"Run Billy! It’s right behind us!” Sarah screamed to her little brother.

“I can’t run anymore! Sarah, don't leave me!” Billy screamed back.

Billy was only seven; Sarah nine. He fell forward onto the forest floor, his legs too weak to continue running anymore. Sarah looked back at her little brother on the ground and then up into the trees. She could see the shadow through the trees of the approaching monster.

“You have to run, I can’t carry you. Please Billy, we’re almost to the village!” she pleaded.

There was a loud snap nearby as something broke a thick branch. Sarah looked back and forth through the trees, trying to spot the source.

“I’ll go get the adults! Try to keep moving!” she ordered her brother and went dashing away towards the village.

“Sarah NO! Come back! SARAH!!” cried Billy, but she didn't stop.

Billy heard something step up besides him and a shadow fell over him. He turned and saw the monster right next to him. It had an oversized head, as large as Billy, with dark black skin. Its face was plump and round, its nose was large and flat. Its giant eyes and teeth were a startling white in contrast to its skin. It smiled widely down at him now, all of its teeth on display. Wild, curly, brown hair made its head seem even larger. Its thin body had wiry muscles wrapped in animal fur that extended onto its unnaturally long and thin limbs. Standing it was over 3 metres tall, but now it crouched down over him, smiling and staring.

It spoke with a sweet voice, “That wasn't nice of your sister to leave you behind like that, was it?”

Billy screamed.

This is a story from a long time ago:

Once upon a time, there was a tribe of hunters who lived inside a mountain. They were so skilled at hunting that they never went hungry. They believed they were blessed by the spirit of the land and gave thanks to it for every meal.One day a child was born into the tribe who was special. She could be either human or a great beast whenever she chose. The tribe rejoiced for the believed her to be a gift from the spirit of the land.

The child grew into a woman and she was the greatest hunter the tribe had ever had. So great that she was able to feed the sick and elderly of the tribe all by herself. The tribe started to rely on her more and more to provide for others. Eventually she was feeding the entire tribe. They grew lazy and weak as their skills atrophied over time.

One joyous day, the woman discovered she was with child. As her belly grew she went hunting less and less until she was only hunting to provide for herself. Her tribe was angry at her, they called her greedy and selfish behind her back as she ate and they suffered.

Eventually, the woman gave birth to a beautiful girl and she began hunting for the all again. Things returned to the way they were before. The child, like her mother, was special. She too could become a powerful beast. The tribe grew as both women were unparalleled huntresses. But it was not to last.

Through coincidence both mother and daughter fell pregnant at the same time. And as happened last time, they began hunting only for themselves. Again the tribe grew angry as they watched the women eating as they starved. The cruel, arrogant tribesmen decided they would punish the two to teach them the importance of unity. While the two women slept they gathered the tribe outside of the hole in the mountain that they called home and sealed it shut. If they should suffer hunger, then so too should the two pregnant women inside they believed.

Their cruelty and stupidity stretched the punishment out over several days until on the dawn of the 4th day the sealed off entrance to the mountain burst open from the inside. Only one woman emerged, covered in the blood of the other and no longer pregnant. Mother or daughter, they couldn't tell. Act of consuming their kin had changed them. They were larger, more fearsome, more dangerous.

They looked down upon their tribe with raw fury. A slaughter took place, none survived.

The woman left the mountain and travelled the lands. She gathered scattered people from all over to make a new tribe. She swore that she would not feed this tribe a single, instead they would be the ones feeding her. Lest they suffer the fate of her previous tribe. And so a great tribe formed with her as their leader.

Her mind had been twisted by her time trapped in the mountain. She knew her new power and agelessness came from the blood of her kin. She felt it kind that she would only have a child once every hundred years or so to replenish her powers. She didn't see the way her actions had become pure evil. She strayed further and further away from the gentle provider that she had once been.

That was until one day, she was forced to face the monster she had become because an old drunk man who had accidentally stolen her son’s body said some mean things to her.

Men and women of the village armed themselves with whatever they could and charged into the forest expecting to find a horrible monster savaging the lost child. Instead what they found was a kind, elderly, alien chatting away with the boy. She apologised profusely at startling everyone and causing a fuss, she had recently arrived on Siren herself and had no idea where she was or what was going on, a common occurrence on Siren. The villagers invited her back to their village, deciding that despite her frightening appearance, she was a good person. They explained Siren, magical fish soul nets, and the factions to the lady who had introduced herself as ‘Mom’.

“The patriarch you say?!” Mom asked with a bemused smile “Where I’m from we only let women have the top spot. No offence fellas”

“Hahaha, none taken,” laughed the village leader who was explaining the faction to her, “honestly, the only reason they let me in charge is because I'm the oldest. That reminds me of one of my duties actually. We’re going to have to put you in the registry. The NWA is big on keeping track of all its citizens.”

“Oh, but I don’t intend to join the NWA.”

The friendly atmosphere dropped in an instant, “Why not?”

“Well from what you’ve told me, you and this patriarch are all waiting around for your goddess to come start your revolution and win your war for you. That doesn't sit right with me. You should be claiming the planet and placing it on a silver platter so that she may enjoy it upon her return. I’m sure she would much prefer that than arriving to find that her followers have sat around idly and made a list of work for her to do.”

“Who are you to lecture me on what the Matriarch wants? You know nothing, how dare you!”

She sighed and considered her next move. Zealots were always so… zealous. The leader was still ranting.

“You know what, you come into my home and bad mouth my peoples actions. Leave! Leave now and never come back. You're lucky I don't have you shot, freak.” the man spat.

“Well that settles it. I won't be letting my tribe trap me in a mountain again.” Mom stood up and towered over the leader.

He panicked and turned to grab something to defend himself with, choosing a particularly intimidating pencil. He turned back and Mom was gone, in her place stood a growling wolf monster, twice his height. He dropped the pencil.

The wolf spoke in a voice that made him shiver in fear, “Where is the Patriarch?”

Edison rushed into the building's lobby in time to see one of his elite soldiers being thrown across the room into a wall. A monster had walked straight into the capital city of the NWA, charged into the government building, and was now swatting his personally trained elite guard like insects. Edison was particularly surprised to see that he knew this monster. It was none other than the Matriarch herself.

Edison had joined the largely human dominated NWA after a terrible falling out with his former captain Einstein. What he had learned from his time among the humans was that they were: a) stupid, b) crazy, and c) gullible. They worshipped the ground under the feet of the wolf monster that had kicked his ass all those years ago. Two thousand years later it had only gotten worse, now they saw her as a Goddess who would return and save all of their souls from Siren’s net. They had never once considered that she was almost definitely long dead somewhere in space after Fred had abandoned them. Edison had removed his own voice largely just to avoid discussions with these maniacs on the topic. Their passion was a little too intense to hear anything that sounded like someone disagreeing with them. Imagine his surprise at finding her alive and well, unrecognised by those that worshipped her.

He grabbed a nearby soldier and gestured. “Stand down, That's the Matriarch.”

The soldier gave him a blank look.

He gestured again, slower and clearer.

“You want me to get you some food Sir?”

“No you moron! I’m a brain inside of a robot suit! I don't need to eat! I need you to stop attacking your fake goddess before she kills everyone in the building!” He gestured rapidly.

“I don't know where we’d find enough cheese for that Sir.

It had only been about 150 years since Edison left the SNOOP faction, 100 years since he stopped talking to anyone except Roy, 80 years since even that became tedious and he removed his voice module altogether. He almost never regretted it. Being alive for so long had given him an appreciation for silence. Logically he knew he was taking things too far, acting like an emotional green. He should just go and apologise to Einstein. Maybe he had been alive too long. He’d really only taken up immortality for her. Internally, he sighed.

Externally, he punched the soldier as hard as he could with the full power of his highly advanced, robot body. The poor fella's head exploded and the rest of him flew away. He started marching into the room where the fight was still ongoing remembering that there was actually one more reason why he took up immortality: the ever so small chance that he could get a rematch with this monster.

The surviving soldiers either limped or crawled away, leaving only Edison and the Matriarch facing off from one another. The matriarch saw Edison approach, lowered herself to all fours and growled. Edison took a fighting stance.

Edison was not the same as before. Years of improvements to his battle suit had yielded great results. Even being trapped on Siren hadnt halted his technological progress. He was faster, stronger, heavier, more agile. He had done analysis on his last fight with the matriarch and was confident that he would completely dominate her this time around. This was a battle he had prepared 2000 years for.

The two charged into motion at the same time and clashed in the centre of the room. Edison bounced off of the matriarch and spun through the air into a large concrete pillar. The pillar cracked all the way up and down and large chunks fell off onto the floor. Edison fell face first off the pillar onto the floor and tried to push himself back up. A large foot slammed him down back into the floor. The matriarch then grabbed him and lifted him above her head.

The Matriarch was not the same either. She was on the verge of death last time Edison had met her after being repeatedly struck by lightning only a week earlier. Now she was at full strength and in fact even reinforced by the stasis pod she had been in so as to give her the best chance at survival through uncomfortable space. This was the strength that had given her the respect and fear of her church for years and let them believe wholeheartedly that she would one day take over the universe for them.

“Tell me where the Patriarch is.” she demanded.

As Edison couldn't reply, she had no use for him and simply tore his body in two. She threw the halves to each side and went off to find someone who would answer her question. No second thoughts were given to that robot she had just torn apart.

In the Patriarch’s office soldiers stood ready.

“Patriarch, the extraction jump ship will be here in two minutes." the Patriarch's assistant told him.

"Thank you, Leslie, Matriarch bless you." He replied.

The enormous double doors to the room burst open, flying off of their hinges. The Matriarch stood in the doorway looking in.

The Patriarch was shocked to see her, “Hold your fire! Don’t shoot!” he shouted.

The soldiers were confused, but obeyed.

“Matriarch, is that really you?” He walked into the centre of the room and fell to his knees. A collective gasp went through the room.

“Are you the one who calls himself, ‘the Patriarch’?” She asked.

“Your greatness, it is I, Roy, your most loyal servant. I’ve never once lost faith in your return.”

The Matriarch leapt forward and clamped her jaws over his head. She placed her arms on his shoulders and pulled back, ripping his head off. The soldiers in the room looked on with surprised shock. She spat his head onto the floor.

“KILL IT!” someone shouted and they all began to fire at the Matriarch. Her slaughter continued.

After the mean old man said his bad words to her. The woman decided to slaughter her new tribe and live alone for a while to rediscover herself. The moral of this story is….

Anyways, the end. (of this chapter)