My Sudden Monster Convergence

It didn't take long for Cole and his mother to find his Grandfather’s kitchen. Though the house is large enough to even fit Oliver, many of the door frames were labeled with a letter and even had a photo or plant in front of them. The kitchen being labeled with a K and funnily enough a picture of his loved Grandmother. Taken when she was probably in her twenties or early thirties, she had the same black straight hair his mother had, with a single dimple smile. She wore a dark blue short sleeve sweater with a knee length skirt while posing with head tilt and hands behind her back. Behind her was smoking hunk of charcoal which was decorated with whipped cream and cherries on top

 The floors in the kitchen were, like most of the house, wooden tiles. Which his grandfather once explained were Alder wood treated with some sort of oil or varnish. But they were merely a skin swap as they shined and worked like regular tiled ceramic. Yet his mother took a bottle of water and began whipping the water all over the wooden tiles until almost every spot was drenched in water. And again the tiles did their work, drinking the water like a sponge and changing color from a dull brown to something of a darker almost chocolate color.

“Ok! Now that the floor’s prepped, let's get to business!” Cole’s mother said as she pulled out a pink box and unclasped it. Inside was a large slab of red meat, streaked in white swirls with the scent of something like butter or pine nuts. “Now just gotta bring it to room temperature, prep the oven and gather the ingredients. His mother reached in a ziplock baggie and pulled out a small pulsing red stone no bigger than a large medicine pill, handing it off to Cole. “Crush and sprinkle it over the meat while I handle the oven.” She said before planting a kiss on his forehead.

“Yeah….I’d rather not make a molten creator again.” Cole nervously chuckled as he crushed the stone like a crunchy leaf over the meat. The moment the chunks of stone peppered the meat a light aroma of rosemary and something like garlic wafted off the meat. At the same time Cole grabbed a few yam sized eggs, bringing one to his ear, listening as he shook it, hearing an odd bubble pop inside.

“How does these weird eggs work again?” He asked as he eyed them with pinch brows as if they were going to bite his fingers off.

“The Maurice? Just put a little of your mana into it and pull it open like a bottle-Over the meat! I don’t want to sear any veggies for this.” She explained while she set the oven to the globe setting.

“Okay….” Cole looked back at the eggs before slowly pushing his mana into it like he was turning on his wand. The Maurice greedily sucked in his mana like an uncorked drain to water, making Cole cringe as it fed off him.

*Ding*

The egg rang, ready to be used. Quickly Cole unscrewed it and pulled it apart like an egg over the meat. And like an egg, a transparent goop oozed out before splatting onto the meat but unlike an egg the ooze wiggled and bounced like a living slime. It quickly stretched and wiggled goopy tendrils across the meat, enveloping it and yet it still moved, rippling and shifting.

“Good job!” His mother gave his arms a light squeeze as she cheered his effort. “Now I need you to peel those while I shred the lettuce.” She pointed to normal non-bitey potatoes and blue sweets, the fat juicy miracle workers of tomatoes. 

With a quick nod, Cole pulled out his wand, pushed his mana through its wood and metal then whispered a few commands. The wand glowed green and with a flick, a green bolt struck the plants. They floated off the counter and began spinning, Cole whispered another command and this time his magic made the veggies’ skin easily peel off as if they were already boiled.

His mother then shot a white cube at Cole, the cube quickly hoovered over into his hand as he closed his fist. “Hey! I could've lost a finger.” Cole teased with a smile.

His mother rolled her eyes before flashing a huge smile. “If that's the case then I'm a little old lady.” She crossed her arms with a raised eyebrow, a playful smirk on her face. 

Cole shook his head as he crushed the cube in his hand with a loud crunch. “No. I can't have my mother thinking that.” He sighed before lifting the pink box with the meat, taking a quick step backwards before bringing it to the oven.

Before his mother could act he quickly chucked the meat into the oven. Instead of the meat slapping the back, the meat stopped mid air and hovered in the air, slowly spinning like a display. With that Cole rolled his shoulder and sighed.

“Thank you.” His mother pulled him into a hug, holding on until she was sure he felt her love.

“Mom! Please! Can’t breathe!”

The walk home wasn’t too hard or difficult as Grandpa seemed to point out random little landmarks that most people wouldn’t even notice. A tree slightly angled away from a circle of bushes, the lines on one tree looked almost caramel or a bush that oddly only grew to the left of paths. We even made a left at a large rock after he smelled something similar to a combo of moss and wet grass. Quickly finding the path we took after that. Though he did give me something to think about.

“Listen Oliver.” he looked at me with a studying eye. “Places like that spot in the woods, don’t ever stupidly walk into one without some announcement. You could be the most non dangerous race in existence and the residents there would still angrily ward you off.” He warned me.

“OK. Guess I was your plus one in that case.” I Stated.

He nodded. “Exactly. If you know someone that is allowed there or one of the residents owes you a favor for whatever reason and you need to visit such a place. Then go through them.” He smiled.

“Alright……” I slowly nodded before stopping. “But how’d I keep from opening a dresser and finding some secret society?  I’m sure there’s campers who fall into places like that every now and then.” I pointed out.

Grandpa looked away, rubbing the back of his neck. “Uh….Weeellll, some need you to hold items-” He began, sounding a nervous about the topic.

“Like the filter rocks.” I stated, as my eyes narrowed at his back.

“Yeah… like those rocks….Ehm! Some need a certain password or specific trail to be followed.” He spun his hand as he explained. “Others apparently can sense something in you and some.” He paused, his lips scrunching up a little. “Well rumor has it you have to be a certain race to get in. I‘m not really sure how true that is but war has been fought over food recipes….” He looked annoyed as he said that but he didn’t say more than that.

“True… But thanks for warning me. There’s loads of things out there and it can be a lot to prepare for.” I said trying to keep things from going silent.

“HA! You know it! Maybe next week aliens will fall from the sky while I'm in the shower.” He chuckled to himself. “Try not to overthink it. Use what you know and you’ll find a warm meal.” He said with a wide smile.

Though I didn’t get what he meant until he nodded to the left, where his home was standing in the middle of the clearing. And the smell of roasted meat, fried eggs and potatoes bellowing from an open window. And the sight of my Grandfather running down the path, already halfway to the house……

“HEY! DON’T THINK YOU CAN GET MORE!” I shouted as I ran after him, claws raking through the dirt.

“DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT!” He shouted back as he began to speed up his pace. 

With my height and powerful legs, each step was like a long jump or hop and I was gaining on him. I think I’ll have extra meat and maybe butter my potatoes, all severed on a huge plate! Maybe then he’ll wai-

The ground a foot or two ahead of me shot outward forming a pillar of rock. He was trying to block me! Well too bad! I did a short hop mid run, landed, bent my knees and launched myself like a rocket over the rock. My jump allowed me to cut half the distance between us and I was still zooming through the air while the ground below sped past me. Landing with a loud thud, Grandpa looked back with a worried face, only for it to turn into shock as I was just a few feet away from him.

“Hey Oly! I was only kidding! No need to take double!” He cried as I began to over take his lead.

I gave a smirk. “Had your chance boy. I’ll see ya with my full plate!” I called, waving goodbye with my tail. 

I wasn’t too far from the door when a large gust of wind began pushing into my face, bluffing me with dirt, branches and even small stones. Without any thought, my third pair of eye lids closed, like a pair of protective goggles, I continued to push forward.

*HOWL*

I didn’t move as fast.

I tried to MOVE FORWARD! 

“GRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGH!” I shouted as the wind began blasting me like a concentrated tornado, making me slow to the pace of a limping sloth. I had to slam my claws into the ground for every step I took as I continued to push towards the door. But the wind was even getting caught in my folded wings, only pulling on the membrane and trying to throw me back on my ass.

As I continued to push forward, Grandpa rushed past me with a cocky smirk painted across his face as he put two fingers to his head and waved at me. Though I couldn’t hear him over the howling wind, I was sure he was laughing at his victory. DAMN IT! YOU ARE NOT GETTING PAST ME HIS EASILY! 

My body began to heat up as he casually jogged by me, I could see the mana flickering in my scales the longer I pushed. The heat was bubbling, building and the muscles underneath felt looser, warmer, hotter. Until my next step, my leg shot forward and slammed into the ground, breaking into it and sending a rolling shockwave through the ground. It was so strong that not only did Grandpa stumble and fall over, the trees shook, dropping leaves and branches everywhere. Even the house seemed to jiggle, though that might’ve only looked like that as I wasn’t completely immune to the shaking as my body traveled up and down too.

Taking another step with less force wasn’t any different from moving causally as I began to make my way to the door again. Grandpa looked on with a gaping mouth as I easily moved through the wind like it was just a light breeze. But he didn’t stay like that as a wide smile spread across his face. Lifting his glowing green wand, an orb of dark green light formed at the tip and the blasting wind began to vibrate like four earthquakes trying to tear apart an island!

SMACK

The air literally slapped my arm away!

SMACK

I was punched in the shoulder with enough force, I had to take two steps back! Everytime the wind hit me was like being punched or tackled, sadly I was being pushed back again! Even if the impacts didn’t leave any stinging pain, I was still at a loss as Grandpa got up and began making his way to the door. 

Fine! I thought going easy on you would work but fine! The heat I built up began running down my arms as I focused my mana into my claws. I could feel something in them latch on to the mana, slurping it up like tasty noodles, pulling and pulling. The dark claws began shining a pale green as I considered using wind to push back. Maybe I could just destroy the magic itself? My claws changed to gray then to a red slowly darkening as more mana was being swallowed. Glowing darker, darker until the light coming off them was a crimson so dark it could've been black or purple.

Raising my right hand, the wind slowly began to curve around it like a fat knife through pudding. Raising an eyebrow, I moved my other hand in front of me, again the wind avoided my hand. With a huge smile, I spread my arms far apart, my claws appearing dipped in blood before slashing the air in a X. Instantly the pounding the wind was giving was batted away in a quiet swoosh but it wasn’t quiet enough as Grandpa stopped and looked at me then his non-glowing wand. 

We stared at each other. Eyeing our opponent up and down. Eyes narrowing as we slowly shifted into better running positions, ready to jump through the door at any secon-

“BOYS! Get in here before Cole and I eat everything on the table!” Mom shouted from a nearby window. She eyed us down like we were playing in the mud while wearing expensive clothes. We both just dropped our shoulders at that.

Looks like no one’s getting extra this time.