There was a total of six people in the village, looking for Keith. They were Keith's mother, his neighbours, and the village chief that took seriously his disappearance. Not that more people were aware of it, they just wouldn't meddle with the witch's problems.
She bore a baby with a critical health condition, she wasn't mentally stable, her bones could be seen as easily as if they weren't underneath tissues. Her skin used to be so thin moving around shown her articulations for each step she took forward. She couldn't stand up straight. Her back was arched and bumps could be seen from top to bottom of her back.
For kids she was frightening, a moving skeleton. For other people she looked more aged than she was, making her ageing hard to spot. They suspected she was as old as their famous elderly couple.
And now that she had learnt her son vanished. Her sole reason to try to keep up her mood, she was in all mean outside.
She had been walking around for the past three days, she even ventured into the woods by herself. A huge portion of her energy was depleted by her lungs. She called for him many times and her throat being dry, she accumulated wounds in it.
Her calls became hoarse. Her everlasting walk became the village's haunting. Her condition worsened once more.
The lack of sleep and her constant grief eroded her face. Her eyes wanted to pop out, her hair was dressed on her skull, her lips were dry and covered of cuts. Despair became bigger by the day as her callused hands looked for any clue where he could be.
Soon, children began to throw her stones.
"Scram! Go away!"
They said.
They were chased away by Picco, who had been watching her from a long distance.
"Raima, listen please, I know how hard it is for you but you need to rest, you need to drink, and you need to eat. It may sound harsh but I won't allow you to lose two bird with this stone. I am sure you'll find him soon. I beg of you go back home."
The tired woman turned her head away, as her loud and dry breath rhythm her slow walking cadence, she went back home.
That was under the culprit's eye. Randi had continued patrolling while the kid was unconscious, he could see his mother daily and her state deteriorate. He was scared of her endurance even if she hadn't much strength left.
That day, when Randi came back home, the kid was once more asleep. He kicked its stomach, but he did not get any responsive sign.
With a hint of wariness, he moved the boy on his back, revealing a pool of dried blood under his head.
"Shit! Kid, wake up!"
He verified the kid's breath. His eyes were a little bit dehydrated so he closed them. He pinched him hard to see if he reacted, but nothing. He was frustrated of his toy being broken so early.
"That could be any health problem from his dirty living style. I'll just give him a few days to rest, right? You want a few days boy?"
Randi made the boy's head nod to his question.
"I'll make something to eat, just wait here a little."
His speech was as effective as talking to a rock. He went next room and started to boil eggs and rice.
Keith was still alive, he was moving around in his own mind, devoid of thing, missing details, lacking colours. He was lost and couldn't think properly, so he just spoke with Show, following him around once he finished his meal. The kid's ability to go straight was a mess. Coordinate his limbs was hard.
"What's this?"
He asked, pointing at nothing. Show answered.
"Nothing."
The kid raised his shoulders.
"Why ? Why isn't there anything here. Can I have it back?"
This question was a little more interesting to Show. He understood the kid wasn't dumb but because they didn't share the same knowledge, things were more difficult to explain than others.
"Kid, you and I are going on a journey, but I need you to get out of this village first. I took away things from you just to replace them with something I can understand too. This weird body of mine isn't as easy to repair as yours. I am currently repairing your head, what's inside at least."
"What happened to you so that you always look like a mountain of black mud that ate a crocodile?"
Show did not appreciate much of this description. But he had more time to explain so he put his hands over the boy's eyes and many objects appeared around Keith.
He was in a whole grey shaded world. Some people had detailed faces, other had no facial features. Houses were weird but as numerous as in Kodra. Their architecture and the shape of the roofs were completely different from what he knew.
Everyone ignored the two strange duo standing on the village's main path.
"This place is my home, that's about seven years ago, you know this odd couple right?"
Show pointed at a younger version of Keith's atrophied parents, he nodded. They were followed by a little man with a smile from hear to hear but a lower height. He looked like Picco.
The couple stopped a few times, and only Picco spoke. But Keith couldn't understand a word from what he said. Show saw his frown and said.
"That's my language. It is called Chinese language. I'll teach it to you later. The midget is asking for my house."
Then they neared the village's border and entered a forest with unknown trees. They were greener, and had yellow leaves the size of a nail all over.
A small cottage with smoke coming out of a fire in front of it. A skull-masked man covered in beast's skins and feathers was near it.
"That's the moment they came to me to bewitch your mother, so she could have children. And we came to the agreement. But this nasty one. This congenital dwarf."
The grey world turned reddish. While he pointed a Picco, thunder could be heard afar.
"He told the whole village I used occult and dark arts to heal your mother. He portrayed me as a dangerous and heretic person! Then he-"
The kid cut him short.
"Are you ?"
"Yes I am. But as you can see..."
They were both surrounded by a hundred of people. They had no irises, just empty white eyes. Some held torches in their hands and other sharp tools fused with their limbs. They tore apart the leather that acted as a door. All of them burst in.
They shouted in anger to him, but nothing that came out of their mouth sounded human. Picco was the closest to the shaman and he was the one give the assault first.
They rushed on and clamped on the guy. Stabbed him multiples times, until his corpse looked like a nasty lump of meat. They brought what was left to their pauper's grave. Once they added animal fat, they lit it on fire.
The fire was then brought to the house that was reduced to ash. The atmosphere was filled with small ember particles. The people weren't screaming any more. They were laughing from happiness. After all they got rid of the dark sorcerer.
After he saw the spectacle, Keith felt sad, but no tear came out.
"I am glad he stayed by your side all this time! It'll be easier to kill him, we won't have to look for him."
The whole world they were in shook a little. Keith was panicked but he still had Show's hand on his face.
"Worry not, we're moving a little. Randi is moving us..."
And Randi was. He didn't know what to do with this kid. The night had fell and it was his occasion to get rid of him, was he supposed to bury him? How could he make him disappear? Could he keep concealing him?
He moved around the barracks without being noticed. He knew the other night patrol's route and could dodge their sight.
There was another solution, make him come back. Thus he left the unconscious kid laying near Picco's house. He wouldn't dare to approach where the witch was. Plus if she was awake, who knows how she'd react ?
Randi retreated to his duty. In his own area.
On the fifth day morning, Keith was found by Picco's wife in front of their doorstep