"Splendid. Truly amazing. Oh that felt better than jerking off~. We got plenty of things to do when you wake up little one. I'm going to tidy up a little first."
Keith had fainted the moment his eyes reverted back to normal. The emotional shock sent him into his own memory, in the Explanation.
Here he stood on a calm centimetre deep water, smashing it with his fists. He could see his parents' reflection, hugging together. Floating under his feet.
"Mother! Father!"
Splash. Splash.
Nothing to call them out. He could see his own reflection, he could see how much blood was on his face and how much his eyes were scary even to himself.
He spent hours calling them to no avail. The water became dark, viscous. Sticking to all his body.
He first thought he was accepted in the pool with his parents... No He was engulfed. There was nothing inside that puddle.
'What now? Shall I look for Moore? Shall I go back home? What can the monster do to them? What's his next step manipulating me? Ah so frustrating! Always so much questions in the head and yet no answer.'
Grieving for his parent's loss, he was sad. The pool under his body neither grew nor dried. It was just there, like him.
If Show can use the kid, so can the kid use the monster. He's protected... kind of! He'd been dictated many conversations to avoid the worst scenarios and he appeared to save him from Moore's jealousy.
The sole thing he could do for now, in the Explanation, was to drink the water. He had enough of reaching the fake objective. He drank. More and more, being one with the puddle, one with the darkness.
He had no clue where to go next, it was quite depressing.
So with his first breath awake, he jumped out of the carpet and wore a clean coat. He ventured outside with the few coins the vest contained. Passing by many people he was looking for something specific only available in pots... There!
'What are you doing, little one?'
Only a hundred steps away from Devdas' house. He bought a jar of oil, ignoring Show's question.
'Burning evidences? What a quick learner.'
Keith drank the jar's content. Wholly, without gagging. It made Show more curious by the second.
'You want to create a curse? How bold! I like where it's going.'
He did not come back in the house, instead he continued his walk into the market place were he saw a food stand. Many animal parts were being cooked the same moment. With a blank mind he stared at the food and its seller, a middle aged woman with a round mark on her forehead. She smiled at him and he smiled back.
Then he took an ignited ember from her fire pit and he swallowed it.
'Oh you naughty-'
"AAAAAAAAR!"
The kid had the ember halfway into his throat when most of his mouth and trachea were lit ablaze. He screamed in pain first for his burnt hand then for the fire that consumed his insides.
He clearly wanted Show out. Making him remember how he was killed by his village years ago.
The oil in his stomach came back, almost extinguishing the ember. Alas the liquid came out and splashed it everywhere. On the stand in front of him, his own hair and his clothes, everything ignited. He felt his skin cooking, his blood boiling, his vision becoming pitch black as he continued to scream.
His hair burnt, his bubbling skin let out a nauseous smell and his high screeching could be heard from next district. Everyone was looking at him in horror.
Sometimes some more oil came out of his mouth and lit small spots on the dirt, the stand he was next to caught fire as well.
It was panic once more.
Deep inside the kid, the monster was helpless. He couldn't feel pain since his death, but his mental state was something else. He had deep grudges and wanted to solve all of them, Keith had just been slowing him down most of the time. But that was off limit.
The sun was high and he couldn't do a thing for the moment being.
People started reacting. One of the nearby took a well made carpet and slapped the boy with it from a distance.
The boy who was still standing finally fell down, allowing people around to unit and throw dirt or sand to extinguish the fire. Anything that could help was thrown over. Some screamed, some kids cried while the elders stared, without being able to do anything about it.
"He breathes!"
Said a man.
"Someone run to the court! I heard all doctors went there. Find help!"
"It's going to be okay sweetie, everything will be alright."
Said a round faced woman. The whole scene had lasted around six minutes until he ended up with dirt filling his mouth.
Keith could only hear without answering. He could feel the intense burn everywhere on his body. His fingers were very hard to move and his throat ended up swallowing the obstructing object. His throat was seriously damaged and he wasn't able to talk. Just inhaling loudly with a small breadth.
He could feel whenever he was lifted from the ground, moved around. Good gods was it painful.
Few guards and an ambassador arrived with a doctor. They were here to report the incident to the king. However their main witness had vanished. Her stand had burned along with her neighbours' but she was nowhere to be seen.
As for the wounded he was mute. Reduced to a larvae state. It was too early to go to conclusions. The first passer-bys told the ambassador the kid spat fire as he shouted his pain. A unique spectacle, but an incomprehensible act for a youngster.
Was it exactly because of his age? Probably.
Keith didn't know where he was any more. As he could not see nor smell or ask.
Someone scrubbed his skin to remove all of the main pebble and sand that coagulated along the blood.
'Are you proud of yourself?'
'I hope you're hurt too.'
'I am not.'
Then he was immersed in water, was left out only his face. What a relief. Once most of the filthiness gone, he was removed and dried, then embalmed in a damp cloth. For his particularly burnt hands, his nails were pulled out though they were already peeling off on their own.
After being announced, the ambassador entered the room. He cared about interrogating what most considered victim was also the best witness. He caught both of his coated hands and spoke .
"Hi, I'm here for the incident report. I will ask you questions, tighten your grip on this hand if you mean yes, the other one if no."
He said, showing the gesture and keeping a gentle touch. The sight was hard for anyone in the room, they had multiple casualties lately and the mood was gloomy.
"Are you awake?.... Great. Did someone ask you to do it?... No. Were you willing to die?"
No answer. He stated his question once more to not get any movement back. He asked the next one.
"Have you seen the eastern district's monster?... Yes. Do you have any parent we can- OUTCH! Let go you filthy!"
Keith's breath became louder and while it passed through his injured vocal chords, it now sounded like a deep growl.
The doctor and the guards were astonished of the strong reaction from such frail body. Even the ambassador himself that couldn't pull his hand, afraid his arm would come off somehow. He now was disgusted with a purulent liquid all over.
"An orphan it is. We shall go back to the court. I thereby mark this house as his shelter, keep it, erm, keep him until further notice."
He left the house and the only thing buzzing in the kid's ear was the ambient hubbub caused by the citizens. He had no idea of the height of the sun, he did his best to fall asleep, waiting for his recovery.
'What a mess you are. It's not every day you manage to piss me off, David.' Said Show with a sarcastic tone.
'I hate you.' Thought the kid.
'And I don't care! Your foolishness brought you to death's door, thankfully we had plenty of food recently, it'll surely help your recovery.'
They both faded little by little in the Explanation. The kid did not notice it as everything was pitch black around him, the same as reality. He continued his thought as Show openly spoke.
'Where did you hide when my clothes burnt?'
"You'll find out later."
'Wenyi, that's you right? Your name from before.'
"It was indeed. It means something like 'plague' where I come from. But I prefer the one you gave me a few days after our encounter. It means more."
'Both your names mean something, sounds nice. Mine means nothing.'
A silence followed until the monster found something to say.
"You noticed you managed to resemble me more with your doing? The royal mess you've become, people are not even able to find your nose now. You lost everything you had up to your family because of your gluttony. What do you think I'd do of a kid as the price for a trade?"
'Oh, now that you said it, sounds right.'
---
By the time, the vanished woman was found dead in the neighbourhood, it appeared she had committed suicide. A tendency that was followed by few people in the city since the monster's apparition. Evil was here and for the poorest, death was the safest escape.