“Bommy…”

“Bommy…”

“Wha…,” Bomond woke up and everything was dark. ‘Where am I?’, he wondered.

‘Why is Emojen calling that wretched name?’

‘But this is your favorite name, Ender,’

‘What? Rot! I hate that name.’

‘Then why is this name associated with great happiness in your memories?’

Bomond was shocked and embarrassed. This wasn’t a voice. It was a thought in his mind. He wasn’t hearing sounds. The conversation was thoughts rushing in his head. Something was reading his mind. And reading things he would never want anybody to know.

‘I am not Emojen, Bommy. I am WHRJHDS’

‘What?’ The name had sounded like several jumbled sounds that seemed incoherent.

‘Forgive me. Your memories do not have any sound that I can use to clearly speak my name. I am the…parent-worm.. I think this is what you thought of me. You call us worms. I know this now. You saved my child, Ender.’

‘Oh! I am conversing with a worm,’ Bomond comprehended.

‘What are you then? How are you speaking in my mind?’

‘This is how we communicate, Ender. We do not ‘speak’ like you do. We share thoughts. We share better with people who have Vitus signatures similar to our own.’

‘Vitus signature?’

‘You call it the Power, I think. Now, it is easier to share thoughts with you as you are in the change-sleep. So, it is much easier to place thoughts in your mind.’

‘Wait! Change-sleep? Am I dead? What is happening?’

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‘Be not alarmed, Ender. Change-sleep is…transformation? You call it Baptism, yes?’

‘Baptized? But I did not eat… What’s happening here?’

‘I realize that you people transform after you…eat… our ended bodies. We do not… eat. We… consume Vitus directly from the core of the planet. You saved my children and me, Ender.’

‘Why do you keep calling me Ender?’

‘That’s what you are. An Ender. You ended a demon and saved us!’

‘What? A Demon? Me? No, I did not. I was killed’

‘Your attack took out the demon’s head-crown, exposing its unprotected head to the… Flame-Rain, you call it? Flame-Rain is toxic to the Desecrated.’

Bomond couldn’t believe it. What strange luck. He had killed a demon? What was that word: Desecrated, yes?

‘Desecrated? What’s that? Wait, you said I was being Baptized. What do you mean?’

‘You saved us, Ender. In return, my children and I got to you before you were ended. We freely gave of our Vitus so that you could be saved. You are now being transformed…baptized.’

‘Am I in the Cocoon?’

‘Yes, you’re in the husk as your Vitonite gets invested in you.’

‘Vitonite? What’s that now?’

‘Vitonite is…yes, you call it Vessel… When our Vitus enters your body, and your transformation is complete, your Vitonite/Vessel will allow you to channel… You call it sorcery, maybe.’

‘Thank…Thank you…I don’t kno…,’ gratitude flushed through Bomond.

‘We couldn’t let you perish, Ender. We were in debt to you. I can never repay enough. We see that you people love our ended bodies and you wanted to get our power, and we see your sister’s condition. Still, you spared my child, and then saved us. We cannot fathom this. Why did you do all this?’

‘I don’t know. I couldn’t kill an intelligent living being. Not like that. What are you, anyway? You cannot be a worm.’

‘I see in your mind that we do look like these worm creatures. I did not know this. Yes, we are not worms. We’re… custodians, you may call us. I will tell you our life-story. We carry the Vitus from the core to the surface, giving life in places. After we bear our children and finish our life, we go to the stream at the foot of the mountain to end our existence in the cool waters. Our last journey is very painful. Our limbs fall out and our bodies disintegrate till we reach the waters. You have seen our end, yes?’

‘Yes. So… errr… Custodian. Will I wake up?’

‘Yes, Ender. Your transformation is nearly complete. You may be different from your other Vitus channelers, yes?’

‘Wait…What…Why…How?’

‘I think because you have been invested freely with our live Vitus essence, your Vitonite may be different.’

‘Do you mean I will be more powerful?’

‘I do not know this word, ‘powerful’…Oh I see, you mean…competent? No, I mean different…maybe unique…unlike others, yes?’

‘Oh! But, what does that m…’

‘Your transformation is complete, Ender. Farewell, I hope you remain safe and be who you are. May your Vitonite be blessed, Ender.’

‘Please call me… Bommy!’

“Bommy…Bommy…Please, wake up. Come back”, a well-loved voice beckoned Bomond.

Bomond opened his eyes and he saw Emojen. She looked very different. She had tears in her eyes. She also had a radiance. Bomond focused on her. Yes, there was a strange light surrounding her body. Bomond lifted his torso and sat up, with his legs stretched out in front of him.

Then he looked, really looked, and he saw that he was in a new world. Everything was different. He was changed, he knew. The mountain, the forest, the sky, it all looked different.

There was no sign of the demon anywhere. Then Bomond saw the head-crown. Next to it was the strangest-looking pile of… salt? It looked like salt crystals but it had a slight pinkish hue. As his body tingled from within, Bomond knew that his life was changed. He was once again in uncharted territory.