Village of Bakunawa

An impoverished desert nation, a small trading post city among the dunes, not an uncommon sight as where ever a large oasis springs up in this land a town is bound to lay claim to it especially along the roads between the coasts. This trading post however does have one oddity to it, there is a massive wooden gate to a path going up a hill where upon there is a massive white temple shaped like a hanger, a giant long house. Tales of a growing Empire enveloping the world have only recently come to this village, as well as the news that the alien bee people that only ever hassled their southern neighbors have gone as well. Neither thing bothers these people for they are but a humble oasis hamlet that does trade with the nomadic caravans and travelers who pass their way; the loss of the aliens means no more tribute caravans going south for them. They fear however that an encroaching Empire could mean soldiers marching through their village to defend against it. They pray, they pray to an odd idol; for depicted in every home is an alter on on them are a wooden carving; wood being sacred here, of a white fish with a crooked beak jaw and an angler fish’s  lure; some odd cross between an angler fish and a breeding salmon.

 

Once a year this town holds a massive celebration in honor of their oasis god; said to bring water to the oasis or cause draughts if made unhappy; people from all over come to this party, seemingly tripling the size of the city for the massive drunken celebration. There has been a rumor floating around in the southern city of Azkaban, of people disappearing during this celebration; the possibility of slavers has brought one individual to sneak in among the party goers incognito. Lurking on the fringes of the shadows of the celebration this individual spies a group of men in white robes leading a single drunken woman away from the celebration. The silent figure follows these men as they partake in a most unexpected path, they sneak in through a smaller door in the giant wooden gate leading to the temple.

 

The men take the drunken woman not into the temple its self with its pews, oceanic scenes and giant alter; no they take her around the temple to a boarded off cave; which opens as a secret gate. Inside they lead her down some dimly lit steps into the damp stone cavern. Before them illuminated by some tiny crystal lights on the ceiling is a giant underground pond, a low hanging ceiling near the back preventing the eyes from seeing that this is but a piece connected to a much larger aquifer. The men holding the barely conscious woman who smiles and looks at the water, “we…going to skinny dip?” she babbles out while men chant.

 

“Great Bakunawa, mighty god that brings sea to land, mighty lord of refreshing waters, we your humble priests bring you this year’s moon maiden.”

 

 From the depths the monster emerges, a giant white fish like those depicted in the village. The great beast opens its mouth, as the woman blinks trying to focus on the white blur in front of her the men lift her up like a sack of potatoes and fling the now screaming woman into the air. She vanishes, not in the beast’s mouth, just…gone from thin air. One moment she is there the next not.

 

“What trick is this?” demands the fish, “Where has my sacrifice gone? You dare try to trick the great Bakunawa…I will swallow the moon, bring drought to the land, call upon the winds…”

 

“She must have been a teleporter my lord,” says the head priest bowing, “forgive us great one we will bring you another sacrifice at once.”

 

As they head up the stairs the head priest says, “Find that woman and kill her, we don’t need some bitch bringing trouble here, and find another…”

 

They stop at the entrance of the cave as sitting cross-legged in the middle of the desert night, down in the sand between the cave entrance and the blind side of the temple away from the village is a woman. A woman clad in tight black clothes that reveal her cleavage and midriff; her dark red hair blowing in the gentle breeze, dancing over her dark cape with its black back and red inner lining as she is in apparent meditation. The men surround her, a few guards called out from the temple front, dumbfounded how anyone got past them, aim pikes at her.

 

“You are coming with us.” Says the head priest.

 

“Why,” says the woman nonchalantly, “are you sacrificing people to that creature?”

 

“So you know,” says the head priest, “very well girl, since you will be the great Bakunawa’s next meal. That…creature…is our god. He brings us water, wealth, and protects us from evil spirits. When our village was young he gave us the oasis, all he asks for in return is one human sacrifice a year, and it doesn’t even have to be from our own village.”

 

The woman stands, “take me to this monster,”

 

One of the guards turns his head in the silent night towards the village and says, “Sir…”

 

“Take her to Bakunawa.”

 

“Sir…” says the guard with a concerned look on his face.

 

“Now!” demands the head priest.

 

With pikes aimed at her back the woman is lead to the cave, two guards and the priests go down while the rest remain at the cave entrance.

 

“Ah a healthy one,” says the fish monster seeing the bosom woman.

 

The woman’s eyes glow blue as she looks past the monster and below she says seemingly ignoring the fish, “I see, this is a precursor construction, a self repairing plant of some sort. I see massive underwater chambers, valves, heh…all this monster has figured out is how to shut off the valves feeding your oasis.

 

“Throw the liar in!” demands the fish

 

They can’t move, they had not noticed till now, some invisible force has glued them in space.

 

“Human sacrifice,” says the woman, “is illegal under the law of the Rhulan Empire, as its empress I should know.”

 

She smiles back at the men, recollection of hearing of this expanding empire coming to them.

 

“we have already seized the village,” she says, “all that is left then is to dispose of this creature.”

 

“Insolenece!” yells out the fish thrashing about, “I am the great Bakunawa, god of the sea and bringer of destruction. Oppose me and it will be a great cataclysm upon the land!”

 

The glowing lure on its head glows brighter, becoming a blue-purple flame. It flings its lure throwing the fireball at Rhulan. She raises her hand catching the fire ball. It shrinks, constricted into a tiny orb and crystallized in her hand. She pops it into her mouth and swallows it.

 

“Tasty fish,” she says eyeing the monster as a cat would to a goldfish bowl.

 

If a fish’s eyes can be said to widen, this one’s did their best.

 

Rhulan raises her hand saying, “Illuminate the darkness!”

 

The crystal lights grow brighter, fully lighting up the area, making it plainly visible all the pipes and artificial structures beneath the water; this is not a lake but a holding tank.

 

“Guard or mutation,” says Rhulan as she steps out onto the water’s surface, “for the crimes you have commited I sentence you to death.”

 

The fish dives.

 

“That won’t work,” says Rhulan gesturing upwards slightly with her fingers. The water churns and the fish is dragged to the surface. She taps the surface with her foot sending a blue fiery energy wave over the surface. The water is not frozen yet the fish can not move. She summons forth a silver sword as she walks over to the fish.

 

“No…NO!” yells the fish trying to struggle, “Listen! I…I am ancient! I know things! Secrets! You can’t kill me! I…I’m a god!....Bringer of cataclysms if you…”

“I am the goddess of Cataclyms,” says Rhulan as her blade comes down.

 

  ******

 

 Outisde, the priests dragged up the stairs via telekinesis, they are met by soldiers holding the guards prisoner.

 

“How…” mutters the priest noticing an angry look from one of his guards out here that confuses him.

 

“Idiots,” says Rhulan. She points at the guard that had tried to warn them earlier, “I do believe this man was trying to tell you it was too quiet earlier.”

 

“The…celebration…” mutters the head priest as his eyes go wide remembering coming up, focused on the escaped sacrifice and finding this strange woman just sitting there.

 

She indicates the man to her soldiers, “take him away for questioning, as the smartest one here clearly he may be of some use.”

 

“Tell them nothing!” yells the priest

 

Rhulan grabs the priest by his throat while the others are forced to their knees, “You are truly a fool,”

 

 “I…” chokes the man, “I will not talk…even in death lord Bakunawa…”

 

“I don’t need you talk,” says Rhulan, “I am a sorceress you imbecile. I could rip the information of your sins from your mind, I could conjure up a mirror of truth, I could just kill you and raise your body to speak…for dead men cannot lie.”

 

She tosses him to the ground, “Soldiers, these men have commited the crime of human sacrifice, caught in the act.”

 

She gestures a short distance away, a great blue sigil appears. The guard being lead away is even stopped and allowed to watch as a giant platter appears from the ground, surrounded in utensils, dipping bowls, and various appetiziers, and sitting in the middle of this is the fish monster, its body carved up and cooked as food, however it…is still alive. Its tail shakes weakly, and its mouth gasps, the sliced up sides being the only cooked parts.

 

The head priest is in tears as memories of all they have done for this god floods back to him, to see their awe inspiring figure they would preach about every third day in the temple to the entire village laid out like this, after such a one sided battle against this woman.

 

******

 

The celebration was still there, only silent as the village had been surrounded by the army of the Rhulan Empire; the people told that a slave ring was suspected to be at work in the area, takeing advantage of this party. No one suspected what they would see, the temple priests lead in chains down to the edge of the oasis, followed by a levitating platter with the village’s god in the middle of it, and Rhulan floating above it.

 

Reaching the edge of the oasis she channels her voice to speak like the thunder, “People of this land, I am the Empress Rhulan, your village, as well as the rest of this country is now part of the empire. You will be allowed to keep your local customs and beliefs so long as nothing you do is against Imperial Law.”

 

She aims a black staff with a red jewel in its top down at the priests and the platter, “These men, have for an as yet unknown, yet under investigation, period of time commited the crime of human sacrifice…to this monster…which posed as a god. The monster is being punished for the horrors it has committed against our kind, treating us Aesperians as food is unforgivable! As punishment it shall live in agony as we consume its flesh! Or rather, those who fed people to it…shall consume…its rather toxic flesh.”

 

“We will not!” yells up the high priest, “my people! I implore you…this is our god here…still alive despite this demon’s attempts to kill it! Rise up, we can win we can…”

 

The people’s silence and confussion startles him.

 

The woman they had tried to feed to it is standing there, with guards around her, not Rhulan’s soldiers though.

 

The woman looks up to Rhulan and bows, as she does so her guards bow, although they are a bit concerned, as do a number of other people in the crowd.

 

“I,” says the woman, *hic*, “Anajana; Princess of Azkaban, vow loyalty to Empress Rhulan and the Rhulan Empire.”

 

The villagers, even if some of them wanted to oppose this woman and save their priests and…god…are out numbered three to one by people from other towns and cities who came here, including the very kingdom whose princess traveling incognito herself the priests had tried to feed to a giant fish, to die horribly being digested alive, this she told her guards who spread the word. The villagers experienced it, if not for the Rhulan Imperial Army being there the Azkaban soldiers and citizens enjoying the celebration might have torn this village and its occupents apart.

 

“Very well,” says Rhulan with a smile knowing they wouldn’t willingly eat this thing, “I will instead…show my mercy, my benevolence, I will hand over the mortal accused to Azkaban, to be tried and sentenced under local law, seeing as it was the local royalty they tried to murder via being fed alive and digested alive to a giant monster fish.”

 

Her wicked smile tells them they are going to suffer a worse fate than death by poisonous fish meat.

 

“As for the monster,” says Rhulan.

 

“I…” coughs out the fish, surprising and terrifying the people, “I…am…god…I…am…Baku…nawa…I…”

 

“Great Idea!” shouts Rhulan clapping her hands with a happy tone that is even more surprising.

 

She aims her staff at the moon, “Spirits of the Inifite, masters of time and space, open the gates to the realm of dragons, I summon forth Bakunawa!”

 

*gasps* escape the entire village, and a *gasp* from the fish monster.

 

The moon turns blue, and opens as sliding doors, vanishing in darkness. From above appears a great blue serpent with red whiskers and eagle claws, four wings adorn its back as it descends from the heavens.

 

“Who summons me! Who summons the Eclipse Bringer!” demands the sky scraper sized dragon whose floating coiled form fills the sky above the village, it merely landing it is clear could crush the entire village.

 

“I Rhulan the Celestial Sorceress summon you!”

 

 

Bakunawa looks down, “Ah…mother of Cataclysms, bringer of chaos, creator and destroyer, I know you.”

 

It bows its head towards her, “What may I humbly do for you, oh Mistress of Magic, slayer of six unspeakable horrors whom even us gods fear.”

 

A god has been summoned, the largest creature these people have ever seen, and it has bowed its head humbly to this woman before them.

 

“Enough pleasentries,” says Rhulan, “Dragon of the Eclipse, beneath you is a platter, upon it is a monster that has been fed the flesh of my people by filth who believed its lies, for its crime I give this fish which has impersonated and brought shame upon your great name to you!”

 

The dragon is hesitant, “Is…the flesh inside it now?”

 

“No,” says Rhulan, “I would not permit this sin to continue…we also checked it while preparing it. I can harbor no ill will towards you for consuming it.”

 

The dragon smiles as the platter levitates. Platter and all disappear into the dragon’s mouth.

 

Rhulan turns to the people, while pointing at the dragon, “That is the real Bakunawa, your god has been eaten alive by a larger creature, just as it has done to your people over the years. This night shall no longer be a night where criminals most foul celebrate that monster and use your night of fun and happiness as a cover to commit murder most foul. This night is now a celebration! A celebration of freedom from that beast. The oasis will still flow as we take control of the waterway the monster mastered! Now go…and celebrate!”

 

The dragon returns to the sky, the priests are hauled away by Azkaban soldiers, and that night the Azkaban princess shared the bed of her new Empress, truly showing her appreciation for her life being saved and her land freed from the terror of a man eating monster.

 

******

 

 

In the time to come the temple would be leveled, replaced by a research station of the Rhulan Empire; for their scientists would discover that the underground water way is indeed a Precursor built Desalinization plant channeling water all the way from the sea to the east and feeding it to areas that were once major population zones throughout the area.  The monster, which somehow was sentient, a fact alone Rhulan would not be pleased with as she had been under the impression this world had no native sentient life forms (another research project would be born from that); had been controlling the gates, not just for this one village that was closest to its surfacing point; but that the priests of the village had demanded sacrifices of other foods for the fish the rest of the year to provide limited water for them.

 

“Makes you wander,” says a scientist reading the report to Empress Rhulan.

 

“Wander what exactly?” asks Rhulan.

 

“Well your majesty,” says the scientist, “how exactly this supposedly ancient monster was feeding prior to people showing up. I mean the water ways filter out organisms of all kinds. This water is so pure in the tanks that the release systems have to add minerals to make it healthy enough to drink, nothing, not even the lowest levels of the food chain could survive in there.

 

“A monster,” says Rhulan, “check the system logs for the outgoing filtration systems and no doubt you will find it polluted by compounds adding up to the full remains of all the food and wasted lives fed to this thing in their entirety.”

 

The scientist is silent as he looks over the paperwork, while Rhulan continues, “Precursor creations have a tendency to be self repairing. This…corrupted bio-unti…was no doubt just passing them fully through its body, killing…”

 

 She growls through her teeth, “without so much as it even being neccissary, it was not an animal or some hungry creation that was turned to human flesh…it was truly a monster.”

 

After she leaves the room, with no one around Rhulan whispers to herself, “Another Precursor installation alright, another seemingly immortal biological entity they left behind. How’d we miss all this? Did the Stingers actually invade so soon after I left that scouts couldn’t find these places? No…I was here for like two decades we found…a few…but how are there still so many hidden underground and still functioning after two million years? Let alone cloaked from outside detection?”