The Academiad - Book I

[A Hollow Man]

HUNGER - sing, Muse, of the Hunger of Anthony, son of old Richard, and

the devastation he inflicted upon us, once his comrades, that were

hurled in great multitudes down to the underworld. Give me the strength to

recount his atrocities and punishment by the will of the gods for them.

Start, if you please, from that fateful long day when he first left our midst to feed.

 

We had been travelling with him that afternoon across the woods of the

island of our great school, Duel Academy, once founded, it is said, by

Kaiba, Seto Kaiba, exalted child of Gozuburo Kaiba,

tyrant against whom he rose up and defeated, seizing his rightful place

from that man who would have given his inheritance to a shade of a boy long dead. His father

then exiled, Seto had tirelessly expanded his empire, constructing

institutes to promote study and practice of Duel Monsters warfare. At

such a Duel Academy were we walking that fateful day, Anthony

and myself, foraging, collecting grains to be fed to the cattle housed

beside the bright golden dormitory, sacred to Ra, to be maintained in

his honor. Anthony, searching for food for them alongside me, stopped to

sample the fruit of a lotus tree nearby, first taking just one, but then

three, then five, eating as quickly as his throat could swallow. They say that rats,

when faced with abundant sources of food, will not cease to consume even

when their small bodies can no longer hold what they devour, until their

stomachs burst fatally. So also did Anthony greedily devour then.

Turning to me, he made a request I should have rejected out of hand:

 

"Jacob's son Francis, would you do me this favor, and leave me behind here,

continuing on without my aid? This tree bears some unique quality, and it

warrants further investigation on my part, I believe fruit of this

nature may soon replace chocolate, and other goods that we treasure for

their taste, and it would be unthinkable to move away and leave such a

discovery unexplored. Proceed, and feed grain to Ra's cattle alone. In due

time, I will catch up with you, with what wisdom I may glean here, and atone

for my unhelpfulness on this day." So did speak Anthony, Richard's son.

 

At that time, I should have recognized in his eyes that madness. Just as a

man who first lays his eyes upon a beautiful woman, and, struck by the

touch of primordial Eros, feels nothing but that insatiable,

destructive, mad form of love, driving from his mind all other thoughts and

leaving just violent fixation upon the object of his desire,

and in his manners this becomes clear, so too did Anthony radiate

madness in his aura. But fool that I am, I failed at that moment to

recognize it, and simply agreed to press on alone and leave him to his own

devices, never imagining what would soon come from my oversight.

 

I did not see my friend Anthony again that day, nor the following

day, nor the day after that. A week flew past, and still Anthony gave me no

contact. This troubled me greatly, for in that week, strange events began to

transpire. Students would vanish while traveling between their classes, and

never appear again, whether they traveled in large groups or walked alone.

Fearful that I had left my dear friend Anthony as the first victim of

whatever was vanishing students, I felt guilt for leaving him behind, not

realizing the entire extent of my true guilt. On the tenth day, a man

emerged in front of my eyes from the forest near the duel arena - his

name was Philippe, a classmate I had known since our list theory course first year.

 

Short of breath, he panted as he spoke: "Francis, how relieving it is to

see a non-hostile face, for something awful has just happened and all the

lives of my friends are in jeopardy. We returned to our red dorm after

class with a shortcut through the island's woods when we happened upon a man

there by a cliff in a clearing more deep in the woods than we had meant to be.

 

His garb was tattered, his hands appeared dirty, as though he had neither bathed

nor changed his clothes in days. He spoke aloud - in fact, singing, if my friends' words

are to be believed, though I myself, most unable to appreciate music

and tone-deaf, cannot say. His mouth was filled by raw pork, from a

carcass in front of him, pig blood still leaking from harsh wounds inflicted, it

appeared, by teeth - human teeth. Around, carcasses reduced to skeletons,

and a few living pigs coralled in pens, were there too. Yet the food in his

mouth did not muffle his song. As we gazed at him suddenly we knew him -

Anthony, son of old Richard, his face barely recognizable with

grime from the forest. I knew at once something was horribly, strangely wrong,

urging my ill-fated friends to make haste and to leave that bad place at once.

 

But they seemed not to perceive me, remarking just how lovely Anthony's

song was, how beautiful and how melodious. He turned to face us and

beckoned to us, and my comrades all rushed forward, eager to hear that beast's

music so much better. Only I stood away, cowering, fearful, as

Anthony raised his hand once again. Waving, light flashed for an instant, and

when my eyes opened I saw that my classmates had been transformed into swine.

 

Thanking the gods that my tone deafness saved my life, I fled that wretched place,

seeking help, and ran straight into you, Francis, esteemed son of Jacob.

Our classmates' lives are in danger, all trapped in the bodies of pigs with that

abomination. Come, let us fetch aid from whoever believes me."

 

Thus told Philippe his tale. Without hesitation, I agreed to go

with him. We raised a small army of students and what few professors would

believe us, and from the school's storage we took some ear plugs to protect us

all from the deadly song, as well as whatever makeshift weapons we could.

Thus equipped. we set forth into the forest where Philippe saw Anthony.

 

Movement was difficult. We thought that silence would gain us the advantage

of surprise, but with our ears blocked we did not know just how much noise we made.

With our great numbers and the forest's thickness and all of our shovels and

steak-knives and assorted improvised weapons, we must have been very loud

in spite of our efforts. We were all scared of our cannibalistic and

sorcerous opponent, and therefore each of us watched the rest closely to

avoid becoming the last of us remaining should the rest break ranks and

flee. Like a flock of small birds only together up until one becomes

startled and flies away, scaring the rest of the flock into dissolving,

so too was our army fragile and unstable, prone to a quick collapse.

 

When we arrived at the clearing where Philippe had before encountered foul

Anthony, we found it changed from the way that Philippe had described it, the

pigs and the carcasses replaced by one giant boulder in front of the

cliff face. And Anthony himself, no longer appearing to sing, had grown,

towering over us, twelve feet tall, muscles as large as the trunks of the

trees, the ripped shreds of his clothing just scattered in dirt. As we watched, he bent,

removed the boulder and drew from the cave hidden behind it one student -

Jason, Philippe's friend. Replacing the boulder before the others behind it

could get out, Anthony lifted up Jason with two fingers, smiled, and then

bit down with fangs like great swords, and so devoured the boy in just two large gulps.

 

Crying out, thirty of us charged at once, flailing at that beast with what we thought

passed for good weapons, but Anthony's skin was so thick, like a monster, and we could not

coordinate with out ears plugged, so few of our blows seemed to work, while his strength let him

fell more than one of us with every swing of his bulky form. Slowly the

cannibal devoured us as he had devoured poor John, and he grew larger

with every ill-fated victim he consumed. The cowards then broke ranks

and fled, and so others, now seeing them flee, also abandoned the fight. At this

moment, the giant first noticed me, recognized me perhaps, charged at me

howling unnatural wails. I ran, drawing the monster from our tired

army through the woodlands. As we ran, Anthony grew further, transforming

before my eyes to the size of a building, his skin turning scaly like

that of a reptile, and sprouting an extra five heads with long necks, each with

three rows of teeth. With a single swift movement, he bit at and swallowed six

students who ran with me all at once, leaving me alone with his new and

terrible form as he gained ground. Then suddenly we came out behind the

yellow dorm, emerging from the woods near a dense population of poor

students not knowing the danger I had inadvertently placed them in.

 

Struck by a burst of inspiration, I sprinted Around the dorm to the

field where the most sacred cattle are kept. The beast followed me as I so

wove my last trap, and then, seeing the large cows, it lunged with its six heads and

gorged itself on half a dozen of their beef hides. Instantly, clouds filled the

sky, and it darkened as thunder now rumbled. A bolt from the heavens of

lightning then struck the beast.  Anthony burst into divine flames, collapsing as the last

life left his misshapen form. As the sky cleared once again, his remains were

completely reduced to mere ashes. Such is the penalty Ra inflicts

Upon those who would dare feast on the glorious cattle reserved for the

god of the sun. With the evidence, besides the missing men, so destroyed,

I then had nothing but terrible guilt for first leaving poor Anthony

back in the wretched woods one week before, and a sense of great dread that the

gods draw the line between food and not-food so that consuming humans is

permitted, but perversely, eating the cattle of the sun is forbidden.