A young mercenary opened the door to one of the most infamous and famous shops in the ironically hellish city of Heaven. The man was tall and handsome with curly blond hair that fell on his shiny silver-tinted armor. On his way to the shop, many have offered enormous amounts of teeth for the pleasure of doing all kinds of horrible shit to his pretty face. Unlike most of the people in the Hierarchy, the merc was not into these kinds of things. He did not come to "Hairy's shop of trash but also some gems" to sell/buy "trash" or "gems" either. What he was looking to trade was not physical.
Ever since he was a young boy, the merc loved stories. While the authenticity of Hairy's stories was questionable at best, they were always interesting. standing near the entrance to the shop was a boulder of a man with what could be an entire novel written in scars on his flesh. It was hard to tell if he was even awake with how still he was standing and the rusty mask covering his face. The merc ignored him and opened the door.
Hiding behind a pile of scraps, Hairy popped his head up. Like many names on this side of the world, Hairy's name was spot on. The short yet muscular middle-aged man was covered with so many black hairs, that one may mistake him for a monkey. He had a huge wild beard that almost touched the floor. His warm brown eyes shined in the light behind hair as wild as his beard.
"Back for more? Excellent, I need a break and I have a good one for you already in mind." Hairy had a big smile on his face, the kind that means bad news for you usually when you see it in Heaven. But this one was honestly warm and non-malicious. He told the stone man outside that the shop was closed for the day and signaled him to block the door.
The merc already put his payment of metal-covered teeth on one of the tables and was sitting in his usual seat ready and waiting. Hairy sat as well and started his tale.
"Beneath the city of heaven, there are endless tunnels. The legends say they were not originally there but the result of some kind of magic ritual. Most say it required the extreme torture of thousands of newborn babies or something else just as edgy and needlessly cruel. Others more in the know will say that that was just propaganda to make God look even more evil and scary. They claim that the ritual was in fact kind of pleasant to behold and the one to perform it was even paid handsomely for his work. But only the seemingly immortal tyrants of heaven know the truth of the matter." Hairy took his metal flask for his belt, opened it, and drank a long sip. At the start, the merc thought it was some alcoholic drink until he almost fainted just from smelling it. It was definitely not alcohol and will definitely kill an uninitiated drinker of whatever it was.
"The first level of the tunnel serves a predictable purpose. It is full of torture dungeons, sex dungeons and most commonly a combination of the two. If you want to have a talk without any unwanted listeners, the sound isolation rooms of the first levels can work for that as well. Well, except God, I'm pretty sure he can spy on you anywhere in this city." Hairy put his hands around his mouth to amplify his voice and screamed, "NOT THAT I HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT OF COURSE."
"Better safe than sorry ha?" Said the merc with a smile.
"This is not a laughing matter boy, even if it is just us listening. There are fates much much worse than death. You should always remember that when you are trapped in the influence of this city." He said the words "this city" like they were the word of some ancient curse. When even Hairy gets serious the merc knows he should listen carefully.
"You're right, sorry mate. Shall we continue with the story?"
"Yes, Where was I? Ah right, the first level also has the heavily guarded tunnel that leads out of this trap of a city, but you already know about that. What you don't know about are the deeper tunnels. Somewhere a bit deeper is the territory of the roaches. You saw one of them for sure, lots of metal legs, sunken black eyes, skinny greyish skin."
"Yes, but they are always moving and running away when you even just look at them for too long. What even are they? They do look human in a way."
Hairy nods with a sad smile. "They look human because they were human once. You see, even if a slave manages to somehow leave the walls of the city no matter in what direction they run they will get back to this trap of a city. So, some slaves who are brave, dumb, or desperate enough run deep into the tunnels to dedicate themselves to the cockroach king. No one knows how the transformation happens, just that some of them come back as roaches."
"You said "cockroach king" is that their leader, or?"
"Good question, no one knows for sure. The roaches talk about him like some sort of deity, granting their one true wish to survive at all costs. Some say it is just some fictional deity, some say he was the first to transform but is not alive anymore and others say the king is real and still surviving and ruling the deep tunnels."
"Buuuut?"
"But there is one more controversial answer. Did you ever hear people of the Hierarchy saying "May the Queen of Maggots infest your soul"?"
"Yes, it is like your way of saying "go fuck yourself"".
"Exactly, "go fuck yourself" can be mistaken for a compliment here." He stops to drink for a moment, "The Queen of Maggots is a feared name for most who know its meaning but it is the most terrifying to the cockroaches as they believe the Queen is an opposing force to their king that threatens to eat them all to extinction. The scary thing is that the Queen of Maggots is real and probably still alive trapped in some of the deepest parts of the tunnels."
"I have heard very contradictory things about her, from her being a human that controlled an army of monsters to her being a literal huge insect-like beast that can dig impossible tunnels so deep they can reach hell."
"Yes, the rumors and legends do muddy the water a bit, don't they? Yet I do know from a couple of reliable sources that she was in fact a human." Hairy smiled but there was pain in his voice when he said, "But we both know that you don't have to be a literal huge insect-like beast to cast the shadow of a monster on the world."
The merc laughed nervously, "There's not a place in the world that proves that better than here." Like all who stay in Heaven long enough, both of them tasted the monstrosity of this city firsthand.
"Even in a city full of monsters, the Queen of Maggots stood out for her monstrosity. She had some sort of ability to control insects, an ability she loved using to infest people with parasites and meat-eating bugs. Some say she even infested herself."
"So mostly a sadist then?"
"Well, some say she was actually a pure masochist. Getting pleasure from a deep empathy with her victims. They say she was mainly infesting others because she couldn't do the same to herself without destroying her body, at least at the start."
"At least at the start?"
"Be patient boy, we will get there."
"Why do you call me boy all the time anyway?"
"Because you are younger than me of course." He answered in a matter-of-fact way.
"I look younger than I'm, but there is no way to know if you are older or not. I don't even know how old I'm."
"You are exactly 694,265,733 seconds old." He stopped to think for a moment. "Happy birthday!"
"WHAT?! HOW?"
"Well, long ago your mother and fath-"
"That is NOT what I asked, and you know it."
"Don't worry about it boy, let's get back to the story."
Knowing he won't get any honest answers, the merc said reluctantly, "Fine."
"SO, the Queen might have been the first to climb the hierarchy to the position of M2. If I had to guess, I would say she might have even helped God build Heaven."
"And how many seconds old would that make her, you time sorcerer?"
"IIIIIIIIIIIIII, genuinely don't know. Might be one of the questions only God can answer. This was so long ago this story has many contradictory versions. But they all agree that at the start the Queen was extremely loyal to God. Or at least she seemed loyal. Until something changes. She got a strong power of regeneration. Some say she got it from God as a reward for success in a recent war. Others say she found, bought, or stole a rare insect that came from the city of the Dead God itself. An insect that helped her make a breakthrough in her experiments to modify and change the human body. No matter the origin of that power, it was the end of the old M2 she used to be and the rise of the Queen of Maggots."
"I know where this is going, now she can infest herself."
"Yes, and the result was horrific. She didn't just infest herself, she became one with her swarm. Starting to feel the sensations of her insect. With her flesh endlessly growing back she became a walking insect nest. She somehow started breeding parasites that can enhance the host not only destroy them. But most horrifying of all was that she had ones that could change the human brain as well. Some legends say she could even control people completely with those brain parasites. She used her new powers to evolve into the Queen of Maggots, changing her body and soul. Finally, she was her swarm. Finally, she felt what it was like to be endlessly eaten by bugs. Finally, she felt what it was like to be endless numbers of insects at once eating, infesting, and defiling not only herself but also tens of thousands of victims at once. And she was euphoric."
"This is too extreme even for the Hierarchy."
"It was, God declared her a degenerate and put a huge bounty on her head. She found her personal heaven and there was no room for two gods in Heaven, so the first and only civil war in Heaven started."
"What? Even with her new powers how did she start a war with the entirety of the city? Everyone in this city is armed and ready for war at all times."
"I don't have clear answers, but the queen probably prepared for this years before her transformation. Breeding insects deep beneath the city and gaining the loyalty of gangsters and slaves through fear and false promises. Maybe she had the brain-controlling parasites for years, creating obedient soldiers without even them knowing."
"Like there wasn't enough paranoia in this bloody city already."
"Yes, and that is before you take the concoction of drugs every person in this city consumes daily into account. Not that I can judge." He said, taking a sip of a substance so potent one can claim it was the weapon used to kill the Old God. "The details of the war itself are even more contradictory than the rest of the story. Huge abominations made out of multiple people destroying entire buildings, God covering the entirety of lower Heaven with deadly gasses, demented mages that can make a person or bug explode going on a rampage killing indiscriminately, Swarms of insects so big they covered the sky, and many more horrors and wonders."
Hairy said the next part with a devious smile on his face, "all of these may be just legends, but one is reality. Fighting on the queen's side were skinny cockroach people with metal limbs."
From above the two, a quiet voice spoke with sharp quick breaths between its words "You tell" *breath* "dangerous LIES" *breath* *breath*.
The merc jumped from his sit and pulled a dagger from his belt. From the ceiling hung a thing that had hints of the human it used to be. Its human limbs were long gone with long slender metal insect limbs poking out of its body to replace them. Its skin was light grey, and its eyes were entirely black, sunken inside half-empty eye sockets. From its bald head poked long and straight metal limbs that moved endlessly in random directions independently of each other.
"HAHA, I knew one of you was stalking me. I meant no offense just to draw you out so I can make a proposal." Said Hairy with a smile.
"We are listening" *breath*.
"Firstly, I can get you lots of scrap metal for the upcoming war. Secondly, I have lots of connections you can make use of. Lastly, if we do strike a deal, I will vow by the name of God to never tell the story of the Queen of Maggots ever again. Take some time to think about what you need from me and then I will tell you what I need from you."
As soon as he said the last word the cockroach was gone. Somehow moving fast but quiet at the same time.
The merc was still on guard, fear visible on his pretty face. " Why do I keep coming back here?!"
"Well, if you don't like it here you are free to leave." Said Hairy with a devilish smile.
The merc looked at the door for a couple of seconds and then, still looking at the door, he said in a quiet voice, "I, I still want to know the end of the story."
"Hahahaha, see? There is your answer. You come back here because you're an addict just like everybody else in Heaven. Speaking of addicts." He drank the rest of his flask in one go. "So, back to the story. The two sides were evenly matched, but it's said that the queen had the greater number of bodies to throw into the grinder and with time she would have won the war by attrition. So, God took some drastic measures. Well, more drastic measures than before."
"Like anyone in the Hierarchy knows any other measure than a drastic one."
"This was drastic on a new scale. God used some sort of power that killed most of the queen's pawns and probably lots of the ones on his side as well. It was so powerful, half of the slaves in the city were sent to the soul generators, their souls consumed completely to fuel God's deadly miracle. You probably want me to just say what that power was. The thing is, there are no rumors or legends about this one as anyone who talks about it in too many details just disappears."
"Curiosity killed the cat."
"Indeed, but here is what I can tell you. The queen was not defeated yet even after the miracle. She retreated into the deep tunnels to a place not even God knew about. But do you know who did know about it?"
"The cockroach-"
"The cockroaches! They knew the tunnels better than anyone and with the queen losing and them caring only about their own survival, they made a deal with God to save themselves from his wrath."
"How did that even happen? Didn't the queen control them directly?"
"Apparently, they were the only creation of hers to be independent, by design or maybe by mistake. Parasites can't even live in their body and their flesh offers absolutely no nutrition."
"Ha, funny how the only servants she didn't control completely ended up betraying her. If she ever had any trust in others she didn't anymore after that."
"I don't think she trusted them, she probably knew what she created and expected betrayal. But, if she could still feel angry, she was probably still furious with their betrayal, especially as it led to her final defeat. In the end, God with the guidance of the roaches either killed or trapped the queen deep inside the tunnels."
"Hopefully dead. We have more than enough terrors in this city without her."
"Well, if she is alive, there is this thing that happens from time to time. Sometimes an arm will be removed only to discover it was a still alive parasite. Or sometimes eggs will be found hiding inside someone's belly fat. I even heard they found worms inside a slave's brain ones."
"Well, I'm not going to sleep tonight. Thank you for that."
"I do know that one lady that can remove your need to sleep if you're interested. There are serious side effects of course."
"I'll pass. I think it is time for me to go."
"Ok, see you next week kid."
The merc left the shop that day with a new appreciation for the fact that he had enough money to get a bed above ground.
