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A God of Hunger and Teeth
Too much noise. Always too much noise. Yet it cannot keep out the hunger. But that comes with the territory, I guess. How many mortal lifecycles had she wandered this hollow world? Too many to count, too many empty mouths. A sudden loud noise hit her like an angry ram as a car sped by. Her companion held her close and motioned towards a night-open corner store nearby. “Let’s go in there hun, maybe it’s quieter”. The woman’s voice was warm and inviting. She was not the first consort of this hungering God, nor would she be the last, but it was still comforting to feel known. Even if this mortal knew not her true identity.
The door made a high-pitched noise as they entered, stabbing at her composure. A kind looking old man waved a welcome and he could not have known how enticing he was. There was something particular to devouring a kind old soul. They always accepted their fate. But she could not focus, not even on this. Her composure was slipping, she needed something, anything, if she were to maintain this form. A soft plop drew her attention straight down towards the floor. A drop of blood, from her? “Stupid fragile body” she thought and then swore under her breath. Her companion shied back. She would always laugh away the old swears as something from her hometown, some made up foreign place. But even though the consort believed her those words were old. Older than the first buildings, older than fire, older than life on this world. Things so old carry weight, something the old hungering God could never seem to remember.
She laughed, here she stood with a failing body and now of all times she swore in her ancient tongue, scaring both the clerk and her consort. The laughter drowned out the noise, even the high-pitched sound of the door opening and alerting the clerk. “What’s so funny, eh? Why don’t you tell us?” slurred a young man who had just entered the store with his friend. “Yeah! Or give us a show! Flash us your tits will ya, or make out with your friend over there?” the other man chimed in. The ancient God of Hunger and Teeth smiled with empty eyes, and before the two young men could scream reality itself broke.
A loud crack signalled it all. Where had he gone wrong? He’d gone out with his mate for some drinks, gotten a few shots, danced with some chicks and gotten thrown out of the club. A good night all in all, but it called for the customary hot dogs. He and his mate went to the nearest corner store. Though went is a strong word, they stumbled. There’d been this gorgeous woman laughing like crazy with blood trickling down her nose. His mate had paid her a compliment and he’d followed suit, though he can’t remember what he said. Then it all went wrong.
Why can’t he move? Why is it so dark? A loud crack had roared through everything. What does he mean by everything? He doesn’t even know. Just that everything is what that cracking sound had permeated. The lights had gone out but there was a low red glow flowing from all around. Then he heard it, a raspy laughter. He looked at the woman with the strange laughter from before and realised that she was the one laughing here as well. But why could he see her? Could he? Whenever he tried to look at her his eyes simply refused to work.
“Is that a way to treat a lady?” the woman had asked. Her voice alien and heavy. It tasted of rusted iron and rot. The man tried to respond as best he could but not even his lips would move. In fact, nothing was moving. Except for the woman. “I must say I am grateful to you. You asked for entertainment, and while I do not customarily entertain my meal, I’ll make an exception for such supple meat. Besides, I am so very hungry.” The way she said meat snapped his eyes back into function and he looked into her eyes.
As he did so she was suddenly right in front of him. He wanted to scream, but he couldn’t. She had no eyes. Staring at her smooth red skin where her eyes would be he felt as if he looked into an endless abyss. And all he saw there, was teeth. The thing in front of him grew to about twice the man’s size with a single chuckle, leaving its human form on the floor. But even the floor was wrong. It flowed into the creature; a mass of writhing flesh punctured with long maws of endless rows of teeth. “I am a God, meat. A God of Hunger and Teeth. Rejoice, for you are to be granted the greatest of honour.” The God leaned in and smiled wide with its mouth in an impossibly wide grin, filled with rows upon rows of sharklike teeth. “To be eaten, by me.”
Three sets of arms reached out for the young man, caressing him gently. Every fibre of his being screamed in protest, but he couldn’t look away, he couldn’t move. As the long slender arms pulled thin strips of his skin from him, he couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t even beg for his friend to help. And all his friend could do was watch in horror.
The ancient God tried her best to savour the moment, eating the man strip by bloody strip, dropping the pieces into her many slavering maws. The stench of rot and rust filled the air and subdued the man’s senses, numbing his panic. Every moment of pain extended for what felt like an eternity, and in this realm very well might’ve been. Eventually there was nothing but the head and a still beating heart left of the man and the God of Hunger and Teeth could hold back no longer. She took all that was left of him insider her maw and swallowed it down, body and soul.
She turned to the man’s mate and licked her fingers clean as the world around them folded back into her and she slowly turned back into her human form. The clock started ticking again but he couldn’t say a word. The lady turned from her confused consort to give the broken man a look. She flashed him a toothy smile.
“How was that for a show?”