His eyes wide open, wrinkled in fear and discomfort. He couldn't believe his eyes and mind. As he opened the gate he saw three demons standing around the church, split apart, in a curve shape. They were merely twenty metres away, but the thing that worried him wasn't the demons, but his mind.

He didn't hear their voices, the questioning voices, chewing on his sanity, pleading and begging for help and release. He did not hear any of it. Taking a step outside, Daniel tried to see if something would change if he got closer. Fifteen, ten, five, still nothing but silence. The bodies didn't move any closer to him either, flailing their arms at him, biting into his direction, however not stepping towards him.

Eventually he walked past the demons, they moved after him. He stepped back towards the church, they stopped. It was like as if the church had a radius around it, a radius which was demon proof.

Walking closer to the demons, he tried to not only make them move closer, but to also try to hear them. Four, three, two... one.

"Help me."

"Save us."

"Please release me."

He heard their voices again, faint but it was understandable, but why only at such a close distance. Just as he believed to understand his gift, he was left again, questioning the reason for this sudden change. Before he was able to hear every voice in the entire city, but now, he needed to face them, barely a meter away.

He didn't waste time however, "Wulf," he said calmly, drawing with his left hand. Touching his forehead, his chest, to the left of it and then to the right of it.

The sword which formed in his right hand pulsed with every gesture, glowing brighter, "May you rest in peace now, please forgive me."

With three swift and painless cuts they fell to ashes, flowing and flying through the air at the cold breeze. His warm breath turning into mist, staring towards the dust in the wind, his heart at ease, believing he finally can treat them with the honour they deserve.

"Danny! Is it safe to go out yet?" the child yelled across the road toward Daniel.

"Yes, come on out."

Unsure of where they could find food, he thought of going into the forest. Dense and moist air was common within, sounds of animals, bristling leaves and cracking twigs echoed all around. The grass and shrubs were painted white due to the cold weather leaving behind a thin crust of ice. As they got deeper into the forest, Tommy close behind Dan, they saw a river run straight through the middle. It was calmer and a light layer of ice was covering it, however the fishes were still lively as ever.

As they sat down to watch the fish, they began to hear a weird noise further out, on the other side of the forest. Daniel believed that it must have been the campers which he saw from the top of the church. Carefully they took a peek but it left their stomachs even more empty than they already were. A tent, round and green, before it a circle of stones which held the fire wood. Red, that was the colour of the grass there, a bright red, yet seemingly warm as it wasn't frozen.

Daniel told Tommy to stay in the bush, and scream if anything happens, moving in on his own. As he feared, behind the tent were two bodies. One dead, and the other too, however the later was munching on the former. He felt guilty, if only he had come here earlier, maybe then the person would still be alive, wouldn't have suffered so much. Weirdly enough, he was still unable to hear a voice, only the groaning and breathing of the demon, whose face was covered in his victims blood. Noticing that another living person was behind it, it stood still for a moment before turning around, facing Daniel. Slowly walking over to him, arms stretched out and aiming for the man with the white arm.

"Wulf."

After the regalia emerged from thin air he drew a cross before him and stepped towards the demon, "Release me, please help---"

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

It fell to ashes with one fell sweep, he kept walking towards the body still laying on the grass. The persons innards were open, not a sight for every stomach. He knew that soon a demon would try to possess his soul as well, so he stabbed into the body. The cut began to glow, releasing a white mist, "Thank you for helping my travel, may the heavens be with you."

The body fell to dust, a pile of dust which was like sand covering the grass. He was done here.

Before hurrying to the boy, he went inside the tent and grabbed the sleeping bag, green on the outside and red inside, however it was merely the cotton colour, not blood. He was debating whether or not he should take it with him, it would be like stealing from the dead, however seeing as how it would just rot away in the tent, they might as well put it to use. He lifted it, held his right hand to his heart and closed his eyes, "Thank you."

"There you go Tommy, no more table cloth blankets," he threw it towards the boy, who caught it by almost stumbling backwards.

"Are you sure that this is alright for us to take?" His eyes worrying as he looked down at the bag.

"I believe so, it would be a shame to let it go to waste."

"True that, thank you!"

Walking back into the forest, to the river, Tommy rolled out the sleeping bag and sat on it. Meanwhile Daniel and called forth his sword.

"I sure hope this doesn't make me look bad, but I am too useless to fish," Daniel says, lifting the sword above his head, 12 o'clock and cut forwards to 6 o'clock at the river. The three fangs shot out, flying into the river, creating large splashes which made it rain for a second. Shortly after, they returned and stuck onto them were three fairly big fishes. They had no idea what kind of fish it was, they were grey, big and probably tasty, they hoped. He went for one more sweep, and got four more, one of the blades caught two at once.

Tommy enjoyed the show, with a grain of salt, since even he wondered if it was right to use the regalia for such a work but he was also thankful for it. They collected some sticks and stones to make a camp fire, however there was a teeny tiny problem.

"How do we light this now Danny?" Tommy wondered, looking at Dan with those dolls eyes of his.

After a long sigh, Daniel went over to the tent and looked through the bags, hoping to find some matches or a lighter, to his luck there was a rusty Zippo. The grey steel was barely visible through the orange rust. He flicked open the cap, releasing the fire from the Zippo, it worked.

He also found a small cloth handkerchief in the bag, it was white, or rather was. Covered in dirt, oil, and other stains, it wasn't the cleanest but would do the job for what he had in mind. He met up with Tommy again, who was guarding the fish. First he lit the fire, while Tommy had already prepared some sticks with which they pierced the fish to hold in range of the fire. To have free hands, they stuck them into the ground, its cold and near frozen soil acted as a strong grip for the sticks.

"Why did you take that cloth with you too?"

"I thought it might be nice to do our saviour a favour."

Dan sat down at the river and cleaned the handkerchief, his hands cold and freezing due to the icy water, but he did clean the cloth fairly well. Only one large pink-red stain was persistent enough to stay, it was probably wine he thought. Pulling out the Zippo from his pocket he took the cloth and began cleaning it. Tommy looked over his shoulders, wanting to see what he was doing.

"Why are you cleaning it?"

The man looked over his left shoulder, "It was very rusty, not exactly a nice thing to hold in your hands or to have in your pockets. Joke aside, I thought it might be nice to clean it as a sign of respect. Almost like a give and take."

"Only that you keep the lighter?"

"Exactly."

The sun was now right above them, reflecting directly off the water surface into their eyes. Half the day was already over. After the fish were ready, they wanted to start eating. Tommy greedily picked up a stick and was just about to take a bite.

"Stop!"

Daniel's mild shout petrified the child, who wondered what the matter was.

"We should pray... maybe? Since we were only able to have this meal thanks to this regalia and the objects of the deceased. I have no idea if that actually does anything, I am not religious, but maybe it would be a nice gesture?" his voice cracked, stumbling over his own words, unable to really explain his intention. He never cared about prayers, churches, gods or souls.

He didn't believe in these supernatural things before, but now it was different. Even though he had no idea if what he did was right or even useful, he still tried to accept his prior mistakes and adjust to the situation, starting with manners.

Tommy smiled, plucked the stick back into the ground, closed his eyes and folded his hands.

"You are right, we should pray, pray that we are still alive and that we are able to have such a nice meal."

Daniel was touched and did the same.

"Thank you for this meal, may you continue to watch over us," Tommy prayed loudly, holding the tiny speech.

Shortly after, they dug in and filled their stomachs. Forgetting that the fish was still hot, Tommy took a big out of it and grasped for air, breathing heavily to cool down his mouth. While Daniel laughed he also took a big bite out of it, but due to him laughing he already swallowed it, without chewing. The burning sensation in his throat forced awkward noises to leave his mouth, it was hot, but unlike the child he wasn't able to cool it down, this time Tommy was the one laughing.