Yimika lay in bed, his head was aching but he was too lazy to use the herbs in his drawers. He'd felt super slow and demotivated to do anything for the past couple of days. All he did was sleep, force himself to eat when his body was really weak, and try to exercise cause he felt that would probably make him feel better. It did in the moment, but once he'd completely obliterated himself he'd go back to feeling down like he did before. So he just gave up altogether. He was still struggling and fighting with himself on whether or not it was worth it to get out of bed when someone knocked on his room door.
"Ughhh, who is that?" His speech was slurring even though he didn't drink.
He finally gathered the strength to get on his feet and open the door. He opened the door and right there was his close friend Sam. Sam looked worried. Yimika sighed loudly then let him in and locked the door behind him.
"How are you doing Yimika?"
"I'm doing great. Feeling good now." He knew it was a lie but he wasn't one to display his emotions. He was silently praying his sadness wasn't evident to his friend.
"Really, you sure you're ok?"
"Yeah, I am amazing."
"Oh, that's good then. All the other villagers were wondering why we hadn't seen you in days. We were already thinking we may have to bring in the pain eater, lol." Sam said jokingly
"Yeah, I have been super busy with some work. But wait? What's this about a pain eater? What's that?" Perhaps something could ease his pain.
"Oh, it's no big deal, it's just this urban legend about a creature in the woods that has the ability to take away all pain and suffering, nothing serious." from that moment Yimika's consciousness was no longer in the room. All that was on his mind was how to get to that damn pain eater.
From the moment Sam left the room, Yimika went to the library. Book after book after book Yimika kept flipping back and forth. He was obsessed. And while everyone around him thought he'd found a new hobby and was back to normal, that was far from it.
One day, he decided he'd finally gathered enough information to find the pain eater. He stole some books from the library, packed some supplies in his sack, and disappeared into the woods without telling anyone. He wasn't sure if he'd return alive, but he believed it was either he found the pain eater or he died, at least both ways would offer him the relief he was after.
He followed the map exactly as it was in the books, and after almost a week (he wasn't even sure any more he'd lost track of time) he was running low on supplies and he was yet to find the elusive cave where the pain eater resided. His mind started to wander with the thought of death, and whether other villagers were looking for him, being the two main things on his mind.
Finally, he had lost all hope and just laid down on the floor waiting for himself to fall asleep forever. All of a sudden he heard a loud whirring sound. The fear of death was enough to get him to jump up on his feet. Right there in front of him was the cave he'd been looking for all this while. He wouldn't make it back to the village anyway so he took a deep breath and walked into the cave. It was dark, hot, smelly, and nothing like he'd pictured it to be. He wasn't sure where he was heading but he just kept going deeper and deeper and right there he stood face to face with what he'd assumed to be the pain eater.
It looked nothing like he'd imagined when he was reading. It was just a dark void with wide gaps that resembled eyes.
"What brings you here mortal? Surely your visit is not accidental." His voice was loud and it echoed, it felt like the cave would implode.
"I am here because I heard you can take away my pain."
"Ah, yes. I can smell it on you. But are you willing to pay the price? I take your pain and in exchange, I take a part of your soul."
Yimika paused for a moment. Was this really what he wanted? But then he realized the pain was already too much for him, and besides he would probably die before returning so why not offer a part of his soul maybe the pain eater would even help him get back.
"Yes, yes, I offer a part of my soul, just take all my pain away. Take away my heart, that I may feel this pain no more." He screamed.
"Fantastic, step into me that I may free you of these shackles that hold you down."
He walked into the darkness and let it consume him. In a way, the darkness provided comfort. And in that moment that was all he needed, just a little relief from the pain. And then for a moment, he screamed at the top of his lungs, and just as sudden as his scream started it ended. He had become one with the pain eater.
Cover image created by me using Nightcafe
