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As soon as the morning sun peeked over the horizon, he entered the small makeshift chapel he’d built when he first found the boy. Carefully, he made sure to close and lock the small wooden door shut before he dropped to his knees in prayer.

 

With his head bowed, shoulders hunched, and weary eyed he begged his God for forgiveness again and again. Not for himself or prior sins he’d committed, but for the soul of the boy and the sin he was about to commit. 

 

It was the least he could do.

 

He completed the proper sacraments and rituals that were tradition, but his movements were more passionate during this particular work.

 

 

After a while the priest had no idea how long he had been kneeling in place praying, the darkened chapel had no windows, and its innards were only somewhat illuminated by the crackling fire in the corner.

 

Despite the tenebrous conditions however he felt completely at home on his knees In the dark void like chapel.

 

But three kowtows and several “Hail the Lord” prayers later he was finally ready to begin.  As his long and lanky figure slowly rose from his knees, the priest groaned lowly as he felt his body’s joints and bones protest against the simple movement.

 

“Lord give me the strength to complete your will” he whispered as he stood to his full 6’1 height .

 

Walking with long and confident strides he soon neared the brazier like fireplace and grabbed a nearby fire poker before jamming it’s point into the flames.

 

As he slowly rotated the increasingly reddening poker, he spoke another Lord’s prayer over the tool as was customary before wrapping it’s hilt in his personal rosary.

 

“Are you ready to talk now?” he seemed to question to no one in particular before walking towards a darkened corner of the room.

 

At that moment the sound of desperate whimpers and muffled sobs began to echo from the inconspicuous corner.

 

It was thanks only to the soft glow of the fire poker that the contents of the corner could now barely be seen. The soft orange glow the poker gave off revealed the pale and shackled form of a young guard complete in his bloodied uniform regalia.

 

Fear was apparent in his eyes, and he was drenched head to toe in a cold sweat.

 

All four of his limbs were enchained in sterling silver and tied to the wooden table beneath him, while a dirt and bloodstained rag was stuffed in his mouth as a gag.

 

Be that as it may the young guard still struggled against his restraints with all his might even attempting to voice his pleas despite the gag blocking most of his words, but all of this was to no avail.

 

The priest had found the young boy several  days ago and not once during that time was he even allowed the freedom to relieve himself.  The priest just couldn’t risk it.

 

“Oi! Did you hear me? I said are you ready to talk now?” the priest repeated with a chilling smile on his face, “ I certainly don’t have all day son, my escort chevalier will be here any moment so let’s get this show on the road hehe. Tell me everything you know about the creature!”

 

Suddenly while the priest shouted out his demands he roughly snatched the dirty gag out from the parched and chapped mouth of the young guard.

 

“I-I know nothing Father I swear it! E-everything just happened so fast, please j-just let me go!” the poor guard managed to wheeze out

 

The priest only shook his head in reply. He’d heard these same excuses from the guard several days ago and he’d had his fill of it. He was going to get the answers he needed, no matter if he had to extract them himself.

 

“You don’t know anything huh? Hehehe the Rod of God will see about that boy…”

 

At that moment, and with no warning the priest suddenly raised the blazing hot poker In his right hand before bringing it back down with cold finality upon one of two small circular puncture wounds on the young guard’s neck.

 

With a guttural yell and deep arch of his back the young guard visibly recoiled from the stinging pain brought upon  his neck.

 

The silver chains around his ankles and wrists dug deeper into his skin, leaving ugly crimson welts as his body struggled and bucked against the iron clad restraints. He had no idea why a man of God would be doing this to him and began to wonder was this truly a nightmare? And if so, how could he wake up from it?

 

“Oh no, no, no this isn’t a nightmare” chuckled the priest darkly, almost as if he’d heard the young man’s thoughts, “this is your salvation, you really should be thanking me!”

 

With an abrupt flourish, the priest once again brought the blazing rod back down upon the wound, this time leaving it there for a moment longer as the skin on the young man’s neck sizzled and cooked around the metal.

 

After several more moments of pained yells and howls the young guard finally quieted down from exhaustion. His neck now had an ugly welted scar where one of the circular wounds once was, but this fact didn’t bring him any relief at all. He knew this wasn’t the end of his ordeal.

 

But seeing that the boy had finally regained some composure the priest fired his next round of questions, “Those two marks on your neck only expose you boy! I know you cavorted with that hellish creature!” he all but screamed as spittle flew from his mouth, “Why else would you still be alive after all of your cohorts were slaughtered?! You must have given their lives in exchange for your own or perhaps to become a monster yourself. Tell me, where is the creature? What’s its name? What human form is it masquerading as? You will tell me!”

 

The sudden rapid-fire questions took the young man completely off guard.

 

He’d long understood what the priest wanted from him; however he simply did not have the answers to what  he wanted to know.

 

 Who or whatever attacked and robbed him and his fellow guards was like nothing he’d experienced before. Even with his background as a mage, he had no idea what it was, let alone it’s name.

 

 At first glance it appeared human but the way it moved and the power it held was completely inhuman. He’d only barely gotten a good look at it and probably would’ve been dead if it wasn’t for the priest stumbling upon him while he laid dying.

 

“Now tell me everything… from the beginning” the priest commanded

 

Fresh hot and salty tears spilled from the young man’s eyes like waterfalls as he once again recounted the events from that night to the best of his recollection.

 

His memories from that night seemed unreal to him , this was true even more so now as he relived and conveyed them. The fangs, the blood, the screams from his friends- they all seemed like something from a nightmare rather than real life.

 

And the beauty…

 

Try as he might, he’d never be able to forget that beautiful face and long darker than night hair. He wondered how could someon- no something so devastatingly beautiful be so malevolent?

 

“That woman… she was a high rank magic beast right?” he whispered as he finished recounting the experience, “T-that’s why you’re after her a-and why you’re doing this to me… right? Please let me go, I’ve told you everything I know. I swear it! I-If you let me go, I promise I won’t tell a soul I-I can make you rich! My master is Baron Waldorf! He can surely pay you any price you want for my safe return, just name it!”

 

The priest paused for a moment as if in quiet contemplation.

 

He had not expected this guard to be under the service of a noble. Perhaps if he really did have some desire for fortune, he could ransom this fellow. And even though the church was under the control of the king, they didn’t necessarily have to fear reproach from the nobles, so in truth he could treat this young man as anyone else.

 

“What did you say she looked like again? And where did she go?” Dismissing his thoughts, the priest responded with questions of his own, “Answer me and I’ll let you go!”

 

“H-Her face was as fresh as jade! So beautiful- her hair! Her hair was long and raven colored. T-that’s all I remember-Oh! Wait! Also, I think she went to Port Blackwood! Right before I lost consciousness, I saw her teleport In that direction.”

 

“Port Blackwood you say? Do you swear of it?”

 

At the conclusion of the young guard’s confession, the priest only smiled grimly as he looked down at the dimming fire poker in his hands.

 

“C-Can you let me go now?! Like you promised”

 

“Oh yes! Of course,” the priest said with an astonished expression while he reached over the boy, “I prayed our God has mercy on your soul, thank you for your service”

 

“W-Wha-“

 

Whoosh!

 

In the blink of an eye, the priest jammed the iron poker through the other pinprick like mark on the young guard’s neck with a bone chilling squelch.

 

The brutal priest had put his full weight into it, pushing the poker out of the other side of the young guard’s neck like a knife through butter.

 

Almost immediately thick and crimson colored blood began to seep from the wound that had clearly gone through the jugular and pooled around the young man’s head like a bloody halo.

 

“Sleep now child”  was all the priest said as he closed the lifeless eyes of the young man with a rough swipe, “Rest assured you won’t turn into a monster. Now… I should get ready to meet my knight escort! Wouldn’t want to be late to Port Blackwood now would I…”

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