Chapter 4
In the next 8 years, I did not stay in a single place for over a half a year. Always moving, always rejected, not once did I find someone that cared for me, and after a few homes and orphanages, I stopped expecting to find someone that cared. You might be asking, why? And I would tell you that they were afraid of me, a night when Murtok wasn't there to keep the twisted at bay, and the people that I was staying with would come in the morning to find me covered in blood, and the room destroyed, a freak accident where something that I touched withered and died, experiencing some severe emotion that causes the power in me to rise and lash out. In short, there were many reasons that I was kicked out of the places that I stayed at. That moment that I was kicked out though, it was beautiful. I knew that the next place I stayed at would be the same, people that didn't care about me, that are afraid of my connection with Murtok. But somewhere deep in my young heart, hope would bloom, hoping that against all odds I would run into someone that would care for me half as much as Olive did. If only a child's wishes come true.
A couple of important events occurred throughout this time so let me list them to you. At 5 years old my bond with Murtok began to deepen gradually, and I started being able to talk to him and hear his answers inside of my head. We started with basic words, not much more than saying each other's names, but as we grew more into each other we started to understand each other more clearly and we could communicate in full sentences.
Next, the whispers that I heard from time to time were not random gibberish, I could detect patterns in them, and one word in particular Kathinox. With Murtok's help we continued trying for a year to understand what it meant or even what it referred to. Until one day we realized something, only when I was present did we hear it, which finally allowed us to know what it referred to, but we should have been asking who not what. And that is how I learned my true name Kathinox, Kath for short, I liked it so I took it as my name, but I never use it with random people, it too exotic a word so for anyone that didn't really know me I was still David.
Then, when I was 8 years old, on one of the rare nights that Murtok had to leave, and couldn't protect me from the twisted, something odd happened. Odd even by my standards, the twisted didn't rush me as normal, and they even didn't fight each other to reach me, they were organized. When they reached me, they didn't claw at me and try to hurt me, they grabbed me and started dragging me out of my bed. That is when I saw the portal open by the wall opposite to me, a portal to a different world, to the world of death, and inside I saw it was filled with souls, of people, animals, and even plants, and they were dragging me towards it trying to take me through, that is when I decided for the first time in a long time I would scream. So I screamed, both mentally to Murtok and in the real world. By this time I didn't even believe that I ever had a guardian, but I was desperate so I screamed for him, for anyone to come and protect me. To my shock, it turns out he was real, and from the portal he came racing through, trying to reach me. Mere heartbeats later, Murtok flew straight through the window and came to my aid. Now with both the guardian and Murtok sending the twisted away, I stopped shouting, and found myself on the edge of the portal, and started backing away. Suddenly the door was kicked in, and there stood my foster parents for the time, they took one look at the situation and dropped unconscious to the ground. In that moment of distraction one of the last of the twisted that hadn't been sent back, came straight at me and pushed me, before I could go all the way in, my guardian caught me by the back of my night shirt, and the twisted that had pushed me tumbled over me and went back through. I then felt a pressure at my hand, as if it was being pushed through a wall of solid stone and when I looked down, I saw that it had went through the portal. The guardian then pulled me back, gave me a nod and disappeared as fast as he had appeared, Murtok came and landed on my shoulder and started asking me if I was good. As you imagine I was kicked out of the home immediately after my "parents" woke up from their forced nap.
After that day I vowed to never be caught unaware ever again, so I asked Murtok to teach how to send the twisted away. It was hard work, and one day as I was training how to use the power inside of me to send the twisted away- Murtok would take care of all except one that he would leave to me- I felt the pressure that I felt when I was pushed halfway through the portal return. Once Murtok noticed that I wasn't focused anymore he sent the last twisted away and came to rebuke me. But when he saw the expression on my face, he started asking what has happened. And so I explained to him, that while I was drawing on the power inside of me to send the twisted away, I had created a portal just like the one that the twisted came through, around my hand, but unlike the portal that the twisted use mine lead to nowhere. This new development, that even Murtok, wasn't expecting warranted some exploring. So, by doing research, which Murtok keeps finding the need to mock me and say that it was trying whatever came to my mind, and not thinking about. As I was saying while I was doing some experimenting, we came to a comprise, we found out that I could summon this portal anywhere near to me, and that I could put stuff inside of it, and that as I could always get back anything I put inside of it, and it would be the same as when I put it in. The only problem is that sometimes I would forget what I had put in, which Murtok would make fun of me for, and I had to rummage inside to pull out what I had put there. It was not a pleasant experience as when I knew what I was looking to pull out I only have to shove my hand into a stone wall and then pull it out, however if I didn't remember I have to shove my hand inside a stone wall and keep moving it around until I found the spot that I left what I was seeking. Another thing that we figured out, is that whenever I create a portal the power inside of me grew and didn't have a place to go so I had to use it, if I didn't want it to explode. Our solution to this was that I used more power to send away the twisted or send away more. And when the twisted didn't come I let a constant stream escape my body, making the shadows stronger and darker than any shadow had a business to be, and when the night came the power that I had let go of would return to its place and the shadows returned back to normal. I didn't like this second way because it could be noticed by someone, but I could not allow myself to explode.
These events kept happening, and I grew disillusioned with this system that they were putting me through, this system of rejection and fear. So I decided to run away. I was a child but the way I was living forced me to grow up fast, and so by 9 years old I was more mature than most adults. I knew that if I just ran away, someone would find me and send back to an orphanage, so one day, I sat down with Murtok and we began planning my escape. We determined three things, I would need food and water, a place to hide, and a destination. The food and water situation was easily dealt with, whenever I could I would sneak some food and container of water, and store them inside the portals I summoned, as when I stored something inside of the portals, no matter how long I waited, when pulled out it is in exactly the same condition it was in before, for the next half a year I did that whenever I could, which unfortunately wasn't that often. Next, a place to hide from those looking for me. So, while I distracted the headmistress of the orphanage I was currently staying in, Murtok entered her office by the window and stole a map. After I extricated myself from her, we hid in a tree and started planning. First, we picked the destination, and we chose Agrdis, a city so big, it is bound to be filled with aimless orphans, and where nobody would pay attention to one more lost boy. Next, we looked for a path and discovered that by carriage, it is a two day ride to reach the city, and as the luck would favor me there is a forest half a day ride away, and it would stretch for almost half the distance I had to cover if I truly wished to reach Agrdis. I continued to stockpile what I would take with me, so along with food and water I took clothes and blankets, I even managed to take one of the headmistress's fur cloaks which would kill the cold.
The day came when I knew I should runaway, the odd events happening around me had not stopped, and I knew that the headmistress would soon kick me out, that no amount of guilt could let her keep me here. I didn't know where they would send me next, they could send me to the other side of the kingdom, where my dreams of reaching Agrdis would die. I was sacred, for the first time in my life I could choose which path I would follow, a concept foreign to me. But I was also excited, because no matter how many times I fall I would be falling on a path that I chose. I needed a distraction to leave, so I did what I had been unintentionally doing since the day I was born, except on a much bigger scale. I went to the garden, and looked around making sure that no one other than me was present, I stood there for a couple of minutes harnessing my strength, the power inside of me, and when I had stoked the flames into a raging inferno, I let it out. I ordered it to consume everything in the garden, and to leave nothing alive. It felt good to finally release this power inside of me without having to care, and in that moment I understood that the power that I was drawing from the portals is nothing compared to what I have inside of me, that if I wished I could destroy the world, I was tempted. But in that moment "hurry they are coming, we have to be gone before they realize" came Murtok's voice, he was above me keeping an eye out, and I knew by the way that his voice shook that he also felt it, the power inside of me and I couldn't decide whether he was more in awe or shock. But that didn't matter right now, nothing mattered except running away as fast as my little legs can go. I ran to the back of the orphanage, and before I slipped out of view, I saw everyone arrive at the commotion. There they stood in shock, the beautiful colorful garden that was there was now nothing more than a garden of black a garden of death, everything had withered and died, I could even see a couple of mice that got caught in the crossfire, and they looked aged as if the life has been drained from them. As I ran to a cave Murtok found while searching from the air, a cave that no one could find unless they have wings, I thought about what I had done, about the line that I had crossed, the fact that now I was no longer a kid, and that I was free of being judged and found lacking. The cave was not that far from the orphanage, it was a couple of hours away by foot, so I had no doubt that they would send someone to look for me as soon as they overcame their shock and did a proper head count, what I didn't know was whether they would come after me with pitchforks and fire, or come expecting to find a scared little boy. I stayed in hiding for the rest of the hours of the day waiting for the night to come and claim the world. When darkness descended on the world, Murtok went to take a look, and something curios happened. "You want to see" Murtok stated, "I cannot, I do not have wings and I am stuck in this cave" I answered him.
"I am yours, and you are mine."
"Stop speaking in riddles" I said frustrated.
"We are one, join me."
"…Join you?..."
"We are one."
And that is when I felt that tug guiding me to speak "We are one"
Together we continued, "my eyes are yours, my ears are yours, my body is yours, my blood is yours, my soul is yours."
That is when it happened, we opened to each other completely nothing hidden, what we were saying became truth, we became one, two bodies become one, two souls become one. We both could see through both eyes hear through both ears, and we understood everything. The flesh that was me whispered into its dark cave "what are we", and the flesh that was Murtok whispered back "we are one". I wanted to ask what he was, as I knew that he was no raven, he was something else. But when I was about to ask he felt my though and shied away, as if something was stopping him from saying more, and in this state I felt it, something blocking him from revealing what he is. When the shock of what we had done passed from both of us -evidently Murtok felt the tug and told him what to say, he didn't know why he was saying it but he trusted it completely as do I- I realized I was flying, and joy overtook everything else I was feeling, the wind in my face ruffling my feather, the currents of wind under my wings keeping me aflot. We are one, we fly as one, we walk as one, we speak as one, we get free as one, and so while the flesh that is Kathinox started walking towards the forest the flesh that is Murtok guided him, away from pursuers, towards freedom. We walked and flew for the entirety of the night and as the sun rose to reclaim the land, from the air we spotted an abandoned cottage, the walls barely staying upright and the roof already half gone. But it was the best place to rest, this merging that we did, it took a lot out of us and we were in a great need of rest. So we reached the cottage and prepared to rest, we ate from the food I acquired, and before we slept, we managed to return to our own bodies.
We slept throughout the entire day, and when we woke up we were even more tired than when we slept, we ate in silence thinking about what happened yesterday. The knowledge we gained, I could feel the power in me, but something has changed, in the back of it there is a hole in it shaped like a raven, but that hole is not empty it is full of him, of Murtok.
We agreed that we would not do again before reaching the forest, the price it took from us was too great to pay when we are in the open. It took us about 3 more nights of continuous walking, without Murtok to manage the Twisted it would have been a disaster, I was not yet good enough to both send them back and continue walking in the night without falling flat on my face. The food I had managed to get was running out fast, so I made an effort to collect anything edible, berries that Murtok spotted for the most parts and some other fruits. I also replenished my water supply from a stream we found. All in all we stayed for around twenty days in the forest, somedays we just trained on merging, or I tried to use my powers more carefully so if I wanted to, I could be able to kill a leaf without destroying the entire forest, I was getting better. I also diverted us from the original path that would take us straight through the forest, and leaves us on the side road to reach Agrdis, and took us around to walk alongside the main road, I wanted my first citing of the city to be of it from the proper angle. We were reluctant to leave the forest, but we couldn't stay there forever my food would run out and I could not live there on berries alone or even survive the winter.
I walked for about a day alongside the main road, and the next day when I was just starting to walk, a single horse drawn wagon came alongside me and stopped. The person driving it was a middle aged man, and he was transporting hey in the back. I was ready to defend myself, to let the power inside of me loose on him if he tried anything, I also told Murtok to stay in the air out of sight. Unexpectedly, he didn't try to do anything, he just spoke, "you look like you need a ride, hop on". I was immediately suspicious, why would he want to help me? I asked myself. My suspicions must have been written all over my face, because he rushed to continue, "I am headed to my farm just outside of Agrdis, and by the looks of you", here some of the cheer fell from his face, "you look like you are heading that way, I only mean to help… let me start over my name is Blake, I live outside of Agdris on a farm, if you are heading that way hop on," he finished this by putting his hand out. I hesitated for a moment but I smelt something, a smell of truthfulness, it is not something I can describe, it is a smell that you feel, I know it sounds weird, but when you smell truthfulness it is as if you feel the smell, it feels like a mother's hug an action that conveys love without any dishonesty, in a sense it is the truth of love, and that pure form of truth is the feeling that the smell conveys. So I shook his hand and introduced myself -as David- then took a seat beside him. I could feel him trying his hardest to not ask any questions, so to ease up some of the tension that was building up I asked him, "do you live alone on the farm." That seemed to open him up a bit, and he told me that he lives with his wife 4 kids, 10 farmhands, a whole lot of chicken, cows, sheep, and some land to grow plants, but he didn't have enough land to grow enough feed for his animals, so he trades some eggs, milk, wool, and meat to another farm -the one he was coming from- for feed for his animals. My showing interest -although I only asked the one question- seemed to make him more comfortable, so he asked me, "you seem awfully young to travel alone, and to Agrdis, why not to an orphanage?"
I answered him, "I do not have any other choice, all orphanages and houses that take me in kick me out, so I thought to try my luck in Agrdis, and I am not that young, I can take care of myself." Seeing that I was not going to answer anymore questions and the determined look in my eyes, we settled into silence.
A few hours before dark, we reached his farm, and he undersold it a lot, it was massive, a main house for him and his family, another bigger house for the farmhands, two barns full of sheep and cows, a couple coops of chicken and a lot of farm land. He took us to the first barn to unload the hey he brought with him, there we met his wife and his eldest child taking care of the cows. Once they saw him they rushed to greet him, and the wife looked at me with a resigned look, as if Blake did this a lot -bringing in strays- and accepted the fact I would be staying with them for a while. While they were unloading the hey, I took a look around the barn, I stopped before the pen that held about 20 cows, and I learned something new, I could tell when animals would die not only humans, so I studied the faint shadows covering the cows, that said that there is a possibility thar they will die, and I kept digging in my brain to find the meaning of this shadows. Suddenly it came to me they were sick, so I called out "Blake" he didn't seem to hear me, so I called again only this time much louder. This got the attention of all three of them, and they came to see what I was making a fuss about, "what is it David?" said Blake when he came close to me. I answered "your cows are sick." His eldest apparently not liking that I was telling what is happening with his cows answered, "what do you know about cows, you are only a stray that father caught on the road." This caused his father to cuff him, but I didn't pay attention I only said, "they will all die if you do nothing," this I said to Blake and I continued addressing his eldest, "and I will be leaving now, I am not staying here." This seamed to catch all of them of guard, Blake went to check on the cows in answer to my first statement, the wife and the child looked shocked at this second part. I didn't pay any attention to them, Blake had my full attention, he examined the cows, the hoofs, the mouth, the coat of fur, and even the manure, he then went to check the water. After he was done, he looked at me confused, "how could you have known," now talking to his child "they have worms, go get Lee." So he rushed to get this Lee person who I could guess was the doctor on this farm.
"I have to go now" I said.
"You will be staying the night with us, you look like you could use a hot meal and a bed to sleep on" Blake said.
"I would like to reach Agrdis, and I would not want to impose myself onto you."
"Nonsense Agrdis, is just over the hills a couple of hours away, and you just saved me a lot of trouble, by saving my cows, I insist you will stay the night."
I could find no more excuses to head out now, so I just looked at him and nodded, he told me. That he has to do a few more things around the farm then we will eat and sleep, so I followed him for the remainder of the day, and when everything was taken care of, we headed to the main house. Inside, his wife, daughter and a farm hand, were preparing the dinner table -for dinner everyone on the farm dined together- a chair was set for me next to the youngest daughter, who was my age, and then everyone started coming in and taking their seat, they were all one big happy family. The youngest daughter -Brenda- liked to talk a lot, she would ask me a question, and then ask me another before I even heard the first, then she would talk about something that she had seen or heard that day. During this dinner I thought is this what a normal 10 year old looks like, and found that I wouldn't have minded being normal, but then the brush of Murtok's brain to check on me after feeling my discomfort, reminded me that I have someone that cares about me so much and that being normal would mean that I would have to give him away and that is something I could never do. After dinner everyone headed to their room to sleep, I was given a guest room, and for the first time since I headed out I slept on a bed.
I woke up the next day, before the sun, before anyone else was awake, and I made my way outside. I saw the cliffs that Blake said that hid Agrdis, and I saw the mountain that bordered Agrdis on the other side from here, and it looked huge, its peak covered by snow. Just as I was starting to walk, Blake came from behind me. "You are going now? You won't stay a couple more days?" he asked. "I can't stay, and I thought to get an early start." He sighed and said "I didn't think that you would, so here is some food for your journey, they are from my wife, she was worried that you had nothing with you," he handed a bag full of food, "I have plenty of food, but more could never harm." That is when Murtok finally came back, he sat at my shoulder and started smelling the food, he looked at me and said with disgust the food is salted. I missed him that day, so I petted his head and smiled at him. Blake watched this happening and didn't comment on it, but he pulled something from his pocket and said "these are a couple coins, as thanks for saving my cows, I do not have anymore to spare, so I am sorry I can only give you these, and I hope that if you ever come this way again you come and see me," putting the 5 coppers in my hand more money that I have ever had. "Thank you for everything Blake, and may the Holy Father be with you."
"May the Holy Father be with you son."
And I started walking, as soon as I was out of view from anyone, I put the coins and food into the portal and continued walking to the city that I would reach that day.
I release you might not understand the way money worked in Agdrosa, so I will explain. Skip if you want. There are seven different types of coins, copper, silver, and gold are the most commonly found and each is worth ten of its lesser counterpart, there is also the chipped version of these coins, which is basically a coin broken in half, and is worth half the original. The other four coins, are also made of gold, but they are not completely made of gold, they are circle of gold with a hollow middle, and it that place there are different gems, sapphire, ruby, emerald, and diamond, and that is what they are called, these coins do not have a chipped version. So a diamond coin is worth a million copper coins. Another thing I thought about just now that I forgot to mention, Blake checked the cows not because he thought I was right but to stop the discussion with his son.