“Greetings, old one from the other side. My name is James Avurn.” He adjusted his collar before bowing. The house was dimly lit and it had a dusty smell, indicating that it hasn't been cleaned in a while. Even though the lighting was bad, he could make out the creature he was addressing.

An Ulthrae, the Granter, a Giver of Wishes, and so many other names. They don't normally stay long in one place so it was hard to catch one, not to mention that the humans they contract with actively protect them. According to James' investigation, this one has been here for at least seven years, never leaving this quaint house. Why?

Avurn you say? The name of your family has been mentioned several times by my fellows. Such a polite young man, quite different from the stories I hear about people carrying that name. What do you want?

“I respectfully ask that you leave this plane. I will close the portal that you’re using as you leave.”

The creature’s eyes narrowed into slits of emptiness, dripping darkness from beyond the Veil. I cannot do what you ask of me, human. I have chosen to stay here, until the end of times. Curling around a sleeping aged man sitting on his creaking wooden chair, the snakelike creature formed a hand from its wispy reddish body and pointed at the door. Begone and leave us in peace.

“You know what I am. A Mender. I’ve been sent to close the tear in the Veil. I’m afraid I cannot follow your wishes. Please understand.”

It is you who needs to understand, James Avurn, the Mender. I’ve been with this human since the first portal to your plane has been torn open. Two decades of your time, was it? James's brow raised at that statement. He never expected that the Ulthrae had stayed in that house for twenty years. He only knew that the Ulthrae did not contract with the person sitting on  the chair. I understand that you need to protect your people from others who go through the Veil. Before continuing, the demon closed its eyes and shook its head. I also understand that most of my fellows who go through the Veil are rather…

"Malevolent might be the word you’re looking for.” 

Yes, malevolent. There is no need for niceties when referring to them. Or us, if you’re including me. But understand that I only care for this man, and this house. I have never ventured outside its four corners, small though it may be. And I will never stray from this place even if a thousand years have passed.  

“I know.” James could see that it didn't contract with the sleeping man. Ulthrae would grant wishes of men in return for planting a piece of their body on the soul of the human. The wish would be granted, depending on how powerful the Ulthrae was, but the seed on the soul would devour it in time and another Ulthrae would be born.

It was unfathomable for an Ulthrae not to contract with anyone, yet there was one in front of him. Twenty years and it didn't even move from the place it went through the Veil. 

There was something different about this one. 

Do you truly know? Humans have been fearful of us, rightly so. Fearful of everything that spills out from the other side, for it is not only us who come from there. Nevertheless, not all of us means harm. 

“Old one. I know. Still, the fact remains that many are harmful to us. And that was the reason why I was sent here. I’ve been investigating the appearance of others in this city, and they led me to this house.”

The creature growled, making the house shake. I killed everyone who comes through my portal. So there were some who got past me? Or maybe they came from other tears? Have you considered that, Mender? And still, that doesn’t make me…evil…as humans would put it. Evil against my kind, if you look at it from another angle.

James took out his small notebook from the inside pocket of his great trench coat. He flipped the pages until he found his notes on this particular creature. “That man you’re holding on to is eighty-three years old. So you met when he was sixty? Divorced. Living in this house, alone supposedly. At least that's what the records in city hall say. There were reports of a dog, a bird, other kinds of animals with an unearthly reddish tinge that would hang around this place.”

I haven’t done any wrongdoing. I have no need to defend myself in front of someone who hasn’t even passed a hundred years of your time, yet, I say to you, with honesty, and sincerity, whatever that’s worth coming from someone like me, that I haven’t so much as touched a hair of another human. Besides this one.   

“And sometimes,” James said, “the neighbors saw a child inside this house.”

The creature didn’t immediately reply. From its body, tendrils sprouted, tenderly caressing the face of the old man. The old man was shallowly breathing. James could tell that the creature was concerned. The creature said, This man’s daughter had many pets. So I took the form of those animals. But most of the time, I took the form of his deceased child. She died a long time ago and he was alone since then. His wife also left him when their daughter died. He always said it was his fault that she died. In the past twenty years, I never asked him how she died. In those twenty years, I gave him his child back. And he gave me love. And I gave him love.

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“Love?” This Ulthrae did not contract with the man, but apparently, it still gave the man what he wanted. Or was it the Ulthrae that wanted to stay here? "You loved this man?"

Are you mocking me, human? Is love a concept that only pertains to humans?

“That is not what—”

Spikes shot out from the body of the creature, stopping less than an inch from the face of James. He didn’t flinch, much less blink. Human beings experience love because of their bodies, substances inside your bodies make your brain experience this feeling. We, who have no corporeal bodies, experience love at its fullest, unbound by physical mechanisms that makes us think that we should feel this or that. We experience love in its purest form.  

“I’m not mocking you. I now understand why you didn't contract with this man or other humans.it loved someone here as well.”

The creature withdrew its spikes. I never harmed a human. Yet, I will kill everyone who comes through the tear. You can’t close it for I won’t be able to maintain my form him once you do and I do not want to possess anyone so that I could maintain my form here. Tary not in our house, human. There is nothing for you to do here. The tear will not be Mended.

“That man was supposed to die a year ago. Probably more.” James consulted his notebook once again. “The other ones have been sighted starting a year ago.” His finger followed the written dates of appearances of the others beyond the Veil. There wasn't any attacks, but it was only a matter of time. While the Ulthrae did say that it killed all that pass through the tear, James could surmise why these ones were able to come through unmolested. 

He is not dead.

“You’re shackling his soul to his body. If it were not for you, he would have died. I'm taking a guess here that you loosened your protection on the tear in this place when you used your powers to keep him alive. That’s when others slipped through. And that’s how I was led here.” 

That is my way of continuing our family.

Your family? But James did not say it out loud. "Why didn't you just give him part of your life, or give him a wish to live longer?"

If I grant him a wish, then that means I killed him. If I give him a part of my life, then that is simply me living on with his memory.

"So that is why you chose to shackle his soul and continuously heal his body?"

You’re a Mender. What can you do to me? I have heard that the Avurns were a family of Hunters, yet you’re a Mender. I have enough knowledge of this world from watching television and talking with this man to know that it is the Hunters who eliminate those who come to this world unwelcomed.

“I understand your situation, even if you won’t believe that. But that tear needs to be Mended. In time, you will grow weaker. You’re stopping death through the tear in the Veil. You could probably make that man’s body live longer if you possessed it, but you didn’t, for that would mean you’ll be basically wearing his body.

“Old one. The Hunters are coming. I am here to plead with you to leave. The Hunters will find no one here and they will just go looking for the stranglers who have slipped through the Veil when your guard became lax. I will Mend the tear. And that will be it.”

Surprising that the Hunters simply didn’t come barging in and eliminate me. Is this how you do it, normally? Plead with us to leave?

“No. And I’ll be severely punished for this, for warning you, for trying to save you. But I understand what you feel. Please leave.”

He will die. 

“Humans shouldn’t live forever.”

He will. Because I am here.

“The Hunters will come.”

Let them come.  

James closed his notebook and looked at the floor.

Don’t be sad, James Avurn, the Mender. This is my choice. I have lived thousands of your years in the other side, and only now have I found something I want to keep. I love this man. He is my family, although, the concept of family is foreign to us. And I will stay here no matter the number of Hunters that come. Thank you for trying to save me.

Before James could say something, his phone rang. His thumb lingered a few seconds over the answer button before he pressed it. The familiar voice of Elegrin, Hunter from squad thirteen, said, “James, I don’t know what stunt you’re pulling, but you better get out of there. We’re coming in.” He sounded annoyed, as he should be. "We have already evacuated the surrounding houses. Based on readings, that's a class four Ulthrae. This is gonna get hairy so don't be hard headed and leave."

James looked up from his phone and met the gaze of the Ulthrae. "Please."

Twenty years is but a drop in my whole existence. My actions might be incomprehensible to you...

"James!" Elegrin shouted through the phone. "We're going to drag you out here. Are you trying to save-"

James ended the call.

A human, mourning my end. What's the saying your people say? Now I have seen everything?

James turned and headed for the door. 

Farewll, James Avurn, the Mender. I wish we could have met a few years earlier.