"Education is bitter, but its fruit is sweet." - Aristotle.
"No thanks." Both the child and Lilo said in unison.
They both ignored the weird ass driver and walked away from the dead creature's corpse.
"Hey wait! I'm not a weirdo, I have other kids in the van too. They're very friendly!" The enthusiastic van man drove behind them, awkwardly following their slow pace through the woods.
Lilo was too enamored by his surroundings to pay mind to the creepy van man.
He marveled at the forest around him. Everything felt and looked different. The grass was green but a shade that he's never witnessed in a natural setting before.
The clouds were each different hues of light pastel colors, and it was not because the sun was setting, affecting its colors.
The sun itself was odd. It was crescent. It had another dimmer sun offset in front of it, creating the illusion of a crescent.
The radiance of the two offset suns felt warm on his skin; not the kind of warmth that can burn you -as the one on earth does- but instead the nourishing kind you feel in a hot bath.
The forest around them was other worldly much like the rest of what Lilo had interacted with so far, but there were remnants of a ruined civilization that seemed familiar.
Broken down rubble of buildings and small homes were littered between the trees, each made of bricks and wood; but slightly differing from Lilo's world.
The shapes and colors as well as the pattern of wood and bricks were skewed just a touch.
Vines of vibrant colors overgrew each of these abandoned structures, creating a strange lively feel to the dead ghost town they were walking through.
"Hello?" Another head popped out of the passenger seat of the van window. "That glutton was just the tip of the iceberg. Once the suns disappear this place will be crawling with herds of them."
'Glutton?'
Lilo turned around to face the van man and the new voice.
A beautiful woman looking to be in her mid twenties, with golden hair, sparkling emerald eyes and a pouty frown on her lucious lips, had her petite frame peaking out of the van window.
She was wearing a green leather cowgirl hat and in her hand she was holding what looked like a projectile weapon of some sort.
"Hey kid... do you know these guys?" Lilo turned to ask the child.
The kid shook his head no and shrugged.
"Stop calling me kid. You're literally in my body." The kid... I mean... what's his name?
"What's your name? And... in your body? What?"
Lilo looked down at himself. For the first time since exiting the grave he noticed that his clothes matched the little kids; although it was covered in dirt, he could make out the same patterns and colors.
He felt his face. Sure enough, it matched the look of the ghostly figure in front of him. In the process of feeling around he felt that all his wounds, including the gaping hole in his neck, had healed completely.
The ghost kid opened his mouth to answer-
"Who are you talking to kiddo?" The van man interrupted before the kid could speak but Lilo held up a stiff middle finger to dismiss the van man.
"Hi... My name is Snoh... but I guess now you should call me Soda." The once weeping child now outstretched his hand for a shake and put on his best friendly smile.
Lilo reached out to grab Soda's hand but he met air, passing through the ghostly silhouette of Soda's hand.
"Yoohoo hello~ You can't just flip people off kid. We're actually trying to help you." The passenger girl returned a middle finger.
"Do you mind? I'm having a conversation." Lilo put up two fingers to out do the passenger girl.
"With yourself? Okay Wonka, this one's a lost cause. I think he's been cooked for too long, he'll just be another craver." Passenger girl addressed the van man with indifference.
"No, the fiens said we need to take in every non infected." The van man pulled up closer to Lilo and Soda; forcing them to acknowledge his presence.
"Wait... fiens? They must be from the Peace spire!" Soda said with glee.
"Peace spire sounds nice." Lilo agreed.
"Yes! The Peace spire, that's where we're taking you dumbass... Wait, how did you know that?" Passenger girl raised a questioning brow.
"Oh, I don't think they can hear ya kid." Soda looked sad to hear Lilo say that.
"Who the fuck are ya talking to? Wonka please, I don't want to deal with an acoustic child, let's leave." Passenger girl rolled her eyes, knowing full well that Wonka was set on rescuing this odd child.
"Listen lady, that's very insensitive of you to come after my mental struggles. I don't want any part of your creepy van and any more of that candy that reeks of euphoric death. Leave me the fuck alone." Lilo flipped her off once more for good measure and sprinted away from the two stalking strangers.
"Wait, it's dangerous out here all alone!" Van man was adamant but Lilo could hear the laughter of passenger lady and it pissed him off even more.
"Oh well... he'll learn the hard way. Or... just die. Who cares?!" Passenger girl taunted.
The suns were quickly setting, plummeting the forest and the viney buildings into darkness; Lilo was still jogging, but he did not know where exactly he was heading towards.
"Ummmm Mr Sir? Sorry, I don't really know your name... But... they weren't lying. The Peace spire is a safe place and the gluttons will-"
"Zip it kid. I've had a long ass day full of absolute chaos. Nothing makes sense... but I'll survive this just like I've survived everything else."
"B-but sir... you just died this morning and..."
"And I came back from the grave." Lilo gave Soda a stern, determined look.
"I don't need a creepy white van man to save me. Haven't your parent taught you about what happens to kids who takes sweets from strangers in vans?"
No response. Not even a reaction.
Lilo shook his confusion and continued to fill the silence with his arrogant statements.
"In the world I came from, I was the undisputed, most powerful man, and It won't be long until I restore that title in this world."
"Why did you leave your world and invade mine?" The child asked innocently.
Lilo looked at Soda, only now realizing what he had done. He had been reincarnated but in the process, stole this kids life. Now... Soda will forever remain as an incorporeal imaginary friend to Lilo. He was this kid's only friend.
With this new epiphany, Lilo didn't want to look weak. He wanted to exude the same invincible, God like, reassuring confidence he utilized in his past life.
'Because I died.'
"So you're not immune to death after all..." Soda seemed concerned, and he his concern was justifiable; as Lilo soon learned.
***
Lilo had found shelter on the fourth floor of an overgrown building. It gave him a visual on the forest below and he was sheltered from the elements by the remaining parts of the roof.
He was still in the process of digesting the new and unknown world he was thrown into but luckily he had a deceased guide that could teach him the knowledge he was lacking.
Granted it was a child... and a depressed, colorful one at that; but it was still better than being alone.
'Damn, why do I always associate with loneliness.'
"Maybe it's because you push people away who are trying to help you." Soda sneered.
"Okay, you need to stop doing that."
"Doing what?"
"Reading my mind."
"That's where I live... and excuse me for being there because, you've literally taken my body!"
'Oh Jesus, this isn't going anywhere.'
"Who's Jesus?"
Lilo rolled his eyes and decided to study his surroundings for himself rather than having to deal with this bratty prepubescent child.
Indeed, just as the van people had said, the world was changing rapidly as soon as the suns submerged under the horizon.
The darkness invited more creatures to roam around this place.
'Damn it. Soda was right, I should've just accepted the help of those van people.'
Lilo gave Soda a bombastic side eye, noticing his smirk after reading his mind.
That first creature he had choked to death was merely a small "fun sized" creature.
Lilo felt goosebumps run up his spine as he witnessed the nightmarish scene unfold before him. The clouds changed shades under the moonlights (there were two offset moons, reflecting the suns he saw earlier).
These creatures were conjured up straight out of the deepest dark places in your imaginative mind. It felt like they were sculpted by the devil himself, and then smeared with a paint bucket and left with scribbles for limbs.
Like a demented psychotic artist had tried their best to portray their nightmares onto a canvass.
Each creature was separate from one another, avoiding each others paths and gazes. They were sniffing and prowling about the forest that marked their hunting grounds.
'Hey Soda?'
Soda looked away, pouting and ignoring the helpless arrogant man who had taken over his body.
'Please buddy... any bit of information that can help here?'
"Go back and beg the van guys to take you back in. Staying out here for a day without a party is hopeless. No amount of prayer will save you. Death is inevitable."
'Damn.'
Lilo thought about doing just that, but only for a brief sliver of a moment. His pride wouldn't allow such a humiliating thing to transpire. Especially to that passenger princess that kept yapping at him for no reason.
'Fuck this cursed world. I'll slay as many of these ugly bastards as I need to.'