“Are we really sure that we have to do this on our own?” the tall man named Twain said, his face showing signs of worry. Beads of sweat trickled down his hand.

“Isn’t this too dangerous for us to handle? It’s the Dark Tower Occult, the one that kills and eats people. Shouldn’t we inform the holy knight? They would be suitable to handle this than the four of us,” the shorter one named Throy said, his anxiety mirroring that of his brother.

The group of four found themselves in the center of town district, surrounded by an eerie fog that was unlike any other day in Hopechest. Light of lamp also cannot fight with the moonless night, providing only a faint glimmer. It looked scarier that not lit anything.

“Then you two go and ask the Lord knight, inform him that there is an Occult presence in Hopechest. Hopefully, they will believe you and not accuse you into jail and interrogate with the holy book,” Rave said.

Crack! Crack! Sound of heavy armor clanking against the road.

The four men quickly hid in a nearby dark alley as the fog parted with each step the patrol knight took. With his helmet covering his face, only his eyes were visible. His lamp scanned left and right, searching the area. Finding nothing, he continued on his way.

Rave looked at his two companions. He mimicked talking with his hand, moving it up and down and then pointed in the direction the knight had gone.

Twain and Throy shook their heads vigorously. “We don’t want to die today,” they whispered in hushed tones. Rave let out a dry laugh in response.

Rain said, “It’s alright, we’re just here to investigate. If we find any clues, I’ll be the one to report back to the central church. Remember, I’m also the saint’s follower... Remember, right?” This should make them clear and relax a little.

The other three looked at Rain, their eyes widening. long forget that Rain is also one of the holy people.

Rain slapped his own forehead, “All of you... Huh~” He pulled out a silver necklace, looking at them with a half eyelids.

Twain and Throy scratched their heads awkwardly. “Heh heh... I guess we’ve spent too much time with you. We’ve never seen you engage in any religious activities or even pray. We only see you walking around, playing with kids, gathering herbs, helping with cooking, going hunting, and even assisting a group of women with laundry and chores. We just thought you were a handyman who could do it all,” they admitted.

Rave thought for a moment while wearing fake half-circle glasses. He lifted the glasses with one hand and then put on a serious face as he looked at Rain with determined eyes. “I know it! You are the Head Butler—”

Smack! Rain swiftly used side-palm to hit Red Rave on the head, splitting his hair into V-shaped. The glasses broke and flew far, lost in the darkness.

“Ouch! That hurt Rockman!,” Red Rave rubbed his own head and slicked back his hair again. Twin dryly laughed at Red Rave. “It’s such a little tease, you little mas—”

Rain raised his hand to halt everyone’s actions. Everyone stopped and concentrated seriously. Rain took out a paper with a sight of the Dark Tower occult, which began to glow.

Click! A sound came from a nearby door, causing Rain to stick his head out of the alley to see what was happening.

Creeeeak! The door slowly opened, and fog fluttered around. Something slowly walked out of the house. Pat! Pat! Pat!

Twain and Throy covered their mouths to silence their sounds. What they saw was truly dark and eerie. It a child! Its face was pale, devoid of blood. Hair covered its face, and it had lifeless gray eyes that glowed. It was wearing a sleep dress stained with black all over, and it was holding a sharp, ugly knife sticky with dark goo. Drip! Drip! Drop down to the floor. Make the surface layer melt.

Pat! pat! kssssssshh! It dragged something out of the house. Hair on body rise. It was a man! Tied with a robe, with lifeless eyes and wounds all over his body. Dark blood stained the path he was dragged along.

“What is that? How is this possible...?” Rave asked.

Rain looked at the picture in front of him, his eyebrows furrowing. “It’s from the Dark Tower. That rotten curse—”

Creeeeak! Creeeeak! Creeeeak! Creeeeak! many doors opened, and children slowly walked out. All of them had lifeless eyes and walked barefoot, patting their way towards the first child. They helped pull the rope, dragging the man further. kssssssshh!

One of them stopped at the front of the alley and slowly turned its head to look at Rain’s group. Its lifeless eyes met theirs, sending a chilling sensation all over their bodies. Cold sweat trickled down their faces. The corners of the child’s mouth slowly widened until it reached its ears. It pointed a finger at the group and a tiny, cold voice echoed out, “Life.”

All the lifeless eyes turned towards four men simultaneously. temperature fall down. shadow of children casted covered alley, turn every thing into dark night.

Twain and Throy shook their heads swiftly. Their hips bumped against the floor, their legs trembling in fear. “No, no, I don’t want to die,” they cried, unable to contain their fear any longer. Overwhelmed by fear, their iris-eyes turned into dot. Rain reached out his hand, trying to grab them both, but Twin had already dashed away and escaped. “Awa! No, No.” Thud! Thud! Thud!

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Rain quickly looked at Rave, whose face filled with terror, devoid of any blood. Rain moved his mouth, speaking in the lowest possible sound, “P—play.” But the red-haired man did not respond. Rain’s vision turned dark. Cool hands touched his eyes. sweet voiced but monotonous sound out behind his back, “Brother Rain... Knock Knock..?”

Curse you! Why her! Rain clenched his fist tightly, blood trickling out. He spoke slowly, “Who’s there...?”

Tap! Tap! Tap! Sound of tiny foots walking close to him. “He, he-he,” The children giggled, their tiny unfriendly voices resonating out. “We won’t tell…” “We won’t tell you...” “We don’t won’t you to know Us...”

“Why don’t you want me to know?” Rain said. What’s happen to them?

The sweet voice replied, “We don’t want grown-ups to know what we do.”

Rain gritted his teeth and said, “But I have no eyes. How can I know you...?”

The children giggled again, warning, “If you lie... we will take your soul...” A cold blade touched Rain’s thigh, drawing a small amount of blood. Hand cover his face lifted, vision slowly return. Children climbed up on his body, some used his friend-back as ladder. All of them stared at him.

The faces of the children and teenagers came close at his face, their chilly breath reaching Rain’s face. Their soulless gray eyes moved in unison like the legs of a centipede, checking every part of Rain. But Rain forced himself to look straight ahead, pretending not to see anything in front of him.

Ta-thump! Ta-thump! Heart beat loudly, even clearer in this cold soundless night. Soft hands from behind touched his chest. “Brother Rain... Who am I...?” the sweet, but cold voice asked.

Rain Not move even a cent. I have to control my Heart, just only one last question. “I don’t know... Who you are. Can you tell me?”

Ivara hugged Rain from behind, her head emerging from the darkness, resting on his shoulder. Her face was pure white like a ghost, devoid of any emotion. Her ghostly white eyes slowly moved to the left, looking at her beloved brother. “Brother... Brother Rain... Are you really don’t know me?...”

Damn, when did this happen? How did she change like this? His mind scattered, his thoughts fluctuating wildly. Rain bites his own lips, trying to gather his senses. He doesn’t move his neck, but then he says, “Sorry... I have no eyes... So I don’t know you.”

Ta-thump! Ta-thump! Heartbeat louder that before. This time, like a needle, pierces directly at his heart.

Ivara’s tears gathered at the corners of her eyes, slowly dropped onto his shoulder.

The children giggled in front of Rain, said, “Ah~ He really has no eyes or even no soul. He can come with us.” The children slowly climbed down from their friend’s back, one by one.

Ivara slowly lifted her head off his shoulder, releasing her hug. But before she completely let go, Rain touched her hand for a moment before letting it go. Ivara’s eyes widened slightly, but then she immediately turned back to being emotionless.

Pat! Pat! kssssssshh! The group of children continued walking, and Rain followed them, pretending to be one of them. He could still sense Rave’s presence from a distance, and he knew he could make it.

Pat! Pat! Pat! Pat!

With every turn the group took, more and more children joined them. They each had their own victims, some with cuts, some with bandages wrapped around their heads, and even a knight as a victim. The common factor among all the victims was that they were all adults. The children merged into one group and headed towards the center road.

kssssssshh! kssssssshh! kssssssshh! The sound of dragging continued endlessly because of the slow pace of the children. Some victims who were still alive cried and whispered their children’s names.

Rain only glimpsed this out as he silently followed.

Finally, they reached their destination, and Rain clenched his teeth, knowing all too well what awaited them. The group came to a halt at the Holy Gate of the central church, a place that should have been warm and welcoming to everyone. But now, it is like as a dark castle in a moonless hell waiting to cut out the souls of its citizens.

Cool temperature rushed into Rain, people moved out from shadow left and right. They were all dressed in suits and elegant attire, men and women are the inner district townsman.

Don! Church bell rang, Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! everyone started clap, sound of clap louder and louder even louder that the sound of bell church that tell an hour's time.

Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap!

People started speaking while clapping. “Good job, Holy kids.” “Good job, our pure white child.” “Very good, kids. You make our town cleaner than before.”

Thud! Thud! Kid Threw victim down, then start clapped followed towny people, Clap! Clap! Clap! They smiled one by one until everyone smiled ear to ear.

“Rise for the Holy Tower, may the holy light shine upon us all, kids of holy will be born and save us all from this fragile land.” “Save us all!” “Save us all!” “Save us all!” Sound of clapping got louder, they continued clapping even as blood started to seep from their hands.

“There is no place safe, we have to create our own sanctuary to protect our child, even have to use blood or sacrifice, but we can do for the will of holy tower!” “Will of holy tower!” “Will of holy tower!” clapped continued even becoming smoother synchronized like as sound of hell drum on the dark amphitheater.

Ivara, standing behind, began clapping. However, Rain quickly grabbed her hand, halting her. “What in the world is this? How did all of you become such fanatics, going so far for such a nonsensical reason? No one is going to help you with this insanity,” Rain said, his face filled with a grim darkness, the sound of bones crunching in his left hand.

A man noticed that there was one person who did not clap their hands. It won’t take him much time to figure out who he is, especially with the girl standing next to him. He can identify the man swiftly. “Oh, is that Father Rain and his little bird?”

All sound stop immediately! All creepie eyes that not even changed emotion yet looked at him.

“Oh, father Rain!” “Hi father!” “First we have father Lucusia now we have father Rain.” “God Really bless us.” “Holy tower shine upon us, we have two priests in our town.” “This is a good sign for our town.” “This is sanctuary!” “This is sanctuary!” “This is sanctuary!”

“Let’s call lord Holy to bless our soul. Praise the Holy tower.”

“Praise the Holy tower!” “Praise the Holy tower!” All the people raised both hands up to the sky.

Don! The tower bell rang once again.

Rain held Ivara tightly, preventing her from replicating the others.

CreEEeeEak! A heavy door of the church slowly opened, and a stream of fog rushed out. A man wore a holy robe, adorned with many silver amulets and a long stole on his shoulder, appeared. In his left hand, he held a Holy Book, and his serene face shone brightly. He walked step by step as the people split left and right. They slowly sat with their knees and hands stretched up to the dark sky, welcoming their holy priest.

He stopped two meter distance away from Rain. “May the light shine upon you, Father Rain,” he said, touching his own heart.