Chapter 65: The Little Boy From Planet Earth

"Hello there."

The barred cage rattled softly as a pregnant Vashki limped toward it, one hand resting against the wall for support while the other stretched carefully toward the children inside.

The children had been pressed into the farthest corner of the cage, their small bodies crowded together. Some clutched one another. Others hid their faces behind their knees.

One little boy sat slightly apart from them. He held a small stuffed rabbit tightly against his chest.

The Vashki tilted his porcelain head.

"Does he not understand my words?"

He looked back at a figure towering several steps behind him.

Another voice answered.

"They speak a different language. I can speak it. Do you want to converse with the boy?"

The pregnant Vashki immediately brightened.

"Yes!"

He turned back toward the cage and rattled the bars with excitement.

The sudden metallic noise echoed through the room and a train of cries erupted from inside. Several children screamed and scrambled backward, some covering their ears while others buried their faces against the cage floor.

The Vashki immediately recoiled.

"Oh no, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you. Please don’t cry."

His hand hovered uselessly in the air. He looked genuinely distressed by their reaction, the ring around his ankle dimming as he tried to console them.

But the children continued crying.

Behind him, the larger Vashki stepped forward. The sound of his footsteps seemed to shake the entire room.

Thud.

Thud.

Thud.

His enormous porcelain body emerged from the dimness, towering over the cage. Rings rested around his arms, neck, and torso, each one glowing faintly against the pale surface of his body.

The crying immediately stopped. Not because the children had calmed down, but because they were terrified.

Terrified by the massive Vashki that looked down at them.

"He said he didn’t mean to startle you. Now shut up."

Silence swallowed the room.

The pregnant Vashki glanced up at him.

"What do you want to say to them?"

The larger Vashki turned his faceless head toward the pregnant one.

"Not them."

The smaller Vashki’s head turned in the direction in which the boy stood, shivering in a pool of liquid.

The larger Vashki followed his gaze and settled on the boy as well.

The child remained frozen in the corner, his fingers wrapped around the stuffed rabbit so tightly that its fabric had begun to wrinkle beneath his grip.

The pregnant Vashki leaned closer to the bars.

"I want to talk to that one."

He pointed.

Something about his eyes had caught his attention. Even in the dim room, they seemed to reflect the faint light above them.

His voice softened into a near-whisper.

"Look at his eyes. They look like the glow of Ageisha."

The boy didn’t understand their words, but he understood the attention. He understood that he was being targeted by them and that just made him press himself farther into the corner.

The pregnant Vashki slowly crouched, bringing himself closer to the child’s height.

He extended one hand through the bars, while the larger spoke for him,

"You, come closer."

The boy shook his head.

His arms tightened around the rabbit.

The larger Vashki’s rings suddenly brightened.

His arm shot forward and the boy barely had time to react before the enormous hand closed around his body and pulled him from the corner.

His stuffed rabbit fell.

The boy screamed.

The Vashki dragged him forward and slammed him against the bars.

The metal shook violently.

"Careful! Do you want to kill him?"

The pregnant Vashki lunged toward them.

The larger Vashki’s hand remained around the child’s body. The boy struggled desperately, his small hands pushing against the porcelain arm.

"He should have listened when I spoke to him."

The pregnant Vashki’s rings flickered with agitation.

"He’s a child. Be gentle with him!"

The larger Vashki finally loosened his grip.

The boy collapsed against the bars, gasping as tears streamed down his face.

His rabbit lay several feet away.

The pregnant Vashki reached through the cage and tried to retrieve it but his hands were too short to reach it. The large one noticed his distress, reached for the toy, plucked it off the ground and handed it to him.

He held the little toy carefully between his fingers before offering it back.

The boy stared at him.

He didn’t move.

The Vashki lowered his hand slightly.

"Here."

"He says to have your toy."

The boy slowly reached forward then his trembling fingers closed around the rabbit.

The pregnant Vashki hummed pleasantly beneath his faceless porcelain.

"You don’t have to be scared of us. I won’t hurt you and I won’t let this big scary U’Kan hurt you either."

"You don’t have to be scared of us. I won’t hurt you and...I won’t let this big scary U’Kan hurt you either. Be a good little brat and do whatever he says... maybe then I would not plan to hurt you."

The boy nodded so quickly, they feared his head might just roll of his little shoulders.

"See? This is much better, isn’t it?"

"See? This is much better, isn’t it?"

The larger Vashki remained standing behind him.

Interpreting.

Watching.

The pregnant Vashki looked once more at the child’s glowing eyes. Something about them continued to bother him. Or perhaps intrigued him.

He couldn’t tell which.

He simply stared at the boy for another long moment before whispering,

"Your eyes are so pretty like the Ageisha..."

"Your eyes are so pretty like the Ageisha..."

The child hugged his rabbit tighter.

"Tell me, what is your name?"

"Tell me, what is your name?"

The boy swallowed before speaking,

"X-Xavier but Katie likes to c-call me Knight."

"What did he say?"

"He said his name is... Savier but someone called Katie likes to call him Night."

The pregnant one faced the boy.

"Your name is Night? As in when the sun goes down?"

"Your name is Night? As in when the sun goes down?"

The boy shook his head.

"No, Night but with a ’K’."