Book version of my John Wolfstone story |
A Safe School in a World of Monsters for Humans By alockwood1 (Note: this story is both inspired by and takes place in the world of “Human in a Monster World” which is on writing.com on the file of the author oddler.) In a large house on top of a hill, surrounded by many other houses, some larger than his own, though most are smaller, a man yawns and stretches as he gets up from bed. At a hulking 7 feet 5 inches, he is an intimidating sight, for a human. However, many humans are last rate citizens, with most being at the bottom of the food chain. But John, however, is not like most humans, in fact he is only part human. Both of his parents were each half human, with his mother being half-giant and his father half-werewolf. John could easily grow to the height of 100 feet, grow fur, thus turning into a rare giant-werewolf, then, while still in his werewolf shape; shrink down to a 10 foot tall werewolf. After that, he could turn back into his human form. Of course, he could change into any of those forms, at any height between his normal human one, all the way to his largest giant, or giant-werewolf, size. However, in any shape or form, John was a force to be reckoned with. Throughout school he had gained the reputation as being a “vegetarian” in that he wouldn’t eat the flesh of other sentient beings, unless he had no real choice, even going so far as to assault the principal when he had eaten a student who had been a disciplinarian’s worst nightmare, in how he behaved. Of course, John always had the perfect, legitimate, and therefore, legal excuse, that the student was his “Pet” or slave. By law, monsters could claim humans, and weaker monsters, as “pets” and slaves. These so-called pets and slaves had to wear collars around their necks, with a tag that had the name of their owner, and the owner’s address, on it. They were also used for various things, from being made to do chores around the house, to pleasuring their owner with his desires, no matter what it was. However, while the owner could eat the occasional disobedient and problematic pet or slave, no one else could touch it, let alone eat it, without the owner’s consent. Of course, with the money his parents made from their jobs, John could have as many pets and slaves as he wanted. In fact, by the time he graduated from school, he had over one hundred of these so-called pets and slaves, most being fellow students he had saved from the stomachs of overzealous teachers, who were allowed to eat misbehaving or failing students. In fact, due to his “vegetarian” ways, many humans and weaker monsters felt safe enough to even go to his home for the weekend, as his mother and father, due to their own human nature, rarely ate other sentient beings, aside from traveling salesmen and priests that didn’t take the hints that his parents were not interested in buying anything or converting. In fact, they would even go to the stockyards, where problematic kids were sold to restaurants and the like, buy up as many as they could, and then adopt them as their own, which was perfectly legal, if highly frowned upon by the rest of the monsters. Of course, the children tended to follow their rules, as most people bought from stockyards rarely got to live for more than a few days, before being eaten, unless they agreed to become that person’s pet or slave. John had gone to Harmony University, a place that had an important rule; both the staff and students were forbidden from eating others. It was a policy that was unheard of, but the headmaster, a dragon, would always reply, “A live student paying his tuition is worth more than the most delicious feast.” While John didn't know if the headmaster preferred money over eating human flesh, or if he was a “vegetarian” like himself, he felt safe enough to go through collage in his human form, very rarely having to grow or shift into his werewolf form. It was during this time he decided to become a teacher, so he could teach others. When he graduated, he found out that he had not only a teaching degree, but also one in philosophy. Unfortunately, when he got home, he received the news that his parents had died of old age. (They had had him relatively late in their lives.) Given he was their eldest child, when his aunts and uncles, who were full blooded werewolves or giants, made the claim that his “older siblings” were just pets and slaves, which could only receive freedom upon their master’s death, but nothing else, John found himself owner of all that his parents had, and became very wealthy. Of course, his parents had thought ahead and wrote in their respective wills that their spouse, or John, whichever was surviving, would inherit everything because their full monster-blood relatives were not only money grubbing, but very cruel. When John looked at the deed, he realized that he had more land than he knew what to do with. Half of it was wild and untamed, perfect for things like wild dear, rabbits, birds, and other things he preferred to eat, to live in. The other half was a more recent purchase, an area that was mostly the sort of grass that one could find in their yards. As he checked the land out, he was puzzled: Why would his parents spend so much money on a relatively poor area of land? There was no valuable wood in the forest; there were only trace amounts of precious metals and minerals, hardly anything to justify even keeping it, except maybe farming it, but there was little to no profit in that. Besides, he had gone to college to be a teacher, not a farmer. Then one day, while was checking out his parents’ room, he found a journal. In it were ideas his father had wrote down, calculations for lengths of piping, wiring, plumbing, lumber and more. At first, it made no sense, until he saw a painting his mother had made. In it was a house up on a hill, surrounded by at least a dozen others. There was even a scene where children were playing, of all species, with parents watching. Then he saw someone, who looked familiar. As he looked at the person, he gasped, it was him. Then he smiled, as he knew what his parents had wanted. While at first glance, the picture looked like a typical neighborhood, when one looked closer, especially in the eyes of the people, there was something extraordinary to be seen. These people had no fear of each other. A dragon was pushing a human on a swing set, a werewolf played cards with a cat-like creature (there are several types of those), and a harpy was playing hide and seek with a giant, were just a few of the things he saw. One other thing he saw was that various adult creatures were hunting for wild animals in the untamed area. The message was loud and clear. He was to build a place were all could live in harmony, without any fear about getting eaten by their neighbors. |