A Dream...    

This is a dream.   

The same old dream of the same old scenes that haunts my nights.   

She is there with me. We are laughing together.    

But then she begins to change.   

Her skin starts to rot away.  Bit by bit.  

Until her life ends.   

The illness is a curse from the Devil, they say.   

And the Devil has taken away her soul.   

There was nothing I can do to save her...   

But every time in this dream when I turn around.    

The face of her rotten corpse will meet my eyes.    

And it always says to me.   

Take me back...  

...   

“Father?”   

The old man woke up from his slumber to the small voice of a child, his daughter.    

“Yes... what is it? Child?”   

He answered as he looked around. The small hut they lived together in barely had anything of note in it aside from the random materials, all piled up on the shabby handmade desk the old man was sleeping by.   

“The food supplies are running low, father. I think we should go to the beach and look for anything that we can cook.”   

"I see... then that’s good. You should go do that, Child.”   

The old man said to her without any energy in his voice. His figure looked thin and bony with an overgrown beard and long messy hair, made worse by the fact that he hasn’t eaten much in the last few months and has sleep even less.    

“You should eat more father. At this rate, you wouldn’t survive.”   

The daughter said worriedly, her eyes filled with love and gentleness.  

“I will be fine... child. We will leave this place soon enough.”   

The old man then turned to look at the materials on his desk and continued to study them intently, completely ignoring his daughter’s concern.   

“I believe you... father.”   

The daughter peeked at the back of the old man from the door before leaving, but the old man did not look back at her.  She closed the door behind and start walking toward the beach.   

As the sunrise from the distant horizon, the now familiar view of the vast blue ocean is reflected in her eyes.   

Six weeks now...   

Six weeks they have been stranded here on this island that has nothing on it.   

The daughter and the old man were traveling by boat to the north when they’re met with an unforeseen raging storm in the middle of the sea.   

Their ship wrecked, and they were only barely able survived from the unfortunate incident because the old man had used his sorcery to help them find the nearest land.   

And now they’re living here alone; on a deserted island far away from civilization.    

But the daughter still has faith in the old man, she believed that he will somehow find a way to get them off this place in one piece.   

Eventually...   

But now she has to be patient and wait for the old man to finish his work. She had to stay put and continued to survive out here.  

Soon enough, she reached the beach. The pure white sands and emerald blue waves crashing the shoreline, the scene of nature could almost be described as beautiful if not for the scary sharp rocks sticking out of the water surface a little away.  

The daughter began to look around for anything that has washed up on the beach, picking up seashells and rocks, trying to find anything at all that they could use.  

She walked along the shoreline until noon without managing to find anything to show for her effort.  

She sighed and thought to herself that today as well she has failed to be of any use to her father.  

As she was about to walk back to the hut after searching around the shoreline of the whole island, she noticed something among the sharp rocks in the distant.  

A shipwrecked!   

The wooden ship that came ashore was already falling apart, there are several holes in the hulls and the sails were completely missing, there also didn't seem to be anybody inside. But judging from the relatively large size of the ship, the daughter thought there might be some supplies left on it.   

She quickly made her way to it and found a way to get inside, but after she has taken a look around the inside of the wrecked, she was only met with disappointment.  

The ship was thoroughly abandoned with nothing inside the rooms. There were no supplies on the deck, there was nothing in the cargo, and there was nothing on the crow’s nest.  By the end, she began to wonder how the ship even got out at sea seeing that there’s completely no signs that anyone had ever been onboard.

But then a creaking sound rang out from behind her.  

When she started to look around for the source of that sound, she realized that the ship is beginning to fall apart.  

In her panic, she quickly ran out of the captain’s quarter she was in, only for one of her foot to broke through the wooden floor of the ship and get stuck in it.  

She tried to yank out her foot but unfortunately, her forceful actions seemed to only speed up the breaking of the ship. The creaking sounds grew louder and louder and she knew she needed to hurry and get out! She took a deep breath then mustered up all the strength in her body to pull out her foot!

She succeeded in getting her foot unstuck but she was still too late! For when she managed to break free and look up, a falling plank of wood was right on top of her! 

And that was the only thing she could see with her eyes before her vision fell into complete darkness.  

...  

“So, are you finally awake?”  

An unfamiliar voice caused the daughter to wake up.  

She recalled what happened before she passed out. The strange shipwrecked, the broken wooden floor and the falling plank.  

As she slowly came to understand her situation her eyes landed on a figure sitting a little away from her. The one that was the source of the voice that pulled her back from her unconsciousness.  

“You don’t have to be afraid of me, I can guarantee you that I'm... uh, mostly harmless.”  

Before the stranger could even finish, the daughter has already moved to the nearby tree, peaking at the stranger from behind it.  

The stranger was an odd-looking man, he has short white-haired and wore plain clothes. But his neat and clean look created far too great of a juxtaposition to anything else the daughter had seen on the island to not find him out of place.  

“W-who, are you?”  

The daughter's voice trembled slightly but her curiosity was stronger than her fear, instead of running away, she asked the stranger.  

“Not anyone suspicious if that’s what you’re wondering. My ship crashed landed here on this island and now I’m stranded here too.”  

The stranger’s word made her remember the strangely empty ship.  

“That ship, it was yours?”  

“Yes, now it’s only just a wrecked though...”  

The daughter also found that her head has been tightly wrapped around in bandages.  

“You don’t have to thank me. I'm just a good person who likes to help others.”  

When she looked back at the stranger, she found that he was smiling brightly. A strange expression for a person who had just realized that he has recently been stranded on a deserted island with no way to get off.   

“Thank you...”  

Despite his peculiarity, the daughter seemed to believe that the stranger is a good person for helping her and decided to trust him.  

“So, you’re stranded here too? Mind sharing your story with me then?” the stranger asked with the same smile on his face.   

The daughter nodded and walk to sit by the stranger’s side. After her wariness for him wore off, she began to recount her past to the stranger.  

…  

I’m stranded here with my father after our ship wrecked in the middle of the sea.   

We’ve been here for Six weeks now...  

We built a small hut by the cliffside a little bit north of here and lived there. Only able to survive this long by relying on the food supplies that were still on the wrecked with a little bit of help from father’s sorcery.   

My father was once a great sorcerer.  

Yes, the greatest in the land. Only rivaled by the Archmagis of old and he was among the most trusted subordinate of the king.  

But then something happened...  

His beloved wife was lost to an illness.  

That was 6 years ago.  

The illness? It was the Devil’s curse.  

The victim would start to slowly lose their sanity and growl like beasts as their skin rot away while they’re still alive.  

The soul has left the body, they said. Without a soul, the body and the mind will not be able to support themselves and the victim’s life will end soon after.  

He was grief ridden by the loss, and that soon led him into a life of isolation.  

No no no, his wife wasn’t my mother.  

I was taken in, waay after all this has happened to him. Father picked me up off the streets and begin to take care of me. He gave me food, clothes, and shelter and saved me from the brink of death like you just did.   

I’m grateful to him; I have faith in him.  

He will eventually get the two of us off this damn island, I'm sure of it.   

Ah! You can come with us too if you like. My father would definitely not abandon you here.  

Because he’s kind and gentle. And while he’s now but an old man he was once very powerful.  

But what about you?  

Who are you?  

How did you get here? When I checked on the ship you said was yours, I only found that it was strangely empty.  

How did you get out at sea like that?  

Do have any extra supplies that you could share with us?  

No? Well, that’s fine...  

For the first time in six weeks, I have a chance to talk to another human being other than my father, so I guess I was expecting too much from you. It's fine... really. It just that I thought you might have something with you considering how clean you look.  

Well, it’s getting late now and the sun is starting to set. I should go back to the hut and find my father.  

You can come with me then I can introduce you to him.  

I'm sure he’ll be delighted to see another person in such a long time.    

Hahaha, you’re very funny. How could he have known that you’re coming to this island? No matter how powerful he was as a sorcerer he couldn’t have predicted the future.  

Everyone knows you, then everyone forgets you?   

You’re saying pretty weird things.  

You’re a very strange man, stranger...  

...  

When the daughter finally led the stranger back to the hut, she found that her father, the old man, was no longer there.   

“He probably went out to collect material for his works in the island. I don’t know what he is doing but he usually comes back in the early morning.”  

The daughter said a little dejectedly as the stranger started to walk around and inspect the hut, appearing to have taken great interest in the materials that were collected on the wooden desk. 

“Interesting... did you father ever told you anything about what he was working on?”  

The daughter was surprised by the unexpected question but she answered honestly anyway.  

“No, I never asked him about it because he never taught me any sorcery. I didn’t have any talent for it, he said.”  

The stranger paused to look around the hut again with a contemplative expression on his face.  

“And your father, has he been working on this for very long?”  

“Yes, ever since we came to this island maybe from the very first day...”  

“Hmm...”  

The stranger picked up the materials on the desk and study them. Eventually, he just jumped up to sit on the desk, much to the panic of the daughter.  

“Don’t do that! He never even allowed me to touch anything on his desk let alone sitting on it!”  

But the stranger simply ignored the daughter’s protest and continued to throw questions at her.  

“This old man, what was he like before coming to this island? Did he have any friends? Close associates, that he interacted with?”  

“No, we lived in seclusion. A little outside of the town...”  

“But then what does he do for a living?  What are his daily routines? Is there something he usually does that were out of the ordinary?”  

The daughter was about to say ‘No’ but then something that has always been bothering her about the old man came to her mind.  

“Well, sometimes... he goes out and doesn’t return for weeks. But that’s was probably just something he does for work. Though I don’t know what his work is exactly.”  

“How many weeks does he usually gone that for? And how many times has he done that since he took you in?”  

“He.... he usually goes out every Six months and be gone for Six weeks, he also seems to be doing it since before he took me in. But he never said anything about it to me at all.”  

“And you don’t find that strange?”  

“It probably a coincidence.... is it not? It has to be...”  

“Sigh...”  

The stranger got off the wooden desk he was sitting on and throw something that looked like a black glass orb he took from among all the materials at the daughter, who awkwardly caught it with her hands.   

“You said that your father was once a great sorcerer, correct? Then there is something strange about your story. Tell me this, how did your ship even get caught in a storm in the middle of the sea in the first place?”  

“Did you expect him to clear away the storm with his sorcery? That’s ridiculous! He is an old man already so of course, he wouldn’t be as powerful as he once was before!”  

The daughter started to become increasingly frustrated by the stranger’s barrage of questions. But the stranger wasn’t yet satisfied. 

“A sorcerer, and by your account a court sorcerer at that. Would have at some point in his career learned a branch of divination. Predicting the future might still be an extremely difficult task but knowing the weather is as simple as a snap of a finger.”  

“Why are you doubting my father? What do you even know about him?!”  

“More than you do, apparently. Take a look at that orb you’re holding carefully. And listen to what they say.”  

The daughter was confused by the stranger’s words but she still did as she was told and hold the black orb to inspect it closely. The orb showed a reflection of her face on its surface.  

Nothing happened at first, but then...  

“Take me back!” 

The daughter jolted in surprise, dropping the black orb from her hands only for it to be caught by the stranger before hitting the ground.  

“Be careful with that, you don’t want to torment them more than the old man already has.”  

“W-what do you mean by that?”  

Instead of answering the panicking daughter’s question. The stranger simply put the black orb in front of her face.  

“If you listen carefully; then you can hear them scream.”  

The black orb flickered with a dim ethereal light. And then she heard it.  

“TAKE ME BACK!!! I DON’T WANT TO BE HERE! PLEASE TAKE ME BACK!!!”  

“...!”  

The daughter jerked back, almost stumbled to the floor as the horrifying screech rang out from the black orb. The cries of despair and the sounds of tortured spirits were heard from the glass ball.  

She covered both her ears, refusing to listen to any more of the terrible scream. And with a paled, horrified face she asked the stranger.  

“What is that thing?!”  

The daughter’s voice trembled in fear, the stranger simply looked at her with a calm expression on his face. As if the strangeness of the ongoing situation doesn’t concern him at all.  

He took the black orb back and placed it on the wooden desk before saying to the trembling and scared daughter.   

“Have you heard of the tale of the Crying Man? It's one of those old stories that elders use to scare children with whenever they’re causing trouble. In the story, the Crying man’s voice of despair calls forth a monster from the abyss and the Crying man's sadness was taken away from him. But it wasn’t all well, for he was then unable to feel pain or sorrow ever again. It was supposed to be a tale to scare the children who cry loudly at night.”  

“How does that have anything to do with this?”  

“It does have everything to do with it. You just have to consider what it means.”  

“And what does it mean?”  

“It means that your father, the old man, is trying to kill you.”  

“Huh...!?”  

The daughter’s shocked voice came out of her mouth as she looked at the stranger in disbelief.  

“There’s another interpretation for the story of the Crying Man. One where it was thought that monster from the abyss, was the Devil himself.”  

The corner of the stranger’s lips curled up into a smile.  

“If you think about it from that perspective, the story becomes like this. The Crying Man’s cries of suffering summons the Devil from the abyss. And the Devil granted him a wish that he has to pay the equivalent price for.”  

The stranger’s smile sent chills down the daughter's spine. She found it incredibly unsettling.  

“It seems you still haven’t gotten it yet. Well, let me provide you with a little more context. There’s a belief that the sounds of tormented souls could be used as a part of a summoning ritual that would call forth a being from the abyss. But that belief doesn’t have anything to do with the practice of sorcery.”  

The stranger picked the black orb once again and look at the dim ethereal light that glowed in the reflection.    

“No, this is not sorcery. This, is Necromancy. Your old man has been practicing the art of soul manipulation. And judging from this, he has been doing it for a while now.”  

“That’s... impossible.”  

“But can’t you hear them scream? Just think about how many souls he has trapped inside this thing. All of them that keep saying TAKE ME BACK! It is a part of the ritual the capture the tormented souls when their owners are at the absolute peak of despair.”  

The stranger walked slowly toward the daughter as he continued to say, the daughter unconsciously took a step back from him.  

“That’s how you’ve got yourself stranded on this island. It was the old man’s doing. He takes unsuspecting children like you and set you up for a stage play of false tragedy. He intentionally wrecked the ship as he leads you to this place. Then he will wait and watch as you slowly starve, as you slowly begin to lose hope. And when you cry out in the peak of despair, he will come to take your soul and trap it inside that thing. Just like what he did before to all the others.”  

When the daughter realized that she had backed away to the wall of the hut, the stranger was right in front of her.  

“Think about it. Why did the old man take you in?”  

In the daughter’s mind flashed the kind, smiling face of her father.  

“Why did he have to leave you? Every 6 months, for 6 weeks, in the last 6 years? Isn't it obvious what he’s trying to do?”   

Then the face in her mind began to distort. Eventually, his face was turned into that of a terrifying demon.  

“NO, YOU’RE LYING!”  

The daughter screamed. She can’t accept what the stranger had said no matter what. The old man was her benefactor, her savior. She had absolute faith in him for having saved her from the cold and lonely streets.  

“THERE’S NO WAY THAT’S TRUE!”  

The stranger backed away this time.  

“Well, your strong faith in him was the reason you have survived for this long. So, I didn’t expect you to believe me that easily.”  

The stranger then walked to the door of the hut once again.   

“There is a storm cloud gathering outside so I’m going to have a look around the island. The old man would come back at dawn, correct? Then you should be safe to stay here until then. Oh, and if you meet him again, just stay calm and pretend like you don’t know anything. That usually works. Remember that he wouldn’t kill you if you don’t reach the peak of despair...”  

As the stranger’s voice slowly faded away into the distance the daughter chased after him outside the hut only to find no trace of the stranger anywhere, he had completely disappeared from the area as if was never there.  

…  

“It has to be a lie...”  

Sure enough, just like the stranger had predicted the outside began to rain and the rain soon turned into a raging storm.  

As the sounds of thunders and lightning came down from the sky. The daughter found herself curling up in a corner of the hut, using a piece of rag the cover her trembling body.  

“There’s no way...”  

The sun had already set, the stranger was nowhere to be seen and the daughter was all alone, muttering to herself in the dark.   

Should she trust what the stranger said?   

If they were true then what would happen to her?   

All sort of thoughts filled the stream of her consciousness and along with them, torrents of conflicting emotions attack her psyche.  Fear, anxiety, and anger raged in her mind as strongly as the outside storm.   

She remembered the days when something like this was common. Hustling up against the alley’s wall as the cold of the night and rain descend upon her. She somehow felt as if she was back to her past, to the cold and lonely streets that were once her home.  

Maybe this was enough?   

Perhaps the life that was saved by the old man was never really all that important in the first place, and maybe it's time for her to pay back the old man kindness however true it had been.  

If only there was a way to determine the old man’s intent. 

The daughter turned to look at the black orb on the desk. To her relief, she can’t hear the screams coming from it anymore.

But the daughter’s relief didn’t last for very long, because she then heard sounds of footsteps among the falling raindrops from outside the hut.  

Soon, a figure revealed himself walking through the door.  

“Why do you look so scared? Child?”  

It was the old man. He asked her with a kind smile on his face.  

“Ah... it was nothing, father. The rain outside simply made it too cold.”  

The daughter responded weakly, the old man nodded then walked to sit on his usual desk.  

“The rainstorm outside is quite strong. So, I decided that I should put back my work for today.”  

Fears encroached on the daughter’s heart once again while various thoughts raced through her mind.  

Should she pretend to not know anything until the very end?  

Or should she just outright question him for the truth?  

In the end, she couldn’t bring herself to lie to the old man. She decided to tell him about the stranger.  

“Father, today I found another shipwreck on this island. And another survivor, just like us.”  

But the old man’s reaction to her words wasn’t anything like she had expected. It wasn’t delight or anxiousness. The old man simply paused-  

“So, he is here... at last.”  

-And muttered while turning to look at the daughter with a gaze as blank and as pitiless as a corpse.  

“...!”  

The daughter shuddered at the cold gaze.  

“So, you can see him... and you can remember him. “  

The old man stood up from his chair and walked toward the daughter.  

“Child, call him out, for me.”  

“I don’t know where he went! He said he would have a look around the Island and left... and he also said strange things about you, father. He said that you’re a necromancer. And that you lured me here to torment me and trap my soul.”  

“So, he knows this too?”  

“That can’t true, right? He was lying to me, right? Father?”  

“I’m sorry, child.”  

The old man only apologized and said nothing else.  

“But why, father...?”  

As the truth was becoming clearer in front of her, the daughter could only accept it.   

“The Devil has taken her away from me... and to take her back I have to become the Devil. I've gone too far down this path, child. The only way for me now is to finish it.”  

“So, you will take my soul as well? Father?”  

“I’m sorry, child.”  

The daughter took a deep breath and many thoughts passed through her mind. Her times in the streets, her rescue from it, her memories with the old man, everything that happened in her life.  

“Then take it, father.”  

The daughter looked at the old man and said with resolution. Her life was never worth anything. If giving with it up would mean someone’s else happiness, then she would do it.  

“My life was yours ever since that day. I was happy for the times I spent with you, as your daughter. I believe It was more than I deserved.”  

Her face was full of determination, and before the old man could say something in return.  

“You shouldn’t give up so easily. It doesn’t work like that.”  

A voice that came from behind her. Then a black orb flew past her head!  

The old man simply raised his hand to stop the flying orb in mid-air before it hit him. And the daughter felt her hand being held by someone.  

It was the stranger!  

“Run.”  

He simply said to the daughter and pulled her to swiftly run passed the old man, through the door and into the outside rain.  

...  

The storm continued to rage on, turning the tin soil into mud and puddle.  

“Let me go!”  

The wet and soaked daughter said to the equally wet and soaked stranger who was leading her by the hand through the rain.  

“I said-”  

“No!”  

The stranger simply cut her off, then turned to look at the daughter with furious eyes.  

“Every single freaking time I see you people doing things like that it irritates me to death. Throwing your life away like it was nothing. Treating it as if it doesn’t have any worth.”  

The rain continued to fall on them.  

“But my life... Isn’t really any worth.”  

“YES! I know! That's why it irritates me so much! Instead of trying to change that worthless life of yours into something, you just gave up without even trying to fight.”  

The daughter looked away from the stranger’s gaze in shame.  

“But the old man is trying to bring his wife back. And he needs me.”  

“But YOU don’t actually know that, do you?”  

The daughter's eyes widened in surprise.  

“But you said-”  

“Yeah, yeah, I did say that. But don’t you see that there’s another obvious problem. That summoning thing he was doing. It’s not like it would actually work. And by giving away your life the only thing you would accomplish is fueling his madness.”  

“And how do you know that...?”  

“Because knowing things is my job. The old man has taken too many lives for nothing and will continue to do so if someone doesn’t stop him. I know you think that you owe him something for saving your life, but he owes so many other lives so much more and the price of that has to be paid first. I want you to understand that.”  

“GRAAHAAA!!!”  

The two of them were interrupted by the growling noise that came from behind them and as they look back, they saw a terrifying rotten figure walking toward them.  

“...!”  

“It’s an Undead, I believe he sent them after you to take you back. And to scare you.”  

But soon they realized that there weren’t just one. As many more Undeads began to appear in their view.  

““GRAAHAAA!!!””

“Hi, hello to you too. I think they’re sending me a greeting, what do you think?”  

“We’re surrounded, I think we should run.”  

The daughter was quite terrified of the walking corpses. While the stranger just acted like it was another Tuesday.  

“Well, they won’t attack me anyway so you only have to worry about yourself. Now, stop asking questions and do “Exactly” as I tell you.”  

“Huh? Got it...”  

The daughter had more questions but she knew this wasn't a good time to ask them. Without wasting any more time, the stranger gave accurate instruction to the daughter and guide her.  

“Move to the right by 6 o’clock then twists your ankle to your left”  

As the daughter followed his words without thinking, she dodged an attack of a charging Undead.   

“Now run to the nearby tree and kick on it with all your strength”  

The daughter did, a thick broken branch from the tree fell on top of one of another Undead, knocking it down to the ground. After a few more guidance from the stranger, the daughter managed to make a path out of the encirclement and ran away.  

...   

A while later...  

“Ha, Haa, where is this place?”  

Panting, the daughter asked the stranger about their current location as she appeared to have reached the cliff and the storming ocean came to view.  

“Exactly where I want you to be, Child.”  

But the response she got wasn’t from the stranger but from a familiar voice of the old man.  

The daughter was shocked, she had simply followed the stranger instruction and was led here.  Why did the stranger lead her here? A question flashed in her mind  

“So, where is he then? Call him out, child.”  

But as she turned to look at the old man, she saw that the stranger was right next to him. Yet the old man seems to not be able to notice the stranger.  

“He is here, is he not? COME OUT! I OFFERED YOU SACRIFICES! HEED MY CALLING AND COME OUT!”  

“Yeah, this old man is definitely too far gone. he has to be stopped.”  

The stranger said, but the old man still didn’t react to his word. Almost as if he was unable to hear the stranger. The daughter was confused by this.  

“Can’t you see him? He is right next to you, father?”  

The old man looked around but still can't seem to notice the stranger’s presence.  

“There is no one...! Could it be!?”  

The old man exclaimed in surprise before looking at the daughter with wide eyes. 

“No, no, no, no, this can’t be happening. This can’t be. Why? WHY!?”  

The old man’s expression turned into that of intense rage as he stomped toward the daughter.  

“I’ve done everything! And I have prepared all of this! ONLY FOR HIM TO CHOOSE YOU!?”  

The old man charged at the daughter who was too frightened to even think. But then the stranger's voice resounded in her ears.  

“Moved away to the right.”  

The daughter reflectively did as she was told and dodged the old man’s charge. The old man missed her and almost went off the cliff. But before the old man could properly recover, the stranger appeared and grabbed him by the shoulders.  

“Why... Can’t I move?”  

“The weight of your sins is pinning you down, old man. Time to pay up.”  

The stranger said with a smile while pulling the old man closer and closer to the edge of the cliff.  And then the stranger jumped off, taking the old man with him.  

“ARGHHHHHH!”  

“FATHER!”  

The daughter quickly went to the cliff's edge but the old man and the stranger were gone. Swallowed by the crashing waves and sharp rocks at the bottom of the cliff.  

...  

A dream...  

This is the same dream of the same old scenes.  

But this will probably be the last time.  

I’m sorry I can’t take you back.  

“It was never possible in the first place. Not with the way you decided to do it.”  

That voice. It's you.  

I remember now. You were there with us. We were laughing together.  

You could have saved her, back then.  

“It would have been meaningless, you wouldn’t understand.”  

Her life might have been meaningless to you. But to me. She meant everything.  

Why didn’t you choose me?  

Why didn’t you come out, in the end?   

Why didn’t you grant my wish?  

“Simply because there is an equivalent price to be paid for everything. So, I will make sure to grant your wish. Next time.”  

Next time?  

Hahaha, I see... Is that how it is?  

Next time.  

Okay.  

I will wait. For next time.  

...  

Dawn came to the island, and the storm cleared away...  

The daughter now sat alone by the beach staring into the distant horizon.  

“What should I do now?”  She muttered to herself, realizing once again that she was now alone. The old man was gone and the stranger had also disappeared as well.  

“I’m still here, you know?”  

The daughter turned to look behind her to find the stranger standing there unscathed.  

"Does that mean...?"

“I’m sorry to disappoint you, but the old man is dead. He has paid his price. And if there’s any saving grace, next time will probably turn out better for him. I’ve also free the souls he trapped inside that orb.” 

The daughter looked down in sadness. She knew that what the old man did was unforgivable but somewhere inside she still wished to forgive him.   

As for the stranger’s appearance and peculiarity, she concluded that it was because he wasn’t a normal human. If he even was human.  

“So, what should I do now?” The daughter asked again.   

“With my help, you could be off this island by today’s evening...”  

“And then what? Go back to live on the streets?”  

No words were spoken for a while after that. Eventually, the stranger spoke up with a sigh.  

“This isn’t even in my job’s description... but I supposed I couldn’t just kill your father and then disappear, could I?”  

“I would prefer if you don’t.”  

The daughter stated flatly while the stranger showed a look of being troubled for the first time.  

“I guess I could stay with you and help guide you.”  

“...For how long?”  

“Until the day you die?”  

They both looked at each other in silence.  

“And you would do anything I want you to?” The daughter asked curiously.  

“To a certain extent, yes I would.” The stranger answered her.  

“If I do something to piss you off, would you take away my soul?”  

The daughter asked and the stranger gave her a strange look.  

“As if I could do that in the first place.”  

“So, you won’t?”  

“No, I won’t.”  

The stranger sat down next to the daughter, then they both looked at the rising sun.  

“Then I think we’ve made a deal.”