Chapter 329 Misery Loves Company
The plan had been simple, and Chiron guided the hands of fate as he saw fit.
He used the natural, most basic elements of human endeavor to achieve the desired result, all at the same time capturing the desire of the human nature.
He played on greed, want and now, he was playing on loneliness.
Naturally, all that had happened so far was Chiron's doing, and the old woman at the corner trying her best to bring him back to life was yet again another victim of his games.
To say the truth, she was rather lucky. At least, she was useful.
There was an old saying in his former world that: No matter how chaotic it looks, human beings are actually more organized than they think or know.
Chiron took mazimum advantage of the old woman's routine, fleshing out her need for sustenance, but at the same time, he did not just hand over himself to her.
No! Instead he applied the need she had in her life to be of importance.
This is an innate need that almost everyone suffers from, consciously or not.
It was the reason why people willed and worked and provide for their loved ones.
It was the reason why people appreciated the gesture of 'Thank you'.
The zeal to be needed or useful was the reason for survival.
It was for this reason that even though he had shown that he was strong, killing the blue cored mountain lion, he showed that he was also vulnerable, falling at her feet with the excuse that he was about to die.
What's more, he intentionally blocked the entrance of the cave with the massive body of the cored beast so that she would not seek external help but be forced by guilt to treat him herself.
Meanwhile, the cave just so happened to have everything that was needed for survival for an extended period of time with the right materials to heal a terrible wound literally growing on the walls.
Next, came the acting.
At night, Chiron would have fevers that would make him sweat a lot.
The old woman would have no choice but to stay awake and care for him boiling water and massaging his body over and over again.
She would make bitter soup from the mushrooms and feed him with them.
And sometimes, he would have nightmares that would make him scream again and again, talking in his sleep of how the Vandorian kingdom tortured and killed his entire family.
With how long it happened, she was now aware of the kind of life he lived and the sufferings he had gone through living alone in these mountains.
She had no choice but to sing him songs that would calm his soul and put him to sleep.
These were the same songs that she sang to her own children many, many years ago.
Every time, it would put him back to sleep.
But that was not all.
Because he was passed out, she had to take care of his bowels, and urine.
She would clean him whenever he was messy and unconsciously, she started to look at him as she did her own children.
This motherly affection she showed him continued for the next twenty one days.
Just the required amount of time it takes for a person to form a habit.
It was also the right amount of time it took to form a deep bond.
Both of which were psychological manipulation tricks that Chiron played on her.
She did not know when it happened, but her motherly heart had been opened up to Chiron.
Exactly on the 22nd day, Chiron opened his eyes for the first time.
It was also around this time that they were running out of supply.
It was indeed incredible timing.
Chiron stood to his feet slowly. His steps were gentle and he staggered a bit to the left and right, a result of his disorientation.
At least that was the way it looked to her.
He held his side with one hand as he used the other to lean on the wall and slowly rise to his feet.
The old woman saw him and rushed to help him.
"You are still weak son. You should take some more rest. You have been passed out for three weeks now."
"Three weeks!?" Chiron turned to her.
The surprise in his still awaking eyes was clear to her.
"Don't worry, I have been here with you all along."
After helping him settle down, she rushed inside to the steaming pot to bring him some soup.
"Here, take this. It's bitter mushroom soup, but it's very good for the body and you will be back to your old self in no time."
She offered him the bowl of bitter mushroom soup.
Chiron tried to take it but his fingers were shaky and he almost spilled it.
She had to take it from his hands and feed it to him gently.
She was very caring enough to even blow on it before putting it in his mouth.
A process that proved to be a bit difficult as Chiron didn't want the meal.
He behaved like a spoilt brat. Then again, the meal was bitter and it was to be expected.
That night, Chiron slept, this time around, shooting up from his sleep because of his bad dream.
This was action that also woke the old woman.
She pulled him close and sang him a song to calm him down.
After which she asked him to tell her about his story, even though the many nights of screaming from his sleep had told her a great deal.
Naturally, Chiron gave a very believable story of how he he had lost his entire family of nine.
Most of them were to the invading Vandorians and the rest were to wild cored beasts.
His story sparked an emotional feeling in the heart of the old woman, and she too told of how she had lost her loved ones.
In the end, the both of them ended up comforting one another.
Chiron smiled at this.
This phase of the plan was done. After all, Misery loved company
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