"Shut it!" Mason hissed back dangerously, pressing down harder.

Jake slowly moved towards the strapped down woman, noticing no injuries besides those on her face. The woman growled loudly at his approach, her eyes never leaving him for a second, and with incredible speed, she began struggling to get free.

Quickly backing up, Jake looked at the almost suffocating fiend.

"Mason, let him talk for a moment."

"You sure?" Mason grumbled, a dissatisfied look on his face.

"No, but let's hear him out for a minute."

Mason didn't react right away, seeming to struggle, before finally relieving some of the pressure, giving the Fiend room to breath.

David gasped for air, looking at the ceiling. "She is my wife! I would never harm her, but she doesn't remember who she is... was... I tied her up for her own good! So she wouldn't harm herself." David rattled in between large gulps of air.

After his outburst, the room was silent for a moment the Kobolds thinking about what he had said. A soft shuffling broke the silence, and a gasp came from the doorway. Emma was frozen, halfway through the door, looking at the woman strapped to the bed. Her large purple eyes were wide open in shock. Then, without a word, she rushed over to the bed.

"Emma come back!" Jake shouted, stretching out his hand to stop her, but he was too late. Before either of the guys could stop her, Emma crossed the room and jumped on the bed.

"Are you alright? What did he do to you?!" She cried, moving to hug the woman.

The half-wolf half-human looked at the little girl without doing anything. She just sniffed the girl's hair a few times and then licked her across the face, causing a startled giggle from Emma.

Both Jake and Mason released a sigh of relief before looking at each other. A wordless message seemed to pass between them, and Mason nodded, increasing the pressure on David again.

Jake looked around. There was much more stuff lying around than in their room, and it looked like the same person had occupied the place for a long time. Walking to the single wall closet decorating one of the walls Jake opened it, finding women's clothing and toiletries. Scrunching his eyes in wonder, he searched through the things for a moment and noticed there weren't any man's things. Prodding around in the cluttered lower shelf Jake found a hard angular object stuffed deep inside, underneath a bunch of blankets and discarded t-shirts. Pulling it out, he held an old shoebox in his hands. Thinking he might find some foto's inside that he could use to try and identify David, he opened it. There was a stack of letters inside, folded neatly but still slightly crumpled as if someone had thrown them into a bin and later reconsidered.

Opening one, Jake saw they were handwritten letters addressed to Synthia written by David. Reading through one quickly, he found it was the standard type of love letter, almost as if taken from the internet and slightly changed. Taking them out revealed a small, worn-out book. Feeling like a voyeur, Jake took a somewhat guilty look at the bed. Seeing the bruised face of the woman, that he guessed should be Synthia, looking at Emma, he sighed and opened the book.

Inside there was a date of some ten years ago followed by a short message. Jake scrunched his eyebrows and realized he was holding a diary. Skimming through it, looking for references about David, he didn't find anything that caught his interest until he had flipped a few years further. Then a page, marred by liquid stains and a short message, drew his attention, and he quickly scanned it. His eyes widened as he looked at the page, dumbstruck, before re-reading the short message.

"Ow my dear book, what should I do. Today again, he changed! Like last week he just started yelling at me for no apparent reason, and he even raised his hand seeming ready to strike! I tried to reason with him, but it got worse, and in the end, he stormed off. What did I do wrong, I just asked him something. But the anger in his eyes, and how he loomed over me. I never realized how big he is..."

Getting an ominous feeling, Jake flipped the page and kept reading. Soon a steely look came to his face, and he looked at Mason. "Keep him down and make sure he can't move." The smoldering anger in Jake's voice caused Mason to look at him in confusion. After a moment, and seeing Jake's angry face, realization crossed Mason's face, and he put his full weight back on his foot.

Looking at the fiend struggling under Mason's foot, Jake returned his attention to the book. After a while, he sighed in resignation and flipped to the end of the book. The last message was one of the longest in the book. It was the day of the tv broadcast, the day the change had happened. Did that make it yesterday? Deciding it wasn't important right now, Jake started reading the last entry.

"Finally, a way out! Please, Lord, don't let it be a joke! No, it has to be real. It wouldn't be on the televisions otherwise. Besides, he thinks it's real. After all of the pain and suffering, I can be away from the monster. If anybody reads this, please, please, don't be fooled by his sweet words and gentle manner. Underneath it, all he is a monstrous man who will never let anything go once he has laid his hands on it. He told me to choose the Fiend race, as he would and ignore the message. If I do, I fear I will never rid myself of him. Or worse… I might become like him, a monster. No! No noo"

If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

A long line of unintelligible words and struck out text followed until at the end of the page. The last lines there were crooked but readable and seemed almost written by another person.

"I need to calm down. What if it is a hoax? I cannot let him find this diary. It is the only thing I managed to keep hidden. The fool never looks at the letters in the box. If he sees me reading them, he becomes happy for a time. He probably thinks I am reminiscing the past love he showed me. The filthy pig is always more forceful after that, but at least it gives me the freedom of writing. I will choose those animals they mentioned. Losing my memory? Starting all over? The bliss! I just hope my new self can get away from him… He is calling me, need to hide the book and get ready!"

The last line was written more forcefully as if Synthia was trying to push a hole in the paper.

Jake closed the book with a loud thud, a murderous look on his face as he looked at David below Mason's foot.

"Jake, what is going on?" Mason's voice sounded worried.

Taking a few short, fast breaths, Jake walked over and rammed his taloned foot down into the chest of the struggling fiend. As he pushed down hard, his talons drilled into the grey flesh causing bluish blood to trickle out.

"Here. Read this, start around two years ago." Jake spat, handing the book to Mason.

Always having been a quick read, Mason began flipping through the pages much faster than Jake. After a while, his face began twisting, and he slowed down, reading some pages before flipping to the end. Soon a terrifying growling began emanating from Mason, and Synthia and Emma looked up, scared. Holding the book in a death grip, Mason looked at the thing underneath his foot.

"He doesn't deserve to live..." He growled, before looking at Jake.

"We can kill him. Nobody would ever find out, or even care if they did." Jake said in a deadpan voice that didn't manage to hide his killing intent completely.

"You can't kill him, that makes you the bad guys!" A soft, scared voice caused Jake and Mason to look up.

On the bed, Emma huddled closer to Synthia with a panicky look on her face.

"Aren't you the good guys?" She whispered when she saw both of their angry faces looking at her.

Jake closed his eyes and took a deep shuddering breath, trying to calm his emotions. He knew part of the intense anger wasn't normal.

Noticing Mason move, he opened his eyes again just in time to see his friend remove his foot from David. Confused, Jake was about to ask his friend what he intended when an ugly look crossed Mason's face and in an abrupt motion he kicked Davids throat, ripping it open with his talons. A geyser of blue blood spurted up in the air, and Jake jumped back. At the same time, a startled cry came from the bed.

Mason stood perfectly still, letting the blood spray across him before looking at Jake and then at Emma.

"He is the good guy; I do what is needed." He whispered, pointing at Jake. Then he rushed out of the room, and soon the sounds of someone throwing up came from the hall.

Looking at the bleeding corpse, Jake felt very little besides a faint sadness.

"Damnit what a mess."

Walking toward the bed, he sat down, ignoring Synthia who was looking at the bleeding corpse with interest.

"Little one. The world has changed, and no matter what Mason just said, I guarantee you he is one of the good guys." Jake's voice sounded tired but sure of himself.

"This guy hurt a lot of people, and if we had left him alive, we would be partially responsible for all the pain he would have caused later. If Mason hadn't killed him, I would have."

Emma was quiet for a while, sniffling a bit, before softly responding. "But you only read that book. What if the book was wrong?"

Jake froze as shock filled his mind. Could Emma be right? Could the woman have lied or exaggerated? He looked at Syntia, wondering if she was even the woman from the diary.

A soft shuffle came from the door. Looking up, Jake saw Mason standing in the doorway staring at Davids corpse. He had a shocked look on his face and seemed close to tears.

Swallowing quickly, Jake rose to his feet.

"Listen. Stay calm. We will try and find out if David deserved this but.."

A clear voice like a bell interrupted him. "He deserved it."

Jake spun around and looked at Syntia, who was still staring at Davids corpse.

"You can talk?" Mason muttered as he moved next to Jake.

Synthia was quiet for such a long time that Jake began doubting what he had heard. Then with a soft sigh, the wolflike woman looked up at them with her startling green eyes.

"I can talk. That thing over there said it knew me from before. When I said that I didn't remember anything, it started hurting me, make me do things." She fell silent before looking intensely at Jake and Mason.

"Will you make me do things?"

Jake shook his head quickly. "No! Don't worry. We won't make you do anything."

Taking a deep breath and feeling somewhat uncertain, Jake looked at her again. "Is this the reason why you said he deserved it?"

Syntia looked at him scowling. "Yes and no. I don't remember that I knew him, but I know what is good and bad! And looking at him gives me a horrible feeling. He was bad!" Then she fell silent again, her gaze on the cooling corpse.

Emma, who had been listening to the conversation, moved closer to Sylvia, gently putting her hand on the furry arm. Then she glanced at Mason before looking at Jake. "Can we free her?"

Mason seemed upset when he saw Emma looking away from him in fear, and Jake put his hand on his friend's shoulder.

"Of course we can," Jake sighed. Turning to Emma, he tried smiling at her reassuringly and moved to the side of the bed. With his sharp nails, he sliced open the plastic wires strapping Syntia to the bed, before stepping back so she wouldn't feel threatened.

Synthia hopped off the bed and stretched. She seemed unbothered by the fact the towel dropped down, revealing every, bruised inch of her body. Jake looked at her for a moment, unfazed, before realizing the scene in front of him made him feel nothing.

"What the fuck?" Mason, standing behind him, had a confused look in his eyes and most of the panic had already disappeared. "Shouldn't this like... cause us to be uncomfortable? Or, you know?" He whispered, looking at Jake.

Jake shook his head, wondering the same thing. "Perhaps it is because she isn't a Kobold? But I don't feel anything..."

"You don't think we became ... impo... ARGH, I can't even say it." Mason groaned, sounding worried, before looking at Synthia again.

Jake shook his head and wondering about the resilient nature of Kobold minds he moved towards the closet to get some clothing for Synthia. Halfway their, he felt a vibration in the floor that intensified quickly. Within a second, the entire room was shaking, and before they had time to react or seek shelter, their eyes rolled up, and they fell to the ground.