The town stood atop the hillside without so much as a sound. It was a picturesque example of the idyllic community. Smoke gently rose to blend with the overcast sky, flags and banners frolicked in the wind, but otherwise the sprawl of civilization was without motion. Streets stood deserted of anything that would give a hint of life. With the cold weather, it was not to be unexpected, or at least would be were it anywhere but here.
A lone traveler smiled wryly to himself as he recalled what he knew of the people of this country. Specifically, that they had lively festivals in preparation for the cold season, characterized by large bonfires which they gathered around in large numbers. There was no doubt about this being the correct place: no other town in the region would be so devoid of life. With renewed vigor, the traveler pulled his overcoat tighter around himself and hustled along.
By the time the traveler reached the town, the late afternoon lighting had shifted to that of dusk. Combined with the overcast skies, it made the visibility quite poor, and only further enhanced the gloom hanging over the town. The streets were every bit as deserted as they looked from afar, but behind boarded windows, fearful eyes could be seen gleaming in the last light of the day. Unaware, or perhaps apathetic with his slight grin, the traveler made no response to the to watchful eyes, and simply moved towards the urban heart of the town. Finally, reaching a square of sorts, the traveler was intercepted by a disorganized cluster of locals.
“What brings you here?” A gruff voice called out.
“A rather impolite way to greet someone, don’t you think.” The traveler half halfheartedly replied. “May I inquire as to where here is?”
“Nosograd.”
“Splendid. Simply splendid.” The traveler stated with enthusiasm.
“…Eh, who are you and what brings you here” The voice, slightly unsure of how to respond to the strangers delight, asked.”
“Apologies.” The traveler spoke with a grin and a bow. “I am known as Theodosius Nathaniel Monjurno. You may call me Theo, and I seek lodging.”
“You don’t want lodging.” The voice replied hastily. “Least, not from here.”
“But as you see, the skies already begin to darken, and I have no vehicle with which I might reach another place to bed myself for the night.” Theo spoke, grinning ever slightly wider. “Surely you would not deny a lone traveler such as myself the comfort of a proper bed?”
With a sigh, the voice replied. “Very well, I’ll show you to the nearest inn, though you might regret it later.”
“Regret it I very well might, but that is of no concern to you, now is it?”
“Suppose not.”
The man whom the gruff voice belonged to, equally haggard in appearance, lead Theo a few blocks to inn as promised. After beating soundly on the door to alert the owner, and explaining the circumstances, Theo was let in, and his guide departed. The common area, in disuse, was hardly warmer than the air outside. The area was tidy enough, but a noticeable sheet of dust made clear the complete lack of usage. Theo wafted off as much dust as he could, and then sat himself down on a bench.
“Ah, good sir, about payment…” Theo began.
“Don’t even worry.” The innkeeper interrupted. “You picked a terrible place to spend the night. You’d best leave first thing in the morning, that is, if you make it through to morning.”
“Aren’t you even going to listen to what I have to offer?”
“I really wouldn’t feel right about taking the money of someone I might as well be sentencing to death. You made a lot of commotion, and that thing doesn’t like commotion.”
“Money? I do apologize, but I have little more to my name than the clothes on my back.”
“So you weren’t planning to pay anyway? Just what…” The innkeeper spoke up angrily.
“Instead I was hoping I could work this little debt off.” Theo continued, pausing slightly to make his grin the widest it had been yet. “Perhaps by ridding your town of its spirit problems?”
“…uh, what?” The innkeeper spoke dumbfounded. “You knew? And…”
Holding back laughter now, Theo continued. “I am sure something of that magnitude should be compensation enough. Tell me, how many nights could you afford me for such compensation?”
“…You knew and you still came to this town?” The innkeeper spoke, still dumbfounded. “I don’t understand what you’re getting at here, but if you really do rid us of that thing, you can stay here as long as you like. Whatever you want.”
“Then it’s a deal.” Theo proclaimed loudly. “Now, which room is mine?”
“But what about that thing?”
“Sleep now, demon-spirits later.” Theo spoke returning to his usual grin.
Still confused by the man before him, the innkeeper complied without another word.
The following night was uneventful, and Theo was early to rise. Despite the early hour which he departed, he was still greeted by a large crowd gathered outside the inn. Word had apparently spread fast as questions were thrown at the outsider about his intentions to help them. Theo simply put on his usual grin and slid back into the doorway, closing it behind him. He calmly walked back up to his room, and took a glance out the window. After pondering for a moment, he slid it open, and took a step back. After a moment’s pause, he lunged forward and propelled himself out of it, landing cleanly on the roof of the neighboring building. Wary of the noise made by his leap, he deftly scrambled up and over to the far side of the roof.
Soon enough, the crowd made its way over, and investigated what happened. Eventually they split up to look for the departed outsider. Theo stood up from his hiding spot and traversed across the rooftops. With his hands tucked into his pockets, he hopped from building to building with a carefree look towards the orange eye of the early morning sun. What he was looking at was not the dark spot centered in the reddish sun, but rather a collapsed building on the far end of town.
Coming to a stop on the roof across the street from the collapsed building, Theo sat down and observed. The building had a large section of it blown out, and rest appeared to have collapsed from lack of support. The rubble appeared to have lain untouched for quite some time, and was covered in grime leaves. More recent additions of a grimmer fashion adorned the ruins: that of human corpses. Not simply strewn about, but organized and posed. The corpses were arranged in a large circle around the building, caked and fetid, but more disturbing were the spines wrenched from their bodies, and stuck upright. It appeared several other bones and body parts had been taken from the mutilated corpses, and were not present.
“Hey.”
Theo stood up startled, and looked for voice which broke his concentration.
“Hey.” As the voice spoke again, Theo’s eyes focused on a form in the tree above him. The form convulsed and swung around, landing neatly on the roof to reveal itself as a young woman, wrapped up tightly in many layers.
“Ah, forgive me. I did not expect any of the townspeople to come out here.” Theo spoke in salutation. “I am Theodosius Nathaniel Monjurno, or Theo for short. And you?”
“Likewise, I really didn’t expect to see anyone else.” The girl spoke. “Oh, and I am Maria. What brings you to this place?”
“You haven’t heard… Ah, just as well.” Theo grinned slightly. “Just a bit of sightseeing, I guess.”
“Sightseeing?” Maria cocked her head in confusion. “You do know this place is dangerous, right?”
Theo gave an exaggerated shrug and flipped the question back on the girl. “So what’s a kid like you doing alone in a ‘dangerous’ place?”
Maria gave a lonely look and pointed at the collapsed house. “That used to be my house. And sometimes, if I am quiet, I can see my father.”
“Oh, I see.” Theo briefly gave a solemn expression before returning to his perpetual smirk. “Would you mind if I watched with you?”
The young woman shook her head and climbed back into the tree. Theo followed suit, and found her spot had been built up into a rather cozy little perch, which had a commanding view of the surrounding area. The platform had never been designed for two, and Theo gave an earnest smile and a moment of hesitation in place of speaking aloud for permission. After Maria accepted, he squeezed in next to her, wrapping up in the blankets, which served both as a means of warmth and of camouflage. They peered in silence as the sun moved from morning to midday. Finally movement came from the house.
“There he is,” Maria whisper. “My father.”
“Well, no sense standing idly by.” Theo replied, and leaped up from the hiding spot.
“Wait!” Hissed maria, but to no effect.
Theo was already making his way down the tree and over to the house. Swinging around, he slid down the trunk and hopped over to the nearby roof. From there, he crouched near the edge, and vaulted over it, landing solidly on his feet. Standing up, he took up a brisk pace towards the figure in the collapsed house. Pushing aside a spine-post with one hand and extending the other out in a friendly gesture.
“Hey there.” Theo called out.
The figure in the house turned and faced this newcomer, but otherwise did not respond.
“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.” Theo said with a wide grin.
“What?” The man finally spoke.
“You know exactly what I mean. The other…” Theo began before another interrupted.
“Get away from him.” Maria exclaimed, tugging on Theo’s arm. “He’s not human!”
“Ah, the daughter shows herself.” The man spoke plainly, as he suddenly dashed towards her.
“Stay back!” Theo spoke forcefully and seriously. With the arm Maria was pulling, he swung her out of the way, and in the other he held a gun trained upon the man.
“Wait!” Wailed Maria, her eyes bulging as she saw the handgun.
But Theo just smirked, and shouted a single word. “Bang!”
With a bright flash of light, the man flinched, and Theo ran with Maria in tow. Maria cried out when she heard the noise, but soon realized nothing had actually happened, and stopped hindering Theo’s efforts to escape. As she glanced back, the man she claimed to be her father looked unharmed, but didn’t seem to be pursuing. The two ran a fair distance across town until slowing down.
“What were you thinking doing something as stupid as that?” First to catch her breath, Maria broke the silence. “Were you trying to get yourself killed?”
“What was I doing? What were you doing!” Theo shouted back. “I had everything under control.”
“What? By the gods, you were acting like a damn fool.”
“A fool, eh? I guess I can’t deny that, but I am a professional.” Theo fumed. “I can handle myself with these things just fine. What I can’t handle is protecting some fool rushing in to ‘help’, got that?”
“And how was I supposed to know something like that, huh? All you did was act like some oddball fool.”
“Did I ask you to help me? No. Now I’ve gone and tilted my hand too early. Thanks to that little fuckup, I’ll have to actually put some effort in. Man, this job could have been done and over with, but now I need to plan and work and everything. Ugh, this isn’t what I signed on for, but Alexandra would be pissed if I bailed now. Well, more pissed than usually, at least.”
Maria burst into laughter at ramblings of the man beside her. “What was that about ’tilting your hand’? Was that the flash with the gun? And what was that anyway, you didn’t actually fire the gun, did you?”
“Heh, I most certainly fire the gun.” Theo shined his signature grin as he recalled the events. “As for what that was? Well, I have to apologize, because a magician never reveals his secrets.”
“You’re a magician? But didn’t you say you were a professional at fighting those things?”
“Ah well, yes. I hunt things that shouldn’t exist in this world. That would be my profession, but the magician thing I consider to be more of a lifestyle.”
“A lifestyle, huh? What is that even supposed to mean. Can you even do any tricks?”
“Sure I can.” Theo replied jubiously. “Hang on just a second.”
Theo began fiddling around in his pockets until he finally pulled out a simple looking cloth glove. Fitting it onto his left hand, he signaled to watch it closely. He brought the hand close up to his and Maria’s faces, and snapped his fingers. Maria jumped back as a small tongue of flame sprung up from the glove and hovered over his finger. As she drew in to expect tiny ball of flame, Theo began to roll his hand around it, keeping the flame fixed in its position. Suddenly, he drew his hand over it and crushed it in his hand. With a tiny wisp of smoke, Theo opened his hand to reveal the flame gone. He removed the glove and hastily stuck it back in his pocket.
“That was amazing!” Maria exclaimed, thoroughly entranced. “How did you do that?”
“What did I just say about magicians and secrets?” The chuckled. “Ah, who am I kidding. It’s no fun if I don’t give a hint, is it? So here goes: you were focusing on the glove too much.”
“But wait, what was the point of the glove then?” Maria questioned.
“Thanks to the glove, I didn’t even have to mask the trick at all, because your attention wasn’t even on the real source to begin with.” Theo answered excitedly. “Same with that demon in your father earlier. Thanks to my foolish act, it didn’t even see me as a threat. It probably could have killed me the second I came near it, but instead I was this close to ripping it right out of your father before it even realized its error. That is how I treat my lifestyle as that of a magician.”
“Oh, I see.” Maria nodded compliantly.
“You don’t really, do you? Ah, but that isn’t what’s important now. I need a plan for how I will move against this demon.” Theo sighed. “The contracted individual is your father, so you must have at least some idea of what transpired. Please, tell me all you can about the events which occurred here.”
“Oh, um, I guess I could.” Maria hesitated. “I really don’t like thinking back to that night.”
“Without this information, I don’t stand any chance of eliminating that spirit. You father, no, everyone in this city is as good as dead if I don’t put an end to it. Maria, please let me help you. You won’t only have to watch your father from afar anymore.”
“…The night it happened my father was late to dinner. It wasn’t exactly a rare occurrence, especially around that time, but that time he looked different. He was exhausted, and sat down without so much as a word. Then, he staggered up. Thinking back on it, it looked like he was trying to resist his movements. He grabbed me forcefully, lifted me by my arm. Mom was startled, and ran to my side, shouting at father. Finally, he let me go, and grabbed mom instead. I scurried away as fast as I could, but I turned back to see father lifting mom clean off the ground with one hand. And then… then her body bulged and burst, taking half the house with it. I just ran. I ran until I was too tired to keep moving, and fell asleep in some alley on the opposite end f town. I…”
“So this was another case of a bonding turned for the worse. Of course this was bound to happen, but it doesn’t sting any less to see firsthand that sometimes there isn’t some savior who appears magically in the nick of time to prevent things from getting out of hand. Who am I kidding, Alexandra’s going to be pissed no matter how things turn out, but that is the least of my problems.”
“Who is this Alexandra?”
“Someone… special.”
“Special like a lover?”
“Once. Back when we were young and dumb, but then I did something terrible to her…” Theo sighed as he trailed off. He silently rubbed his eyes before speaking up again. “This stuff is tough. Trust me, I know better than anyone, but could you please continue. Any detail you can give me is a weapon I can use at slaying that monster before it claims another life.”
“Yeah… I avoided people for a while after that. Seeing my own father like that made it hard to go near other people. It must have not been long until the rest of the town found out what happened to my house. With no one left in the house, the town was in a panic. I heard it was that night when the monster struck again. I overheard people saying some cloaked figure would cut up people who went out at night and drag them back to what was left of our house. Some of the bodies it left out as you saw, but apparently many of the others it decorated itself with parts of. People were pretty quick get away, but when they tried to leave the city, my father was there to meet them. Everyone who tried to leave was slaughtered. It was around that time that I started living out of that tree. I watched the house every day, and my father would sometime come out of the ruins to build those things. I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t trust anyone else, and I couldn’t leave. Even if I could leave, where would I even go? So I just built up that lookout in the tree and watched. Then one night I saw it. I decided to stay up in my perch later than usual, and just as I was getting ready to leave, I saw it come out of the wreckage. It was robed in some great cloak, and carrying a scythe in a way that didn’t look human. It flew right over me, and I went completely motionless. As soon as I was sure it was gone, I left. I haven’t stayed up there past dark since then, and I haven’t seen that thing since.”
“Thank you.” Theo spoke soothingly. “You did a very good job.”
“Will that really be helpful?”
“Certainly. I’ve already got a bit of a plan thanks to the information you gave. I have just one thing I would ask of you.”
“What is that?”
“Trust me.” Theo grinned mockingly. “…What? I’m serious. I can’t have you screwing up my plans again. I suppose it would be easier if I simply told you what I was planning. There isn’t any fun in that, but compromises must be made.”
“Informing people to what ridiculous thing you are going to try to pull, such a compromise.”
“Don’t be like that. Come, walk with me. I’ll be making my move around sunset, and I would like to be back in your perch well before then. Walking back across town will take some time. So the plan: I’m going to wait until that spirit leaves the body of its host to go hunting, and then I will intercept it. At that time, your father should be capable of acting freely, and if you want, it might be a good idea to get him off to safety. I on the other hand will challenge and defeat the demon from there. The rest I can play by ear.”
“You call that a plan? It doesn’t sound any different from what you do anyways.”
“Eh, what do you expect of me?”
“Are you sure you aren’t going to come up with anything more definite?”
“This is the way I work, and besides,” Theo grinned and pointed up. “We’re out of time.”
A shadow passed over the tree the two were waiting in. Theo sprung up, stretching out his body before leaning forward. Hooking his foot on the branch, he swung himself upside down and curled up to switch his grip from feet to hands. He glanced up at Maria one last time, and she nodded in confirmation. With a chuckle he dropped down and took off running after the figure gliding above. After following it out of sight from the original location, he started shouting at it.
The floating figure stopped, and slowly turned to face Theo. It was robed in rags, and holding a large scythe. As it descended upon him, Theo realized that it was holding the scythe in a position completely unnatural for a human and a massive beak-like nose poked out from hood. Upon its back stood a large rig of sharpened sticks, fashioned into a wing-like form; from the wooden wings hung numerous skulls, clacking in the wind. As the rags tossed to and fro in the wind, this creature stood silently as the very image of death personified.
“Well hello there!” Theo proclaimed loudly. “I believe we got off on the wrong foot earlier today. I believe we could both benefit from a bit of friendly chat, so if we could just start with introductions. I am Theodosius, and you…”
“You want to talk?” The robed finally spoke. “Interesting. Fine, I shall humor your for now.”
“No name, rather rude.” Theo spoke under his breath before speaking up again. “For starters, I was curious as to what a fine demon-spirit such as yourself was trying to accomplish making such a commotion. Not that I expect your kind to be anywhere but the midst of some misdeed, but, if I am not mistaken, subtlety is typically one of your few virtues.”
“For such a flattering tone, you lack tact, but no matter. What was I trying to accomplish? I was simply sending a message. There is a new Demon Prince crowned, and those which have hidden in the shadows are hiding no longer.”
“A Demon Prince you say, but is there not already a Demon King? What need have you for a prince when you have a king?”
“As if I would follow one with the hubris to claim himself king of our people. The Demon Princes of old have been stewards ruling instead of our god. The self-styled king abandoned that, choosing to instead bow and scrape to lowly humans.”
“Heh, I can’t claim to enjoy his company any more than you. I suppose a demon-spirit who throws his lot in with humans is still a demon. But sometimes it is better to go along with it anyways, because not doing so could be rather hazardous to your health, don’t you agree?”
“What are you going on about human? I’m not a coward like you.”
“That so?” Theo spoke as he raised his empty palm upwards.
In a sudden motion, Theo snapped his fingers of the outstretched hand, and a large jet of flame erupted from in front of his hand. The mocking grin the spirit had worn through the discussion disappeared as it barely rolled out of the way. Theo, now wearing an expression of gloating superiority not unlike the one he had just wiped off the spirit, fired out several more jets of flame. With each burst he closed in upon his mark, until finally his torrent of fire ceased.
“Any final words?” Theo gloated fearlessly.
“I have no words for the vessel of the traitor king.” The spirit spat out. “Ah, but perhaps she might.”
Following his cue, Maria was brought out by her father. He held her with one arm around the waist, and the other restraining Maria’s arm. The free arm flailed wildly, fruitlessly trying to dislodge herself. Her father placed her in front of the spirit and restrained her free arm. As she writhed in fear, she screamed out to Theo for help.
“I’m sorry Maria, I didn’t expect your father to still be willingly following this spirit after the things it forced him to do.”
“Shall we have some fun now?” The spirit cackled.
“What are you going to do to her?”
“Don’t you think it is time I brought the family back together? This girl has been away from her father for so long. After that tragic death of her mother, this father is all she has, so she should really make an effort be more close to him. I’ll make her my nice little puppet, just like her father, isn’t that kind of me?”
“Don’t do this.” Theo pleaded.
The spirit did not speak any more, instead placing its palm upon Maria’s forehead and flashing a cruel grin. As it did so, its extremities began to disappear. Flowing from the far reaches of its unnatural body and through the long and bony outstretched arm, the body of the spirit collapsed in on itself until it had completely vanished into Maria. As soon as this finished, Maria flexed her body and chuckled. Her father, after releasing his grip, pulled a knife from his pocket and handed it to her.
“Now, what will you do pitiful vessel? Will you kill this girl to get to me, or will you just stand there and let me kill you?” Maria gloated as she walked up to Theo.
“No!” Theo gasped, collapsing onto his knees.
Immediately after he spoke, he covered his mouth with his hand. He did not cover it out of regret for what he said, but rather because he couldn’t help himself from grinning at how smoothly things were proceeding. Maria stood beside him and placed the blade upon his neck. Before the spirit could manipulate her further, Theo grabbed Maria’s knife wielding arm with one hand and twisted. With the other grabbed her chest and pulled away. He and Maria rolled in opposite directions, and held in his arm was a stunned spirit. Theo pinned it to the ground and raised his free hand above it. Before he could deal the finishing blow, the spirit shot its hand up, piercing Theo’s hand with its spear-like appendages.
“Don’t worry,” Theo spoke forcefully through the pain. “I’ll send that beloved Demon Prince of yours to oblivion soon after. You won’t be separated long.”
And with that, Theo snapped his fingers and a pillar of flame erupted, consuming the demon-spirit’s arm and head.
“Hold it, don’t move.”
As Theo stood from the disintegrating remains of the demon-spirit, he was greeted by this command. He turned to see Maria once again held by her father, this time with a knife to her neck. Theo finished standing, and pointed his bloodied hand at the father.
“I said-”
“You put one little nick upon that girl, you die.” Theo firmly interrupted. “After the things you did, you cannot be considered a person, much less a father. You sold your soul, and now you don’t even have power to show for it. You are nothing. You have neither the right nor reason to touch her. Continue laying hands upon her for another second and I will make you suffer.”
With a whimper, the man dropped the knife and obediently backed off, raising his hands in surrender. Immediately after, he burst into flames. His pleading quickly devolved into unintelligible screams as he threw himself on the ground and convulsed for a few seconds before falling still. Theo took the hand of the young girl and turned her eyes from the mass of burning flesh.
“Come on, let’s leave here.” He urged her.
“Why?” She mumbled. “Why did you do that to father? He did what you said.”
“There is a point when serving a spirit where they test your loyalty.” Theo answered. “Your father, he killed your mother completely of his own volition, and he would have done the same to you. He was a coward too weak to defy the spirit with him, and fell into depravity from it. Had I let it live, it would have only caused more misery.”
“But that was my father.”
“Your father died well before I even came to this town. Those spirits are nothing but demons that bring out the worst of us humans. They kill us from the inside and leave nothing but husks they can control to their own ends. What I killed was not your father, it was simply another thing that should not exist in this world.”
Maria had no response for this, and so the two walked a while in silence. They watched the night sky above them as they walked through abandoned streets, and unwound from the events which had transpired. The moonlight breaking between silhouettes of stone buildings made for a serene view, and neither person was keen to disrupt it. At last though, Theo stopped them and spoke up.
“I would very much appreciate it if you could explain to your fellow townspeople that I completed my end of the bargain, and the matter is resolved now. I shall be making my leave this night.”
“You are leaving already?” Maria spoke in surprise. “Could… could you take me with you? I don’t have anything left here. No family, no friends, only bad memories.”
“Ah, sorry, but no.” Theo smiled softly. “I’m a busy man, and I don’t have the luxury to accommodate a tag-along. And besides, what would that even look like to others? You are too old for me to appear as a parent, but young enough I am not sure I would enjoy the other assumption people might make. It isn’t like I need another reason to make Alexandra disgusted with me.”
Maria said nothing and instead stared at her feet.
“Look, it’s not all bad. You don’t have anything, but that also means you don’t have anything tying you down. Honestly, I am almost a little jealous. You’ve got the whole world before you, and not a single obligation to tear keep you from it. Figure out what you want to do, and go do it.” With these parting words, Theo departed into the night with a grin and a wave.
Chronicles of Chaoris 