Prompted Story Snippets

A Monster's Musings

Was I a monster in their story? Was I the monster in mine?

Really- really though. How would I know? I was always the monster in my story but how would I know if I was the monster in theirs?

I guess it's one of those things that you don't think about. One of those things that you don't want to look in the eye. One of those things that you push away until it comes back to haunt you at a time in which it's just too big to leave behind.

I don't know if I was the monster. I know I was the antagonist but that's not the same as being a monster, is it? 

Is it...? I don't know. 

I guess I'm a monster. They always called me that. They always looked me in the eye and said, "Look what you've done you monster" and I believed them.

Why did I believe them?

Well, I knew I'd done those things. I knew I laughed as I watched them burn, I knew I cried as I watched my troops falter, I knew I'd done something... wrong.

But what did I do wrong?

If I'm a monster, then you're all monsters. There are no people here. There are no people here. No people - people...

You all want to say that people are good, that they're not inherently evil. Then let me ask you this one simple question: If we're not inherently evil then why is only one side of this war treated like monsters? Hm?

Why are we always the monsters? 

I'm a monster, and my father was a monster, and his mother was a monster, and her mother was a monster, and her father was a monster. You could go back for hundreds of years and our title would still be Monster. 

Because that's all we ever were to you. That's all we ever will be. 

And I will stand there and I will look you in the eye and I will say, "I am not a monster"... and I will be lying. Because I know what it is to be a monster. Because I know what it is... to be afraid.

You mustn't forget; monsters aren't only monsters to people, they're monsters to each other. 

You cannot put a wolf in a room with a human and expect it to bow down to the human's desires, no, that's what you do with a dog. And dogs, we have worked with for thousands of years. Dogs, we trust and they trust us. A mutual relationship of sorts.

A wolf knows nothing of this trust A wolf only sees something that is going to hurt it; that is going to hurt its pack. I don't think it's like that with humans and monsters. 

What was that saying? That saying that someone said that I can't remember.

Monsters aren't born, they're made.

Do monsters make war or does war make monsters?

Do I really want to know? Do I want to know?

I don't know. Maybe because it's hard to remember what it's like not to be a monster when you were born into a war where everything you did was a carefully measured act for the destruction of your enemies or the welfare of your allies. 

There is no in between. Not in a war. Not in this war. And if you say there is then you're living in a gray area that I cannot touch. 

It's easier for most others than it is for me, because as a full-blooded monster you will only ever see me as a monster. 

Those who have the potential to become monsters don't have to become them. They can remain dormant. They don't have to be forced into the light.

They're the innocent- the far more innocent people that live below the castle, that live far away from this- this lair of machinations and anger and greed and rage.  They are far more innocent and they will be accepted because they are not monsters. 

Or at least they aren't born monsters. You can forgive them. And you have forgiven them. But you haven't forgiven us. 

For all that I might not be a monster, all the more that I am. 

I am a monster. I cannot deny it and you cannot deny it. 

And what do we do with monsters? What do we do with the wolves and dogs that bite us? 

We put them down. And I know that you're going to do it to me. I know that it's what you'll do, because it's what I'd do.

Look, although I may be a monster, there are things that humans and monsters do that are alike.

If a wolf were to bite me, I would not look at it and commend its bravery. I would look at it and become overwhelmed with grief, because I know that right there is an animal acting out of fear. Lashing out because it knows no other way to survive.

I don't think it's like that with people. People you can forgive, people you can fight, people you can reason with. But you don't reason with monsters. 

If I truly am a monster, then do what you will with me. I don't care if the citadel's been taken, I don't care if my father is dead, I don't care if my brothers have fallen.

I just wish that you would forgive our people. For even if we are at fault they are not. 

While we are born monsters, they are made into monsters. And I think it's important that you all remember that.

So do what you what you will with me, I care not. If there's one thing that I hope you do, it's that you remain people. That you remain human. That you remember how to forgive.

Because while a monster might be eternally steeped in hatred, humans will always find a way to forgive. And I guess that is what makes you human. I guess that's all it is.

Monsters are unforgiveable but people you can forgive, I understand. 

Either way, I wish that the people will never have to become monsters again. That I or any of my family will ever forge them into weapons.

For while we are always going to be monsters, they don't have to be.