1 Childhood

A black silhouette stood at the edge of the world, peeking down towards the network of horrors branching out, eating away the once beautiful and calm waters.

What a sight. The man spoke- however his thin lips did not part.

He stretched out his long and translucent arms, to which a fat and particularly round cat jumped down from above and rested on. The cat: like the man, were both made of a black fog, the mist twisting and turning in an invisible mould like an endless abyss.

The man lifted his long and slender fingers to stroke the cat on the chin. It purred and rubbed its head against his fingers, "Meow."

The man then gestured towards the cat, and it walked elegantly from his arms into his chest. He held out his hand in front of the cat patiently whilst still admiring the world in front of him.

After moments of struggle, the cat finally choked upon something, as it coughed violently, a black round bead fell into the man's hands. There was no expression on his face; he simply lifted it up with two fingers in front of the light of the pool, examined it and then casually swallowed it.

He was seemingly human as the adam's apple bobbed up and down before the bead was digested.

A slight curve appeared by his cheeks, "Ah, I fret one will not be enough." His voice was soothing like water but also mysterious like an abyss. The cat meowed once again before dissipating into thin air. The man returned his gaze towards the large fish tank underneath him.

A shame, I'll have to wait longer...

The figure then dissipated into the air, leaving behind a faint citrus scent drifting in the space.

❥ ❥ ❥

Outside a worn down street, a little boy sat with his thin, bruised legs to his chest. His arms were especially skinny with patches of jade green and purple skin scattered around, his head was buried deep into his knees where weeping could be heard. His limbs were unconsciously shaking as a gush of piercing cold wind blew past.

BANG.

"Damned..." An average height woman cursed before giving the boy a glance full of hatred, "Get inside! Your father's looking for you!" She yelled.

Seeing the kid did not move, she dragged her legs over and snatched the boy by his bony arms. "Lan YuQin, HURRY UP." Her voice echoed in the little boy's mind.

"Yes mother." Lan YuQin managed weakly, secretly wishing his mother could hold him tighter. "It's warm..." He muttered.

"WHAT?" The women yelled and pulled him inside the doors.

The house was dull, the mellow wallpaper had been stained a dirty grey and part of the paint was peeling off. There was a strong tobacco smell emitting from the queen-sized bed at the very end of the small room.

"Father-" Lan YuQin looked up towards the father figure in front, he was aggressively chewing on a piece of dirt brown tobacco whilst lying leisurely on the bed. He stopped and scanned the boy from head to toe,

"What is the meaning of this Lan Yi?" He directed the question towards his wife, who was standing stiffly behind Lan YuQin.

A large forced smile appeared on Lan Yi, "Darling, since you were having such a bad day, I thought our son could make up your mood!" She exclaimed, placing both hands on Lan YuQin's shoulder and slightly pushing him forward.

The father smirked and then smiled sincerely at his son, "Come here, Daddy want's to see you properly."

Without hesitating, the little boy walked forward, using the push like an accelerating rocket and soon arrived at the side of the bed facing his father. "Good evening father." Lan YuQin spoke softly, his little black eyes scanned his 'Daddy'.

Yellow fingernails and teeth, skin dry and pealing off, hair so fragile it could be pulled off with a gentle tug.

"When has our son grown this tall?" He again, directed this question towards his wife who was standing unnaturally straight, stretching her already very long neck even further.

"Honey~ Of course from my years of nurturing. Yet this ungrateful little bastard takes everything for granted!" She lifted her arms to wipe at her forehead, an act of truely tiredness.

Lan YuQin didn't need to turn his head to see and hear the pure hatred stirring at the bottom of his mother's heart. "Fa- Father!" The little boy exclaimed, it was a rough and scratchy voice that sounded almost desperate.

"Shut it. Boy." The man spat out his tobacco onto the floor next to Lan YuQin and gave him a glare. After calming down his anger down and putting on a large smile, he spoke in his best tone, "Your mother and I are talking, it's not polite to butt in, son."

Lan YuQin only looked longingly at the eyes of his father without responding, his long, thin fingers intersecting with each other in nervousness. Within the next moments, Lan YuQin found himself face to the floor, a hot spicy sensation crawling up his cheeks.

"Bastard." His father hissed. Lan YuQin held onto his cheeks, his cold fingers wrapped around a large red patch of skin.

"Warm..." Lan YuQin muttered before everything before him slowly faded.

"Oh, darling~ You raise children so well!" The wife exclaimed, a bright smile hung on her face, like makeup that could be wiped off instantly.

"Honey~" Lan Yi softly murmured, ignoring her half-dead son lying on the floor and proceeded to jump onto the bed.

"Shh..." The husband gestured, a short, stubby and fat finger at his lips, "Call my name." Lan Yi understood and hummed his name, time after time, "Lan XiWang, XiWang, XiWang, XiWang, XiWang, XiWang, XiWang..."

❥ ❥ ❥

The little boy woke up in a dark room, it was so big yet so small. There was nothing in the room expect a small rectangular coffee table, on top of it sat a large glass fish tank. The tank emitted a soft blue light. There was nothing inside; no sea-grass, no pebbles and no fish.

Lan YuQin stared blankly at the beautiful turquoise water flowing gently in the tank. He subconsciously reached his hands towards the tank, wanting to touch the water and swipe his fingers through the surface to see the layers of ripples.

CLICK.

Lan YuQin flicked his head towards the sound, a small light had turned on atop another small table. There were two doll like figures standing upright, looking towards Lan YuQin. Without thinking, Lan YuQin went towards the light source, looking expressionlessly down at the dolls.

Each doll depicted one of his parents. On the left was Lan Yi, his mother, and on the right was his father, Lan XiWang. The dolls were creepily realistic, where his mother was very tall and skinny whilst his father the opposite. The dolls also wore his parents' favourite style of clothing- his mother in a white regal dress and his father in a black and white suit.

However with all these details, the face was not painted, leaving each doll with an empty expression. Lan YuQin knew exactly what to do with these parental figures. He picked each up by his small, bruised fingers and wrapped them tightly around their bodies whilst walking over to the large, empty tank.

The little boy watched as he lifted his arms above the water, and let go of the dolls. They seemed so light, yet once their feet touched the water, the dolls were instantly chained to the bottom, falling down in a way that defied gravity. The figures let out a few small, barely visible air bubbles that floated slowly up to the top.

"Heh." Lan YuQin let out a soft, almost inaudible laugh. He looked down at his own hands, they were bruised, bony and extremely ugly.

"Citrus?"