Morbidius Ultimatum
“Aaaah visitors, how nice. Welcome, welcome, welcome to Oblivia. Why, I haven’t had guests in... oooh let’s see... mmmm... well, actually never!” The greeting was followed by a childish giggle.
“Oh no, here it comes” quaked Chilli. She gritted her teeth to meet something more horrible than the giant cockroaches.
“You must please excuse my mischievousness. It’s just that I am always surrounded by those stupid, foul-smelling Mutandii and I have to amuse myself to stay sane. They are extremely useful but the poor creatures weren’t blessed with brains, I’m afraid. It is truly a burden for one as intelligent as I to be cursed with those dolts as servants. Ahem,” he cleared his throat, “but I’m being very rude. Please allow me to introduce myself; Morbidius Ultimatum Esquire is the name. You may address me as Morbidius.” He gave a deep bow as if he was addressing royalty.
Chilli and Ty were dumbfounded. Standing in front of them was an extremely handsome human being! He had an angular jaw, a strong Roman nose and generous lips that could make any woman’s heart skip a beat. A luxurious mop of shoulder-length, wavy black hair topped off this fine specimen of a human male.
It would be fair to say that Mr Ultimatum was extremely vain. From his manicured fingernails to his highly polished crocodile boots, it was quite clear that his looks were very important to him. However, his fashion sense was bizarre. Draped over an expensive black dinner suit was a floor length white mink coat and, around his neck was a silver fox fur boa. His fingers were crammed with vulgar rings weighted with large diamonds, opals, sapphires, rubies and emeralds that flashed in the chandelier’s bright light. Dangling around his neck was a pocket watch that was so big it was almost comical.
It was hard to believe that someone with Morbidius’s charm and good looks would want to harm them; however macabre his décor and dress sense. But then Gaia’s words came back to Chilli, reminding her of what they were up against: “it is he who has placed your parents in danger, Rachel”.
The memory of those words angered Chilli. She stood up abruptly. “You!” she said accusingly, pointing a finger at him, “you’re the slimebag who wants to kill my parents. You’d better let them go right now!”
Ty wasn’t feeling quite as confident as Chilli. He tugged her on her arm, trying to make her sit down again. He wasn’t so sure they’d be seeing sunlight any time soon. If Morbidius could so easily get rid of her parents, it wouldn’t take much for him to decide to do the same to him and his two friends.
“Tch, tch, tch, little girl” Morbidius clucked patronisingly, “didn’t your parents teach you it’s rude to point? Mind you, I do so enjoy someone with a bit of fire in them. Mmm, I had intended to get rid of you meddlesome three immediately, however, I find you quite amusing. I think I may spare you for a few more days. I need a bit of diversion from the daily drudgery. Besides, lately I have felt the urge to share my achievements with someone other than my dull cohorts. I’ve been hiding my light under a bushel for far too long.” His languid voice drawled when he spoke, as if life for him had become oh so tiresome.
“You know who we are?” asked Ty, determined not to show his fear.
“Oh, but of course I do. Why, I know just about everything that happens to anyone and anything, anywhere at any time. You are those brats sent by Gaia to ‘save the planet’.” He made the sign of quotation marks in the air. “How pathetic to send two snivelling kids and a baboon to stop me, Morbidius! Hah! You and whose army? Besides, you humans are far too busy fighting and killing one another to worry about me.” His attractive face scrunched up into an unpleasant snarl. For the first time the children saw what was lurking beneath this man’s skin. He was a self-centred, heartless individual without compassion.
“What’s that got to do with my parents? Huh? What?” Chilli shouted at him angrily, refusing to sit down again.
“Oh, boo-hoo, all this lovey-dovey nonsense and mommy and daddy drivel. Eugh!” Morbidius’s body shuddered as though someone had walked over his grave. “I sincerely hope that whatever love, how I do hate that word, you have for your parents, isn’t catching.” He yanked a white linen handkerchief out of his coat pocket and held it to his nose as though he was trying to ward off dangerous germs.
“Your parent’s dismal attempt to save that blasted morphus delecti has robbed me of one of the specimens that I have been looking forward to for millions of years. Quite frankly, there are more than enough humans to go around, so two less won’t make any difference. I had a choice – your parents, a beautiful butterfly, your parents, a beautiful butterfly.” He held out both his hands as though measuring the weight of something in each, then shrugged.
“Oops, your parents lost. I chose the butterfly and washed those tiresome scientists down the Amazon River. You’d better start getting used to being an orphan, Chilli” Morbidius said with a nasty smile.
“You... you...” Chilli screamed at him. She was so angry she could hardly speak. Ty had to hang onto her pants leg to stop her from lunging at Morbidius.
“Oh hush child. It’s not the end of the world, yet” chuckled Morbidius.
Just then, the lid of the clock around his neck sprung open and announced: ‘time’s-a-wasting, time’s-a-wasting, time’s-a-wasting’. Morbidius reached up and snapped it shut in irritation.
“Oh” he sighed, “you can’t imagine how busy I am. My collection is growing by the hour and I scarcely have a moment to myself. You don’t get to look like this without a certain amount of care and attention, you know. I’ll tell you what... I’m in the mood to give you a little tour of my humble abode. You three follow me. Be careful not to stray or one of my Mutandii will have you. I have given them permission to eat on sight. Don’t you just love that - eat on sight?” He giggled at his macabre joke and then continued, “the truth is, they do love a bit of fresh meat, but they have yet to try human flesh which, I believe, is almost as delicious as pork. My lieutenant-at-arms, Detritus, would love to get his claws into you. That baboon also looks delicious to him. I’m sure Detrititus would enjoy a nibble of bush meat for lunch. Now, follow me!” He swept out of the room with a grand flourish of his long coat.
“C’mon, Chilli” Ty whispered as he led her to the door, “let’s play along. It’ll give us time to work out how to get out of here.”
“You’re right. We mustn’t let him convince us we can’t do anything. We’ll find a way.” Chilli’s voice took on a firm determination. She wasn’t going to let that... that thing-person kill her parents.
“Let’s go get ‘em. Oubaas, come” said Ty, patting the baboon on the head for encouragement.
The trio of friends followed their host out the door.