King and the Spirits

Pnuma shrunk under the man's gaze, his heart falling into his stomach. He couldn't breathe. He had done something wrong. The spirits yelled at him for his foolishness, cried for retreat, but the boy held his ground. You don't flee if you don't have a reason to flee. If he ran it would prove his guiltiness. However, after he clarified, Tyranis seemed more disappointed than relieved, a reaction he was not prepared for. He was prepared for a lecture about how hearing spirits were bad and if he heard them, go visit a healer, he even expected the man to quicken his pace to escape from the conversation, deeming Pnuma crazy. The man did neither.

As the two male's walked in silence, Pnuma felt more confused then stiff. He got the reason for the man's opinions when Tyranis stopped again to speak. He confessed his father heard spirits as well, but called them demons. Pnuma stood ridges once the man's serious expression locked onto him. He could tell he was trying to get a confession out of him, for him to admit his connection to the spirits. He hesitated, mental conflict pulling him two different directions. He didn't want to scare the man away, but he also seemed like he wanted Pnuma to hear them. He kneaded the ground nervously, unsure what to do. The voices were no help, seemingly split, mentioning the cons of each side. It took the boy a minute to cave under the pressure.

"I-I mean. I think I speak to spirits, not demons. If your father and I have the same ghosts speaking to us, I can understand how they would think that. They're good people! Maybe they were hurt and that's why they think so negatively, but their good people and they're real! I'm not crazy!" He cried, more venting his desperation than just confessing. He had this conversation more than he would like to admit and was labeled crazy before he could get two words in. He would have continued spilling into an anxious ramble but the fear of what he was saying clamped his throat shut, preventing him from saying more. Memories of his family avoiding him floated back to the surface of his mind and he started to worry what the man would do with this information.