We all stared at the boy, at Kaisen. He was scared...maybe, he acted fearful, but his eyes told a different story. His eyes remained dead, emotionless, doll like.
They may have been stunning obsidian pools at one point, but now they were fragmented and slightly glazed over. His eyes were less alive than a corpse, his eyes were broken.
"How are you doing Kaisen?" I asked, my voice low and gentle. I looked at his face to gauge his reaction. His face remained devoid of emotion
"I'm fine," he replied, his voice came out a strange raspy whisper. A whisper that lacked all emotion and clearly, he wasn't fine.
His vomit was still steaming close to him and even Zero was staring at him with concern, or was it annoyance?
Zero's eyes were boring into the boy with what at first glance was concern, but deeper down I sensed a kind of hostility. "Stop lying kid," Zero said hid gaze lasering into the boy, "Tell the truth." Lyric smacked Zero again and lowered his head in apology.
"Don't be so rude Zero, the boy is clearly in shock," Lyrics voice was low and gruff but gentle and soothing at the same time. Aaron was glaring at Zero and the twins were looking slightly lost on what to do.
Eron walked up to the Kaisen, she strolled almost disinterestedly. She stopped about a meter away from him, "My name is Eron," she said simply, "That asshole is Zero, the gentle giant, who keeps him in check, is Lyric. The man with the long scar is Aaron, the pink haired boy and girl are the twins, Kevin and Kylie. And finally, the women wearing the long black priest uniform is Kyra. What is your name?"
I stop myself from answering for Kaisen.
He looked up at her, his large broken eyes boring into her. His expression stayed the same and he tilted his head slightly, almost like he didn't understand the question.
I glanced at the others, they were silent. Their eyes locked onto the boy.
He looked away from Eron, "My name is Kaisen," he said his voice quieter than earlier. "Thats a nice name...Kaisen, can you tell us exactly what happened here?" Eron said gently her tone low and sweet.
Kaisen shook his head, his eyes seemed to fragment even further, cracking and breaking, dying before our eyes. He started to rock slightly. "Hey hey hey," I said approaching carefully, "you're safe with us." the boy began rocking harder, his eyes staring blankly forwards, he was muttering to himself too quietly for us to hear anything.
I got closer, "Dead all dead, fire, burning, snakes. Stop, Mari I'm sorry. I'm a rat, I failed couldn't protect. Burning, death, dying, dad what happened to your eyes? Cats in the forest." he murmured, rocking faster. He seemed detached, his mind far away reliving the violent deaths of his family and friends.
He was no longer emotionless his eyes were filled with fear, real fear; terror. This was arguably worse than the dead doll like eyes he had had a few minutes earlier.
I reached out tentatively, my fingers brushing his shoulder gently. He flinched away, his hand going straight into the pool of vomit from earlier, "stay away, don't touch me!" he yelled, panic filled his voice.
His eyes were staring vacantly at me, I don't know what he was staring at, what he was seeing. But it clearly wasn't me.
"Calm down, they can't touch you here," I whisper gently, crouching down to be on his level. I simply stare at him, looking him in his eyes carefully.
Slowly, his fear subsided. He took big gulps of air as his eyes slowly leak out his emotions, returning to their dead and broken form.
He started retching and turned, vomiting violently once more. Aaron stepped closer but stopped himself from advancing too much, "what do you see?" he asked. Kaisen looked up, the blank look returning.
"Fire, fire and ash," Kaisen responded vaguely, vomit dripping from his lips. Aaron nodded, "take a deep breath but don't gulp it down. Slowly in then out." Aaron commanded, showing Kaisen by breathing deeply. The boy copied, breathing shakily. "Thats it just like that," Aaron said encouragingly.
Kaisen slowly breathed in and out his small frame becoming surer of itself, finding its rhythm once more. He glanced at his vomit covered hand, wiping it on a clean patch of grass.
The next hour was spent repeatedly calming the boy down as the strange episodes continued to plague him. He ate; he vomited. He got changed into some of Eron's old stuff since it was the closest to his size; he vomited.
Zero seemed uncaring for the boy, his hostility didn't help the boy's mental condition one bit. "Zero cut the kid some slack," I whispered packing up my things to move out. Zero's eyes locked onto the boy as he talked, "he needs to tell us how he's feeling, he needs to stop lying to us." Zero said, his voice laced with venom. I looked at him with disdain, "Zero he just witnessed the death of his family and you're more worried about his lying? Thats ridiculous and you know it, what is the real reason for your hostility towards him?" I countered sensing something was off. Zeros eyes were still fixed on Kaisen, who was vomiting again.
"He reminds me of someone," he replied cruelly. I shook my head annoyed by his answer, "get over it its not like Kaisen is that person, also you were friendly when he first woke up." I said glancing at Kaisen worriedly. Zero ignored me and continued packing his stuff while his eyes remained locked onto Kaisen.
Zero remained like this for the next few days, constantly glaring at Kaisen like he was his worst enemy.
"We are almost at the next village," Aaron said as we travelled quietly. The weather had gotten progressively worse since our meeting of Kaisen.