Three Beast Kings
The Queen

Junya was stillstruggling impotently, exhausted and hopeless, when the monsterlanded. It released its grip gently, letting him slide from its mouthdown to the ground without hurting him. He was too exhausted from hisstruggle to run away or try to fight it, curling up into a ball andplaying dead in the vain hope that it would leave him alone. God, wasit going to eat him?

It rattled at him,clicking its shell before walking away calmly. He couldn't just hearthe buzzing now, but feel it, deep within the ground, all around andnever ending. He didn't need to be told to know – this was thehive. He waited for a moment, catching his breath, bracing himself,but nothing horrible came. No great pain as he was devoured, nodeafening hiss of that thing getting ready to strike.

Carefully, hesitantly,he looked up. That monster had lost interest in him, and was climbingthe shining white wall. Shining white wall? Junya sat up, whole bodytelling him not to, and looked around. He was on a balcony: abeautifully smooth, polished thing with manicured stone railings andflowers climbing across it. Set in the shining white wall, whichitself seemed to have been hewn from the hard rock of the mountainface, was a set of glass doors, the bright colours held together bysome dark resin. The doors stood open, and from them beautiful stringmusic played.

The overwhelming smellof flowers hit him from within the room, thrown too and fro by thestrong, cold breeze. He looked over the balcony edge: they were atthe top of the mountain, the rock and dirt stretching down and out,covered in pockmarks and holes. He swallowed hard. Long way down. Inthe distance, he could still made out the dark form and unnaturalstraight lines on the landscape that was the gorillas city. Hethought they had travelled further than that, but without the forestand hills and fields in the way it looked vulnerably close.

Getting to his feet washard work, his bad leg aching from the strain, but he managed, takingit an inch at a time. He felt braver on his feet. His serious limpthreatened that illusion, but he tried to stand straight, holding hisleg carefully. He looked back up the wall, but the monster wasn'tinterested in him at all now, just pottering around up themountainside. No up, no down: his only option was through thedoors...

He limped over, asquietly as possible, and peaked through. The stone room inside waswide and airy, full of flowers of all sorts and sizes in a rainbow ofbright colours and perfumes, balanced in vases and baskets on the topof the lacquered wooden furniture. On the table lay a selection offruits in exquisite bowls, far more than any one person could eatbefore it all rotted. There was a bed, a wardrobe, a chair... theplace looked like a ladies chambers, the kind you replace in storybooksfor little girls. It was most out of place on top of the insectshive, and it set his teeth on edge.

He crept in, steppingfrom the stone balcony to the dark hardwood planks. Everything wasstill, even the wind staying outside, not ruffling a petal. Thereseemed to be no-one at all around, but for the music that seemed todrift in from no-where. There wasn't even a door, as far as he couldsee. There was an archway on the far wall, through which he couldjust see towels and a bathroom sink, but no other way out of theroom. Was there a door through there? It would be an odd place forit, but there were weirder things going on right now.

His bad leg flinchedviolently as he placed it on the cold hardwood, causing him tostumble. The doors rattled in alarm as he grabbed them to stophimself from falling, swearing under his breath.

The music stopped.

Junya held his breath.There were no footsteps, no scraping of chairs being pulled back, novoices, just painful silence and stillness. Using the doorway as ananchor, he hoisted himself back up straight, edging further into theroom. Not a speck of dust or pollen moved. There really was no-one...

“Goodafternoon.”

He leapt clear out ofhis skin, nearly falling back to the ground, as he was called. Hespun around, stumbling, heart stopping: the Insect King stood on thebalcony. With all the talk of him being a monster, Junya hadforgotten how beautiful and elegant he looked, his long silver hairdraped over one shoulder, light silk robes sitting perfectly on hisslender frame.

The king smiled at him,the afternoon sun shining behind him like the light of God. It wasn'tthe mocking smile he wore before, all sharp edges and coldness, butone far more gentle, like he was genuinely happy to see him, goldeyes glistening with joy.

“You'reearly.” he pointed out “I didn't think you'd be here for anotherfew days.”

“Youwere expecting me?”

“Ofcourse.”

The king steppedforward. Junya stepped back. He hit the table, going cold when heremembered there was no other way out of the room. The king walkedinto the room, ducking a little under the doorway before closing thedoors behind him. Junya noticed immediately: his hand had grown back.It looked noticeably different to the rest of him, pure white andfluid looking, filled with dark veins like something out of anightmare.

“Withyour bad leg, I thought it would take you two weeks to get here.”the king elaborated, voice as silky and smooth as his clothing “Ihaven't finished the preparations yet.”

Why had he beenexpecting him? Did he know the gorillas were going to attack? Wasthis all part of some plot? It would never have taken the company twoweeks to get here if they knew where it was, so why would hethink.... Wait, the curse! Had be been cursed to seek him out? Hadn'tZuberi said something like that before? But, to what end?

“Whatpreparations?” he asked ”What did you do to me?”

The king stepped rightup to him, reaching out his newly grown hand. Junya physicallycouldn't move from the terror as the king plucked an errant leaf fromhis hair, tossing it aside.

“Wasit difficult to get through the forest?” he asked, almostapologetically “No-one lives around here anymore, so it's a littleovergrown. Would you like a drink? You must be parched.”

“Don'tfuck around with me!” Junya snapped, slapping his hand away “Whatdid you do to me?!”

The Insect Kingchuckled, flexing his fingers like the antennae on a bugs head.

“There'sthat fighting spirit.” he teased “Are you hungry? It must havebeen a long trip. Let me run you a bath, you absolutely stink ofgorilla.”

“Answermy question!”

“Iwill.” the king promised “But first, what do you think of theroom? It's nice, isn't it? The stained glass took a while to getright, I'm very proud of it.”

The king spread hisarms in a bragging fashion, eyes shining as he waited for praise. Hewanted Junya to praise him? What kind of game was this? What was thepenalty if Junya didn't play along? He needed to buy time: maybe ifhe kept the king talking he could replace a way out and back down themountain. He steeled his spine, swallowing hard.

“It'slovely.”

“I'mso glad you like it!” the king declared, perhaps not having pickedup on his tone “Is the bed comfortable? Come over here and try it.”

“Nothanks. Back to my question-”

“Iwanted this room to be comfortable.” he went on, voice wistful ashe looked around it “You're going to be here a while.”

Junya flinched as theInsect King turned those gold eyes back to him like a mantisobserving its prey, still looking honestly happy.

“You'rea little early.” he repeated “Your body's not ready yet. But itdoes give us time to have some fun together!”

The king dashed forwardand grabbed Junya's hand, holding it like he was his sweetheart,soliciting a horrid shudder right down the foxes spine

“Youmust meet my mother!” he declared “I just know you'll love her!”

Junya was grabbedaround the waist before he could argue, hoisted off the ground onceagain. The doors flew back open as the Insect King darted out with asingle leap, flying up into the air with the effort of a grasshopperas he jumped toward the top of the mountain. Junya tried desperatelynot to scream, even more desperately not to cling to the only solidobject in reach, but his efforts were in vain.

“Holdtight.” the king ordered, teasing smirk in his voice.

The robes on the InsectKings back started to slither and write. They broke apart, swingingback in the air and transforming into great dragonfly wings. He heldJunya tighter as he started to fly, carrying like he was weightlessto the top of the mountain.

From the air, Junyacould see the entire mountain was riddled through with holes, andcaught glimpses of something squirming deep within them, that monstercicada crawling in and out, twitching. The king stopped moving hiswings, allowing them to go into free-fall. He laughed happily whenJunya held onto him for dear life, screaming at the top of his lungs.

They plunged down,slipping expertly into one of the holes, and kept falling through themountain. They fell through the darkness, illuminated only by randomcolumns of light, sounds and smells Junya couldn't begin to describesurrounding them. The king suddenly extended his wings again,catching the wind and allowing them to float safely the last few feetto the ground.

He released Junya onthe safety of the ground, and he immediately jumped away from him,slipping and stumbling on the loose dirt.

“Youutter bastard!” he yelled “I thought I was going to die!”

“Iwon't let that happen.” the king assured teasingly “I'd never letanything bad happen to you.”

Junya had heardsomething very similar to that not long ago, and it didn't make himhappy to hear it again. The time for subtlety and saving face waslong gone, and if he was going to die here, he was damn well going toknow why first.

“Whatthe hell is going on?!” he demanded “Why did you curse me?! Whatdoes the curse do?! Why me?!”

“Itold you I'd explain.” the king repeated “But you have to meet mymother first – it'll be so much easier for you to understand then.”

Junyadidn't want to meet anyone. It was dark and warm and moist and goodgod that smell!It was like earth and dank and blood all mixed together... The InsectKing moved as if to guide him down the earthen tunnel, but Junyajumped away from him – he didn't want to be touched by him everagain!

The king seemed oddlyun-insulted by this, instead gesturing politely the way he wanted himto go, wings still fitting themselves back into place. There was awretched noise, one that could hardly be described in simile, as agrub crawled its way out of one of the tunnels, shaking, convulsingand flailing around. It was even bigger than that monster cicada, itsgreat white mass stumbling around blindly in the dim. The Kingignored it, even as it struck horror in Junya's very being.

Good god, there weremore of them. Junya's breath caught as his eyes adjusted to thelimited light in the tunnel – the walls crawled, slithered, writhedwith being. Every surface was alive with insects. Grubs, maggots,chrysalises, cocoons, long squirming shaking fat crawling flyingthings, every last one of them only just visible in the dark. Theywere all over his feet...

He jumped as the kinglaid a hand on his shoulder.

“Thisway.” he urged.

Junya was struck dumbby the repugnance of his surroundings, allowing himself to be ledaway from them. They were right in the belly of the mountain now, thelight getting dimmer and dimmer, the stench of dirt andgod-knows-what surrounding them entirely. He didn't want to imaginehow much dirt and rock was balanced above them. The tunnel led themin further still.

There was an eerie blueglow ahead, creeping along the oozing walls. As they got closer,Junya saw fireflies and glow worms dotted about the tunnel, growingin number, blinking and flashing. A ghastly coldness washed over themas they approached the end of the tunnel, like stepping into a cave.Junya could still feel those things crawling around his feet, andputrid 'popping' when he stepped on them.

They reached the end ofthe tunnel, the blue glow engulfing them – it was a cave of sorts,a great hollow chamber covered in glow worms and the odd firefly.They stood out like bright stars in the clear night sky against thealmost black rock walls, and stepping into the cavern felt likestanding on a still lake at midnight, all stillness and cold. Itwould have been beautiful if it wasn't petrifying.

In the centre of thechamber was a single figure, sitting on an odd, round throne. It washard to make out from this distance, but it didn't look very big.

“Becareful where you step.” the king implored, guiding him toward thefigure.

The feeling of theground changed – it no longer writhed or wriggled, but was still,spongy, soft... what was he walking on? It was like walking on meat.He didn't want to look down, keeping his eyes straight ahead. Theystopped in front of the figure, the king presenting Junya to it.

“Mother,I've bought someone to meet you!” he declared “This is Junya,Queen of the Gorillas. Junya, this is my mother.”

Junya's eyes adjustedslowly to the blue glow. He could just about make out the figure of aperson, but it didn't really look like a woman. The better he saw it,the less it looked like a person at all – he couldn't even tellwhat manner of creature it was, as it had no clear ears, tail, orother markings, but it didn't seem to be an insect. As his visioncleared, Junya was struck dumb, covering his mouth in disgust.

Itwas a corpse. The shell of a person, ears and eyes rotted away, skinhard and orange like leather, thick with putrid red veins. It satcalmly in the chair, arms on the rests, staring straight forward.Was...was that a chair? It was the same sickly orange as the corpsesskin, but fleshy and swollen. It didn't stop at the ground, but keptgoing, flowing into it... he was walking on it. That corpse wasn't onthe chair, it was init, fused to it by its flesh!

“Isn'tshe beautiful?” the Insect King asked, although it certainly wasn'ta question.

He placed his handsgently on the copses shoulders, smiling proudly. This corpse was hismother? This corpse was... the queen? Why was he keeping it around?Couldn't he tell it was dead? Maggots were crawling in her skin!Hair-thin worms stuck out from her flesh, flailing around in the air,something unsettling slithering about in the gaps of her eye sockets.Beneath her skin, a porridge of white eggs lay waiting in patches.Junya tried his very best not to be sick.

“Motheris very excited to meet you.” the king told Junya, oblivious to hisreaction “She's been telling me for some time that I need to replace awife.”

“Tellingyou?” Junya mumbled.

“Doyou know much about insects, Junya?” he asked.

Junya shook his head.How could he say this corpse spoke to him? Above being a monster, hewas a madman!

“Ibecame king by killing my father and devouring his flesh.” heexplained casually “But I saw no reason to kill my mother too – Ilove my brothers and sisters so! Why, you've met my little brother –he's such a sweet little thing, and he can be so silly!”

“Littlebrother?” Junya repeated “That great giant thing?”

“Giant?”the king laughed “Hardly!”

He took his hands offthe corpses shoulders, walking around it towards Junya.

“Usually,when there's more than one possible king, they must kill each otherto prove their dominance.” he explained “Hence why I ate myfather. I didn't really have the heart to kill my brother, though –like I said, he's such a sweetheart, and he doesn't have very goodeyesight. I decided instead to let him have this hive – there'sjust enough food here to last until he's old enough to become aproper king. Then he'll fly away and set up a new one.”

“Food?You mean the gorillas children?!”

“They'renot children.” he insisted “They're unborn. My father made themistaking of exhausting the previous food supply with the wolves –by then the hive was established, we couldn't move! I won't make thatmistake.”

“You'releaving.” Junya realised.

“That'sright.” the king confirmed “I'm going to set up a new hive, farenough away that my brother and I won't be competing for food. I wasthinking on the far side of the mountains – there's more foodthere, although it isn't as delicious as the stuff here.”

“That'swhere my village is!”

“That'sright – yours, the badgers, the crows, the rabbits: all sorts forthe children to eat!”

“Youcan't!”

“Idon't understand.” the king said “Don't you want to go home?”

Go home? The InsectKing was going to take him back with him? To start a new hive? Why?

“Whatdo you mean?” he asked, backing away from him “What are youplanning?”

The Insect King smiledat him again, taking his hands gently.

“Isn'tit obvious?” he asked “You're going to be my new queen!”

“Y...wha...what?!”

“Motherneeds to stay here until my last brothers and sisters are born.” hewent on “They'll be the last of my fathers line. Then my brotherwill replace his own queen and start his line. You and I will start ourown.”

“Youcan't!”

“Ofcourse I can.”

The king had a longreach, grabbing Junya and pulling him close. His grip was firm,unbreakable as Junya started to panic. Surely he couldn't be serious!He might be mistaken for a woman, but certainly not an insect!

“Iwanted a strong queen to bear my children.” he explained, stillsmiling as if it were a compliment “That's why I was sodisappointed that all the she-wolves died out. Strong mothers makestrong children, afterall. That's why I knew you had to be the one –you, a little fox, challenging the Insect King with nothing more thana tiny blade, a limp and a fighting spirit! Oh, I'm sorry.” hechuckled “A rather big fox.”

“N-No!”Junya stuttered, trying desperately to pull himself loose of theinsects grip “I refuse! Absolutely not!”

The kings expressionfinally changed: he stopped smiling, looking genuinely upset.

“Whynot?” he asked, leaning down to look him in the eye “Don't youlove me?”

“Whatthe hell made you think I would?!” Junya shrieked, pulling awayfrom him with all his might.

“Yougot here so quickly.” the king pointed out.

“Ihad a horse!”

“Ahorse?”

The king lookeddisappointed, pouting like a child.

“Andhere I thought the wings of love flew you to me.” he sulked.

He smiled again, gripstill on Junya's hands, and somehow it was much worse than before.

“Notthat it matters.” he said “It'll be a while before your body isready, and a few more months to set up the new hive – there'splenty of time for you to fall in love with me.”

“That'snot going to happen!” Junya swore “Let go of me!”

“You'llforget about that stinking gorilla in no time.” he promised “I'lltreat you like a queen – no, a goddess! I'll bring you flowers,fruits, animals – whatever you want!”

“Iwant you to let me go! I refuse to be a part of this!”

The king released hishands, causing him to fall hard to the ground. Despite the softfloor, the impact hurt, his leg in particular protesting.

“Refuseall you want.” the king told him coldly “You can't leave thismountain on your own. Your body's already started to change, so youmay was well accept fate.”

Junya grabbed thathorrid throne, using it to pull himself up. As he struggled to hisfeet, suddenly exhausted, heart beating faster than he could everremember, he came face-to-face with the corpse of the queen. The bilerose in his throat as he saw up close the dark forms wriggling andsquirming through her.

“Iwon't.” Junya swore, voice shaking “I won't be a part of this!I'll throw myself off that mountain!”

The king sighed throughhis nose sharply, like he was disappointed.

“Idon't need you to have legs.” he said bluntly “Or arms. I'drather not have to do that, though – the change will make you morebeautiful than you've ever been, than you ever would have been! Ifyou don't have your limbs, it's sure to impact our children!”

“Therewon't be any children!”

Something stirred underJunya's hand. Something too big to be a maggot or a grub. Somethingmoved on the edge of his vision, causing him to look directly intothe face of the corpse. Its sunken eyes moved.

It looked at him.

It was alive.

“Mother,”the king sighed again “I know you're concerned, but please don'tfret – my wife will just take some convincing, that's all.”

The king kept speaking,but all sound disappeared. All thought left him, all sense ofconscience. This thing was alive, welded by its flesh to themountain. It looked at him, sunken eyes milky gold and nearly blind.All other parts of it were immobile, ridden with maggots and worms.

This was the InsectQueen.

The king wanted to makeJunya his queen.

He wanted to make Junyathis.

“C-c-can't.”he stuttered “I can't bear your children! I can't bear children atall!”

“Oh?”the king asked, curious “Why's that?”

Junya spun around,heart right in his chest, leg threatening to give out beneath him.The king stood with his arm crossed daintily, head tilted to theside, waiting.

“I'ma man!” Junya screamed at the top of his lungs like a revelationfrom heaven “I'm a man! I can prove it!”

Junya grabbed histrousers, ready to pull them down and prove his maleness, handsshaking uncontrollably. He was starting to hyperventilate, covered ina cold sweat.

“I'museless to you! I tricked the gorilla king! And I fooled you aswell!”

The king wasunperturbed. He smiled.

“Iknow.” he said.

Junya's heart stoppedbeating in his chest. His surroundings disappeared as the two wordsechoed through him.

“You...know...?”

“Ofcourse.” the king laughed “Males and females have completelydifferent pheromones, even foxes. I'm not surprised you fooled thatsimple minded gorilla, but I'm no so easy to trick.”

“Bu...I don't understand!” Junya yelled at him “If you know I'm a man,you know I can't bear children!”

“Aninsignificant detail.” the king assured him “I told you your bodywas changing.”

His body was...? Thepain in his stomach... it had been the curse. His body was beingchanged from within. The king uncrossed his arms, holding them out asif expecting a hug.

“Myqueen never needed to be female.” he explained “All I needed wasa healthy body to act as an incubator and genetics different from myown. Everything else is adjustable.”

“N-no...”

The king steppedforward. Junya stepped back, stumbling away from him, away from theliving corpse. There was no way out. There had to be a way out!

“Don'tworry.” the king assured “The change won't take long. It mayhurt, but the pain won't last. This time next year, you'll be thequeen of your own hive, and the first thousands of our children willbe born.”

“NO!”

Junyaran. He couldn't, but he did, breaking for the exit. Within seconds,a sickeningcrackreverberated through the air. Everything went dark.