Welfare and Warfare

Chapter 60

Day: 3557

Days Left: 1923

Lives Saved: 19

Once Henry had recovered, his voice and breathing were no longer affected by the burn marks around his neck, Henry and Sumit prepared to find out if Sumit was indeed having his mask controlled by a saboteur. They waited until night-time and closed the curtains in Henry's apartment, as it would be illegal for Henry to use his mask without authorisation. After both of them transformed, Henry lay down on the bed next to Sumit and blew a puff of sand from his body into Sumit's eyes. Sumit winced from the initial pain before opening his eyes again to find himself surrounded by an endless darkness.

Is this...

"It is your mind," said Henry's voice.

Sumit turned to see Henry, his body slighter and taller, ghostly pale with his already bridged nose even more hooked-like and pronounced, and swallower cheekbones.

Why is it so empty?

"Don't worry, it's supposed to look like this," said Henry. He cleared his throat. "I can hear all of your thoughts, just as a warning. I'll try not to, but sometimes some of your thoughts will slip through."

"Oh, right," Sumit replied nonchalantly, though inwardly he was panicking, thoughts and feelings that he had easily hidden before now emerging at the thought of them being exposed in this place, the opposite of what he wanted and was trying to do. The more he thought to hide them away again, the more they became clearer.

Henry stifled a chuckle, then composed himself. "Sorry, I'll uh- I'll try to ignore that."

"I'm not hiding anything!" Sumit's cheeks flushed with heat.

"I wasn't looking-"

"Well, there's nothing for you to see in the first place!"

Shit, stop thinking. Stop it.

Henry smiled, then turned his attention to the matter at hand. "I do not sense anything yet. Your handler would have some sense when you fall asleep. They could appear at any moment if a check is scheduled for today."

Sumit looked around, not knowing what he was looking for when he noticed that he wasn't in his monster form; he was human.

"Why aren't I a demon?" he asked.

"It's your mind, you can take any form you please," explained Henry. "And change your surroundings too. The form you take now is what you consider your true self, an accurate representation of Sumit. If you spent most of your time as your monster form and resonated it with more than your human form, you would be a demon right now."

"What about you then? You resonate with your monster form?"

Henry shook his head. "It's not my mind; my form is how I entered it, though I can change it if I so please. But best not to, my powers are linked to the monster's body of sand." He sighed. "The connection is weak, I can sense someone else's influence in here, likely your handler, but seems like they do not use it often. When did your demon twin say something? Or acted on its own?"

"Well, the other day when I was fighting Alfreda, well he didn't say anything though."

"That doesn't make any sense then. The last time the connection was made was almost half a year ago. When was the last time it spoke to you?"

"A month or so?"

"That doesn't fit either..." Henry frowned.

"So what does that mean?"