Three days later, the king made a statement.
"In seven weeks, the weapons and armors you've been crafting until now will be put to use. War is approaching. Therefore, who wants to enrol in the army is welcome. As always, the award once victory is guaranteed will dwarf your expectations. Question? You with the tight shirt?"
"Huh... Can we, farmers, participate?"
"Excellent question. Combat lessons will be held in each sanctuary of the city. Consequently even beginner or weaklings can sign in. Spread the word."
The assistant walked away from the crowd to flee any other question, fast enough to be suspicious.
Every ears in the great city heard the word. Even one from next cities. War was indeed risky but fame and money was nothing average in this land.
In about a week, the city was overpopulated, slightly above its capacity, the erosion created in the food stocks wasn't big enough to be seen. Only the decaying aspect of the alleys broadened with people's feet.
The three vagrant men heard the statement as well, so they started their training on the first day. It was an occasion for them to not come back empty-handed in Kodra.
---
It was sunset. Chandragupta paid a visit to his sorcerer.
"What can I do for you today?"
Keith asked, thinking it was a person from the court as per usual. The king never bothered muffling his heavy footstep, marking his presence in every room he stepped in.
"Foresee had those nightmares again. It means no matter how fast my men can learn or how much workmanship they've done, we're more likely to fail."
'What does he want then? We don't know.' They thought in unison. Most people that came in his room gave a vague description of their problems, then a clear outcome of the latter. Just like fairy tails with simple story. I can't sleep, I don't know why. I want to sleep.
They all wanted magic to solve their issues.
"Power? Luck? Bravery maybe! I don't know my enemies which makes me more anxious by the day knowing something is coming straight toward everything my family built until now."
"Why don't you ask Foresee then? She'd be pleased. She came here to complain about your lack of attention or something similar."
The kid asked out of curiosity while he waited for one of Show's solution.
"She should mind her own business. We had arguments lately and I am not able to fill my schedule with her bipolar mood. Women are.... Hard to decipher! You'll judge that by yourself later. Anyway I heard my people. They like you a lot, you've relieved much from their shoulders. I want you to give me sharpness of thought."
'Can we do that?' He asked the monster, wide eyed with his regenerated eyelids hidden under his mask.
'Yes, of course. Ask for one of his hidden blade.' Mister Show said before Keith replied with a nod to both of them.
"Can you give me your knife?"
"My knife?"
'Don't be to rude okay?' Show said while the king waited for a reply.
"One of those you stick above your belt."
Keith said pointing at the royal crotch. Chandragupta was surprised, he exclaimed.
"You knew! And still you don't give an ounce of respect every time we meet! You are one of my worst guests."
He shivered a little before reaching for one of his hidden blades. He still had that wide knife he took in the kitchens. With its blade bending forward, it was perfect for both cooking rough or be used as a weapon, alas the king was no chief.
"I'm blind, not deaf."
Keith said to legitimize his words. He took off his mask with Show's instructions and touched the edge of the blade with caution. There was this sour smell around it or rather, in the air.
'How sharp is it?' Asked the monster, not sharing his touch with the kid. 'With a minimum amount of pressure, I'd cut myself.' Nothing uncommon for a palace. Most tools wouldn't last a moon if their efficiency withered.
'Lick it! Perfect. Next step is....' As the king observed the strange recovering creature in front of him licking his daily sweat off the blade, he had a hard time containing himself, he loved magic.
Keith gave back the knife to the king and said.
"I can give you sharpness for the words you'll ponder on, but not on the images alas, I'm no more able to cry, also I've never heard of a teary king. Here, stare at it every day, try to decipher any change not only on the knife, but also on what you're told."
'Say Show, is the knife really a necessity?' The boy asked, knowing he basically gave a tips to be more attentive as a magic trick. The saliva he put on the blade will soon permeate the iron and make a chemical reaction no one would understand.
"He only need to believe it. Don't ruin it all! Wait for it.'
Chandragupta sat in silence, staring at his knife for three minutes of deep concern. 'Sharp like a blade, sharp like a blade...' He repeated in his head.
Blinking a few times, he realized there were tiny black spots on the metal. Barely noticeable to the naked eye, but their relief betrayed their trueness. Indeed, they were real, those were fast blooming rust spots.
Next to him, the kid was still waiting, unaware of the noticed changes. The king saw more things by the second and became exited to notice the changes, even though it was something anyone else could be able to see.
"Wonderful! I feel like it's already effective! Thank you Seven!"
He said before exiting the room, brandishing his knife like a trophy. When the door slammed behind him, the kid asked.
"What did I just miss?"
'The knife, with you saliva, it suffered the same deterioration you've done on the leaves. The ones we've experimented on when we travelled with Moore.'
"What if he can focus better, and corner us now that he's smarter?"
'He's not, little one. We've changed the knife, not the man. He'll believe he's stronger, while he'll certainly be obsessed with his improved skill he won't remark he's just more confident. Worry not, he's not dangerous, we have got plenty of trick to get ourselves out of danger.'
---
One night, another moon later.
In the Explanation, everything was still, the green of the atmosphere faked any distance. Green like mold, green like decomposing meat. A color he had long forgotten like most since he burned his retinas.
He could hear echoes afar, lost in a peaceful loneliness.
His head was heavy and the pain increased by the second, with each breath he tried to take, he prayed to be freed from his scorching misery. Stuffed into his own molten flesh, he couldn't even contort for relief.
Nothing pulled him out of the Explanation, he was trapped in another nightmarish vision.
His jaw was stuck by a white cage, a labyrinth of sharp teeth. Only a guttural sound would resound in the thick environment.
No object to be seen around, only floating green particles, like a person drowning in a pond with no fish or toad to keep company.
'SHOW!' He wanted to scream.
Another distant sound. And a shiny light going upward. The thing exploded two meter above the ground level to let the light spread a little.
'A bubble?' He thought amidst the confusion.
The gruelling efforts he made to think were exhausting but he understood the place he was in just in time.
At the bottom of the Explanation, pebbles and dust rested while thoughts flooded his mind, alone or not. His body elevated in the water up to surface. The pain crept to his forehead, stung his face with needles thousand of times.
He saw more bubbles, nearing the surface of the Explanation, he soared out of the heavy liquid and the second he touched the top he woke up with a new pair of eyes.
Deep dark irises like no one had, with no light reflecting in it.
The moon was high in the sky and he was drenched in sweat. He had a deep itchiness under his lower eyelid and a constant pain when he moved his eyes around. Yet the pain was nothing compared to be able to see anew.
Slight forms around him with straight lines, the flowers around his bed, the engravings on the walls, the embroidering on the bedsheet. He chose to close them after a tour in the famous guest room he owned for more than three moons.
The thing scraping his eyeball under his skin felt like the biggest dust he ever had stuck up here.
The contrast between the colors made him understand he could still see them perfectly unlike Mister Show.
The shapes in his mind distorted with time because he was forgetting how to picture things, only Show remained 'normal' in the Explanation because he had always been misshaped to Keith.
His sanity decreased with time until this night. The relief provided opened his appetite he couldn't ignore. With the wooden mask on, he knocked on his door to lure the guard inside.