22nd of Soaawden

As little Navin awaits in silence after finishing the loaf of bread, the man grasps the ladle inside the cauldron and lightly stirs, picking up another wooden bowl and filling it with the watery stew, pouring out a light brown stock followed by small chunks of herb-laden meat. The man hobbles to his feet, walking towards the boy’s bedside and sets it within the child’s hands. After this, the man repeats his actions and pours himself a bowl of the stew, then clasps a handle atop the cauldron and sets it aside the controlled pit of fire within the shack.

“There was once a being--or shall I say there is a being, blacker than night and much larger than the world itself. The Devourer, Kasimuk it is called. Within Kasimuk resided many worlds similar to ours, but also much different th-”

“Why is his name Kasimuk?” the boy innocently interjected.

The old man replied lightheartedly, “-ahem, patience, child, I’m getting to that part. And don’t forget about your dinner, you wouldn’t want cold gerjuk (Essentially a rabbit, with longer, more pronounced ears and stronger hind legs). As I was saying, the worlds differed from our worlds, but were also similar to our own.”

The boy frowned and quickly pressed his lips to the steaming stew, retaining his inquisitive gaze towards the interesting character and his story.

“Kasimuk was neither he or she, or rather no one knows its identity, because it merely existed—it went to far places, gobbling up worlds like ours, for that was all it desired. We named it Kasimuk because it means Devourer in our ancient tongue.”

“Who’s we?” the boy spoke hurriedly this time.

“A story for another time,” the man spoke slowly and with a saddened tone.

The man lightened his own mood continuing the story, “now, then there came a time when it desired to eat the largest and brightest star, appealing to the Devourer as if it were a trove of gold, ripe for the taking. What do you think happened, boy?”

Navin put the bowl of stew down from his mouth for a moment, “It ate it!” he balked with a smile, quickly raising the bowl to his face once more.

“One could say that. Kasimuk indeed put the star within its belly, and within its belly the star resided for a time. But a day came when the bright star, Aeso, began to swallow the other stars and worlds within Kasimuk, and this caused the Devourer to throw everything up, much like you did earlier.” The old man snickered.

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“Because everything resided within Kasimuk for a long while before this event, many worlds and stars alike became jumbled together, garnering aspects of each other and changing their very nature-“

The young child’s eyes lit up, “How many worlds are there?” he inquired and leaned forward over his now empty bowl of stew.

“Not a soul holds the answer you desire, nor has anyone stepped foot in the other worlds, but- “ The man is interrupted by a significant rustling outside the shabby door, made of rotting planks, now with spaces for light to pierce through from the degradation. The old man turned quickly towards the shack’s entrance while turning a palm to Navin, signaling the boy to stay quiet and slowly standing to face the door himself.

After a few moments, the rustling was still apparent but had become faded, and the old man took a much less cautious stance and Navin, noticing this, asked in a hushed voice, “What was that?”

Turning to the bundle of curiosity in the form of a boy, Navin garnered a reply from the man, “we will finish our story at a later time, would you like to know how an old man like myself can eat in these hills?”

The boy cocked his head and gazed at the smirking old man, expressing his confusion.

“Let us make haste, we must hunt for two and there is no time to spare, for the bounty of the lands has been delivered unto us this fruitful day.”

The old man shuffled around, capping the cauldron with a large wooden plate in order to preserve the stew, then grabbed a contorted stick that stretched about his height and began walking out the door, creaking as he exited. Navin hastily followed the man outside the threshold.

As the sun hit the boy’s skin, his eyes became focused and dilated to accommodate the sudden exposure, shielding his eyes with his forearm. Navin slowly lowered his arm and was suddenly astonished at the shining expanse below and in front of him. The boy silently gazed at the gleaming yellow hills bathed in rays of gold as far as the eye could see, the ruins that he was previously inhabiting was now only a speck, and the hills expanded for what seemed like forever, only to be interrupted at the horizon by a stretch of mountains so far away that it matched the sky’s hue. His trance was broken with a gust of wind and a realization that the old man had now distanced himself along the rocky hillside.

Navin ran to catch up to the old man, and after trailing him for a time, his thoughts were flooded with visions of his father’s back along a dreary road, the boy became lost in thought and oblivious to his own movements until he was met with a sudden gesture of the warped walking stick to keep the boy silent, in lieu of possibly scaring their prey. After a brief time navigating through the jagged hillside, the man crouched down and pointed towards the gerjuk, nibbling on a patch of radiant blue-green grass among the various patches of green and golden flora.

With a crisp snap of his fingers, the man summoned a spark of flame on his fingertip, and with a motion as if he was flicking the flame with his entire arm and a half-clasped hand, a sharpened spear-like form quickly emerged out of the extended limb and shot towards the gerjuk at a speed faster than Navin could follow with his eyes. The impact resounded as an instantaneous crack that echoed briefly, followed by a flickering of sparks and a flapping of flames, until nothing but a four-legged carcass remained.

“Woaaaah!” Navin exclaimed wide-eyed and in disbelief.

The old man looked at the excited boy and gave him a smile, then turned to face their future meal, walking towards it and standing above the corpse in observation.

Navin stood for a moment in silence, still comprehending the scene he just witnessed. After a brief pause, the boy rushed over to the man towering over the lifeless body and looked over the corpse intently. Noting the clean hole surrounded by scorched fur through the gerjuk’s chest area.

“How’d ya do that?” Navin shouted in amazement and looked towards the old man.

The old fellow paused and looked at the child with sincerity and replied while gently patting the hair on Navin’s head, “I have used my sins for the profit of myself, but you are different, young one, you bear no sins.”

Navin’s excited look faded away into confusion, but before he could question the man’s response, the man continued, “pay no mind to it for now, we will be eating meat for the next week!” he finished with a hearty laugh, grabbing the corpse by the ears and walking with a jolly attitude towards the direction of the shack.

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