The Visionless Leading The Blind.

Linus lied in bed with the single flyer he held in his hand. A warning that a maw domain had been spotted near Aether and to be careful. It wasn’t particularly special news, things like this had been passed out all the time, but with the horrible slump he’d been in, it had caught his eye. And just like that, the idea had caused a horrible, gnawing feeling in the back of his head that made him feel guilty and shameful. A fantasy he usually wouldn’t dare indulge.

But he hadn’t been getting better. Not for as many years as he could count on his hands, and the longer the days went on the more he indulged that fantasy. Thought about it. Smiled about it. Savored it like a piece of rich food.

And it sickened him. When he caught himself, when he came to his senses, he felt disgusted. Selfish. Horrible.

But fantasies were only that, and could only satisfy for so long, if you could even call what Linus felt ‘satisfaction.’ As he lay in his bed, he considered and thought about it.

“Maybe,” He whispered aloud to nobody. “Maybe I could… Things would be better if I did. I don’t think Greig would mind...”

“Maybe Maxwell can even find it in her heart to forgive me.”

---

Elisa hopped up quickly at the feeling of someone entering her domain. With alarming confidence, she thought to herself as she paced the speed of the footfalls. She slipped through cracks in the walls and sneakily made her way towards the person.

“Hello?” A man’s voice called out. It was soft, a little hesitant sounding, but definitely a male. Still, that would be no problem.

And then she heard something that gave her pause.

“There’s a maw here, somewhere, r-right? I have.... Umm, a question.”

Elisa poked her head out of the wall. There stood a young man with curly navy hair and round glasses. He was clutching one of his arms and seemed nervous. She allowed herself to step out into the open.

“What do you want?” She asked, her voice low and venomous. The man flinched.

“I don’t have much to offer in exchange but…” He shakily opened his messenger bag and pulled out handfuls of medical supplies. Hydrogen peroxide, bandages and gauze, medical tape, sutures and various pain medications and creams. Cold pills, allergy pills. A few liquid medicines that Elisa couldn’t read. He set them all on the ground gently, moving slowly and keeping his eyes on Elisa as if she were a feral animal, she could see the bandages all over his fingers and hands and disappearing up his sleeve as he did so. “I-I would imagine, you don’t have much of these to access. I d-don’t really know how well maws heal, or if they get sick b-but I thought maybe you could make use of these.”

Elisa glanced down at the supplies appraisingly. “And what is it that you want in exchange?” She asked incredulously. Was he going to ask her to leave? She’d do that eventually anyway, but she’d really rather wear out this new hunting ground first. She’d fought for this territory tooth and nail after all, and she’d be damned if she didn’t use it.

“Well, I....” The man paused. He took a deep breath, as if he was preparing himself. “I want you to kill me. I can’t do it myself. I just… I just can’t.” His voice quivered as if he were trying to hold back tears. Elisa just stared at him, dumbstruck. She’d never been asked this before. She was used to serving a purpose, being used as a tool, but never a tool of suicide. She opened her mouth to respond, but couldn’t find words.

“Umm, come with me.” She said, after a few seconds’ pause. She motioned for him to follow her to where she lived within the domain, rather than her hunting ground. As they entered a much more hospitable area, she motioned for him to take a seat before sitting down on a chair opposite him.

“You… want to die?” Elisa asked, tentatively. She pulled down her face mask and folded her hands in her lap. The man shifted in his seat.

“Well, technically no but… I don’t want to live, either.” He replied. Elisa hmm’d for a second, twisting her pink hair around her index finger.

“I can’t help you,” Elisa said flatly. “Not with your problems, at least. But if you want to die, I suppose I can give you that. But… Can you help me in your final moments? Maybe it will give you peace to think about while you die.”

“Help… you? With what…?” The man asked pensively.

“Well, you know that maws need to eat flesh, right? I think that’s common knowledge, that’s why we kill, and why people are so afraid of us when we’re simply trying to help a higher power.” Elisa began. “Well, the flesh we need to stay alive, has to be fresh. Preferably before the person we’re eating even dies themself. I’ll kill you for you, if you allow me to eat. My luck at this hunting ground hasn’t been good despite the injuries I sustained to get here.”

“Is it alright if I think about it…? I don’t think it will take long. I don’t want to back out of this, but that thought worries me a little.” He replied.

“Of course, is there anything I can do for you in the meantime, to make this any easier for you?” Elisa offered gently, standing up to return to her other tasks.

“No, I’m fine. Thank you.” The man replied, cracking a smile- just a brief hint of one, but Elisa caught it.

Over the hours, they made small talk. Elisa learned that the man’s name was Linus, and that he was doing residency to be a physician, and what that meant. She learned he had a younger sister and that he wanted to keep the fact his death would be voluntary a secret so his image wasn’t tainted for her, and Elisa promised she would keep it a secret.

It was the closest thing to companionship Elisa had in a long time, and she almost wished he hadn’t agreed in the end, long after the sun set over the horizon and the forest began to shuffle and trees groaned to life as they moved, to be eaten.

Before it happened, as she stripped him of his clothes to make getting to the meat easier, as she glanced at the small, uniform scars that littered not just his arms but his whole body, she told him to relax. That it wouldn’t ease the pain, that there would be a lot of pain, but she promised him that in the end, there would be an afterlife for him. That hopefully, if she’d been informed right by her god whom she followed, that it would be wonderful. That everything would be better and healed.

And she began to eat dinner.