbearable, some of the seapony guard’s armor cracked and fell off due to the sheer volume. When the sound finally stopped everyone was doubled over in pain, some of the guards were bleeding by their ears. The mayor recovered surprisingly fast and watched the creature shake free the trident and grab onto the ledge and prepared to charge “Get ready!” He called out and swam back a little.
What happened next caught everyone by surprise. Out from the deep came a large head, far more massive than anything anyone had seen before, with glowing crimson eyes that stared down at them all, unmoving, not even blinking. “What in the name of Oseara is that thing!?” One of the guards yelled and backed up a bit, his cracked sword falling from his tail.
“I don’t know, but be prepared to attack!” The mayor leaned forward a bit and pointed the trident at the massive beast, what he didn’t expect was it to pull more of itself out.
“Oh my goddess...” He watched wide eyed as the beast kept more and more of itself from the trench. What they had assumed had been a the heads were nothing more than fingers, it pulled itself further upward, until it’s head almost breached the oceans waves. The water around the guards suddenly started to get slightly warmer. And take on a slightly yellow tint.
“What the- Aww come on!” One of the braver guards yelled. “Really?! Is this the kiddy pool!? Who did that?!” Everyone was silent. “Real mature! Really mature! Now we all have to swim in this until a current takes it away! Goo-”
“Quiet!” The mayor almost roared. “Yes it’s disgusting but we have ‘bigger’ problems here!” He turned back to the giant, which was now bending over to meet them, it’s eyes still glowing that crimson color.
“WHHHHHHAAAAAATTTTTT TTTHHHHHEEEE HHHHHEEEEEELLLLLLLLLL!?” It let out a loud bellowing voice, almost indistinguishable from a roar.
“What are you!?” The mayor shouted up at it, ignoring the giants complaints. The massive being paused a moment, then two moments, before it’s eyes turned a light blue color.
“I AAAMMM AAA MONUMENT TO AALLL YOOOUUURR SSSSIIINNSS.” It spoke again before bellowing out what sounded like laughter. Some of the seaponies were confused by its choice of words, and others simply shivered at the morbid implications.
“Alright, so WHO are you?” He mayor yelled again to the beast. It paused for a while, before leaning a little further in to get closer to the mayor.
“I AAM THE DEEP ONE, THE WORLD EATER, DEVOURER OF SOULS, LORD OF THE DANCE!” More than a few heads were turned at the last one. “I AM THE GRAND GIGUES, MALUS.” It finished.
“So it’s Malus then?” The beast nodded, the best it could at least. “Why have you come?”
“I DO NOT KNOW, I SIMPLY CLIMBED OUT OF THIS...” It’s head turned to the expanse from which it came for a moment before looking back to the mayor.
“...TRENCH, WHEN I AWOKE, AND QUITE A RUDE AWAKENING IT WAS, EVER HAVE A ATTRACTIVE FEMALE VOMIT MASSIVE AMOUNTS WHAT FELT LIKE GLUE ON YOUR PERSON?” That more than a few of the seaponies puke, right as he said glue. It was quite the disturbing mental image. The mayor shook his head at the sound of his soldiers vomiting. “AH, OH, SORRY.” The beast moved it’s hands forward and waved them around a bit to empethis his feeling. “FORGIVE ME, I DIDN’T MEAN TO- AH HELL.” It leaned up a bit and kinda smashed it’s face with it’s own hand.
“It is.....Alright, just don’t say anything like that again...” The mayor mumbled and lowered his trident a little. “Why were you down in the tench anyway? How did you get down there?”
“I JUST WOKE UP DOWN THERE AND STARTED CLIMBING.” The beast, Malus, shrugged like it wasn’t important. Albeit slowly due to his size.
“That can’t be it, we have had scouts down there many times before and reported nothing of a large beast such as yourself.” Malus leaned back a bit as if the mayor said something that hurt his feelings.
“I AM NO BEAST, I TAKE IT YOU DO NOT KNOW WHAT HUMANOIDS LOOK LIKE?” He questioned and crossed his arms slowly. The mayor gave him a blank look.
“Most of us do, we sometimes interacted with the land walkers.”
SO THAT’S WHAT YOU CALL US.” Malus seemed satisfied with the name, land walker was better than beast. “RIGHT, SO IF I CAUSED A PUBLIC DISTURBANCE OR SOMETHING I AM TERRIBLY SORRY, BUT RIGHT NOW I HAVE TO MOVE TO THE SURFACE AND TRY AND FIGURE OUT WHERE I AM.” Malus stood back up to his full length, head almost piercing the top of the sea once more. He turned to the tench and paused. “ONE MORE QUESTION...”
“And that is?” The mayor gave the tall being a curious look.
“DO SHARKS GET THAT BIG?” Malus pointed out into the sea, a large dark silhouette of a well known aquatic predator moving slowly towards them.
“Wait, a shark!?” The mayor began to panic, a shark was bad news, and if it is big enough for the tall construct to point it out from a distance then it must be big enough to swallow his entire troop if it got close enough. Though one thing stuck out in his mind, but he didn’t dare give it more thought than necessary, if he was right they were doomed. “Everypony! Move forward and protect the town!”
“TOWN?” Malus turned around a bit and gazed behind him at the coral reef built town behind him. “How did I not see that before?” It sounded like it should have been a mutter, but was still loud enough for everyone there to hear it. the looked down to see the strange sea horses swimming past his legs and forming up with larger groups that were pouring out of the town. “HEY...MIND IF I HELP?” The mayor swam in front of Malus and gave him a confused look.
“Why would you want to help? This is not your problem.”
“I KNOW, BUT I DON’T REALLY HAVE ANYTHING ELSE TO DO. BESIDES THAT I NEED SOME DIRECTIONS AND DEAD PEOPLE ARE NOTORIOUSLY LOUSY GUIDES.” If Malus had a mouth that could move then he would have smiled.
“I....Suppose we could use your help, just try not to....You know, crush anypony.” He moved his huge hand up and gave him a thumbs up. “If you can, move to the front, I want to see what you can do.” Malus gave the best nod he could and took a huge step past the trench and continued until he was at the head of the small army that had soon gathered
“WHOA, THAT THINGS BIGGER THAN I THOUGHT IT WAS.” Malus had a unsure tone in his voice as the dark silhouette in the distance got closer, and took the outline of a shark.
“You’ll be fine.” Reassured the mayor. “I mean come on! Your mostly made of stone! That’s harder than half of our weapons.” Malus turned his head to look at the mayor.
“THANKS FOR THAT...” The mayor nodded and Malus faced back to the mega jaws that was approaching.
