The barrier that was left on the boy's chest warded away the darkness, and strangely enough brought back a quiet fear in the boy's heart. The words seemed to comfort him and give him direction, choice, something in his youth, he never had.
The boy couldn't choose whether or not his parents fought, or choose the look his brother gave him into something the least bit loving. None of these things could be orchestrated or controlled. But the darkness, this thing that had come to him at the peak of his need seemed to be the only real thing grounding his hopes and dreams.
His will, seemed to take form.
Even if he couldn't comprehend it, it didn't matter. They choose for him based on simple thought.
Whatever pleased his heart, the shadows saw to it.
Even if it killed his parents.
Even if it too meant to harm his grandfather. At least he'd be free and able to create a life for himself.
His grandfather seemed to be two sides of a knife, kind and gentle one day, and devout in science and thought the next. Science, it seems, brought out an unsavory trait.
The elder would take to doing tests throughout the day, not caring if the boy screamed when they were conducted and the only comfort he held onto was the fact that his memories would be taken after the experiments were done.
But during it… he lived through hell.
Muraki knew very little about medicine. About science. He heard his grandfather's ramblings but they blended together like the pieces of a book that held no plot.
After the fifth night he wondered if the peaceful shadows would ever return. A chanted bracelet now replaced the charm cards and since it was implemented, not once did he feel their calming effects.
His grandfather explained some of the experiments. Not his, but others he ventured on along with his own. He talked at great length about the frailty of humans and how their race seemed to hold low ranks in midst of nature.
It wasn't even our bodies that seemed inefficient for him; it was our lack of purpose, our blatant waste that inhabited the earth for no visible purpose.
It was the will of his grandfather to create that purpose.
To make a worthy being that deserved the intake of oxygen and the life giving blood through righteous veins. Even the elder didn't know exactly how to create such a thing, but he had ideas and theories that were continually tested. He never intended to use flesh and blood, but the further he delved into it all, the more he wished this worthy being to be someone he could love.
That he could be proud of.
And Muraki, his only true grandson held that position.
The truth of his birth, he decided, was something the boy should never have to learn. The warm womb he developed in began with a single cold syringe, along with nutritional solution and special genes that mated with this experiment to set off the spark of creation, of life.
Yes, the grandfather decided, Muraki would never find out who his father really was.