Monkeybear Productions

By Roxie Leigh

Warning: mild violence

“Once Upon a time, long ago, during the dawn of the world, creatures— whose name has been forgotten in time— roamed the earth. These creatures took care of the Earth, and kept all within under their care.

One day, the humans arrived.

For many years the Creatures showed the Humans their knowledge and taught them well. Too well.

When the humans began to populate the Earth more than the ancient creatures, they made sure to show the hospitality that they were once showed.

Grateful for what they had done, the Creatures gave them a gift. The gift of dominion.

Together, the Humans and Creatures rolled the earth together and kept each other safe. The north part of the world was ruled by the Creatures, and to the south, the Humans.

One day, in the north, the first Morphling appeared. The Creatures did not like the Morphling, for their powers were too great. So, the creatures came to the humans and asked if they could take care of the Morphling.

The humans agreed, and used their power of dominion over the Morphling, and kept the creature under control. They taught the Morphling never to show their true form, for they were terrifying to the eyes of men.

That’s when the Morphling fell in love with the child of the Human King.

The Morphling knew of their features and hid themselves from the child, afraid that their true form would show.

The two hung out often, and the Morphling showed their ability to change forms. The daughter of the king found herself loving the Morphling even more.

One day, she begged the Morphling to show her his true form, but he denied her. After much perseverance, the Princesses convinced the Morphling to show her.

He transformed himself into his true form, and to his horror his love screamed and left him.

Dismayed by his love, he left the human kingdom and returned to the Creatures, who had always accepted his true form.

When he returned the Creature King, was confused. The Morphling explained his life of the Humans using their dominion over him to hide away and how they feared him. He told of his love for the princesses, and how she screamed at his appearance and broke her love from him.

The King of the Creatures, angered at himself for sending the Morphling away, told the boy to stay in his own castle that night while he was gone.

The King of the Creatures ventured south, and made arrangements with the King of the Humans to speak of the matters of the Morphling.

When he arrived the King tricked him and captured the Creature King.

The North was enraged and a battle broke out amongst the Creatures and Humans.

This is when the Creatures new name emerged, and became known to all.

Monsters.

And the Morphling was the greatest of the Monsters.

The Morphling, engraged with the humans, marched his armies in attempt to destroy them.

When he came to the Kingdom of Man, his eyes fell on the one he once loved. She begged him to give her another chance, and used her dominion over him.

The Morphling, who deep down still loved the Princesses, stopped the fighting and came to her. When he hugged her and welcomed her back into his heart, he was stabbed. When he looked at his love, she pulled a knife out of his back and stabbed him in the heart.

“ “I could never love a monster.” She whispered in his ear. “You are evil and vile just as the monsters, be careful who you trust with love.” ”

The Morphling fell to the ground and felt his blood leave his body as death slowly came upon him. He looked up at the Princesses and said, “I curse your line to he day my equal arrives. My equal shall kill your descendants, and rule your kingdom.” ”

With that, he took his final breath, leaving the Princesses. She fell to the ground and screamed out as she felt the curse attach itself to her.

After a few months of fighting, the humans won and drove the monsters to the Mountain of Imprisonment.

There, the Princesses, now queen, had an old hag curse the mountain leaving the monsters trapped within. They could not escape.

Never.

In the moment of the second curse, the hag turned to the Queen and felt the curse that the Morphling had put on her. The Hag looked at the pit, understanding what had happened.

There behind the Queen’s back, a third spell was made. The Equal of the Morphling would be able to break any curse, and make as many as it pleased. The next would be feared, but fulfill the curse.

After the Queen married, she had a child, and that child had a child.

Many years later, the war between Monsters and Humans were forgotten, a fable of fiction, and so was the curse of the Morphing Monster.

But the monsters never forgot.

Instead, they plotted their vengeance, waiting for the next Morphling.”

A child shivers as another few others hug each other.

“And then what?” A young boy asks.

“That’s it?” His sister asked with a small shake. “We just wait to die?!”

“What? I never said that.” I tell the children. “The Morphling kills the descended child of the Queen.”

“That could be any of us!” Another child cries.

The next thing I know, kids are crying left and right. Honestly, I didn’t expect them to think of genealogy this way. Then again, I hadn’t even finished my story.

“Are you going to let me finish the tail?” I ask, folding my arms.

“Yes ma’am.”

“Good.”

I push my curly blonde hair off my shoulders, and fix my pale green gown.

“As I was saying, the humans had forgot that the stories of the Monsters and Morphling was true— but then one day there was a girl.

She was friends with the prince and king, and was in the princes favor. One day, she discovered a plot of the king to murder the governors and novels of the land for absolute power.

The girl went to run away and tell the prince, but when she got to him, she discovered that he was in on the evil plot.

Now, with the royal family against her she had to run for her life. The king had sent his army after her, to find and kill her.

That’s when she met a boy— or… she thought he was a boy.”

The children gasp and I feel a smirk tug on my lips.

“Yes.” I say. “So, while she is speaking with the boy, the armies find her and try to talk her. That’s when she gets away and hears the men yell.

Now, she did not know what happened, but all she knew was that the big was with her.

The two had ran and ran till they were cornered on a cliff edge that overlooked a very deep river.

The girl listen to the boy who told her to jump, though she did not know how to swim. When she hit the water, she began to sink when she saw it.

The boy she had met transformed into a merman and swam down to her.

Before she passed out from the water, she remembered her mother’s stories of the Morphling that would come.

When she awoke on the beach, the boy was a boy, and relived to see her alive.

She questioned him, and he questioned her— as one would by seeing a girl chased by the King’s Army.

She told him all, and forced him to tell her who he was.

The boy was afraid, but did tell her the truth. He was the Morphling, and—”

“WHAT?!”

I look over at a child, who looks completely astounded.

“I thought I made it obvious.” I mutter. “Was I not obvious?”

“You were.” An older child sneers. “Jonny is just slow.”

“I’m not slow!” Jonny snaps.

“Are too!”

The next thing I know, children are auguring and I am sitting over them.

I am the responsible adult.

I groan, and look over as a black dog comes from the bushes nearby. I look into its yellow eyes, and hold back a small smile.

The dog comes to my lap, lays down, and I rub its ears.

“May I continue?” I ask.

The children stop arguing and look back.

“Thank you. Anyways, the Morphling reveals to the girl that he does not want to free the other monsters yet. He tells her that they are dangerous with revenge and anger still in their bones.

One day, while hiding in the woods, the girl is met by the prince. He… he offers her marriage in exchange for her to never tell a soul of the evil plan.

When she rejects, he kisses her and slices her with his blade… similar to what I have.”

I point to the scar running from my nose, through the edge of my lips, and down to my chin

“The Morphling, seeing this, attacked the prince and was severely injured from the sword that the prince welded. Luckily, he succeeded on scaring the prince away.

Within a few days, the Morphling and girl had run away and started their plan to kill the king. During that time, the girl began to fall in love with the Morphling. The same was happening within the Morphling’s heart.

One day, she asked to see the Morphling’s true form, but he rejected— remembering the story of the Morphling before him.

He was afraid.”

“Why would he be afraid?” Jonny asked. “If she loved him, then she’d love him still.”

“Yes.” I say. “But as said before, the first Morphling didn’t get that treatment.”

“Oh yeah.”

“Yes. Back to the story now. While sneaking back to the kingdom to fulfill the plan, the king had died from illness. That made the prince king.

The Morphling had found a home in the caves for the two, and told her to wait. He’d spy on the prince to see if the plan would still work— but it didn’t go as planned. The Prince saw the Morphling change, and was terrified and enraged. He as well knew the stories, and knew that he was descended of the Princess.

So, he set a trap for the Morphling and girl. When the two came to the trap, he had his armies shoot at the girl, and the Morphling was forced to reveal his true to save her.

Enraged, the Morphling attacked and almost killed the New King before the girl stopped him. He had not known he changed forms.

Seeing the terror in her eyes, he fled. He was afraid that what had happened to the other Morphling would happen to him.

The girl, who was actually terrified of death, followed the Morphling into the caves where he had set up a small home for the two.

There, she saw him for who he truly was.

She still loved him.

There in those caves they swore themselves to each other, and made their love known to the other. But, the next day the kill the new king.

Or try.

It ended up taking a week since the girl got sick and the Morphling refused to leave her side.

Once they got to the castle, the Morphling— still showing his true form— killed the New King and established a new kingdom. One where monsters would eventually roam.”

“Eventually?” A girl asks.

“Yes.” I say. “The Morphling was afraid that monsters would kill humans. He was scared that his love would be killed.”

“Ohhhh okay. That makes sense.” The girl mutters.

The dog in my lap looks up, and gets up. It leaves the area, and I take a deep breath.

“The new kingdom would for now have humans in command. No King or Queen, but instead a balanced council. Till the day of monsters would arise again.”

“So… their still in the… mountain?” A boy asks.

“Yes.” I say.

I look up and see golden eyes staring through the bushes, reflecting the fire light.

“The day of monsters is near, but not yet.”

A man jumps form the bushes and yells. The children scream and I burst into laughter as he comes to my side.

“Did I scare you?” He asks.

“YES!” The kids yell.

“Did I ruin a good story?” He asks.

“Not yet.” I tell him.

He gives a small smile and sits down on the log next to me. I stand up and sit on top of my husbands lap.

His hair is a messy curly mess of black, and his skin is tanned. He is thin and very tall, and has bright yellow eyes like the dog had.

“Anyways, as I was saying the day of monsters is not yet here. But, every few months, the Morphling goes back to the Mountain to free a few at a time. That way war won’t happen against humans.”

“What about the girl?” A little boy asks.

I think for a moment, but Augustine speaks up.

“She is a very smart woman, and very beautiful. She tells the Morphling when he’s being stupid and if he doesn’t listen, then she throws stuff at him.”

“She does not.” I grumble.

“Yes she does.” He says firmly. Augustine leans down to my ear and whispers, “I have a bruise to prove it.”

I look at him, and bite back a small smile. He sits up and looks at the kids.

“Anyways, she is his brains. She works in the shadows and makes sure that humans don’t war against monsters.” He says firmly. “Or… try to.”

The children stare for a moment at Augustine and I.

“That’s the end.” I say. “You can go to bed now.”

The children look at each other, and get up slowly. They all make their way back to the village, leaving Augustine and I.

“Congratulations, you are officially the village Crazy Lady.” He says with a small smirk.

“Just a story teller.” I say, standing up with a shrug.

Augustine smiles at me, and looks around. “I say, we get home and enjoy this lovely night.”

“I agree.” I tell him. “Only if you had done what I asked you to do.”

I watch his face go blank, and I can’t help but laugh.

“Don’t do that to me Clea.” He says firmly. “You had me worried for a moment.”

He stands up, scratches himself behind his ear, and takes my hand. We begin to walk through the village to our small home on the edge of town.

“Do I scare you that much?” I ask, as he opens the door to our home.

“Yes, you do. Especially when you are on your weird human girl bleeding cycle. You become terrifying.” He mutters.

I walk into our home, close all the curtains, and look back to Augustine as he locks the door.

“You do like the story right?” I ask.

He looks up, and takes his white tunic off. “I did. It’s my favorite one— especially when the Morphling kills that bloke Prince Casimir.”

I walk over to Augustine, who tosses his tunic to the side.

“Not any other part?” I ask.

He looks at me closely for a moment and I eye him.

“Oh yes. When the beautiful girl tells the Morphling that her heart is his, and that he is better looking in his true form and that she loves him and that she wanted Casimir dead.”

I laugh and he leaned over to kiss me.

I close my eyes and kiss him back for a moment. When I open my eyes, Augustine is different.

His shoulders are much much wider and his arms are muscular instead of thin. His skin is a dark green and his cheekbones have dark green scales outlining them and the tops of his shoulders. Large bat-like wings are in his back, and his black hair is long. His ears are pointed and elf like. He is taller and clearly stronger in the way he holds himself.

Small horns are on the top of his head, and his smiles shows vampire like fangs.

The only thing the remains are his golden eyes.

“I do like you better this way.” I tell him with a small smile.

I lay down on the bed in our home and relax some. After not long, Augustine joins me.

“Clea?”

“Yes?”

“Would you still love me if I was a regular human?” He asks.

I shrug. “Dunno. That’s a story I think I’d need to think about. I quite enjoy you the way you are.”

He smiles at me, and wraps an arm around me. I wrap my arms around him as one of his wings come over as a second blanket.

“Goodnight sweetheart.” He whispers.

“Goodnight Morphling.”

He glanced up at me, smiles some, and dozes off.

I give a small smile, and feel the scar on my face. Best decision of my life.