Moore was brought inside of the building after he introduced himself. Ravi, Mani and him entered a room filled with books and scrolls. As a merchant, Moore knew a lot about the numbers but not much about the letters, and so the tasked scribble wrote his story with a few adepts as witnesses.
The believer's house wasn't much armed. So Ravi went requiring a hearing at the court.
While he was away, Moore asked who lived in the temple. The adepts were surprised of his lack of knowledge.
"It is the king Chandragupta. He came from the east, where the rivers are born. It was about a year ago after he finished the conquest of the eastern lands. The number of guardian of order and guards has strongly increased since then. We're sure he'll help us. He has great fate in the thirty three gods. He won't turn a blind eye at against your asura for sure."
He was stunned. The Gupta lineage itself lived hundreds of meters away.He couldn't believe it. He got a golden coin out of his pocket and pointed the figure on it. And the adepts nodded.
"That very one."
Their religious nonsense had no importance to his eyes, he wanted to get rid of the monster, be it a demon or not.
It had been decades since the last time the temple had seen such bustle under its roof. The gossip that were born this night had yet to slip between the thin walls.
---
Morning came. Keith was tired. He spend his night contemplating the map. The day had come. He was careful enough to not let blood stain his bare feet or clothes, he exited the house with a large hooded coat and avoided looking people's face.
Most of the people he saw suffered from famine. Their poverty had them sleep outside and beg for a meal anytime they were awake. He saw the same diversity as in the temple, but what stood out the most were the number of kids in this condition.
Nevertheless he couldn't stop, his curiosity became the least of his concerns and he went forward. He asked a few times Mister Show to point the direction.
Passing through thousand of people, hundreds of houses and tens of guards, he noticed the increasing number of beggars. The lack of seller, dirt ant rock structures or even grass was easy to spot. It had been days since rain came for the last time, yet the road was muddy and wet.
The system that used to be the sewers, collecting people's dirty water wasn't as good as planned. The piling trash and dejection had led to plugs under the population's feet, generating floods each time rain came. The insanity of the area had made most run away, while the poorest couldn't afford to change their location.
Keith couldn't smell a thing but he could see people affected by the stench. Their faces distorted to ease their way cleaning their nostrils, some spat on the ground, leaving a white and yellow bubbly spot on their path.
'He should be in this area.' They thought in unison.
They situated three torch base aligned to be sure of its position. The block was about a hundred meter wide and long. Many handmade houses were in front of him.
'Should we knock on every door?' Keith asked.
'Do you have another solution, kid?'
The sun above his head was high and the heat evaporating the water around weighed down the atmosphere. It became harder to breathe.
The first door he knocked on was full of tiny holes. The insects had half eaten it and the noise behind seemed to be irregular footsteps.
A old woman came to open the door, she looked upset. Her missing teeth and pale look did not help hiding the obnoxious boils on her neck.
"What is it?"
"Do... Do you know Lorbe madam"
"Nah"
She said before slamming the door to the kid's face. Still he had hope and knocked next door.
No.
Next door.
Neither.
From the sixteen houses around, stacked one on the other, none gave any positive answer.
But there was this one at the back, the one that gave no answer. The last of them. It had scratches mark on most surfaces, it gave off a gloomy ambiance. Keith tried to push the door. It lacked a lock but seemed to be blocked by objects from the other side.
* Can you go see what's inside? * Keith asked Mister Show while laying against the door, trying to see through the many holes.
The temperature of his shirt warmed up when the shadow entered the house. A few rumbling sounds could be heard from outside and then the door opened slowly. It pushed aside many bowls, tools and things the kid didn't even identify.
No one was to see inside but remnants of it, something he hadn't seen for long, silver linings. They were very visible and there was plenty of them, but when Keith saw them his first ideas changed drastically.
"We are late."
Show picked them up and they all tensed up toward the same direction.
'There are no reason to close a house from the inside if not for hiding something. Let's dig up a little.'
They visited the house. The kitchen had few rotten fruits and broken appliances. Once more Keith had coins in his pockets from passers-by and he could hear their tint with each of his steps. He had an hard time passing through garbage and trash spread all over.
There was a room with its door barricaded once more, lots of stains around the door, on the floor and on the walls . Show passed his 'head' part through it... And a second after he was back into Keith's shirt.
* There he is. He's asleep on his bed. You can call for him, or go back to Kodra without any regret. But I swear to you, none of the thing you'll see behind this door may give you happiness. *
"FATHER! I've came! It's me Keith!"
'What?' The man on the bed was half asleep, drunk from last night.
Someone repeatedly hit the door of his room.
"Father!"
'The headache... Who...?' He could not clearly hear the muffled voice.
"... Open... Keith!"
"Keith!?"
He stood and wrecked everything between them. He was careful enough to hide the room's contents by not opening the door too much. Then he held the boy tight, remembering Keith's last embrace.
A flow of tears wet their clothes and their gibberish mixed with their emotions.
"By the gods, how is this possible?"
Keith had no answer to give, he simply gave a frown.
"Am I hallucinating again?"
"Father, I stand here in our house."
It was daytime, yet the thick curtains and the conception of the house did not let the light enter. The man swiping his tears was easy to see for Keith.
He wore simple clothes and his beard was unkept. He wasn't skinny as most of his neighbours but the amount of black marks on his limbs and face gave off an idea of his hygiene, negative.
"Is Raima with you?"
"Mother died, that's why I am here."
Lorbe scratched his head, letting dirt and unknown dust spread around him.
"Father, are you okay?"
'We need to know his condition if you want a cure.'
"That's behind this door?"
"My room."
'Don't push the question too far, I'll tell you later.' Said Show.
Behind the door were disposed countless corpses of children, travellers, homeless and Lorbe's new wife. Half eaten. Lorbe was indeed surprised of Keith not smelling the foul smell in the house, but also of his miraculous presence. His mind was still clear and in contrary to Raima, he recalled the curse bestowed upon his family. He had yet to associate it with his killing spree.
Piled up bodies that could explain many disappearances around had attracted the rodents that battled for the softest pieces of meat. They hid only in absence of the man.
"Why don't your neighbours know your name, father?"
"I gave them a new one, the moment I departed from our home village I changed because 'Lorbe' was the man banned from it, while the new me wasn't. I couldn't carry my reputation this far, moving away would've been pointless."
'If I knew changing name could change me this much...' Lorbe thought.
They sat in the living room where they discussed about Keith's travel companion.
"I took advantage of this merchant's trip to get here, Picco told me that you lived in this city."
"Where is this Moore then? I must thank him."
"No idea." Keith said.
---
"The present man told such story my king. He came in the middle of the night, afraid for his life."
Moore nodded when Mani pointed him.
Around them awaited thirty guards with copper like armor. It was as heavy as it looked and most had shaky legs.
Sitting on the throne stood a person as wide as he was tall. The territory-nibbler Chandragupta. He was captivated by the tale and saw in it a political occasion. For sure it had already spread like a plague among his people, so if he vanquished a devil he'd buy himself and his eldest city a reputation as tall as the heavens.
'Why would evil wreak havoc while I'm the head of the country? The faster I'll get rid of it, the higher we'll climb.'