The Heart of a Monster

The young boy ran across to the room, followed closely by the tall slightly aged man. His hair was reclining, but he still had the youthful glint in his eyes.

He watched the boy carefully as he went straight into the layered blankets, and he leaned on the door frame.

”No stories tonight? ” The young boy said in a small voice, making a cute face with half of his chin inside his blanket.

The older man laughed and walked to him. ”Why, I thought youd never ask. ”

The boy giggled and he moved a little for the older man to sit comortably, his happiness evident in the wiggle of his feet underneath the sheets.

”So, today…I am going to tell you about a legend. ”

”Legend? ”

”Mhm. ” Came the mans answer. ”In a village far away, a little more than a thousand years ago…there lived a woman. ”

The boy leaned closer, so the man could lace his hands into his silky brown hair.

”This woman married her husband at a very young age after a whirlwind romance. It was all roses for her. She was kind, and everyone in the community loved her. Things were perfect. But as the years rolled by, she slowly started to fall out of favor. ”

”Why? ”

”Patience, ” The older man said, playfully pulling the boys hair. The boy giggled and moved his head closer.

”She fell out of favor because she didn give birth. Years passed, but she still wouldn bring forth a child. The community people started to gossip about her barrenness, and spread bad rumors about her. At first, she was unbothered. Her husband loved her still and that was all that mattered. She did hope for a child, though, but at that point, the peoples thoughts didn get through to her too much. ”

The older man sighed, and looked at the boy, who nodded as a signal for him to continue.

”One night, however, she saw her own husband with another woman. Apparently, he was going to discard her and bring in a more fertile woman. A woman that would bring forth children. ”

The boy gasped. ”That is bad, ” he said.

The older man shrugged. ”Not as bad as what the woman did afterwards. She offered a sacrifice to a deity and in her words, begged for a child. She didn care what the child would be, or who the child would become…as long as she conceived, it didn quite matter to her. During the sacrifice, on the day the stars aligned into a perfect straight line, she offered up the maiden who her husband was set to replace her with. ”

The boys eyes widened. ”She was bad too. ”

”Being desperate is worse than evil, boy. Can I continue? ”

The boy nodded. ”Go on, please ”

”After the sacrifice, she became pregnant. She immediately became the apple of everyones eyes once again, including her husbands. Her husband forgot about his other woman and she disappeared into nothingness. Like she was never there. But the deity that she had prayed to was the deity of revenge. Her labor