How to Bow Rightly

1 Month after the Red Nina incident, our Nina got a knock on the door while she was alone at home. When she opened the door, she saw her cute blonde cousin with chin-lenghted curly hair.

“Hi, Nina.”

“Lola! I haven’t seen you in months! How have you been?”

“Nina… I know why I’m here. Let’s just get this over with, and then we can play.”

So Nina then took Lola to her bedroom. Lola sat on Nina’s bed.

“So… Lola… Your parents told me I should put a specific spell on you. Do you know which one?”

“The one where you attempt suicide, turn into stone and feel the pain of your suicide attempt for all eternity. You’re bound to the energy of the matter, in a full way, so there is no way in the universe to free you. In case you’re on painkillers, their effect is reversed and you’re in huge pain even if you actually performed suicide by overdose.”

“Yeah… And… Do you know why, Lola?”

“Because I have a ‘suicide syndrome’ which… Makes me a normal girl, but I want to die a lot, for unknown reasons. So I attempted suicide about 20 times before my parents decided to repeat that spell every month to stop me.”

“Lola… You sound so mature for your age!” It was intriguing hearing that high, cute voice, coming from a small 11 year old, with such a good vocabulary and such serious sentences, so well spoken!

“Let me get this straight, Nina. They’re doing this because they want you to practice magic, right?”

“Yes. Except that… I didn’t manage to train the recognition of a suicide attempt. So I can only do the spell where the same thing happens at the time of ANY death.”

“Wh… What??? I will have to watch out not to die on accident!! What if I get hit by a lightning?!”

“I’m sorry, but… Please don’t tell your mum and dad.”

“Uhh… OK. But next month, when you’ll have to repeat the spell, you better learn that.”

“OK, Lola. You sit tight, I’ll be done in a minute.”

Then Lola reached for the window to close it.

‘Uhh?’ Lola was surprised when her hand was pushed away a bit. ‘I can’t move… NINA, I CAN’T… Wait… I’m still flesh. Good… Good… I already thought I was petrified. I can still breathe. I’m OK.’

“I’m sorry, Lola! Your parents told me your suicide syndrome is so bad that I may need to prevent you from leaving my room. You’ll be paralyzed for like 5 minutes.”

‘Uhhhh…’ Thought Lola. ‘It’s not so bad ALL the time! Damn it! I can’t move and it’s so frustrating! And it’s only been like 10 seconds!’

As Nina was doing the spell on Lola, Lola remembered something.

‘Wait… The Mosquito King is in the area… And he’s drawn by magic… AND THE WHOLE ROOM IS ENCHANTED! Unparalyze me, quickly! I have to inform you on that!’

After about 2 minutes, the spell was over.

“Lola… I have to… go… for like 10 minutes… I can’t hold it any longer… Make yourself comfortable when you unparalyze.”

‘Please hurry, Nina! Mosquito King can command female mosquitos, and makes their strength about 50 times larger and their bites about 20 times itchier! And this paralysis only affects ME so he can enter safely!!!’

‘WAAAHHH THERE HE IS! Ok… That’s not him. That’s just a female mosquito. It will probably bite me, but it’s OK. For as long as Mosquito King is not around, I can handle that amount of itchiness.’

But then she saw a super-long frog tongue catch the mosquito and quickly draw it into a locker.

‘Oh no…’ She thought. ‘A device which catches fertilized female mosquitos, keeps them alive and uses them for sacrificial purposes. The problem is… How many are in there?’

Then Lola’s paralysis stopped, and she quickly jumped to the “Sacrificial Mosquito Catcher”.

’12,219 Mosquitos are in there? Really??? Is Nina trying to do sacrifical magic of cosmic powers??? The Mosquito King could actually free them! Did you never think about THAT possibility, Nina???’

‘Human would normally survive all those bites, but… When Mosquito King is around, their poison is much more potent and… I’m really worried it could kill me. Which is a problem because NINA DIDN’T LEARN HOW TO MAKE THE SPEEL DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN A SUICIDE ATTEMPT AND ACCIDENTAL DEATH!!!’

“Nina!” Lola screamed. “NINA!!! Come here, quickly!!! Emergency!!! YOU HAVE TO CLOSE THE WINDOW!!!”

Nina wasn’t answering.

“SHIT! You made this room isolated from sound?? FUCK YOU, NINA!!!”

‘OK… Here is the SACRIFICE button on the mosquito catcher. But… Now that I pressed it, it’s asking for a PIN number!’

Lola tried every birth date and birth year she remembered for the PIN number. She acted quickly because she couldn’t close the window due to the paralysis spell on it.

‘No clues… Damn it… There’s like 9992 combinations left to try now… I must search Nina’s drawers!’

Then Lola quickly dug through Nina’s drawers in order to find the PIN number for sacrifice.

But she was stopped.

“I AM THE MOSQUITO KING!”

A man-sized mosquito appeared on the window and stood like a king on the bed. It was disgusting, detailed, and had a long proboscis with a gross tip, which he talked through in a voice that reminded of a great demon overlord from a computer game.

‘Oh no… It’s The Mosquito King… And there’s 12 thousand mosquitos trapped… Mommy… No… He will probably ask me to bow…’ Lola thought as she was starting to cry.

“BOW TO THE MOSQUITO KING!!!” He commanded, like an ultra-clicheish game demon character. Nina couldn’t hear anything because she sound-isolated her room. Otherwise, the whole house would vibrate from the loud, deep voice.

“Ye-e-e-es, My Mosquito King!” Lola cried. Literally cried. The Mosquito King looked terribly scary!

Lola dropped on her knees, put her head and hands on the floor, bowing to him in the most bowish way possible. She had been whimpering all the time.

“YOU DO NOT BOW RIGHTLY!!!” He yelled.

“Wh…” Lola raised her tear-filled crying-distorted face. “P-p-please, m-my King, tell me h-h-h-how to bow-w-w rightly! I want to bow t-t-to the Mosquito King!”

The Sacrifical Mosquito Catcher started pulsating like “Boom. Boom. Boom.”

‘Oh no… They are breaking out intelligently… They’re 50 times as strong now… Mommy, daddy!!! I’ll be attacked my 12 thousand mosquitos, whose poison is 20 times more potent by his presence!!!’

“PLEASE, MY KING! TELL ME HOW TO BOW RIGHTLY!” She cried as loud as he yelled. “PLEASE DON’T HURT ME, I’M JUST A LITTLE GIRL ON A PETRIFICATION SPELL! IT WILL BE ETERNAL TORMENT FOR ME IF I DIE!!!”

“IT IS NOT ONLY HOW YOU BOW ON THE OUTSIDE! IT IS ALSO HOW YOU BOW ON THE INSIDE!”

The Mosquito King tore Lola’s clothes off. All of them. For an obvious purpose – full body torture by his fellow mosquitos.

“NOOO! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!”

Then the box broke and 12 thousand fertilized female mosquitos filled the room, immediately biting poor little Lola. She ran and waved her arms like she was burning.

“AHHH! IT’S SCARY! AND IT ITCHES! IT ALREADY ITCHES!”

Lola was so much in shock that she ran to the door of the room reflexively. Unfortunately, that paralyzed her, because the room was enchanted not to let her out.

‘I CAN’T MOVE! IT ITCHES SO MUCH! THEY’RE STILL BITING! THEY’RE BITITNG MY EYES! I CAN’T EVEN SEE ANYMORE! MOMMY! DADDY! NINA PLEASE COME BAAAAACK!!!! I CAN’T MOOOVEEEEE AND IT ITCHEEESSSS!!!’

After 1 minute of biting and immense fear, the female mosquitos all drew back behind The Mosquito King. Poor Lola was all swollen, each bite causing at least a 3cm wide swelling. Yet she lost only a little blood.

“BOW TO THE MOSQUITO KING!”

‘I CAN’T MOVE!!!’ Lola screamed inside her thoughts. ‘I CAN’T TALK!!! I’M PARALYZED FROM NINA’S DOOR SPELL!!! PLEASE, MOSQUITO KING, PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE!!! THIS ITCHES SO MUUUUCH!!!’

“NOW YOU CAN BOW RIGHTLY! SO BOW TO THE MOSQUITO KING!!!”

‘PLEASE, MOSQUITO KING! 4 MORE MINUTES AND I’LL BOW HOWEVER YOU WANT!’

“THE MOSQUITO KING DEMANDS YOU BOW TO HIM!!!”

‘MERCY, MY LORD! PLEASE, CAN’T YOU SEE I’M PARALYZED? I CAN’T MOVE! I CAN’T TALK! WHY DO I EVEN HAVE TO BOW??? WHAT DO YOU HAVE FROM THAT??? YOU’RE A GIANT MAGICAL MOSQUITO, WHY THE HELL ARE YOU FORCING PEOPLE TO BOW???’

“BITE HER AGAIN!!!”

Then the female mosquitos started biting Lola restlessly. She was already in itching torment, each bite being 20 times itchier than it would normally be. And now, they just kept biting without stopping.

‘AAAAHHHH! IT ITCHES!!! IT ITCHES SO MUUUUCH!!! THIS IS HORRIBLE!!! THEIR POISON IS GOING TO TRIGGER THE ETERNAL DEATH PAIN SPELL!!! PLEEEEAAAASEEEE STOOOOOPPPP!!! MOMMY, DADDY, IT ITCHES!!! NINA, PLEASE HURRY UP AND SAVE ME!!! NINAAAA!!!’

But the mosquitos wouldn’t stop. She wasn’t losing much blood, but their amplified poison was killing her.

‘ITCHY!!! ITCHY ITCHY ITCHY ITCHY ITCHY!!! ITCHYYYYYYYYY!!! I CAN’T MOVE!!! STOP WITH THE ITCHYYYY!!! ITCHYYYY!!!’

And then she suddenly became unable to breathe.

‘I can’t…’ Lola thought. ‘I can’t… breathe… This…. Means only one thing… NOOOOOO!!! THE SPELL WAS TRIGGERED!!! NOOOOO!!!! ITCHY ITCHY ITCHY ITCHY ITCHY!!! IT ITCHES SO MUCH!!! IT WILL ITCH FOREVER!!! PLEASE, NOT FOREVER!!! IT ITCHES SO MUCH, PLEASE DON’T LET THIS ITCH FOREVER!!! MOMMYYYYYYY!!! HELP MEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!’

***

When Nina came back from the toilet, she was shocked by the sight. More than 12 thousand mosquitos were leaving the room through the window, and only the giant mosquito and a statue of a mutilated 11 year old girl remained.

“The Mosquito King…” Nina said. “I didn’t know he was in the area!!! Lola… No… My cute Lola…”

“BOW TO THE MOSQUITO KING!”

‘I have to kill him… Otherwise he’ll bring my 12 thousand mosquitos back into the house to bite me!!! But will my magic work on him?! He must be super-powerful or something!!!’

Kitchen was near, so Nina ran there and grabbed a large knife, in case her magic wouldn’t work.

“WHERE ARE YOU RUNNING?! YOU OUGHT TO BOW TO THE MOSQUITO KING!!!”

She turned around. He was already in the kitchen, behind her. She had never faced a real battle before. With tears and fear in her childish eyes, she ran forward and shoved the knife in him.

“AHHHH!” The Mosquito King cried. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO THE MOSQUITO KING?? HOW DARE YOU?!!”

He started slamming her with his giant mosquito legs, but it was… Unexpectedly soft… He was very weak…

So Nina just started cutting TMK’s body in the upward direction as he was resisting.

“NOOOO!!! THY SHALL NOT SLAY THE MOSQUITO KING!!! THE… MOSQ… KING… IS YOUR… LORD… BOW… NOW…”

And then The Mosquito King stopped moving. He was dead.

Nina cried from shock.

“Uhhh… Uhuhuhuhuuu… UUUUUHHHUUUUHHHUUUUUUU LOLA NOOOOOOO…”

She went to her room. There was a statue of Lola. What used to be a cute, 11 year old girl, now had a mosquito bite hole on every millimeter of her body. Swollen and mutilated because the presence of the King made the bites much more potent. With a face of terror she had before the room spell paralyzed her. Even her eyes were full of mosquito bite holes, and swollen.

“Lola… My cute little cousin… My smart and mature cousin… Forever itchy… Because I was playing computer games instead of learning how to make the spell recognize an actual suicide attempt…”

Nina knew that Lola’s parents would punish her. She wanted to know her fate. She called them.

“Hello?” Lola’s father answered.

“Hello. We… had The Mosquito King problem… And over 12 thousand mosquitos with him…”

“Is Lola dead???”

“No… But…” Nina started crying again. “My spell thought it was a suicide attempt and… Lola is petrified.”

“Oh… My…” Her father went silent. Nina started crying. “She is in eternal itchiness now? Do you know how potent mosquito bites are in the presence of The Mosquito King???”

“I know… I’m sorry! I’ll accept any fate. I would rather run away, but that wouldn’t work.”

“Uhh… Nina… The problem is, I want to give you an even worse fate, but you’re only 12, so I don’t really know what to do to you.”

“Uuuhhuuuhuuuu *sniff sniff* I give to you The Mosquito King’s corpse for just in case something could be made out of it.”

“Wait…” Lola’s father was surprised. “What?!”

“I didn’t mean to insult! I don’t deserve the loot! I’m so, so sorry!!! UHUHUHUHUHUUU!!!” Nina was crying while being very scared of the fate potentially waiting for her.

“Nina… Have you slain The Mosquito King?”

“Well… Yes… But it doesn’t matter.”

“It does, Nina! Out family mission IS to locate, catch and slay The Mosquito King! It is the greatest honor to us!”

“Wh… What? *sniff sniff*”

“Nina, your faults are forgiven. YOU are forgiven. I will weep for my daughter, but you are a hero to me. I shall not harm you.”

“U… I… Really?”

“Yes! The Mosquito King was a menace to the society. It amplified many female mosquitos, causing severe itching. It was drawn to magic, so only wizards know the tale of him, and if there is enough magic on a location, his narcissism awakens and he demands people to bow to him.”

“I… I will not be punished?”

“No, child. May your life be full of joy, and may the loot bring you fortune. Keep the statue my daughter, I do not want to see it, it would only pain me. Farewell.”

He hung up.

‘But…’ Nina thought. ‘I didn’t do anything heroic! He just ended up in my room, drawn to magic, and he brutalized my little cousin, and I just put a knife in him… He was weak in every individual sense… Uhh… Does Lola’s dad know that The Mosquito King is the dumbest and the most fragile monster on Earth???’

‘Lola… You could have just torn him with your nails… Or hit him with a chair… You could have avoided that cruel fate easily… Now you will be in severe itching torment for all eternity and… It could have been so easy!!!’

‘If I learned how to make the spell differentiate between what is suicide and what is not… If I didn’t do the paralysis spell on the room… Or if ONLY I didn’t make it fully sound-proff… My dear, innocent Lola would still be fine…’

‘And we would play like we always do! She didn’t deserve this fate!!! This is the fourth dear person I condemned to eternal suffering!!!’

‘So I killed that weak, stupid monster… And Lola’s father is forgiving me?? And I thought MY parent were crazy!!’

Nina then did a spell on the statue of poor Lola to crush it into sand and put it in a bag. Due to how “full energy binding” works, there’s nothing Nina or anyone or anything else can do which will make Lola’s fate any better or worse. Lola was not even aware of being crushed to sand.

Nina tried to turn that sand into radiation so it would just disappear, and she failed. But even that wouldn’t help Lola because matter is just a form of energy, and Lola’s soul is fully bound to that energy.

She just threw the sand into the River where Red Nina was doomed. She thought ‘They were both cute, so maybe they should end up on the same place.’

She dissected The Mosquito King’s corpse and found out he is as valuable as he is smart and strong. NOT VALUABLE AT ALL.

Nina calmed down.

‘Lola…’ She thought while looking at Lola’s photos. ‘I will cherish every memory of you, from your birth to your 11 year old end. Or should I say, the beginning of endlessness? How can such a thing happen to someone’s daughter, someone’s cousin? How can this happen to a person who grew from a baby into such a smart little girl?? *sigh* Life goes on. My parents will be pissed!’

***

Centillion years later:

‘UWAAAHAAAA!!! UWIWIWIWIIIIII!!! ITCHYYYYYYY!!! UHUHUHUHUUUUU!!! ITCHYYYYYYY!!!! PLEASE!!! I CAN’T MOOOVEEEE!!! PLEEEAAASE MAKE IT STOOOOOP!!! WIIIWIIWIIIWIIWIIIII!!! MOOOOMMYYYYYY!! MAKE IT STOOOOOOP!!! UUUHHUUUHHUUUHUUUHUUUU!!! NINAAAAA!!! HEEEELP MEEEE, I’M SUFFEEERRRRIIIIING!!! ITCHYITCHYITCHYITCHYITCHY!!! PLEASE NOT ALL ETERNITYYYY!!! ITCHYYYYYY ITCHYITCHYITCHYITCHYITCHY!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEEEAAAASEEEE MAKE IT STOOOOOP!!! PLEEEEEAAAAAASEEEEEE!!! MOOOOOMYYYYYY!!! PLEEEEEAAAAAASEEEEEE!!!’