SIN EATER

Chapter 7. Consistency, Rules, Getting things Right and Correct!

“Psssst….”

“You!”

“Yes, you!”

“Over here!”

“Don’t look so confused!!”

“OVER HERE!”

A previously invisible wall reveals itself as from the other side as a single brick is removed…

An unpleasant charmless nasal English voice comes from the other side.

Tha unpleasant smell of some older fat man with highly questionable hygiene can be smelt…

“I need to explain some stuff to you…”

“Some secrets about the Sin-Eater…!”

“So you don’t b***h and moan about the inconsistencies later.”

“Yes the Sin eater is immune to magic BUT he is NOT immune to the effects of magic!”

“Here are some examples…”

“He is immune to a wizard firing magical lighting from his fingertips..”

“But magical storm with natural lighting directed at him will make him go SQUISH!”

“Here is another,”

“Casting a spell to make him explode! That will have no effect at all!”

“But making a nearby stone exploded so the naturally projected stone shrapnel shards spread and shred him will make him go SQUISH!”

“Are you getting it now?”

“Dragon fire, he is totally immune to”

“BUT! Dragon fire that sets a forest alight then causing flaming tree that is now burning with normal fire will SQUISH him!”

“I am only telling you this so you don’t scratch your head with confusion as the zombies grab and dig their claws into the Sin-Eaters flesh!”

“Because the power animating the zombies is magical, but the actual rotting claws can still rip him apart!”

“Got it!”

The brick slowly slides back into the wall, rendering it invisible again…

That same brick is then suddenly pushed aside briefly once more as the weird stranger addresses you again…

“By the way?”

“Have you worked out the Toilet Roll bit yet?

You sense an immature grin as the brick once more slides back.

Once again the forth wall is now hidden!

Staggering through the wet rain the Sin-Eater felt the relieving warmth of a large fire with a cauldron on it.

Three women rushed to his side,

“Oh! You poor dear” he heard one of them say,

“You must be absolutely freezing!”

He felt a warm comfy blanket go over his shoulders as he was directed to sit on a large log by the fire.

The Sin Eater also felt a warming cup of the cauldron's contents pushed into his numb welcoming fingers.

While the poor lad composed himself the witches gave each other smile knowing looks.

They were excited and looking forward to their master's approval!

The Sin-Eater tried to clear his shivering mind by taking in his surroundings and engaging his own intellect to centre himself.

He could see the cauldron was ancient with layers of old text and runes etched into it.

In order to clear his mind so he could properly engage his kind host, he centred his wandering mind to read some of the runes and also some of the more crude daubs slapped over them with natural pigments and coloured chalks.

The more modern scrawled graffiti-style slap on ones caught is attention because of some of the obvious errors.

He decided not to upset them by pointing these errors out.

They were trying to be nice to him, he felt he should afford some of the same courtesy back!

The liquid in his hands felt lovely.

“Please dear child, Drink! Warm yourself!”

“Although contents of his mug had no nutritional value to him, he sipped some, just to feel the liquid warmth radiate throughout his ice feeling throat.

He sipped a little as he could get away with.

Dam it tasted awful!

It was definitely contained some strong alcohol.

“Thank you, mam,” he said

He went to put the cup down by his side so he could expose the palm of his hands to the lovely open fire.

“Please, you are still shivering my child, Do drink some more!”

“Thank you kind ladies but I do not think my small frame could take such strong liquor.”

“I only have the body of a child and that seems strong enough to comatose an elephant!” he giggled.

“Nonsense, This is a medical emergency! You need to warm yourself up!”

Inside his head, part of the Sin-Eaters inner self facepalmed himself, as his outer self embarrassed him by failing to resist showing what an annoying ‘know it all’ he was!

“Actually, That is incorrect!”

‘Please do not do this’, his cringing inner dialogue pleaded

“Alcohol is the last thing you should give any person suffering from exposure as instead of elevating the symptoms it will aggravate them and significantly slow down any recovery,”

The witches fell into a stunned silence.

“Then” the head witch hissed “We will do this the hard and more fun way!” she cackled

The Sin Eater felt relieved,

At least she was laughing instead of being offended.

Socal awkwardness averted, he sighed.

‘Hang on! Dumb arse!’ his inner dialogue nudged, ‘That was a cackle NOT a laugh!’

It was then that he felt the sting of sharp undead claws dig into his shoulder flesh.

Because although he was immune to the magic animating the undead he was not immune to mundane sharp bone attached to it that was now painfully piercing his skin.

There were, in fact, not one but two zombies, both previous child victims of the witches.

“Cry for your useless God!”

“Cry for your absent mother!”

“Beg for our delight!”

“The Master shall have you, Child!”

All three cackled in unison.

“Wait!” cried out the Sin-Eater…

“What begging do we enjoy this time sisters” the head witch jeered!

“No begging, just one question”

He had to ask, or rather tell them.

He could not face death with courage without first correcting them on the errors on their cauldron!

The mistakes on that cauldron were really bothering him!

“Yes..” Hissed the Head Witch

There was a pause.

“Why is your pentagram the wrong way up?”

Another pause.

“It is an ancient sign of evil! Of our devotion to all evil and the end and corruption of all life!”

“I know what you were going for,” said the Sin Eater, “But you pentagram is ‘THEN’ most definitely the wrong way up!”

“What?” said the Head Witch in a now almost human irritated voice.

“If you are evil witches then the point should be inverted, pointing down.”

“No, it shouldn't? I  am the Head of a Witches coven!”

“The point has accidentally been drawn the point facing upwards!” The Sin eater continued.

“You have accidentally blessed your cauldron with symbols of life and positive wika energy!”

“What? No! It depends on how you draw it!” Snapped the Head witch.

“No, it doesn’t,” Corrected Rats

“Each point represents the arms, legs and head of a figure.”

“You have the figure accidentally standing astride tall not hung upside down as if suspended by it ankles ready to be sacrificed.”

“What??!” Exclaimed the leader Witch!

“I bet you think you can revel that these children you killed are trapped inside their own rotting corpses screaming silently with constant pain!” Continued Rats,

“What!” Said the head witch again

“Except all you really have are marionettes and puppets,” Rats went on,

“There are no tortured souls trapped there at all!”

“Their souls are at peace!” Winced the Sin-Eater in pain.

“What! How would you know! What do you know!” Said the head witch, turning red.

“Because, As I have been trying to tell you, you have accidentally blessed you cauldron!” Said Rats.

“And even in cold weaken pain and with zombie claws digging in me, I can casually see at least fifteen other basic mistakes you have made including one huge one!”

“What huge one!” cried the head witch in horrified fascination!

“Well, you never seemed to have read the original runes on its surface as you painted over them, have you?” Asked Rats,

“Their meaning is lost in the mists of time! My Victim!” She hissed

“I can read them!” Said Rats.

“No you can’t!” she hissed, “No one can!” said the Head of the coven.

“And non of us can read anything anyway,” said the second witch.

“We just slapped on what seemed cool,” said the third

“Well, I am just trying to explain, before I die, that if you are going to try and truck and deal with the ancient forces of incredible evil that you might want to use a real blood caldron that is stained with the innocent blood of a hundred sacrificed souls.”

“That is what we have, My own mother told me so!”

“No,” Corrected the Sin Eater, “What you have there is a very old cauldron that has a secret famous family recipe for the best chicken soup ever!”

“My mother would never have lied to me!” Said the head witch angrily.

“Your mother didn’t, she fully believed that she was telling the truth,” replied Rats,

“The first version of the lie happened about five generations ago when one of you ancestors grandmothers told an errant toddler granddaughter, ‘don’t touch the hot cauldron dear or the naughty bite fairies will get you.’ To stop the child from accidentally hurting itself.”

“Then upon each generation, the little white fib slowly got added to a bit more each time”

“You bluff is over!” She hissed,

She lifted her hands to call the zombie children to rip the Sin-Eater apart.

“By the time Lilly, your mother told you. She honestly thought she was passing down an ancient family secret!”

“She would have never knowingly lie to you but she did get things wrong!”

“Being simply wrong and outright lying are not the same things!”

The Head Witch was stunned.

“How did you know my mother's name?”

“Tell me,” Said the Sin-Eater, ignoring her question,

“Despite your innate and great power, how clear are the messages from the dark realm you try and contact?”

The Head Witch briefly regained her composure.

“The veil is thick and I feel and channel the master wishes though it”

“I divine the hints and signs of his will..”

“So,” translated the Sin Eater, “Not very good then.”

“Which is not surprising considering you are using a common although ancient cauldron that you have accidentally blessed, while I may add, also being on an even more ancient wika mound that has never been de satisfied!”

“It is extremely impressive that you could get any form of connection to there at all!”

“It would be like constant resistance training.”

“If you took out all the obstacles you have always had to push through, you will be very surprised how powerful you have become!”

“It will be like a runner who accidentally always trained and completed marathons in hot coal filled iron torture boots,"

“Suddenly finding and then wearing good running footwear for the first time!”

“They would be amazed at how strong their own legs had become!”

“Of course stopping taking all the dodgy herbs would also help you a great deal!”

“You think they let you sleep but you are having to take more and more aren't you?”

“And despite that, the nightmares are getting worse!”

“No matter how good the running shoes you can never outrun your own mind forever!”

There was a silence,

Then the zombies collapsed in still heap.

The Sin-Eater pulled himself up onto his elbows slightly.

“Do you really want to see the dark realm clearly?”

“You can do that?” The head witch asked

“No, I can not use any magic,” said Rats

“But I can tell you how to do that!”

“If that is what you really want!”

“IF?!” The Sin Eater added pointedly!

“For basic starters, wash all the paint of the cauldron, remake the fire off of this sacred mound and put the correct symbols on,”

“If that is what you really want!” He repeated

“IF?!” The Sin Eater added again warningly!

The next morning

The broken women sobbed in each other's arms.

The Sin Eater made and tired to get them to have some breakfast.

They had all seen a real unfiltered true picture of the dark realm.

Although they. themselves had tortured and done some extremely evil things to many innocents!

They had killed in slow painful ways, so many children.

It only took three point five seconds for them all to faint in horror

It was not the glamour orgy of power s*x and drink that they had hopped

It was too horrible, for a mortal that had done some truly horrible, things to bare!

Their self-delusions were shattered forever

“We have to die”

“We can't live with what we have wrought and done” Cried the Head Witch

“Why?” Asked the Sin Eater

“We thought we had awoken secret knowledge and power….”

“NO!” Interrupted the Sin Eater, “I fully know why you became what you became,”

“I am asking why you have to die?”

“Well, we did so many…. Things” The Head Witch Started…

“The penalty should be death!”

“And will your deaths undo any of that!?” the Sin-Eater exclaimed!

“Would it bring a back a single destroyed child or mend a single parent’s, broken heart?”

“All you would be then, are three more dead women!”

“But we are hellbound!” She cried

“So,?” Said the Sin-Eater

“So are a lot of people”

“If you are just fixing the world to avoid Hell then you are doing it for all the wrong reasons.”

“That is not sorrow,”

“That is not sorry”

“That is just meaningless easy self-punishment”

“You are just making all the crime you committed about you and not about your victims”

“Eat some breakfast, Drink some warm milk, and start making your regret about the world instead of about yourself!”

“If you are really sorry,”

“THAT IS REALLY SORRY!”

“Rather than just lying to yourself,”

“Sacrifice the rest of your life's effort and time to make the world better!

“Dead you are just meat”

“Alive and caring and driven you can make a difference”

“There is a crap world to try and fix…”

“Go fetch!”

“How can we start?” she asked

“I suggest with,” replied the Sin-Eater

“A secret long lost recipe for best chicken soup ever!”

Within the next few hours, the Sin-Eater would now physically become fourteen!

The local Sunite Empire was looking for an eleven-year-old, not, what was clearly, a much taller a fourteen-year-old.

The Sin-Eater was, for now at least, safe!

The witches had also explained the whole toilet roll thing!

The Sin-Eaters side still ached days later from how hard and long he had laughed!

He now knew the extremely stupid reason “Those who are over” and “Those who are under” hated each other so much!

This world had definitely won the single most stupid reason for a bloody war based solely on a VERY SILLY type of cultural bigotry EVER!

Hands down!

Easily!

Within three weeks somewhere a mobile orphanage run by three humble women would be helping and protecting lost children.

With a witches in-depth knowledge of herbs and holy Wika, they healed sick.

They all taught themselves to read.

In more than just one language!

With the three women's newfound and much greater wrathful power, some of those who would harm children would have some very bad but very short days!  

And they served the best chicken soup ever!