Shadow parasite

“What things?” asked Ella, full of curiosity.

“You sure are very curious,” this time, it was his turn to complain.

“Am I not allowed to be like that?” her eyes suddenly became bigger.

“Of course you are allowed. But generally, people don’t like answering questions.”

“Why? Are you one of those people?”

Gorn took a few turns, then proceeded to advance in a straight line again. “To answer truthfully to some questions would imply exposing some secrets. If people know your secrets, they usually use that information against you. Thus, most intelligent people don’t answer certain questions, or answer in a round-about manner. And yes, I am one of those people.”

Ella took a few moments to ponder at his response. “Isn’t it very hard to keep all things to yourself? What about friends, or family? Can’t you at least trust them?”

Gorn let out a sigh. “Friends come and go. Family is definitely more reliable. But even that is not one hundred percent safe. Normally, you must be very careful and attentive to the people around you. However, there are times that you need advice from others, advice that can save you a lot of trouble, and potentially even your life. Being too secretive can also prove to be a catastrophe in some cases.”

He turned his head, and looked at her for a second, then continued: “In short, the less the others know about you, the better. Important matters should, however, be discussed, and analyzed with other people. Mainly family, or competent people that can be trusted. After all, you wouldn’t want the opinion of an idiot, would you? If you do that, that makes you an idiot as well.”

Ella blinked a few times in quick succession. “Never thought about things like this… It makes some sense though…”

Gorn gently caressed her hair. “Good girl! The smarter you are, the better!”

Ella let out a big smile. “Thank you for the advice!”

Roughly half an hour later Gorn, and Ella returned to the rest of the group. After this small trip, their bond increased by another level.

“Look at you two! All smiles and grins! Anything interesting happened on the way?” asked Elisa with a grin as well.

“Nothing much, just a small walk through the neighborhood. How are things here?” asked Gorn, while also looking around. Amelia, and her daughters, were currently looking all around the place. Seeing his arrival, they started to walk in his direction.

“Amelia and Emma seem a little distant, but that’s only natural. Other than that, nothing much yet. You didn’t tell me you were going to go to the city to save them. What if something bad happened…?” she was a little upset, but it was rather understandable.

At this point, the others arrived, so this topic stopped abruptly. “Everything ok?” asked Gorn.

“Yes, everything is ok. Are we going to live here from now on?” asked Amelia, a little disappointment showing on her face. The place was nothing much really.

Gorn noticed that small detail. “Good! This place is decent, and will be our temporary base for now. When the time is right, we will move to a more suitable location. Until then, you are free to help with whatever you can, or do whatever you want, provided you do not obstruct the others in what they are doing. All clear?” These words were addressed to the new arrivals, and were some kind of orders in a way.

“Yes!”

“Lovely! Now, I have a little present for all of you.” Gorn then took out all the clothes from his inventory. A huge pile of clothes appeared before everyone. The variety was also more than enough. “Feel free to choose whatever you want.”

Everyone’s eyes started to glow. Pouncing upon the enormous pile, each person started to look for something that they liked. Gorn calmly went to the side, leaned over the tree, and closed his eyes.

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Back at the city, Norman’s men had already found out about the mysterious events that happened right under their noses. Some capable people managed to escape outside the walls, and into the wilderness by taking advantage of the opportunity Gorn provided.

Their number was, however, small. Most of them were caught, or remained in the same spot, not daring to run away. Interrogating a few people, and analyzing the aftermath, a few simple conclusions could be deducted.

“Quickly inform me when captain Norman finishes his business,” said a big, and muscular man. His body was covered in scars, and his face was scary to look at, no matter if he was happy or not.

“Yes sir!”

The man did not spare a single glance at his subordinate, and kept looking at the dry corpse that was right before him. ‘Interesting…’

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Norman was currently alone in a bizarre looking room. He was laying on a bed, seemingly asleep. There were many containers all around, and other unknown devices. The containers were full of some strange liquid, and were all connected with copper pipes to a bigger storage device.

From there, a thick silvery pipe extended towards Norman’s shadow, half of which transformed into a big mouth. The mouth was constantly sucking away at that strange liquid that was flowing. The whole procedure happened in a steady, and controlled manner.

A few strange black lines were also present on Norman’s body. His condition was unknown, and no signs of moving were present.

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While the girls were busy choosing some outfits, Gorn took some time off, to relax. That included not thinking about problems, or other future plans. He just sat there, enjoying the cool breeze, and the songs of the small birds.

One hour later, he got up, and came in front of the pile of clothes. Everyone already had several outfits neatly packed to the side. By the looks of it, they still wanted to pick a few. Gorn started to store them again. “That’s enough for the time being.”

Even though the girls seemed rather reluctant, Gorn stored away the clothes yet again. At the end, he added: “Time to eat something now.” Taking out a few nice looking pieces of wild boar meat, he quickly improvised a little, and started to roast them under the salivating looks of the others.