Fomorn and Mog drove the car that the woman had been driving, and their three new friends were in the back seat. They sat like docile statues, never blinking, never moving. Mog drove the car and Fomorn finished programming the address from the license of the man in the backseat into the GPS of the car. The two had decided to seek shelter so that Mog could do his work. It was dark outside, well after midnight and highway 485 was relatively empty.
“I have to eat them,” Mog explained and he lifted one hand from the steering wheel and put it on Fomorn’s shoulder.
“I know,” Fomorn answered. They had discussed this plan before. Fomorn’s mother had stripped Mog of everything. She had made him the same height as the average human and she removed his thirst and hunger because Mog enjoyed filling his stomach with whatever foods were offered to him by people afraid of his stature and his potential for destruction. He hadn’t enjoyed the taste of anything in a very long time. Both Fomorn and Mog were aware of ancient rituals involving the consumption of human flesh that could counteract even the most ancient magics.
“I can bring them back once we get what we need, I promise you.”
Fomorn nodded silently. He had never witnessed a resurrection after giant consumption. He’d seen giants eat plenty of people, but he never heard of any of those people returning to life. His mother, the first Alia, was killed by a giant, and she was still long dead. The giant that ate her was Mog’s sister; she wanted revenge for her cursed brother. The first Alia knew that the giants would retaliate and refused the protection of her peoples’ warriors because she thought she deserved whatever fate would befall her for the drastic action she had taken. She imagined Mog’s mother losing her son, unable to touch and interact with him as they were used to because Mog had become so small relative to her. The first Alia’s had been so rash to ensure that her son would become the man that she wanted him to be, and the amount of energy she had siphoned from the universe in order to curse the two had to be repaid. The first Alia met Mog’s sister in the desert at her request, and their interaction did not last long before the giant grabbed the woman and bit her in half, separating her torso from the legs that the giant held like the stick of a corndog. The giant finished the woman in two big bites, then died shortly thereafter. She seemed to spontaneously combust after a day of moaning in agony.
“This is gonna be bloody, I’m sorry, but it’s worth it. You want this to be over just as bad as I do,” Mog said to Fomorn who did not look at him, but out of the passenger’s side window.
“How will you bring them back?” Fomorn asked. He believed that their punishment had an expiration date; it would last as long as it took them to convince the first Alia on whatever plane of existence she now occupied that he and Mog were aware of others in the universe. Mog had hatched his plan to eat humans shortly after the curse was enacted, but Fomorn had convinced him that even trying the plan would prolong their punishment. Killing people was definitely counter to the actions that the first Alia demanded.
“I figured it out, just trust me.” Mog shot a look at the people in the back seat. Even if his plan for resurrection didn’t work, Mog knew that it was worth it to try. He would not go another year on the Earth, he was determined to end that existence once and for all, even if he had to lie to Fomorn.
They made it to the man’s house, who, luckily for Mog and Fomorn, lived alone in an apartment in the university area. The parking lot of the complex was quiet as Mog turned off the car. His hand lit up bright red and he looked to Fomorn.
“You take them up and I’ll find four more.” Mog grabbed Fomorn’s chin. The only upside to the curse was that he and Fomorn were finally on the same level and they could spend time beside one another. Before the curse, Formorn would relax in the crook of Mog’s shoulder blade with his back resting against Mog’s neck. After the curse, they could truly look one another in the eyes and Mog wondered as he stared at Fomorn with genuine concern for his approval, if he loved Fomorn the way he had the first girl he had ever kissed and who had fathered his only daughter.
Fomorn wrapped his hand around Mog’s wrist and held it carefully. A tear welled in his eyes and he hoped that all this would work so that Mog could finally be free. Fomorn had always blamed himself and he wanted relief for Mog above all else.
“This will work, I know it,” Mog said and he left Formorn to corral the people in the backseat.
“I don’t doubt that it will,” Fomorn said looking back at the people who would follow any command since they had fallen under Mog’s influence. “I just don’t think you can afford the payback for all the energy it takes to break the curse. But I’ve said all this before.”
PRL Serials 