Kinverse: Volume One

PATH OF THE EMERALD MAIDEN

A naive young monster’s tale by Moros, aka KinverseWriter

Legal Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise herein mentioned. No copyright infringement is intended. All characters and events in this story are entirely fictional. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental. This work of fiction contains disturbing content.

Reader discretion is advised.

Description:

A young woman from a pre-neolithic society is accidentally whisked away to another world entirely during a raid on a research lab run by alien invaders. Stranded with no friends, badly injured, and no idea where home even is, she’s forced to live off the land and learn how to survive in this strange and hostile world.

There’s only one slight problem, though.

She’s not trapped in this world with them. They’re trapped in this world with her.

Categories:

Adventure, Coming-of-Age, Isekai, Erotica.

Disclaimers:

This story contains sexual elements and disturbing themes. The contents aren’t purely intended to be pornographic, but some scenes objectively are. This is about a giant monster that eats people, so reader discretion is advised. This story contains vorarephilic themes.

This story will have a very slow and intermittent pace to begin with. True stakes don’t really show up until halfway through, though the build-up is always there in the background. This is ultimately not a story of grand adventure and defeating one’s enemies to rise to the top, it is the tale of a lost and naive young woman growing as a person and learning new things. It is a personal one concerning her, and thus this story will be told in present-tense first-person.

Chapter 26: Interlude 4: The Sister

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A/N:

Are you ready for emotional whiplash?

---

The days following Carey’s disappearance and the ensuing investigation were... hectic, to say the least.

Frank’s been a mess... mom’s covering up her worry with righteous anger...

...and then there’s me.

Good old Sam! Just... trucking along. Here. In the background. With nothing to do. I’m no help out in the woods days after she’s gone missing, so here I sit. It’s not like I’m super out of shape or anything, I’m just...

Oh, who am I kidding? I’m just a coward.

I grab my phone and idly flick through my social media again. Because I have nothing to do and would have something to do if I was out there. But I’m not.

I feel a pang of guilt warring with the desire to simply... not. I toss my phone down beside me on the couch and force myself to stand. It isn’t entirely my fault at least.

The sound of sizzling meat echoes through the too-empty house.

“Mom, I can take care of myself,” I call over. “At least let me help with the flipping?”

She forcibly moved in and she’s been working pretty much non-stop: making sure the house is up to her restaurant license-standard of cleanliness, helping with upkeep that we’d been putting off, and preparing me pre-made lunches and dinners as if I’m not capable of doing it myself.

I hear the clacking of spatula-on-counter and her head pokes around the corner. She wears a strained smile.

“It’s alright honey, you just rest.”

Excuses. That’s what my life has become ever since that fire. Mom foremost has been working hard to give me as many as she can; and so it is that I sit, and I let her do it.

Because... it’s how she’s coping. And she doesn’t give me much choice.

I slump back on the couch, bored out of my mind. I could go on my computer but sitting in a figurative hole in the ground isn’t healthy at a time like this. I have today off of work so I can’t follow Mom’s example seeing as she’s already done all of the cleaning. And movie marathons alone are horrible.

Literally anything to break the monotonous anxiety-inducing wait would be just perfect.

Ding dong!

The doorbell rings as if summoned by my thoughts. I get up and go over to check the window, part of me hoping that it’s somehow Carey.

Instead, it’s...

Frank.

Fuck. What the hell is he doing here?

“Sam, honey! Get the door! My hands are covered in beef and spices!” Mom calls out from the kitchen where she’s preparing more patties, likely so that I- we’ll have a supply for months afterward.

She’s fine. She has to be. But I sigh to myself anyway, only half-believing it because ultimately...

Carey’s not here any more to be the big strong sister. Man up, Sam...

And so I pick myself up and go to the door.

Click. I twist the lock before pulling it open. Frank idly stands on the porch, turning to face me. Our eyes meet for a moment before I awkwardly look to the side... then force myself to look back at him. I’m sick and tired of acting like a teenager.

I force my best welcoming smile.

“Hey... Frank. Welcome. Come in.” I step aside.

He nods and enters, taking off his boots and jacket while I watch. He’s wearing a simple grey t-shirt and blue jeans, his uncovered arms showing nothing beyond average fitness that still excites an underused part of my monkey brain.

“Thanks for inviting me over. How are you holding up?” he smiles.

What?

...

Mom!

I cough awkwardly.

“Uh- yeah, you’re welcome. Mom is- making lunch right now. Come in,” I force out.

“I can smell. But what about you?” he presses.

How- how do I smell? Do I smell bad?! No, wait...

“I’m- alright. It’s been stressful worrying about Carey but Mom’s here to help and I’m sure she’s okay.”

Goose calls over from the kitchen. “You’re right on time, Frank! Lunch is almost done!”

Frank looks at me, shrugs, and heads for the dining room as I follow in his wake. Like I’m being led.

It’s obvious what’s going on here. Mom invited him over but made it look like I did. Somehow. Or he knows what’s up and he’s in on it. She’s already set the table, and I note how there are only two places across from each other; I thought nothing of it before, but now... well. We take our seats.

I look over into the kitchen and see her finishing up packaging the artisanal burger patties before placing them in the fridge freezer. Frank follows my gaze and we watch in silence as she tongs the pan-cooked patties onto unfinished hamburgers; both simple cheese-lettuce-tomato ensembles. I again note how there are only two plates, two burgers, and two patties.

She finishes assembling them, grabs the plates, and ferries them over to us.

“Oh, shoot. I just remembered! You kids have fun, I’ve gotta go check on something with the Grillhouse.” She winks at me from behind Frank where he can’t see. “I’ll be back later to clean up.”

Oh the scheming hag! I know what’s going on here!

Despite fuming internally I continue my forced smile. “See you later Mom. Thanks,” I grit out.

She summarily leaves, locking the door behind herself. Frank looks back over to me and we sit in silence for the moment. Until-

“Are you okay? You’ve been smiling for like, two minutes straight.”

I release it. Shit!

“Yeah, fine, fine. I’m absolutely fine. Don’t worry. All good.”

“Oookay.”

Neither of us touch our food.

“...Ladies first?” he awkwardly jokes.

AHHHH WHY IS HE SO CASUAL? HOW IS HE SO CASUAL?

I robotically pick up my burger in one hand and daintily take a bite, not wanting to embarrass myself. He shrugs and grabs his own, having no compunctions against just eating it normally.

Silently we eat.

“So...” he says. I look up and notice he’s done with his burger and I’m only halfway there. “You been keeping busy?”

I chew, swallow, and set mine down. “I wish,” I mutter noncommittally.

“Right, right.”

Silence. After a moment I pick back up and take another bite of my burger, withering under his gaze.

“I haven’t had much to do either. Work’s been slow. Park’s- uh, still being kept closed.”

“Mhm,” I grunt.

“You probably don’t want to hear about... the park. C- Goose said you had some friends you stayed with during the evac, how’re they doing?”

They don’t exist. I lied to Carey about them. Lies and excuses.

“Fine too. They live out of town and Mom wants me here.”

Bite. Chew. Chew. Swallow.

“Cool, cool. I know most of your friends are online, so... yeah.”

Bite. Chew. Chew. Chew. Swallow.

He continues. “Do you have any hobbies?”

Bigger bite. Chew. Swallow.

“Not really,” I say.

Bigger bite. Chew. Chew. Swallow.

“I like to read,” I blurt out.

Way bigger bite. Chew-

“That’s cool. Me too.

Swallow- GHK!

I choke and cough, eventually forcing the food down. Frank looks at me concerned, half-up from his chair in indecision. He slowly sits back down.

“Woah, be careful. I get I finished before you but don’t try to eat the whole thing at once.”

At least the last of my own burger is gone too. I get up with my plate, bringing it to the kitchen.

“Sam, come on, talk to me here.”

I put my plate on the counter, insert the drain plug, turn on the water, squeeze in some dish soap, and get to work.

“You don’t have to do that, Goose said she’ll-”

“I’m not a kid any more!” I snap.

I scrub a bit of errant ketchup from the plate, rinse it, and set it on our drying rack.

“Woah, I’m sorry. You’re not a kid, Sam. Just talk to me, okay? Don’t bottle everything up.”

The cork pops. Now I snap.

“Fine! You win, Frank! I hate this! I’m sick and tired of living in Mom and Carey’s shadows! Carey goes fucking missing and now I have to deal with Mom coming over and doing everything for me! I can’t even make myself a sandwich without her trying to take over! I can’t do my own laundry, I can’t do my own dishes! The next thing I know I won’t be able to dress without her!”

I continue scrubbing, getting fat off of our pan and spatula.

“I didn’t invite you, Frank! I didn’t want you over! I wanted to be alone but my scheming mother had other plans! She invited you over!”

I don’t look over to see his expression but his tone says everything.

“I... see.” A beat passes. “I’ll go then. I’m sorry.”

My words catch up to me.

“No, wait, stay- please! It’s fine!” I stammer out, looking over to him. He’s grimacing from the dining room, his plate in hand. I stare at the plate and he approaches, handing it to me before keeping his distance once more as he leans back against a chair.

I sigh and scrub the plate. “I’m sorry. I’m not good with my emotions and feelings. You can stay.”

I look back down, and he says nothing. Moments pass before I continue.

“You don’t know what it’s like, Frank. Being too much of a coward to do anything. To move away from my family and work at some fancy restaurant. To go out and meet people. Or even to ask you out to lunch. My mother had to do it for me without me knowing.”

I continue scrubbing the clean plate, lost in my words.

“I like you, Frank. I said it. Mom knows it. Carey knows it. You better believe I know it. You probably already knew it. But I don’t know if it’s actually like-like or just socially awkward teenagery boy-like. We’ve barely spoken directly to each other, we barely know anything about each other, and I’m too chicken-shit to change that.”

The plate is long-past clean but it’s finally something to do.

Frank approaches from the side. His smell from being so close does something to the monkey part again. He smells of sweat and pine needles; the scent of one man working for two on park upkeep. He breaks the silence.

“Well... to be honest, I was waiting for you to say something first about it. I feel like it’d be... you’re not assertive enough and you know that. I don’t know what your life is like, but...”

I think for a moment but he continues, bringing to words uncoalesced ideas.

“...We can change things. You’re not a kid. You’re definitely able to take care of yourself without your family; that plate’s spotless. And you were pretty assertive just now.”

I realize what I’ve been doing and set it aside. With nothing else to wash I pull out the plug and let the water drain. Now that the moment passes I realize that the dishes could have waited until dinner’s dishes needed washing too to save on soap, but that doesn’t matter.

“I was,” I murmur. “I was.”

The ‘not’ in my brain takes a back seat, bowing out as he responds.

“So. How about we do get to know each other better?”

A pit wells in my stomach and I feel a sense of vertigo. Something within me breaks free, and tears flow.

“That sounds nice. Thanks.”

A tear drips down into the draining water. I choke back a sob like some petulant emotional little girl, and that fear of judgement comes back but instead of mockery...

“Do you need a hug?”

“...Sure.”

...He vindicates my feelings and we embrace. I hug him tight, letting loose years of pent-up emotion. It’s the most contact and more that I’ve ever had with a boy or man in my life. I didn’t even have a father to hug growing up.

I mumble to myself and into his ear.

“People can just... disappear. They’re there and then they’re gone. She’s my sister, Frank.”

More tears fall. People can just disappear at a moment’s notice and I need to be brave if I want to live.

“She’s my sister. And it’s my fault too that I let her try to live my life for me. But she... just wants to help.”

He hugs me tighter before responding.

“At the party...” he begins before stopping in thought. “...she asked me to talk to you. I told her I’d think about it and to be honest I was a bit of a coward too. I felt like if I asked you it would feel... like not a real relationship. Looking back, like how you feel about Carey.”

“Thank you,” I sob.

He’s right. It would have just been like with Carey all over again.

I need to be stronger. For myself. For my future. For my family.

And speaking of my family...

The front door opens and the sound sends a bolt of panic down my spine. I break the hug, Frank acquiescing easily, and I turn to the kitchen’s entrance.

“I’ll show you assertive.”

The man gives me space, as if nothing revolutionary had occurred. The woman walks in, notes my changed kitchen, and opens her mouth.

“Sam, honey! You should be resting!” she tuts motherly.

Submissive guilt wells up but righteous frustration strangles it down. I glare back at her and put on my nicest smile and most respectful tone of voice.

“It’s okay, Mom. You’ve had such a long day, hard at work, and you could use a break. Right, Frank?”

For a moment she’s stunned before looking to my friend quizzically. He lightly nods.

“...Yeah, Goose. Sam’s been telling me all about how much of a help you’ve been for her, but she, uh...” he drops off, giving me a side-eye. I glare at him. “...she’s worried about how you’re doing during all of this.”

Smooth.

She gets that usual motherly obstinate look on her face as she opens her mouth, but before she can speak I rush forward and hug her.

“Mom. You’re being overbearing,” I whisper into her ear. I let go of the one-sided hug and her face drops, the situation becoming awkward. Her cheeks twitch as feelings and emotions pass through her rapidly in her own internal war, but she finally settles back on obstinance. I cross my arms. “I’m not blind, Mom. This is how you’re dealing with things, but that doesn’t mean you need to treat me like a kid.”

After a moment she huffs before talking back.

“Sam, you know I care about you,” she justifies. “I just want to make sure you’re okay. I want what’s best for you.”

“You set up a lunch date for me behind my back,” I retort. “You are treating me like a child.”

Before she can say anything in response a phone rings and I break my hug, looking for its source before my eyes settle on Frank.

Frank looks down at his phone with a confused stare before answering and bringing it to his ear.

“...Hello?” he asks.

Someone speaks from the other end. His eyes go wide and he looks over to us, lowering the phone away before speaking.

“It’s Carey.”

Me and Mom share a look. All stubbornness has left her. A few moments pass as Frank idly listens before speaking again.

“...Where are you?” he asks. “We can help you, just wait there!”

Something she says sets him pacing. “Woah, woah, Carey, what do you mean ‘back in town soon?’ Where are you, I can come and pick you up!”

We crowd closer to try and listen in. He angles the phone away. “She’s in Campbell River,” he says. It’s a nearby town, but the drive would still take the better part of an hour.

“Give me that!” Mom snarls, making a grab for the phone. He pulls back and I’m shocked by her sudden change in demeanor. He holds the phone above his head, an awkward look on his face as his eyes dilate in fight or flight; he likely half expects her to start wailing on him. The shorter woman instead fruitlessly grabs at it, tugging at his arms as the other end of the line goes silent. Her actions catch up to her and she pivots, darting for the hall.

“Goose- just- ahk. I’m with your family, Carey. Goose just raced out the door to come pick you up, I- just stay there, alright? Just stay there. She looked kind of mad, but please just stay there.”

He listens for a moment and I hang close, making out what she’s saying. Hearing her voice again sends a jolt of worry, relief, and unease through me.

“Frank. Listen, I do not have time to-”

Beep.

“Carey? Can you repeat that?”

Invading his personal space, all concerns about just how close I am vanish as I try to listen in further--but I hear nothing except for a tone, the line having gone dead.

He pulls the phone away from his hear, looks down at the screen, and curses.

“Fuck... not again.”

We exchange a glance. He fiddles with his phone and he finally sets it to speakerphone, but it rings and earns us no answer.

---

A/N:

‘I need to be stronger.’

And there you have it. That one blurb is where everything links together. Carey’s relevance to the story has been revealed, and now arrives the chapter and theme which show why Sam and Frank are around. Neither is just a supporting character for Emeral, our star of the show. This story is about growth--in more than one way.

Conflict! Drama! A love triangle? Every good story needs a love triangle, even if it isn’t a romance!

I’m kidding. No contrived relationship drama here. Just cool, smooth, alien-related smackerinoing. With a minor background romance side-plot that has little detail to it because that’s not what the story is all about.

Much like the rest of the interludes this was a difficult chapter to write. Even finding where to put it was difficult, as the events within were originally planned to be 'off-screen.' When I got to the chapter where it really became relevant... I realized it was far too told-not-shown. So here we have this chapter.

Sometimes an interlude will consist of only one chapter, but sometimes there are two. Sometimes they're linked, other times they aren't. The interludes system is a necessary one for conveying the larger context of the story whilst also serving as a palate cleanser of sorts--or in other cases an appetizer. Interlude two was both, and so is this one.

Chapter 13 was a step away from Emeral's depraved actions, and 14 was a reminder that she is still out there, bringing the reader back in with questions. Chapter 25 was a dark look at her aftermath and effects, whilst this one served to show that there is hope... and that some things transcend worlds.

Sam is a simple character in that she carries a lot of pent-up frustration beneath her shy and demure manner. Her sister's disappearance has been a pivotal experience allowing her to break her shell, but what comes after will decide the course of her life.

Emeral is much the same, but is entirely removed from everything keeping her repressed--all but her own plans which she has begun to amend. She has no big sister to look after her and she's all alone but for her Carey... who remains trapped with a creature who is hard to call benevolent.