The Rat Boy (Marzi’s Short Stories)

(Marzi’s Short Stories is a collection of children’s stories written by the fictional character Marzi in the TTRPG game I run! I wrote all of these stories with the intent to provide hidden truths to the way the world works, while still having a storybook feel.)

-Marzi’s Short Stories-

The Rat Boy

A long time ago, there was a young boy who didn’t have parents or a home. He didn’t have any clothes other than the ones on his person, and he didn’t have any food other than the ones that he stole. But the boy did have one thing: an illness.

The boy’s illness was so deadly that no spell or medicine could cure it. The food he ate turned to ash in his mouth and the water he drank was dry and grainy. He coughed so much that his stomach and throat would bleed, staining his teeth an unpleasant brown.

Once in the boy’s life he coughed so loudly that a pleasant passerby stopped to check on him. The man was a healer from another land, and he promised to fix the boy. The man put his hands on the boy’s chest and used his magic to cure the sickness. But the boy was not cured, and the man felt an ache in his heart. He withdrew his hand and said to be the boy:

“There is not enough life in any world to fill the hole in you.”

Though the boy was sure to die, he would not do so alone. The rats on the streets assimilated the boy, whom they found familiar. Together they scavenged for warmth at night. Together they ate rotten fruits and stale bread. Together they were always close to dying, but not quite dead. The rats congregated near the boy. They spoke to the boy, though the rats speak seldom and to very few. And the boy knew friendship.

Once in the boy’s life he did not cough loudly at all and no passerby stopped to check on him. That day, he was propped up against a stone wall, fading in and out of consciousness, and praying to the Faithful for peace. He was so quiet, so still, that he was near invisible. It was then that he heard something the boy was never meant to hear.

The boy sat up and watched the king of the city walk past him, mere feet away, flanked by half a dozen guards. He was talking to someone else, a man in armor. But as the king passed, his words echoed in the boy’s ears.

That night, he told the rats what had happened. He told the rats that he heard a great secret between the king and the man in armor. It was the kind of secret that could cause wars, or the kind of secret that could end them.

The boy didn’t know what to do with this information, but the rats did. They led the boy deep into the sewers, through a labyrinth of pipes and fragile ladders. After an arduous journey, the boy was greeted by the largest rat he had ever seen. The giant rat introduced himself as the Rat King.

The Rat King spoke to the boy plainly, with no misdirection or ploy. He spoke so clearly and aptly that the boy understood what the Rat King wanted and what he would receive in return, and there was no doubt to the certainty of the trade.

The boy told the Rat King the secret he had overheard. He told the Rat King every word, as well as the inflection in the king’s voice. He told the Rat King his own implications and speculations, which were grossly shortsighted. He told the Rat King exactly what the Rat King wanted to know.

In exchange, the Rat King told the boy exactly what the boy wanted to know: how to live forever.