A Plan To Beat Death

A death mite? Takao knew of it from bedtime stories that scared kids into behaving. It was one thing for it to be sealed away, but it was entirely different for it to be loose. A hundred questions swirled around in his head, but before he could ask them, Sumire spoke first.

“What happened?” She yelled, suddenly angry at Kenta. “You said, you’d feel vibrations if the carcinus was coming. Why didn’t you warn us?”

“Because I didn’t feel it coming.” He said defensively. “Maybe the horde of monsters masked it. Maybe it was right outside the chamber the whole time. I don’t know. Either way, it doesn’t matter now.”

Sumire growled and still looked angry, but didn’t argue further.

“If the death mite was sealed away, surely it’s not controlling the carcinus. A seal is supposed to lock something away for good, right?” Takao asked nervously.

Sumire sighed, letting her anger subside.

“Seals don’t last forever. They naturally break over time, and if those monsters were undead. It can only mean the death mite is loose.” She said solemnly.

Takao felt himself pale.

“But at least they're not as bad as the stories, right? They don’t crawl inside you and eat you from the inside out? Or bring your dead friends and family back to life just to kill you?” Takao asked, feeling like his childhood nightmares were coming to life.

“I don’t know what stories you mean, but that’s not far off the mark. Death mites do hide inside undead bodies in order to protect themselves. And anything they turn undead won’t hesitate to kill, even if their family. That happened a lot during the war, actually.” She said somberly.

“What war?” Kenta asked, looking curious.

“The war from a hundred years ago. That’s where death mites come from. They were created by demons. Their plan was to use death mites to reanimate the dead, so that as the war went on, the demon army grew while the human army shrank. People were forced to fight undead abominations, including the walking corpses of their friends and family. It was a nightmare, gruesome and awful.” Sumire’s voice cracked, and she shuddered, wrapping her arms around herself.

Takao placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. He knew Sumire was strong, and seeing her brought to tears, Takao realized could only mean one thing. Death mites weren’t as bad as he imagined as a child, they were far worse.

“You talk about it like you were there.” Kenta commented casually.

After calming herself with several deep breaths, Sumire wiped her eyes.

“I know my history is all. Try reading a book.” She said with a scowl at Kenta, who shrugged and didn’t say more.

“But the dragon god won the war in the end, so death mites aren’t unbeatable. If she did it then, maybe we can do it now.” Takao hinted.

Back then, Sumire had won against demons, giants, monsters, and death mites, so Takao thought surely they could win against a single death mite. He looked at Sumire hopefully, but instead of confidence, he saw worry.

“Takao, can I talk to you over here?” She asked, gesturing away from Kenta and Mikami.

Takao followed her down the cave a short distance. Once they were out of earshot, she spoke quietly and urgently.

“Death mites are horrible monsters that shouldn’t exist. The death mite itself is easy to kill, but finding it is extremely difficult. I beat them in the past by decimating whole sections of the battlefield at once. If I tried that in this cave, we would be buried alive, and I don’t know if it would even work with all the tunnels it could hide in.”

Sumire paused. She bit her bottom lip and looked unsure of how to continue.

“And there’s something else.” She started, but paused again.

“I’m listening.” Takao assured her.

She took a deep breath then began again, speaking quickly as if she couldn’t hold herself back any longer.

“Something’s wrong. I’m losing my strength. It must be my injuries, I think, but I don’t know. Maybe it’s something to do with the dungeon. Whatever’s causing it, sooner or later my strength will be gone. If we’re going to do something, we need to do it soon. And I know you were expecting me to beat the death mite. And I don’t want to disappoint you, but I don’t think I can beat it. At least not alone.” She finished, taking a long breath and looking relieved.

Takao hadn’t expected this. Truth was, he had been thinking of Sumire as their secret weapon to getting out of there alive, but oddly enough, he didn’t feel discouraged by the revelation. He was happy Sumire had told him; happy that she trusted him. He smiled unconsciously.

“I’m not disappointed.” He said soothingly. “I’m glad you told me.”

Sumire smiled. Her usual confident demeanor returning. Takao was glad to see her smiling. His own worries started to fade, replaced by motivation. There had to be some way to beat the death mite? It wasn’t hard to kill, just hard to find. Because it could hide inside any of the undead monsters. Wasn’t there some way to figure out which monster it was in?

Takao raked his brain for a solution, then a thought came to him. He grabbed Sumire’s hand and led her back to Kenta and Mikami.

“Didn’t you say the carcinus breathes fire?” Takao demanded of Kenta.

“Yeah.” He said, looking somewhat perplexed.

“Then what was that green gas it spit at us?” Takao asked forcefully.

Kenta looked down, concentration etched on his face.

“I don’t know.” He admitted finally.

Takao turned to Sumire next.

“How do death mites turn things undead?” He asked eagerly.

Sumire thought for a moment before answering.

“They use a poisonous gas.” She recalled, then her face lit up with realization.

Takao smiled conspiratorially.

“I think we found where the death mite is hiding.”

Sumire’s Exposé!
The horrific war from one hundred years ago oddly inspired many nursery rhymes and children’s songs. The death mite especially became the subject of many legends and folk lore. One such tale toted that the death mite would awaken the dead ancestors of naughty children to drag them away and join the undead.