The other me

Keith lost consciousness, his eyes rolled back and his aggressivity faded.

"What now?" Asked Gal and Ardi altogether.

The tribe chief made everyone return in the hut after he was sure the kid couldn't move anymore. He was bound to iron like bars, blinded and stuck in a stretched position.

The Paragonian throne, only seat made of iron scraps, he had been tied up horizontally leaning on the flat part. His feet were tightly tied with his neck, his arms were outstretched with his hands on the bars. His belly faced the sky and a gentle breeze made it colder because of his missing clothes.

He woke up disoriented, but he remarqued a care had been done on his mouth. His blood flowed mostly to his head but he had no spare time as someone approached as soon as he moved a toe.

"He's awake!" The hoarse voice said.

Keith moved left and right, making his shackles tint as more gathered around. His right arm was swollen, with sticks around it to keep it straight.

Show was nearby, hiding in the kid's forearm stones. He spoke with him, with his usual calm tone. 'Don't move too much. They don't want to harm you, I've been listening all along, no one here has a problem with you, they're just worried for their safety, don't aggravate the situation. I would've already acted if the situation was terrible enough.'

"Greenie, is it?" Asked another voice, Keith recognised the chief when he saw his head upside down with his feather crown, blending with his hair.

"Yes."

"Now that you have endangered my people as well, I may question you on your goal but also on your feats. First, tell us which demon is possessing you? I don't bother letting you rot on my throne until you give a reply."

Keith's eyes clearly indicated his will to speak, he was eager to leave his uncomfortable position.

"Mister chief, all of you, I am sorry for what happened. I can't get a hold of myself sometimes, but be sure it was by no mean my intent!" He said, not able to see everyone around him, he supposed they had no difficulty to restrain his frail body, therefore they weren't terrorized at all.

"Long ago, I unintentionally brought a deadly disease to Varanasi, I was disguised as a sorcerer under the king's court, able to cure all ills, anything that wouldn't fit his majesty. Once I stopped the propagation and cleansed the city from its symptoms, I was betrayed, the king left me to rot in a mass grave. It took me a year to exit it. As a goodbye gift, I burnt down the city. As for the demon you are asking for, I'm afraid that it is solely me."

The chief was taken aback. Gal sat next to him, scratched his head from time to time, he wanted to know if he was in trouble for bringing a monster inside his village.

"One year?" The chief asked. He couldn't imagine a child surviving this, not even a younger one.

"More or less. I can't recall all of it, I wasn't myself most of the time."

The villagers gathered in a circle, to whisper their thoughts. Ardi's report resumed it all.

"They still think you are possessed by a demon, but they don't have anyone able to deal with it, they'll eventually let you go." Keith could only think. 'Man, why do I always have problems?'

The chief approached, he bore a frown and a cane meticulously crafted. Like his crown, it was a symbol of his authority, but also the symbol of his city improving. Each strike on the wood made its traits more perfect. Every time the village acquired a new tool and mastered it, they would use it on the cane, proving the progress everyone had made since their union.

He used his wooden cane to touch the kid's face and inspect his eyes. But the latter chopped of a chunk of it with his bare teeth. He swallowed it and spoke before they could.

"This, is my curse. I can eat anything, I suffer from bottomless hunger if I don't follow a special diet, nothing such as a mountain of cooked meat can satisfy me. Your funny juice shook me deep yesterday, again, I can't help it sometimes, yet I am not a threat now, I beg you to untie me."

Show was ready to materialize and beat them in case they became aggressive. He hated losing time with his revenge.

The chef looked at his broken cane. He disapproved the lack of respect toward his culture, yet he couldn't blame a child, he could never do so, he knew they were his future. He kneeled next to him and asked.

"What would you do in exchange? What can you bring to my people, the one that chose to spare your life despite the fact you were a menace? Are you going to come back, avenge yourself as you did with the measly people from Maghada?"

'You must comply to their expectations kid, but don't say too much!' Said Show, hoping the kid wouldn't propose something he hadn't.

"I had a meal, and a deeper understanding of myself. You haven't done anything wrong even if I feel a little itchy and I can't scratch myself. If I was to come back to your beloved Paragon, I'll help it. It doesn't matter how I would, since I will." He forced his arm up, urging a villager to untie the hand.

Keith made a cross sign on his heart. "See, I promise."

"Fine!" Said the chief. "I don't care when you come back, pay that debt you have. Make our future generation understand how important it is to take care of others." With his solemn attitude, he proved his wisdom to the others, adding their trust to the situation, they finally untied the kid who breathed in relief.

'Let's hope this promise of yours won't bother us too much.' Show said in sarcasm. Seen from the explanation, nothing in their path mattered. Everything ended up being destroyed, or dead.

"We want you to leave tonight." Gal said with a sorrowful gaze. He was sorry about it and worried about the kid's fatigue. He hadn't been unconscious for long, but at least his bull had well slept all day.

With no delay, his ride was brought, with his saddlebag holding tight on its back. It had been nicely sewn back and a protective layer had been added. The fruits that used to be on it were damaged, his water pouch was intact and he was ready to go once his clothes on.

Looking at Keith walk away, one spoke. "Chief, we could get a doctor, we should gather our knowledge on herbs and medicine and make it one of our occupations, we'd have a better surviving rate with the new generation arriving."

An hour later, going east, Keith wanted to talk about the village. "They had only workers in this village, if a city was built the same, I can't imagine how strong it could become in a few years!"

And Ardi, who had seen plenty of things in his death replied. "Sure! They are promising ones, wishing for peace at that, I think this people will evolve faster than most, they must not ignore their neighbours, they'd learn as from them as well."

'Little one, what have you learnt here? I'd be glad to hear about it.'

Keith leaned forward and held the bull tight, he asked Ardi to watch over their direction while he fell asleep to the explanation.

Deep in there, the moon was high and reflected on the black slate of the ash desert. Few branches emerged from the ground, almost giving the impression of life around them. The kid had a cross marked on his shirt, the same place he did it hours ago.

He faced the silhouette with a white bull skull an instant, reminding himself how scared he had always been of Show's omnipresence.

He thought about his hunger, same as when he wanted to show his curse to king Gentius' crew. He focused hard on his craving pain, the one he had not experienced in moons.

That moment, the moon turned red, the sand on his feet took another shape, hundred of dusty corpses covered the ground around him. Show observed in silence, he expected words, not images. It was the first time Keith used the explanation to give shape of his thoughts and reflect his ideas.

The kid gave in to his stomach's pain, he used every of bit of his brain to think about it, making the place vibrate and waves appear in the macabre shaped sand.

His own shadow came alive, crawling out of the ground by climbing the kid's legs. Its weight couldn't be felt, but each things it touched gave Keith more to mourn on.

Tears appeared on the kid's cheeks. His sadness toward his solitude, his cursed body clung to his soul and escaped the back of his mind, making Show understand.

'That's 'it'? The thing that you saw hiding everyday, lingering in the corner of your mind. That's not something following us, it was you all along.'

The other Keith managed to exit the flat dimension it was trapped in. Everything about it was black, it was so dark it couldn't be called a colour, just void standing in front of them. It crept on the ashes, making black puffs of smoke rise. Did it even know how to walk?

Everything near the surface of its skin seemed to bend as the thing wasn't supposed to exist, like Keith's two friends. Its mouth appeared first as a slight slit, it extended to let out a excruciating scream. Rows of pristine white teeth decorated its head, making the hole look like a death trap more than a mouth.