The Writers' Block Anthology

The Boy and His Helper

There is something my father used to tell me: knowledge without wisdom makes a fool. I never gave this much thought until the consequences of my actions made them unavoidable. I am now a myth, a warning to the young and old to heed these words in their entirety. I am known as the human that unleashed a great evil upon the land and destined to walk the earth until the end of time so that I may witness what I have done. Let me tell you this story.

It happened when I was young and curiously stupid. My father was the village priest and had left his charms book laying around while I was doing the daily chores. Many times he warned me against touching it, let alone playing with it. It wasn't a toy, it was a tool, he had said. A tool of great power and it was his responsibility to wield it. However, I thought I could handle this tool. If my father could use it, then surely so could I.

I picked up the charms book and began flipping the pages. Just to take a peek. To see if I could understand it, and I could! The words and the instructions . . . mostly! And then I had a thought. If I could perform one of these charms and show my father my work, then it would show him how smart I was. How able I was. That I, too, could hold this responsibility. I found a charm that would be perfect. One that said it would summon a helper, a being that would listen to me, do as it was told, and even protect me. It was perfect and could help show my parents how grown up I was. Why did father never summon this before? Or, maybe he had, and I had not noticed.

I began reading the words on the page. The instructions were simple, all I had to do was read a passage aloud so I began to do so. It was a language I've never heard before and couldn't be sure I was saying the words right, but it seemed to be working. A shadow swelled in the center of the room and when the final words left my mouth the shadow had become complete. Though it was no longer just a shadow. It had no features, just a humanoid silhouette standing eerily still. A void that sucked all the light from the room. I was holding my breath and after a moment I realized I would be the one to make the first move. I had summoned it after all.

I closed the charms book and set it down on the floor. "Hello?" I had asked. But it gave me no answer, just loomed. After a moment, I decided I needed to be more commanding. It was a helper that was supposed to listen to me and my commands so I had thought maybe it needed to be pushed a bit. I cleared my throat and said "Sweep the living room!" and, to my astonishment, it did. The being had the oddest walk I had ever seen. So twitchy, so jerky, but it was getting the job done. After it had swept the floor, I told it to do my many other chores and it did them all.

I could hardly contain myself when my parents arrived back home for the evening. Mother had stepped out to the market and my father had had official business to attend to. I ran outside to greet them, telling them of how I had a new helper that could make our lives easier. They just smiled and chuckled, amused by my enthusiasm. I don't know what they thought I had brought home that day, but they certainly weren't prepared for this. When they entered the house, they didn't notice it at first, only that all the chores had been done. It was when my father commented about the light in the house. How gray and dim it was compared to how it should be with the sun's setting light streaming in. His eyes landed on the silhouette in the corner of the room, looming patiently.

My father rounded on me, yelling and pointing at the silhouette, questioning me about the charms book. I didn't know what to think or do. I tried to explain about it being a helper, about it doing all the chores in the house, and how I thought he would be proud of me. My mother was screaming, seemingly frozen in place, while staring at the silhouette in the corner. It wasn't until my father screamed the words "That's not a helper, you summoned a demon!" did I understand why my parents were reacting the way they were. I stared, horrified at the thing I had summoned into the world. It looming in the corner. It sucking the life out of everything. "No!" I had screamed. "I don't want it! I break the contract!".

You see, in the writings of this particular charms page, it had said that in order to release the helper of its duties then all I needed to do was break the contract. I didn't understand the meaning behind this, the difference between sending it back to where it had been summoned from and the act of 'releasing'. As the words left my mouth, my father looked at me with more fear than he did the demon.

"What have you done?" He had whispered. Those words still echo in my mind, for it is my curse to walk this earth to witness what I have done. As soon as I broke that contract, the demon wasted no time. No longer did it loom passively in the corner. It began when a smile appeared on its unfeatured face. Its teeth stained scarlet. My mother was the first one it went after. It moved across the room in the blink of an eye. It let out an unholy wail before tearing out her throat. Blood erupted from the wound, coating the ground, walls, and ceiling. She was dead before she hit the ground. My father was next. The demon didn't let him have such a painless death. It slit open his stomach, reached inside the wound and dragged out his intestines and any organs it could claw. My father died well after he hit the ground, leaving a pool of blood around him that would forever stain the ground beneath. All I could do was scream as I watched. The demon stood before me, its used to be void silhouette now drenched in crimson. It didn't look featureless like before. Not only had it gained a mouth, but red eyes, a nose, and even the sharper definitions of a body.

It stood in the center of the room as it had when it was first summoned, grinning slyly at me for what seemed like hours. It stood still. Grinning. As though saying "do you like my work?". It then twitched and reappeared at the door, releasing itself into the outside. To the rest of the village. Only when I heard screams coming from the outside did I move. I don't remember doing anything much other than crying "no" repeatedly to myself. I wasn't prepared for the sight I would see opening the door to my house. The demon had made quick work of my village. Everything was gray except for the vibrant crimson that soaked the ground and the mangled corpses that littered every part of the landscape. The ground, the trees, the buildings, the gardens, everything. The demon made use of everything it could which lead to some very creative murders, some I would more classify as tortures. Many of the inhabitants didn't die for days, but were too far gone to be helped. All you would hear were the agonized moans and whimpers. If they were lucky, one of the wild animals would find them and end their misery.

I watched as the demon killed one by one, enjoying itself to the fullest, bathing in the blood of humans. With each kill, it became more and more humanoid as though it was constructing more and more of a flesh suit to blend in. By the time everyone had been dealt with, it looked human. Just human like anybody else. Still twitchy and jerky in its movements, but still human . . . no one would think twice.

Before it left, it stood before me once again. Staring with that grin that stretched unnaturally from ear to ear. This was the first time it spoke to me. It said, "Since you summoned me and released me into the world, I shall spare your life as I owe you a debt of gratitude. Let you always witness the fruits of your decision." and then it left. It left like a natural disaster leaves its path of destruction. I didn't realize until I got older what it meant. It had cursed me. Because I am its summoner, though I broke the contract, I can now never die as long as it keeps living. Until someone manages to send it back, it will walk this earth and with every kill it becomes stronger. I must have looked through my father's charms book thousands of times by now. I know it by heart. And I wonder how I could have been so blind to its words. Using knowledge without using wisdom makes a fool. Learn from me and do not repeat the history you have so been told. You have been warned.

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Eternally Yours,

~ Phoenix