Aberrant Analects

The Demon Inside

It was within the wake of pain and heartache. The young woman lay in her soiled bed, sweat donned her brow, a man beside her holding her hand. Neither thought of the bare cupboards or rumble of his stomach. He simply closed his eyes, leaned over and placed a kiss upon his wife's head. The midwife wrapped the bundle in a blue blanket, passing it over to the tired mother who held him so tenderly. She looked up to her husband and with a breathless whisper said there was something she needed to tell her love. He looked down to the boy, hairless with bumps on his head on either side. He was nervous but in love with his wife. He would keep an open mind. She looked nervous and all he longed for was to comfort her. She opened her mouth a little and before she got a word out the man kissed her deeply, and the head of their son.

That very night, across the large city sat a man in his office, rocking back in forth in a plush, comfortable chair. He looked up, dark circles under his eyes at the man with the snaggled tooth. "You can't be serious."

"But I am. I heard it myself." He returned, covering himself tighter with his baggy coat. "There was a boy who was born this very night. Maximus. He is deformed and will be the one to take your new born daughter."

"Why should I believe you?" He folded his hands together on the desk.

"You shouldn't- but you've taken a long time to build up this empire you have right now. Do you really want to give it up to someone undeserving? Someone who would ruin it all? Someone who will no doubt be your downfall? Think of what you have done thus far to build this and keep it, sir." The man in the chair thought for a long while about this all, then looked up and nodded. "You know I am right. It is just one boy. In the face of everything that has happened so far, what is one boy?" He nodded and the man flipped his hood up, grinning wildly at the events before he left.

The words haunted the man. For an entire month he moved into the nursery of his darling daughter after the sun went down and looked at her sweet, angelic face. Towards the end his heavy brow fell and he was determined to do what he must. For her. She would have the life he had always promised his children would have.

Finding them with his vast network and resources was not hard. Prolific rhyme spelled out for him like a song. The man knew of many avenues of magic that existed in the world- it is after all part of the reason his business was doing so well. Under the guise of a technology company, he found himself using it himself for more than a few things. This scared him more than he would like to admit, yet all of his charges saw it each day at work. Until the boy was three months old and he had worked up the courage to go to them.

Upon the door opening, the humbled man in the tiny, filthy apartment looked upon him with reverence. "Mr. Montgomery?" His eyes twitched at the shrunken shell of a man before him, meekly saying his name.

"Do I know you?" He narrowed his eyes.

"I'm Felix, sir. I used to work for you, in your accounting department." His eyes were averted and Montgomery widened his own. "It's okay that you don't remember me, I don't leave an impression. What can I do for you though, sir?"

He peered into the home, taking note of more than a few things, formulating a plan after a little bit. It was something he had thought of it a few times but discounted it. "You've not found a job since, have you?" He watched Felix shake his head. Then he heard it. The boy's cry and the mothers groan. "Felix... I'm here because I heard a family was in need of help. It's hard... isn't it? You can't care for them they way you want. What if I told you that you could want for nothing, Felix."

"I would say amazing, but what's the catch?" He narrowed his eyes.

"What would you give up for that?"