Chapter 17: Chapter 16- The Child

“Yikes…” Etrius muttered to itself.

 

The shadows around Etrius looked at the baby with curiosity. As one would expect, babies did not belong in the forest, but that was surprisingly not the biggest problem with this. There were two very worrying possibilities about this situation. The first was that someone just abandoned this baby here, which was the preferred possibility, or the second very worrying possibility is that this baby was a devil.

Now, devils were extraordinarily dangerous, as opposed to demons. Demons are mostly just animals with a few extra or few less bits on them. Some had two heads and some had two toes. Frightening, but not usually dangerous. Devils, on the other hand, were mostly killed on sight as every past devil uncontrollably kills every human and non devil they see. Etrius, along with everyone in the kingdom, were non devils. Even little Decker and his food weren't safe from them.

If this was a devil in a baby’s body, Etrius would have no choice but to stomp it out like one would stubborn embers of a campfire. However if it was just a baby, Etrius would need to find someone or someway to take care of it. Just from looking at it, it looked like a baby, mostly because of the blanket that it was wrapped in. Unless, somehow, a devil appeared in the middle of human kingdoms with a blanket around it, this was a normal baby. Coming closer, Etrius peeked at its face.

 

“Oh.” Etrius said.

 

Yep, it was a devil. Stomping time. As it lifted up its boot, the nearby shadows reacted in horror. That in itself was odd, but the shadows themselves were odd. Feeling a bit of guilt, Etrius looked at the devil. It couldn’t quite get a clear look at its face as two feather-like antennae covered its eyes. What part of its face that wasn’t covered was frightfully pale.

Putting its boot down, not on the devil, Etrius sighed. It didn’t want to kill it, but devils were a threat to every non devil. Since this was a baby, could it be raised to be a good devil? No. Devils were not good or bad, they were simply devils. They would kill you in the same way lava would kill you. It was simply in their nature and they cannot be taught otherwise. Glancing at it again, Etrius sighed again and looked away.

 

“Just close your eyes and stomp.” Etrius muttered. “Just a one step job.”

 

Before it could lift its foot again, the devil started to move.

 

“Awww.” The devil uttered.

 

Slowly it’s antenna shook and moved away from its eyes. Its gray cat-like eyes opened and looked at it. Etrius simply looked at it, as the devil’s eyes moved across its body, wondering where to look. Now this was odd. Stowing its bow over its shoulder, Etrius reached down and took a closer look at it. The devil seemed to struggle, but this was different from the usual, try and kill what it saw. The blanket loosened and four arms reached out towards it, not with hostility, but curiosity. Letting it grab its hand, Etrius felt it’s two soft human-like hands and its two odd, harder hands each grab a finger. This alone convinced Etrius that this thing was not a devil. It was just some weird fucked up baby thing.

Lifting it, Etrius brought it close to its own face. Staring into the space which its face should be, the baby focused on it and used its two human hands to reach out for it.

 

“Ooooh.” The baby let out.

“You’re a strange one, aren’t you?” Etrius asked, the pot calling the kettle black. “What are you doing out here?”

 

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Though it asked that, Etrius knew that if anyone back in the town had this baby, they would leave it for dead out here. It was obvious that if this came from the town, no one would claim it even if Etrius brought it back. On the other hand, the crawling shadows were involved with it, so it was unlikely that it was from this world, let alone from this town.

“What am I going to do with you?” Etrius asked.

“Aawww.” The baby said, returning to reaching towards its hand.

 

Poking its cheek, Etrius found it to be as soft as a normal baby's. It turned to look at it’s finger and sneezed as its antenna brushed against the blanket. Surprised and frightened by this, it started to cry. How do you calm a crying baby? Etrius looked to the shadows for hints, but they simply watched with interest. No help, as usual. Maybe a lullaby, not that Etrius could think of any.

 

“Do not be afraid, child.” Etrius said softly, rocking the baby. “There’s no need to scream.”

“AAHHhAHhhaaAHH!” The baby continued to cry.

 

Obviously it did not listen to reason. Short of forcibly shutting its mouth, how to keep it from crying? Maybe it was hungry? Reaching into one of its belt bags, Etrius pulled out the softest piece of smoked jerky it had. This was obviously still too hard for a child, but it was all that Etrius had on hand. Maybe it could suck on it or something.

 

“Child, look at me.” Etrius said, waving the jerky in front of the baby’s nose.

“AAAhhh- uuhhh.” The baby calmed down.

 

Opening its eyes, it saw the jerky that Etrius slowly waved in front of it. Though it still had teary eyes, it reached out its hand for it. Still waving the meat, Etrius watched as its clumsy hands followed it. Before it began crying again, Etrius let it grab onto the jerky. Helping guide it to its mouth, Etrius was surprised when a small set of jaws reached out to bite it. For several moments, it struggled, but eventually it was able to successfully take a small bite of it. Releasing its two non-human hands, the baby held the jerky in its mouth with the help of its two human-like hands. Now with nothing to do, the two non-human hands reached out for something to grab, finding Etrius’ clothing in the process.

As it pulled on its clothes, Etrius brought it close to its chest and held it like one would normally hold a baby. Quietly eating, or at least biting, the baby closed its eyes in Etrius’ arms, its antenna close to its face. Gently rocking it, Etrius wondered what to do. There was no way that this child would ever be adopted. Not in this town or any other. Leaving it to die out here would be cruel, but Etrius didn’t exactly have the free time to take care of it with its line of work. Looking at it again, Etrius realized that there was literally no one else who would be willing to take care of this. It could possibly ask Adriana, but she had a full time job with managing the entire territory and was constantly surrounded by people who would piss their pants at the sight of this baby.

So, unless Etrius wanted to let this baby die, it would have to take care of it. Then again, there were the witch hunters, but there were none around, and those that it did know were kind of shit heads, so no. Looking at the shadows and crawling shadows, Etrius knew that it was the only one with relevant experience in dealing with weird humanoid, and possibly dangerous, creatures. Sighing, Etrius looked at the baby.

 

“I guess you’re coming with me…” It said.

 

Twitching its antenna, the baby opened its eyes and looked at Etrius. As it was still nibbling on the jerky, it made no noise. After a moment, it once more closed its eyes and continued eating. Still having no clue what it was holding, Etrius decided to call an early end to its hunt.

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