Indeed, it’s obvious in hindsight that people were much happier prior to the global economy taking over our lives. Up until very recently, the vast majority of Americans were self-employed, with jobs that provided a vital service to the community. If they weren’t farming or hunting, the average citizen worked a trade, such as shoemaking or blacksmithing, that his larger community depended on. Every citizen had a purpose and found self-actualization in fulfilling that purpose.

Today, most jobs are busywork to keep people occupied, so citizens don’t start bulldozing federal buildings out of sheer boredom. Our food is grown in out-of-state factory farms, and our clothing is manufactured in Chinese sweat shops. Most of the jobs that haven’t been outsourced are easily expendable, and the few that aren’t (i.e., the STEM fields) require a level of intelligence that your average citizen doesn’t have.

Self-employment is next to impossible, as mega-corporations already meet our every necessity. Therefore, the only self-employment opportunities left are for producing luxury items, which have a much higher market risk. One could forgo all leisure time for years on end and still not see success with an independent business venture. The only surefire business opportunities are in farming illegal drugs in your basement and drawing pornographic commission artwork, neither of which would satisfy the power process for most normal people. Assuming we return to the neoliberal status quo in the coming months, it’s likely that both of those sectors of the economy will eventually be taken over by multinational corporations.

How did we go from a society of farmers and tradesmen to a society of government bureaucrats and grocery baggers so quickly? Well, it all started with an event known as the industrial revolution, which was a disaster for the human race. When the textile mills first opened, they first employed young women, taking them out of the home, away from their families, into dark and depressing factories. Working conditions were terrible, pay was lousy, and the easily replaceable nature of workers meant that any worker strikes were doomed to failure. Over time, the factories put many of the tradesmen out of business. Now instead of paying your local shoemaker to craft footwear by hand, you can pay thirty bucks for a pair of sneakers that will fall apart in less than a year.

The idea that industrial manufacturing and free trade drives down prices is shown to be nonsense when you consider how disposable everything is now. In the days of tradesmen, you could have your shoes repaired by the shoemaker who sold them to you, whereas today you just throw them in the dumpster and buy a new pair. The advent of planned obsolescence and Digital Rights Management (DRM) have only accelerated the hyper-consumer process, as it’s now illegal to repair items which you purchased with your own money.

Eventually, the factories went overseas, because of the principle of free trade. Obviously, for most parts of the world, it’s cheaper and easier to import bananas than attempt to grow them locally. Neoliberal economists extrapolated this principle to all sectors of the economy, and corporations decided that it was somehow more efficient to waste gasoline on shipping in clothing imports from China, rather than manufacture them locally. As if the silk manufactured in Constantinople wasn’t just as good as the stuff they previously imported from China. Regardless, this means that factory jobs went overseas, without the tradesmen occupations returning. Our basic needs are all met by imports from foreign countries, one of which is a currency manipulator. Meanwhile our need to fulfill the power process goes unsatisfied.

Speaking of currency, the value of the US Dollar has been nothing but smoke and mirrors since FDR took us off the gold standard. The USD gets its value from investors in other countries (mainly China) buying dollars from us. Anyone with a sense of foresight can see that this can’t go on, especially with everyone blaming China for the global pandemic.

The solution to our current predicament should be obvious to anyone who’s read about life prior to the global neoliberal order. We must restore the society of farmers and tradesmen that America was founded on. You can’t catch the Wu Flu while working if your job involves growing corn or smithing tools ten feet from your own house.

Government leaders with any sense would help ease the transition by distributing government owned land to citizens who don’t own property and teaching them how to use it productively. Since our leaders probably don’t have any sense, the transition is going to be much rockier. Unless a miracle cure comes along soon, we’ll likely undergo such a transition whether we want it or not, so it’s best to prepare.

We must begin making necessary items locally as soon as possible. Planting season is almost upon is, so land-owners should prepare the ground for farming once the warm weather starts. Farmers market produce will likely see a higher demand as federal supply chains break down. Manufacturing new tools will also be important, as tools made in factories are often more prone to wearing out. You can assume that any devices with the word “smart” in the title will be unusable before the end of the year, so those will need locally made replacements. There is a great incentive to begin local manufacturing of necessary items as soon as possible, as whoever gets in early is likely to come out of this rather wealthy.

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On the left is a man who believes in the eternal life of the soul, and that his actions as a ruler in this life will determine the fate of his soul after death. If he is a just and virtuous ruler, he believes that he will be rewarded, and if he is a selfish tyrant, he will face eternal punishment. He understands that it was but an act of luck or fate that placed him in his position, which humbles him. He knows that he has a duty toward those under his rule, to see that they live in a just and virtuous society, and possibly that most or all of them will meet again in the afterlife as well.

And on the right is a man who believes in the eternal nothingness after death. He believes that, if there is a soul, it simply dies with the body, regardless of his actions in this world and how he treats the citizens of his state. Because of this, he also believes that the purpose of life is to experience as much pleasure as possible. He views his position in government as one which he earned himself, that he got where he is by working harder than anyone else in the state, which therefore makes him superior to those who don’t hold government office. He bases the value of his citizens on what they can do to benefit him, though he also believes that his citizens could be as happy as he is, if only they worked harder.

Which of these two do you think would make the better ruler?

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“How do you expect me to travel to the planet Saturn?” Joseph asked. “Wouldn’t this task be better suited to someone skilled with spell-casting, someone who can teleport through vast distances of space?”

The man behind the counter sighed. “Joseph, we’ve tried sending wizards to fight Amato, but he’s too resistant to magic. We need someone who can defeat him with a bladed weapon.”

“But how am I supposed to get there? Are you going to summon a whirlwind to transport me, or do I have to grow a pair of wings and fly there myself?”

“Of course not, Joseph. We’ve got a wizard who’ll take you. Don’t worry about it.”

“Okay, if you say so.” Joseph turned to leave the building.

“By the way, there’s something I must warn you of before you go.”

Joseph glanced back. “Oh?”

“The wizard is your return trip home, so make sure nothing happens to him.”

Joseph stared at him for a time before speaking. “I’ll protect him.” Then he left the building.

Outside, Silver, his friend and wolf companion, lifted his head. He leaped off the bench and sprinted over to Joseph. “How did it go?” Silver asked. “Did you get a good assignment, so we can go wild a little?”

“I did, but…”

“But? But what? Is something wrong?”

“Well, the job is a little dangerous, and we’ll have to travel a very long distance.”

“Surely this job will pay us a lot if we have to travel so far. Where’s our next task located?”

“The planet Saturn.”

Silver’s ears drooped. “Saturn?”

“Yes, we’re going to fight the demon lord Amato. It says here that he’s been terrorizing various cities all across the country with his magic powers. He creates plagues that weaken the menfolk and turn their wives infertile, and he sends fragments of Saturn’s rings to destroy buildings.”

“Okay, that’s all well and good, but how are we supposed to get to him, if you don’t mind my asking?”

“Tomorrow we’re meeting a wizard who will take us there. He can’t help us fight Amato, but he can at least watch.”

“And I suppose I’ll have to travel with both of you. At that distance, I’d revert back to the state of a wild animal if we were separated. I wouldn’t even be able to speak.”

“Yes, of course. I’m sure the transport will have enough room to carry you as well.”

“There is one more problem, Joseph. What are we going to do about Ruth?”

“I don’t know, Silver. I just don’t know…”

Joseph found Ruth still in her nightgown when he and Silver arrived back at the inn. He couldn’t help but stare at her as she sat by the window, reading through the pages of a leather-bound book, the light blue nightgown like a cloud around her. Ruth’s orange hair seemed to glow in the sunlight as it tickled her shoulders.

As Joseph admired her, Silver bolted into the room and jumped into her lap. Ruth gasped, then found a smile on her face. She turned to see Joseph standing in the doorway.

Silver slipped off as she stood and walked over to Joseph. She smiled up at him when she got near, but Joseph pressed his lips together. His mind ran over how he could tell her his trip to Saturn and how to say goodbye, possibly forever.

Before he could say anything, she stood on her tiptoes and kissed him. His mind went blank for the moment as their lips touched, and when she pulled away, he just stared at her. She took his hand and pulled him into the room.

“So where is the slayers guild taking us next?” Ruth asked.

Joseph blinked at her. “Well, I’m going somewhere, but you’re going to stay until I return.”

“What? But I’ve gone with you on other slayer tasks. Why won’t you take me along this time?”

“Because it’s too dangerous. I don’t want you getting hurt during the trip or while I’m fighting the demon.”

“I can take care of myself well enough, I’ll have you know. What place is so dangerous that I can’t come along?”

“I’m traveling to the planet Saturn. The demon lord Amato lives there, and the guild has assigned me the task of defeating him.”

“S-Saturn? But that’s millions of miles away from our planet Earth. How will you even get there?”

“I am going to see a wizard tomorrow morning who will take me and Silver there.”

“How long will this trip take? Will I ever s-see you again?” Her eyes started to well with tears.

“I don’t think it’ll take too much time. The guild master would’ve said something if he thought I was going to be away a long time, I think.”

“You think!” She folded her arms, frowning, and stepped toward the window.

He walked closer to her. “Oh, Ruth, I’m sure that we’ll see each other again, even if it’s not for a long while.”

“I don’t want to be apart from you, Joseph.”

“And I don’t want to lose you, Ruth. I won’t be able to defeat the demon if I have to keep you safe as well.”

“But I don’t want to lose you either.” She drew near to him, and Joseph wrapped his arms around her, holding her close.

“I’m sure that we’ll see each other again soon. I won’t be gone that long.” As they held each other, Joseph looked down at Silver, who looked back up at him in silence.

That night, Joseph’s mind kept him awake as it ran over his trip that morning. He had spent the previous day enjoying Ruth’s company, talking with her, sharing meals together. Now that it was nighttime, she slept in the adjacent room. Silver lay at the foot of Joseph’s bed sleeping soundly.

In the morning, he would have to say goodbye to Ruth and travel to another planet. He knew that he couldn’t bring her, but how could he bare to be apart from her? What would he do if he weren’t able to return and see her again?

Still, that would be a better fate than watching her die during the fight. Even if he never saw her again, he would be glad that she was still alive and well. And there was always a chance he might see her again in the future.

When he closed his eyes, he opened them a moment later to see that the sun had risen. Time seemed to have gone by in the span of a blink. Silver had already gotten off the bed to look for food.

Joseph sat up and placed his feet on the floor, taking a moment to rouse himself before standing. Then he went into the other room to say good morning to Ruth, but she was still asleep. She lay on her back facing the ceiling, her mouth open a crack for air. He placed a hand on her shoulder and shook it. She groaned and rolled away from him.

“Just a few more minutes,” she said.

“Ruth, I have to leave pretty soon. Don’t you want to see me off?”

Ruth sat up and looked at him, her eyelids still drooped. “Oh, right. You have to leave today. Give me a moment to wake up and I’ll go with you.”

“Okay, let me get you something to eat.” He nodded to her and left the room. In the inn’s dining area, he found Silver sniffing around the tables.

“Silver, haven’t I taught you any table manners? You don’t go begging strangers for handouts. Besides, I have more than enough to keep you fed.”

“I suppose…”

Joseph brought him to the dining counter and ordered three plates of breakfast—a couple dishes of eggs, bacon, and toast and a piece of rare meat for Silver. Neither of them spoke as they waited for the food to cook, just stared off into the crowd of diners. Joseph’s mind returned to the task ahead of him.

A soft crash beside him brought him out of his thoughts, and he looked down to see a plate of red meat. Silver reached up to try and grab it, but Joseph snatched the plate away and held it above his head. The wolf climbed onto Joseph, but he still couldn’t reach his breakfast.

“Come on, Silver, at least wait until we’ve gone back to our room.”

“All right, all right…” Silver dropped back to the floor and went back to their room.

Joseph shook his head, picked up the other two plates, and followed him. “What am I going to do with that wild animal?”

When he arrived, Silver had already leaped onto Ruth’s bed. “Wake up, Ruth. Joseph is here with our breakfast.”

Ruth sat up and yawned, stretching her arms. The morning sunlight brightened her orange hair as it poured into the room. Joseph gazed upon her from the doorway, until Silver ran at him and almost pushed him over.

Frowning, Joseph set the plate of meat onto the floor, where Silver snatched it away. As the beef hung from the wolf’s mouth, juices dripped onto the wooden floor. Joseph considered scolding him again, but decided against it. Someone else would clean up after the animal anyway.

He sat down at the foot of Ruth’s bed and placed their plates between them. Silver wrestled with his plate of beef on the floor. After a while, Joseph looked up from his plate at Ruth.

“I had trouble falling asleep last night,” he said.

“So did I. I was so worried about what might happen to you that I stayed up half the night.”

“I worry about you too. I don’t know what I would ever do if something happened to you. That’s why I need you to stay here where it’s safe.”

“But what if you never come back to me?”

“Then I’ll take comfort in knowing that you’re alive and well here on Earth. I need to be sure that you’re safe so I can concentrate on defeating Amato.”

“I know, but…”

There was a pause. Silver growled as he ate.

“I’ll miss you,” Ruth said.

Joseph’s gaze fell down to the bed sheets. “I’ll miss you as well.” A moment passed, then he clenched a fist and looked up at her. “I’ll do what I can to make my trip short.”

Ruth’s face perked up. “You will?”

“Yes, I promise.”

After they finished eating, Joseph and Silver went to meet the wizard, with Ruth following along to see them off. It wasn’t too far from the inn, so Joseph didn’t worry much about her being able to return safely. They came to a small hut in the forest, and when they approached it, an old man wearing long purple robes stepped outside.

“Greetings, young travelers,” he said. “I’m Cedel. A messenger from the slayer’s guild arrived yesterday and said to take you three to Saturn.”

“Oh, no,” Ruth said. “I’m just here to see you off. I’m not coming along.”

“Ah, I understand.” He turned to Joseph. “Are you ready to go?”

“Just give me a moment to say goodbye,” Joseph said.

The wizard nodded.

Joseph turned back to Ruth, who looked up at him with wet eyes. He hesitated a moment, before taking her hand and holding it. She let out a gasp.

“Goodbye, Ruth. I hope that our time apart isn’t long.”

“I’ll pray for your safe return.”

“I appreciate that.” He sighed. “Stay safe while I’m gone, okay?”

“I will.”

Joseph pulled her in close and kissed her.

“So long, Joseph.”

“I’ll see you when I get back.” Then he turned back to the wizard.

“Try to bring Silver back in one piece too,” Ruth said behind him. “I’d miss him if he didn’t return with you.”

“Aw, how kind,” Silver said.

Joseph glanced back at her. “Sure, I’ll keep an eye on him.”

“Hey, I’ll have you know that I can take perfectly good care of myself, thank you.”

“Sure, sure, that’s why I have to order all your meals for you.”

“Hmph!” Silver ran to join him.

“You’re sure that you’re ready now?” Cedel asked. “It’s a long trip to Saturn, and we won’t be able to return if you forgot something. I don’t have the energy to make two round trips in such a short time, so I’d rather not come back here until after you’ve defeated Amato.”

Joseph pulled up his jacket and fingered the hilt of his sword. “No, I’ve got all that I’ll need right here with me.”

“Good, good.” Cedel clapped his hands together. “Let us be off then.”

He started to chant the words that formed his magical spell, and a warm glow formed around the three of them. Joseph turned back to watch Ruth. She smiled at him and waved. He waved back.

The aura turned into a bubble, and they shot off the ground at the speed of light. The world seemed to vanish, replaced with the stars and darkness all around them. Joseph blinked a couple of times and sighed. Every few moments, a planet came into view, loomed above them for a couple seconds, and then disappeared as they passed it by.

Silver rubbed a paw against Joseph’s leg, and he bent down to pet him. The wolf howled as Joseph scratched under his chin.

“Please keep your familiar quiet, Joseph,” Cedel said. “I still need to concentrate on reaching our destination.”

Joseph let his hand fall. As he rose, he scratched his chin and stared out at the starry space. He tried to find the speck of light that was his home planet, but they were already so far away that it was indistinguishable from the many stars around them.

Still, he continued searching for the planet Earth. But his search was interrupted by a tap on the shoulder. And when he looked back, he saw the iconic rings of Saturn closing in. “We’re here,” Cedel said.

In the blink of an eye, they had landed on a rock orbiting Saturn. Many other stones like it floated around them, racing around the planet. The bubble disappeared, yet Joseph found that he was still able to breathe.

Cedel pulled out a pocket watch and stared down at it. “Sixty-seven seconds. I must be getting slow in my old age.”

“Are you kidding?” Joseph asked. “That was the fastest trip I’ve ever had.”

“Well, we’re not quite there yet. We still have a ways to go to get on the planet itself.” He pointed a finger toward it.

Joseph turned to see the greatness of planet Saturn looming in the distance. He stared at the giant beige orb for some time with his mouth agape, before noticing a chill in his toes. Looking down, he saw that they were standing on a large block of ice. In the distance all around them were similar ice shards of varying sizes. They were standing on Saturn’s rings. Joseph looked around in awe at the many pieces of ice floating around them through space.

Cedel shoved a pair of boots into Joseph’s hands. “Here, put these on. Not only will they keep your feet warm, they’ll also help you reach the planet safely.”

Two sets of feathers poked out of the ankle of the boots, moving on their own as if alive. Joseph sat down on the ice, slipped off his old shoes, and put on the boots. With them on, his feet were nice and warm against the cold ice he stood on. When he looked back to Silver, he saw that Cedel had placed a collar around his neck with similar wings sticking out of it.

He laughed. “That’s an interesting collar, Silver.”

“Those boots you’re wearing aren’t much better.”

“True.”

Cedel grunted. “Enough of this. Let’s move before Amato notices our approach.”

Then Cedel leaped from the block of ice toward the planet. Joseph and Silver shared a look, before following the wizard. As they flew through space the planet seemed to get larger and larger. Soon, it became impossible to view the entire thing with a single glance. He realized that Saturn’s size easily dwarfed that of his home planet Earth. Joseph aimed his feet toward the base of the orb when he drew close, though he was surprised to find his limbs pass through it.

The planet swallowed him, covered him in a haze of beige fog. He couldn’t see more than a few feet ahead. He looked around for Silver, then called out to him. A howl returned the call, so Joseph drifted toward the sound. He reached out his arms and grabbed Silver, holding him close.

“Joseph, I can’t see!”

“Neither can I, Silver. I think we’ve entered Saturn’s atmosphere.”

A moment later, the solid core of the planet met them. The ice appeared out of the beige fog, and Joseph landed on it. The feathers of his boots flapped fast as a hummingbird just before he touched down.

“Well, we’ve both landed in one piece,” Joseph said. “But where’s the wizard, Cedel?” They looked around, but the wizard was nowhere to be seen.

The cold wind blew against Joseph as he and Silver walked through the snow covered hills. He held a hand in front of his face to shield him from the falling snowflakes. The cold weather made him very glad that he remembered to bring his coat.

Silver kept pace along with him. Every few moments, he would let out a howl. Joseph called out as well in hope that Cedel would hear. By then, they had been searching for over an hour and were starting to think they would never find him.

The light around them began to dim as the sun set through the fog. After awhile, Joseph looked down at Silver beside him. When the wolf didn’t respond, he returned to searching the surroundings. Soon they came to a cave in the side of a large hill and decided to rest inside.

Silver crawled up into a ball on the floor, and Joseph lay down beside him. He took off his jacket and lay it on top of both of them to keep warm. They rested for a time as Joseph tried to keep his mind off of their search. His thoughts traveled back to Ruth, who was now millions of miles away. What was she doing, he thought, while waiting for his return?

After a while, he drifted off to sleep for some time. Silver’s wet tongue woke him up later. The sun was bright again when he opened his eyes, but it seemed to him as though only a moment had passed. His head ached as he stood on his feet and stared through the mouth of the cave.

“How long have we been asleep, Silver?” he asked.

“I’m not sure,” Silver said. “Maybe time on Saturn passes differently.”

“Maybe.” Joseph stared down at the cave floor, then put on his jacket again. He shook his head to remove the dreariness and stepped out of the cave.

Silver followed him as he returned to his search for Cedel. Even with the morning sunlight, he could still barely see a few feet ahead in Saturn’s thick fog. So his eyes opened wide when a black demon stepped out of the haze. It carried a shovel in its hands and ran it through the snow, clearing a small path ahead. It looked up from the snow at Joseph and stopped.

Joseph’s eyes narrowed when he realized that the creature was the demon lord Amato. Before he could react, it struck him with the shovel, and he fell into a snowbank. A cloud of white powder flew around him, further obscuring his vision. Behind him, he heard Silver growl.

Joseph stood and shook off the snow, then turned to find Silver leaping at the jet black figure. The wolf bit into its arm, but Amato shook him off.

Joseph drew his sword and advanced toward the demon. It stared down at him with eyes of bright yellow. It’s wings spread out across several feet, looming over Joseph.

He was sure now that this was the demon Amato, ruler of the planet Saturn. His grip tightened around his sword as it stepped toward him. Amato swept a claw at him, but Joseph moved his sword to block the attack.

Joseph shoved back against the demon, slicing against its hand. A small trickle of demon blood flew out as Amato pulled back. It screamed. He tried covering his ears to halt the noise, but that was difficult while still holding his sword. And he didn’t dare let go of it. Silver leaped at Amato and tore off a piece of its wing.

Amato swung its shovel at Silver as he ran away, but it slammed against the ground. Silver spat out the demon flesh into the snow and stuck out his tongue. The demon chased after him with its shovel raised to strike again, but Joseph stepped between them. He slashed his blade along Amato’s chest.

Amato screamed again and swung his shovel into Joseph’s head. He gasped as a jolt of pain ran through his skull. As he collapsed in a pile of snow, the last thing he saw was Amato flying back into the fog.

When Joseph awoke, Cedel was staring at Joseph with Silver beside him. The sky was pitch black, with the only light a lamp which Cedel carried. Joseph blinked at them a couple times, then held his head. It still ached from the fall, as did the side of his body.

“W-What happened?” he asked.

“I chased the demon off after you hit your head,” Silver said. “But I lost it in the fog, so I came back for you. Cedel eventually found us and woke you up.”

“He did?” Joseph turned to him.

“Yes, and you should consider yourself lucky that I got here when I did. Why did you even try to fight Amato without finding me first?”

“Well, we searched for hours but couldn’t find you.”

“That’s your own fault for getting separated in the first place. Now let’s get going.” Cedel turned. “While you were snoozing, I found the location of Amato’s castle.”

Joseph stood and followed Cedel into the darkness. He glanced down at Silver who walked beside him, then back to the path ahead. They could barely see a thing in Saturn’s thick fog, but Joseph trusted that Cedel knew where he was going. The wizard had gotten them this far; he could see them to the end.

Some time later, a large set of doors appeared, and Cedel stopped in front of it. The castle design reminded him of the sort of architecture Joseph often saw on Earth. Several bones and pieces of torn cloth stuck out of the snow. Joseph and Silver watched from behind him as he waved a glowing hand in front of the door’s lock. The door opened a second later.

They entered, and Joseph stared wide-eyed at the surroundings. The fog from outside hadn’t penetrated the castle walls, for he could now see all the way across the room without anything blocking his vision. The interior walls seemed bent at bizarre angles, and strange tubes and unknown devices stuck out of them.

A large multicolored carpet ran along the floor to the end of the room, where an ornate display stood. Joseph found the sculpture so hideously ugly that he could not bare to look at it for more than a moment before having to turn away. Silver started to growl, but Joseph quieted him.

Several doors lined the walls, and Joseph was curious as to what they stored, but Cedel paid them no mind. He decided not to risk angering the wizard again by venturing off the beaten path.

Joseph felt a pain in his gut when they reached the evil display against the far wall. He frowned as he glanced up at it again, then looked back to Cedel. “Shouldn’t we be searching for Amato? Why did you drag us here?”

“The demon Amato is currently busy tending to the wound your wolf companion here gave its wing. It would take hours to search this place. I think it’ll be faster if we attract Amato here.”

“But how are we going to do that?”

“Like this!” Cedel pounded his fist into the disgusting figure. It flew off the table and smashed into the wall. Seeing it crumble to pieces made Joseph’s stomach calm.

He was about to ask what that would do when a loud scream answered his question. His vision darted to each of the doors along the walls. Then the demon dropped down from the ceiling. A cloth was stuck to the bite on its wing.

Silver ran at Amato, and Joseph was about to join the fight when Cedel stopped him. “Let me see your sword for a moment, Joseph,” Cedel asked.

Joseph turned to him. “What? Why?”

“Because, I have one spell left which you might find useful.”

Joseph reluctantly handed him his weapon. “Couldn’t you have done this before smashing Amato’s shrine?”

“No, I couldn’t risk the spell wearing off before he appeared. It only lasts a short time.” Cedel’s hands glowed as he held the blade. The aura wrapped itself around the weapon, and it began to sparkle. Then he passed the sword back to Joseph.

It felt a little lighter in Joseph’s grasp, and he could feel his strength increase as he held it. Silver’s growling snapped him out of his thoughts. Joseph looked up to see the wolf and demon clashing several feet ahead. He ran to join the battle, leaving Cedel behind to watch.

When he arrived at the fight, Silver was sinking his teeth into the demon’s leg while it clawed at him. Joseph struck his sword against Amato’s shoulder. It screamed as the blade sliced into its flesh. Amato jerked away and leaped back. Joseph’s sword slipped through his fingers.

He glanced down at Silver, who in turn looked up at him, then they both ran at the demon. Amato tried to grab Joseph’s glowing sword, but shrieked when he touched it. Silver leaped at the demon and shoved him into the carpet floor below. The pommel of Joseph’s sword struck the floor and fell out of Amato’s shoulder. Amato took it, but shouted after merely touching it and shrieked back.

Joseph took his sword back and sliced through Amato’s forearm. Demon blood leaked out of it’s wound. The hand fell to the floor and quickly scurried up Amato’s leg. The appendage rested on its shoulder.

Silver barked at the hand, and it jumped off its owner and landed on his head. The wolf wrestled with Amato’s severed hand. Joseph turned his attention back to the demon.

Amato’s arm had stopped bleeding, so it let go and stepped toward Joseph. It reached out with its right hand to scratch him, but Joseph held the sword in front of his face and blocked the claws. Grunting, Amato shoved Joseph down to his knee. Joseph strained to keep upright, but soon fell back against the demon’s weight. He rolled aside to keep from getting struck by Amato and lost hold of his sword.

The demon stepped around the glowing weapon to Joseph. It barred its yellow-brown teeth at him and hissed. Joseph darted his eyes around, but couldn’t find anything to strike with. He backed into a crooked door, felt for the knob, and found it locked. Behind Amato, Silver still fought with its severed hand.

Amato stabbed its hand at Joseph’s heart. Joseph caught the claws in his bare hands, inches before his chest. He held it there for a short time, before dodging out of the way and letting go. The demon’s claw shot into the wooden door. Joseph ran past the demon, while it tugged at its arm to try and free itself.

Joseph picked up his sword and held it tight. The blade still glowed, and he felt the heightened strength return. He advanced toward Amato, who glanced back at him.

He swung his blade down against the demon. Amato ripped his claw out of the door. Wood splinters spayed around them. It moved its hand to block, but Joseph cut through its arm. The blade struck Amato in the neck, and the demon went down.

The sword in Joseph’s hands shined even brighter and then went dark. Amato stared up at Joseph, wide-eyed, then turned to the far wall. It shot out its left arm. Joseph turned.

Amato’s hand leaped out from under Silver’s paw and flew toward Cedel. Before either of them could move, it pierced the wizard’s chest. Cedel let out a gasp and fell back against the wall.

Joseph heard a low laugh and turned. Amato was cackling as he collapsed on the carpet floor. He frowned and raced over to Cedel.

Cedel groaned as Joseph held him up. Silver ran up beside him and peered over his shoulder. Joseph darted his eyes between Cedel’s face and the wound on his chest.

“Don’t worry, Cedel. We’ll get you fixed up and ready to go.”

“No, this is it, Joseph.” Cedel coughed. “Don’t worry over my death. I’ve lived a full life, and I know where I’m going.”

Joseph’s eyes pleaded. “But surely we can do something to save you. Isn’t there some healing spell you can cast?”

“Even if I knew of one, I don’t have the strength to cast it now.”

“Oh…”

“Don’t worry, Joseph. I’ll keep an eye on you from Heaven above.” Then Cedel closed his eyes and grew still.

Joseph let go of Cedel’s body and stood. He turned around and stared down at Silver. “Let’s get going, Silver.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something, master?”

“Oh, what would that be?”

“How are we going to get home without Cedel to cast another spell for us?”

“That’s right. How are we going to get home?” Joseph’s face grew still as he stared down at Silver. Then he looked up toward the sky, to where his home planet was. And as he stared, he wondered how he was ever going to see Ruth again.

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Then we heard the shriek. Robert went quiet, Fred choked on his mouthful of doughnut, and I set my coffee on the nearby counter. A moment later, Wilma came running toward us with a face as white as snow. Her long light blue dress flowed as she ran, and her long black hair trailed out behind her.

“What’s the matter?” I asked. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“In the kitchen was the biggest rat I’ve ever seen in my life.”

“Rats?” Fred said. “Who let a rat into the church?”

“No one let the animal come in, Fred,” Robert said. “I’m sure it chewed its way in through the wall.”

Wilma moved her hands to her mouth, and her eyes went wide.

I placed a hand on her shoulder. “Please, Wilma, take us to where you saw the rat.”

She nodded without a word and led us into the kitchen. The room was still, with not a soul inside. Various wrappers and boxes were scattered across the table at the center of the room.

Robert glanced around the room. “I don’t see no rats.”

“It ran behind the refrigerator.” Wilma pointed to the far end of the room.

The fridge was pressed between the wall and the counter, so I had no idea how an animal so large had squeezed its way behind it. But I wasn’t one to question Wilma’s word. With the help of Fred and Robert, we pulled the fridge away from the wall.

A sudden horrible stench assaulted us before we even set it down. Fred held his mouth to keep from hurling, Robert leaned against the wall as he pressed his nose shut, and I almost dropped the fridge. I ran to a nearby window and slid it open, breathing in the warm summer air. Wilma found a can of air freshener and sprayed it wildly around the room.

“Good golly,” Robert said. “That’s the biggest rat turd I ever saw.”

“Watch your language,” Wilma said. “This is a church, for goodness sake.”

“Sorry, ma’am.”

I finally pulled myself away from the window to glance behind the fridge, and indeed there was excrement lying there, too large for any normal rat to produce. Behind it was a large hole in the wall with visible bite marks around it. I turned back to Robert and Fred, but spared Wilma a glance.

“Uh, would you mind giving us a moment alone, Wilma? I need to talk with just the guys for a bit.”

“O-Okay, I’ll leave you to that.” She nodded and left the room.

When she had shut the door behind her, I pulled Fred and Robert in close. “I figure this ain’t no ordinary church mouse. It’s probably a stray dog, or maybe some kid who found an old wig and broke in here as a prank.”

“So what do ya reckon we should do, Andy?” Robert asked.

“Well, we don’t really have any way of catching ‘im at the moment. So I think it might be a good idea to go home for now and come back later after better supplying ourselves.”

“Should I bring my rifle?” Fred asked.

“Nah, I figure we won’t be needing our guns. If it’s just some stupid kid, we don’t wanna go shooting at ‘im.”

“I hope you’re right, Andy.”

With that, the three of us left the room. I assured Wilma that we’d come back later that day to take care of the rat. She thanked us and left the church. The three of us went home to gather supplies.

Upon arriving home, I took a moment to eat a turkey sandwich and some cream of broccoli with rice soup. Then I got a backpack out of the closet and several objects which I thought might be useful: a flashlight, a small hand saw, and a couple bags of peanuts, in case we had to stay past supper time. I also got a coil of rope from the basement.

I was about to leave when I spotted my Bible on the front table. It was the King James Version, which I had won in a contest as a teenager. In my haste to leave that morning, I had forgotten it at home. As I eyed the holy book, an uneasy feeling crept into my stomach. Before bedtime the night before, I read about how Jesus and His diciples healed people who were possesed by demons. The memory came back to me then, but I didn’t know why. I picked it up and stared for a moment, before placing it with the other items in my backpack. Then I left the house.

When I arrived back at church, Fred and Robert were already waiting for me in the parking lot. Fred was eating a ham and cheese sandwich, and Robert had a bit of ketchup on his upper lip.

“Took ya long enough,” Robert said.

“I guess I just eat a little slower than you.” Then I gestured across my lips, and Robert wiped his on the sleeve of his work shirt. It occurred to me that I probably should’ve changed clothes before returning, though that would’ve only made me even later.

“Come on,” Fred said. “Let’s catch us some rats.”

We nodded to each other and entered the church. Without anyone walking about, the building was quiet as a tomb. Our footsteps against the carpet floor echoed throughout the room. I bit my lower lip.

As we searched the room, I crawled under the front desk and turned on my flashlight. A quick scan of the floor showed some dust bunnies and stray lint, but no animal droppings. Then I heard something scrape across the carpet, and I hit my head on the drawer. I held my head between my arms on the floor, my eyes slammed shut. Then I heard a voice that made me open them again.

“You boys hungry?” Wilma asked. “I brought home baked cookies.”

I crawled out from under the desk. Wilma stood by the front door, holding a basket in her arm. Fred marched towards her, and Robert was already standing beside her, eating an oatmeal cookie. I approached them.

“Wilma, what are you doing here? I thought you went home for the day.”

“But I thought you might like a treat while you’re working.”

“It’s too dangerous for you here! What if the rat were to attack you?”

“Hey, Andy,” Robert said. “I thought you told us it wasn’t no rat that broke into the church.”

I glared at Robert.

“Not a rat?” Wilma asked.

I made a circular gesture with my hands. “Well, we don’t rightly know what animal it is. Could be one of them beavers or maybe a capybara. Won’t know for sure until we see it.”

“Might also be some kid pulling a prank,” Robert said. “Isn’t that what you told us before?”

“Yes, Robert.” I frowned at him, then turned back to Wilma. “We’ll take care of things here. Why don’t you head on home.”

“Here, at least take these cookies before I go.” She handed me the basket, and as I held it, Robert tried to sneak out another cookie.

Wilma frowned at him. “Oh, Robert, at least let Fred have one before you eat them all. He’s been waiting long enough.”

“Sorry, ma’am.” Robert pulled his hand away.

Smiling, Fred reached in and took a couple cookies. “This is enough for me. You two can have the rest.”

“I’m not hungry right now,” I said. “I’ll have mine later.”

Robert took another out of the basket and bit it.

“Now that we’ve all had our fill, I think we should see Wilma off.”

Wilma glanced at the floor. “If you’re sure I wouldn’t be any help. I wouldn’t want to get in your way…”

“It’s not that I don’t enjoy your company. Like I said before, I just don’t want you getting hurt. You understand, right?”

“Yes, I suppose so.”

“Good, good. I’ll call you later tonight, after we catch the animal.”

Wilma’s face perked up. “I’d appreciate that. Thank you.”

I went over to the door and took the handle, but it wouldn’t budge. “That’s strange; it’s stuck.”

Fred pushed the handicap button, but nothing happened. After trying to open the door again, I reached up and fiddled with the automatic switch, but still nothing changed.

I turned back to the others. “I think we’re locked in here.”

Fred and Robert glanced at each other. Wilma dug her fingers into her skirt.

I tried opening the windows, but they were all locked. Fred picked up a metal chair and smashed it against the window. I gasped and shielded my face, but the chair only bounced off the glass.

“Fred, what’s gotten into you!” I took the chair away from him.

“We gotta get outta here somehow, Andy,” Fred said. “We can always buy the church a new window. I got enough money to pay for it.”

“It’s not about the money, Fred. We should at least check the other doors or try to call someone before we start breaking things.”

Robert waved his cellphone. “Hey, I can’t get a signal! What’s going on here?”

Fred and Wilma tried their phones to no avail. Part of me felt foolish for leaving mine at home, but I doubt that it would’ve worked either. I checked the nearby corded phone by the wall, but didn’t hear anything.

“Oh, Andy,” Wilma said, “What are we going to do? We’re trapped here.”

“Now, let’s not start panicking,” I said. “There’s gotta be some way outta this building.”

We split up into two groups—Fred and Robert in one while Wilma and I searched elsewhere.

Wilma and I began our search in the nusery. The room was dark when we entered as the curtains were drawn, and not a soul was inside. A stuffed toy dog lay on the carpet in the middle of the room. Wilma picked it up and placed it on a nearby chair. I drew the curtains, letting the afternoon sunlight pour into the room.

When I tried opening the windows, they wouldn’t budge. I pounded my fist against the thick pane of glass, then rested my forehead against it. Wilma placed her hands on my shoulders.

“It’ll be all right, Andrew,” she said. “Someone will come here and open the door for us soon enough.”

“If we’re still alive by then.”

“Don’t talk like that. There’s more than enough food in the kitchen to last the four of us a week.”

“I’m not talking about starvation.” I spun to face her. “Whatever creature you saw earlier is obviously the one who locked us in. What if it’s something dangerous?”

“I’m sure it’s nothing of the sort. It’s probably just a stray dog who got in before the cleaning man locked up.”

“And if it’s not? What if some madman starts terrorizing us?”

“Well, you’re pretty strong. I’m sure that you could protect us.” She drew closer to me.

I put my hands on her shoulders, and was about to pull her close, but a crash made me stop. I walked over to the door across the room and peered into the hallway. There was no sign of any creature, but I was sure that something had called.

Wilma approached me again. “Is something the matter?”

“I thought I heard something,” I said. “Stay here for a moment. I’ll take a look.”

She nodded. I left the room, shutting the door behind me. When I entered the sanctuary, the only light came from between the gaps in the curtains lining the south wall. I didn’t bother checking the windows, for I knew they wouldn’t open.

I walked along the aisle by the north wall, my hand traveling over the pews. I gazed up at the empty pulpit where our pastor just preached a sermon just that morning. The pulpit stood on a raised platform; behind it was the choir wing. A large wooden cross hung on the wall above it. I could feel something staring down at me as I stood in the sanctuary, as if two giant eyeballs hung from the wall. I became aware, to my horror, that I was not alone in the room.

I braced myself against the pews to keep from falling to the floor. I heard another cry by the south side of the room and turned. A figure stood at the last pew, and I knew it was the creature Wilma saw before.

Its long hair fell over its face, filled with twigs and soil, and behind the hair, a long, thin face shown, while its body was covered with leaves.

“Hello?” I asked. “Who’s that?”

It didn’t answer my call. Instead, the creature ran out into the aisle toward me. I reached into my bag, but before I could grab anything, it pushed me to the floor.

My bag slid under the pew, and everything spilled out onto the floor. I saw the outline of the rope and reached for it. The creature pressed its hand against my wrist. With its other hand, it turned my head to face it.

The hair over its face parted enough now for me to get a better look at its face. Its skin was covered with a thin layer of dirt, and its eyes were black and vacant, like it stared at something far behind me. As I looked at it, the creature screamed at me.

“Sheen!” he said, in a rough, scratchy voice. “Sheen sheen sheen.” Then he pointed to his chest.

“Sheen? Is that your name?”

He nodded, then jabbed my chest with a finger.

“My name is Andy.”

“Andy… Andy.” Spittle misted my face as he said my name.

I shuddered. He pounded his chest and howled. I pushed him off and got back on my feet. As I reached under the pew, Sheen grabbed me, and his long fingernails dug into my flesh. A burning pain ran across my shouder.

My hand grasped a weighty metal object, and I held it up to my face. It was my flashlight. I turned back to Sheen, who still clawed at me. I aimed the torch at his face and pressed the button on the rear. The flashlight lit up his face.

Sheen screeched and slunk back against the wall, his arms covering his bony face. I sat on the edge of the pew and reached for my supplies, still keeping the flashlight held on Sheen’s face. My fingers tightened around the rope when Sheen rushed me again.

He knocked the flashlight out of my hand, where it landed on one of the pews several feet away. I threw the rope around his arms and body. His fingers pressed against my throat, and I couldn’t breathe.

I pulled the rope tight, but the lack of air made it difficult. My palms started to sweat, and the rope slipped through my fingers. I kneed the creature in the stomach. Sheen’s grip loosened from my throat.

I held the rope tight in my hands and pulled with all my strength. The coil bound Sheen’s arms against him. I wrapped the bindings around him and tied it tight so he couldn’t move. As I stepped back, my breath was heavy.

I sat him on the pew and retrieved my flashlight. Then I switched it off and returned it to my bag, along with the Bible that lay on the pew. After making sure that Sheen couldn’t break free, I went to find the others.

When I returned to the nursery, my heart was still racing. I burst through the door and only the doorknob kept me from collapsing onto the floor. Wilma was sitting in the chair, but she stood when I entered.

“Oh, Andrew, you’re hurt!”

“I’ll be okay, Wilma. I’ve got that creature tied up in the sanctuary.”

“Oh, did that rat do this to you?”

“It’s not a rat. I think it’s a crazy man.”

Wilma gasped. “A human!”

“Lets find the others. Maybe we can get some answers out of him.”

As they left the room, I glanced into my bag and paused at the doorway. Sitting on top of the other items was a church Bible from the sanctuary; I had taken the wrong one in my haste. My eyes slammed shut, and I pinched the bridge between them. I placed the book on a shelf and left, making a mental note to find my own Bible later. For some reason, I felt helpless without it.

We found Fred and Robert in the kitchen with a broken stool at their feet. I looked down at it, then glared up at them. They shared an uneasy look between them.

“Come on, men,” I said. “I’ve captured our intruder.” I beckoned them to follow.

I led them through the halls to the sanctuary, but when we reached the door, I stopped. The darkness of the sanctuary stared back at me through the windows of the doorway. I could feel my heart beating in my chest, and my face grew still.

“It’s in here, right?” Fred asked.

“Right!” I opened the door.

I scanned the pews, but didn’t see Sheen. When I found the place I had left him, all that remained was the loose coils of rope which had bound him. The rope had been split in two, with frayed bite marks around the break.

“I left him right here,” I said.

“I believe ya,” Robert said. “He tore up your clothes pretty good, and just look at the rope.”

“Ya think he might still be around here?” Fred asked.

“Possibly,” I said.

Fred and Robert searched under all the pews, each on opposite sides of the sanctuary. I stepped toward the pulpit, then looked back. Wilma stood against the wall at the back of the room. I went over to her.

“Wilma, have you been standing here alone this whole time?”

She glanced up from the floor. “Yes, I suppose so. Why do you ask?”

“You need to stay with the group. Come with me.” I took her arm, and we went to the other side of the room. My grip on Wilma’s wrist tightened a little when we approached the pulpit. Inside the pulpit were various papers, some pens, and a couple Bibles, but no creature. The choir wing was likewise bare.

I turned back to the others. “You two find any sign of him?” They both shook their heads. “Then he’s gone. He could be anywhere in this building!”

“Let’s check in the choir storage closet,” Wilma said.

I snapped my fingers. “Yeah, he’s probably hiding back there.” I signaled for Robert and Fred to follow us.

The room was pitch black when we entered, so I fumbled for the light switch. Wilma went into the room and disappeared. I was about to yell after her when the light came on. The light bulb above her swung back and forth as she let go of the chain. I shook my head and followed her inside.

She went to the first closet and was about to open it, but I placed a hand on the door.

“Hold on there, Wilma. We don’t know if he’s in there. What if he jumps out at you?”

“I’m being careful, Andrew.” She stepped aside and opened the door.

All that the closet contained was a set of choir robes. I pushed a robe aside, but nothing was behind it. We tried a few of the other closets, careful to avoid any surprise attacks. Each of them was bare as well.

“I’m starting to think he ain’t in this room either,” Robert said.

“Just keep looking, Robert.” I frowned as I opened another closet. “He’s got to be around here somewhere.”

“Well, I’m not wasting anymore time here.”

“You’re more than welcome to check somewhere else, but I intend to sweep this place clean before moving on.”

“I think I will.” Then Robert left.

“Fred, go with him. See that he doesn’t hurt himself.”

Fred nodded and followed him.

My frown deepened as I returned to checking the closets. But when Wilma placed a hand on my shoulder, my brows softened.

“Did you have to be so harsh with them?” she asked.

“Probably not.” I opened another closet.

“They’re only trying to help you find the creature. I’m sure that they want to capture it just as much as you do.”

Not taking my eyes off of Wilma, I opened another closet. “Next time we see them, I’ll–”

Sheen jumped out from the behind the choir robe and tacked me. His screaming hammered my eardrums. I felt his hands reach for my neck.

Wilma started to approach me.

“No, find the others and bring them back here!” I said.

She ran out of the room.

I kicked Sheen in the stomach, but he didn’t let go. He growled and bit me in the arm. The pain shot through my shoulder. I grit my teeth and pounded my fist against his head.

He let go of my arm and rolled off me. I stood and looked down at my arm. Blood dripped from where he had bit me, with bits of black filth stuck in the wound. I held the bite with my free hand and looked at Sheen.

The creature wiped his face with the back of his hand, still staring at me. He rushed at me with his hands reaching. My eyes darted all about, but there wasn’t anything nearby to defend myself with. When he came near, I swung my bag into his head. Sheen ducked below it and grabbed my shirt. He shoved me against the wall by the door.

I tried punching him in the face, but he dodged the blow. He lifted me off of the floor by the arms. At his great strength, I gasped. No normal boy of his frame could lift a grown man. I kicked him in the shin, and he let me fall.

My body slumped beside the doorway. Before I could stand, Sheen planted a bare foot on my chest. A few flakes of dried soil fell from his toes. I tried to stand, but he was too heavy.

I tried to punch and kick him, but my arms and legs couldn’t reach. He knelt on my chest and grabbed my neck. My fingers coiled around his wrists and pulled them away. We strugged there for a moment, his hands about half an inch from my throat.

Then he kneed me in the kidney, and I let go. His hands grasped my head. He smashed it against the hard wood floor over and over. The world around me grew dark. Just as I lost consciousness, I felt him drag me away.

I awoke in a small, brightly lit room with the worst headache of my life. Everything was a blur for several minutes, but when the haze cleared, I found a shelf of cleaning supplies to my left and a stack of boxes to my right.

Mops and brooms rested against the shelf beside a package of paper towels. The fluorescent light above made everything look a dull color. I closed my eyes for a time.

When I opened them again, my headache had softened a little. I tried to sit, but the ropes bound me in place. My bag lay against the far wall across from me.

I rolled until I was facing the bag, then I wiggled across the floor like a worm. Soon my body began to ache. Every few moments, I would rest. Halfway to the bag, I noticed the pain in my arm flare up again.

I groaned and lay limp on the floor for a time, then I continued crawling toward the bag. When I arrived, I just lay there beside it until I caught my breath.

After resting, I bent down, took the bottom part of the bag in my teeth, and pulled. The bag spilled out onto the floor. I dropped the bag and took the handsaw in my mouth. Slowly, I cut through the ropes that bound me.

As I lay against the wall with the broken rope around me, there came a crash from the door outside. I quickly put the saw and flashlight back in the bag and ran into the hallway. The path was dark, so I used my flashlight to brighten the way.

I saw another light up ahead and ran toward it. When I got to the doorway, I leaned against it with my eyes closed, huffing and puffing for air.

“Andy, there you are!” Fred said.

I opened my eyes again. Robert, Fred, and Wilma stood in the kitchen, staring at me.

“We’ve been looking everywhere for you,” Robert said.

“Just where have you been?” Wilma asked.

“Sheen, that creature, left me tied up in the janitor’s closet.”

“Oh, thank goodness you’re all right. When we didn’t find you in the storage room, I was so worried something had happened.” She stepped toward me.

“Did any of you see anything while you were searching for me?”

”No,” Fred said. “We thought it was still with you.”

“Then he could be anywhere! We have to–”

A howl stopped me from finishing the sentence.

“That’s probably him now!” Robert said.

“He must’ve checked the janitor’s closet.” I let go of the door and turned. “Come on! Maybe we can get the jump on him.”

The four of us raced through the halls back to the janitor’s closet, but when we arrived he wasn’t there. We kept going until we found him by the sanctuary’s entrance. He was standing in the middle of the room, staring down the hall we entered from.

Sheen held up a finger to point at me. “You escaped!”

I pointed my flashlight at him, but he dove behind a large plush chair. We creeped toward the chair, keeping my flashlight aimed above the backrest. When we came near, Sheen stood and snatched me by the arms. The flashlight flew from my hand. I heard footsteps running toward it.

In the darkness, I could only see the silhouette of Sheen above me. He grabbed me by the throat and began to squeeze again. I choked for air that never came.

Then a light shone on the both of us. Sheen shrieked and let go of me. I gasped for air. He ran into the sanctuary. The light followed him, but stopped at the swinging doors. I got back on my feet.

Fred approached me and held out the flashlight to me.

“I think you better keep that for now, Fred,” I said. “There’s something else I might be able to use against him.” I turned back to the sanctuary.

I led the others into the sanctuary, taking Wilma by the hand. The room was just as dark as the rest of the church, now that the sun had set. Fred scanned the pews with the flashlight, but didn’t see any sign of Sheen.

He aimed it under the seats as we traveled along the northern wall. The others kept an eye out for him, while I looked above. As we searched, I saw Sheen crouched low on the edge of the pew as the flashlight passed under him.

He leaped at Fred, and the flashlight flew from his hands. Robert fumbled for it as the torch traveled through the air. I stepped in front of Wilma and shoved Sheen away from Fred.

A few feet away, Robert finally got a grip on the flashlight and pointed it at Sheen, but he couldn’t hold it on the creature. Sheen rushed at him. I extended a foot, which tripped him as he passed.

Fred grabbed his arms and held him up by the wall as Robert shined the light on him. Sheen kicked his legs and tried to flail his arms about, screaming. My eyes darted about, searching for something to stop him with.

Then an idea came to me, and I ran down the aisle with my eyes focused the pews. I saw the leather bound book lying at the foot of the seat. “My Bible!” I took it and handed it to Wilma.

She looked at it, then back up at me. “What’s this for?”

“Wilma, I want you to read from it aloud. You were always so good at live verse readings.”

“You want me to read Bible verses at a time like this?”

“Yes, that young man is possessed by an evil spirit. This is the only way to save him.”

“If you really think so.” She moved beside Robert, adjacent to the flashlight, and began to read.

Sheen’s screaming grew quieter, and his kicks slowed. After a few passages, I knew that simply reading from the Holy Book wouldn’t be enough. I thought for a time, until my eyes caught sight of the outline of the wall decoration to the east.

“Fred, take him to the choir wing!” I said.

As Fred moved him, Sheen began to struggle harder again. I signaled to Robert, and he focused the flashlight on Sheen’s face. Wilma continued reading, this time in a louder voice, enunciating clearer. She began Luke chapter eleven, the story of Jesus instructing His deciples how to pray.

We brought him directly before the large cross hanging upon the wall. I stood under it before him and stared into his face. For a moment, I closed my eyes and silently asked the good Lord to give me the words that would save this young man.

When I opened them again, a smile formed on my face. “By the almighty power of God, I command you to leave this young man! Demon, be gone from this place!”

Sheen let out a scream that was louder than all his others, one which betrayed a sense of pain unlike any I could imagine. Then his body went limp and his eyes shut. Wilma stopped reading, and there was quiet.

Fred set him down against the edge of the box, though he and Robert kept a hand each on his shoulder. After some time, he coughed and reopened his eyes. “W-Where am I?” he asked. His face seemed more relaxed as he stared at us.

Wilma let out a breath, and the others let go of him. I sat down against the wall and sighed. “You’re in church,” I said.

Wilma and I sat there with the boy while the others went to check the phone. She talked with him and asked about where he lived. I simply rested my body and tried not to focus on the pain coursing through it. As I looked at Wilma, she seemed so lovely caring for him.

When Fred and Robert returned sometime later, they told me that they called for help to unlock the door. I smiled at then, then turned to Wilma. She looked back at me, questioning.

“Wilma, dear,” I said. “Could you do me a huge favor?”

“Yes, what do you need?” she asked.

“Can you fix up my arm?”

“Oh, yes. Of course!” She stood and took my hand. “I think there’s a first aid kit near the nursery.”

“Thank you, Wilma.”

She helped me back to my feet, and we walked out of the choir box.

“Uh, excuse me, sir?” Sheen asked. “Um, Andy, was it?”

“Yeah?” I stopped and glanced back at him. “Listen, I’m in a bit of pain right now, so can it wait until after my arm’s fixed up?”

“Well, I just wanted to ask what happened to the others?”

“The others?”

Before he could reply, we heard a howl from outside the sanctuary.

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The gates were rusty and squeaked when he opened them. The walkway leading to the door was crumbling, with several weeds sprouting from its cracks. When he arrived at the door, he found that the knob was loose in his hand. It took him a few turns to get the latch open.

The door revealed the main foyer to him. Old, tangled cobwebs hung from ceiling and the chandelier above. A cloud of dust floated out the door and traveled down the front walkway. Underneath the filth, August saw hints of a rug that was hand weaved with an intricate pattern.

As he stepped inside, the floorboards creaked under his weight. He was a big man, with broad shoulders and the strength of spending many years as a wood cutter. The heavy suitcase he carried only added to the pressure against the floor.

Left of the foyer, he found the dinning room, with its long table lined with several chairs. Beyond that was the kitchen, and beyond that was a room for the help. All of it was covered in a layer of dust, much like the foyer. He began to cough.

August placed his suitcase on the bed and went over to the window. The wood holding the glass scraped against the window frame as he raised it. Then he placed a short board underneath it, against the frame, to hold the window open.

The woodcutter breathed in the fresh air deeply. He took out a handkerchief and ran it along every surface of the room. After a few moments, the room was mostly free of dust. He decided to stay in the butler’s living quarters, until the rest of the house was clean.

So he opened his suitcase and the drawer behind him. His hatchet lay on top of his clothes, the steel blade shining in the sunlight. He carefully set it beside the suitcase on the bed and moved his belongings to the drawers. Then he went to explore the rest of the mansion.

The building had belonged to a distant cousin of his who was stabbed by a highway man. Cousin Dexter had been coming home from an extended trip to Europe when he was held up. The police didn’t arrive until the robber had gotten away with all that Dexter had brought with him.

August found it strange that Dexter had left the mansion to him. Even in its run down state, it was still worth far more than any individual share of Dexter’s money which his relatives had received.

The woodcutter couldn’t help asking himself why Dexter had given him the property. He had barely known the man; the last time they had seen each other was when they were young children playing in the dirt. His only emotion upon hearing of Dexter’s death was regret as to not spending more time with the man while he had had the chance.

Reflecting on this made August pause and lean back against the wall. He let out a sigh and stared down at the floorboards. After sometime, the woodcutter moved on.

Several more minutes passed as he searched the house. Every room looked just as old and musty as the last. He started to consider going outside to check the lawn and garden. Then he came across a room that made his eyes light up.

Bookshelves lined the walls surrounding the room, each filled with hardcover tomes. The only window had its curtains drawn, and the shelf across from it was far enough away that the direct sunlight wouldn’t reach it. August pulled back the curtains and opened the window. Unlike the other rooms, this one he stayed and wiped away the dust.

Once he’d done a little cleaning, he began searching the shelves. The first contained several histories going back to the first voyages of British colonies and the eventual founding of this country. The next held several different Bible translations, as well as other works of Christian theology.

With each book he scanned, his excitement grew and grew. His smile widened. He found volumes of poetry and short stories. There were gothic novels and mysteries, comedies and ruritanian romance, books of wonder and science fiction.

Dexter had left him a collection of books that would take him decades to study. His whole life, the woodcutter had never had enough spare money to buy a book of his own. All that he had read was either lent to him or printed in the newspaper.

He took a volume from the shelf, a telling of the mayflower’s voyage, and sat down before the window. His eyes scanned the cloth weaving of the book’s cover, studying the intricate drawing of the ship sailing under the title. When he opened the book, the edges of the pages were starting to brown, but they were sturdy enough to read without fear of tearing.

August read through several chapters of the history book, until the sun finally sank so low that he could no longer see the words. The moon still provided him enough light to move about the room. He returned the book to its place on the shelf, shut the window, and left. With a hand on the wall, he made his way back to the kitchen. There he found a candle and lit it with a match. The light helped him to see well enough to fix himself an evening supper.

But as he finished his bowl of ground beef, corn, and green beans, he heard a noise from upstairs. He put down the metal spoon and stood from his chair. The woodcutter peered out of the kitchen, but didn’t see any change in the dining room. The foyer was likewise as he had left it.

He was about to return and prepare for bed, when he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye. Up on the second story of the foyer was a puff of smoke. August found this odd, as he didn’t smell smoke in the air, and the room felt even more chilly than when he had arrived. Still, the thought of his newly inherited mansion and library destroyed in a burning blaze terrified him. So he ascended the stairs to investigate.

The second story of the foyer was a short walkway, between two doors. When August reached the top of the stairs, the smoke disappeared into the doorway to his left. He found it odd that this door had been left open, when all the others were closed. But with a shrug, he followed it.

It led him to the games room, which held a large billiards table at the center. Hung on the walls were several pool cues, with a dart board nearby. The candle light wasn’t bright enough to reach the far wall.

When he set the candle down on the pool table, the woodcutter saw that the billiards were scattered across the green. He picked up the 8 ball and tossed it in his hands, then rubbed his fingers together. The same layer of dust which covered everything wasn’t there. He set the ball back on the table with a frown.

As he stared down at the pool table in thought, an icy chill touched his spine. He shivered and let out a yell. The candle went out. His eyes darted back. Behind him floated a specter.

Fog rolled off of its weightless body. Large chains hung from its shoulders, and its clothes were tattered and ashen. Its face was mangled, like it had survived a wolf attack but just barely.

The specter reached a withered hand to August and wrapped its fingers around his neck. He suddenly felt a cold worse than the harshest blizzard. The woodcutter tried to scream, but no sound came. He couldn’t breathe.

His hand grasped a billiard ball and threw it. But the ball simply passed through the specter before him. He grabbed the specter’s hands, but his fingers slipped through them. Then the woodcutter fell to his knees.

Out of its grasp, he was finally able to breathe again, and the cold feeling had gone. The ghost reached for him again. He dove out of the way, scrambled toward the wall, and took a pool cue in his hand.

Rising, he held the cue upright like a sword. The specter floated toward him, its claws outstretched. He advanced and swung his cue at the specter’s head. The cue passed through it like it was smoke.

As the specter drew nearer, the air around August grew colder. He realized that the ghost was impervious to any mortal weapons. The specter could attack him, but he had no way to fight back.

It reached for his neck again, but he ducked down low out of the way. The woodcutter turned and ran out the door. As he descended the stairs, he still felt the chill of the ghost against him. When he reached the door, he felt another icy touch against his back. He ripped the door open without looking back and ran off.

The buildings were still alight when August walked into town. He found a local tavern and entered. Several people sat slumped over the bar, and a few were chatting among themselves.

“What’s eating you, mister?” the bartender said as August approached. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“I think I might’ve seen just that,” August said.

“You don’t say. Are you sure it wasn’t simply a stray bed sheet floating in the breeze?”

“Can bed sheets reach out and grab you?”

“No, I don’t suppose they can’t.”

“This one did! Why, it almost strangled me. Maybe it’s not a ghost, but some sort of spirit tried to kill me just now!”

Before the bartender could reply, the man sitting next to them turned on his stool. “Excuse me, sir. What’s all this talk of ghosts and spirits?” He was a thin, lanky man with wire-frame glasses.

“This sucker thinks he saw a ghost,” the bartender said.

The bespectacled man looked August up and down. “I can tell. He’s got that look about him.”

“Oh, don’t humor the man. He just needs a stiff drink, and he’ll be right as rain in the morning.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet.” His eyes shifted back to August. “What’s your name, sir?”

“It’s August. And yours is?”

“My name is Irving. Say, do you think we can talk somewhere a little more…” His eyes shifted back to the bartender. “private?”

The bartender grumbled and began wiping down the bar.

Irving led the woodcutter to a booth at the back of the bar, where they both sat down. “So where did you come across this ghost?” he asked.

“Well, my late cousin Dexter recently left me a mansion just outside of town. But when I moved into the place earlier today, a ghost appeared and tried to kill me.”

“Another haunted mansion.” Irving sighed. “I’ve seen that far too many times in my line of work. It seems like every time some wealthy businessman constructs such a place, some tragedy inevitably befalls, and it becomes haunted.”

“I’ve tried attacking the spirit, but everything seems to pass right through it. What do you think I should do?”

“My advice? I think you should burn the whole building to the ground and scatter salt across the dirt. A few months later, it should be safe to build something new on the land.”

August gasped. “Oh, no. I couldn’t burn down the mansion. That’s all I have to remember my cousin Dexter by. Besides, I’d hate to see the vast library he left me destroyed.”

“Well, if you don’t want to burn it, there is one other option. I must warn you though, it’s far more dangerous.”

“What is it? I’d do practically anything to get rid of that ghost!”

“Sure, just keep your voice down.” Irving leaned in closer. “There is one other way to destroy a ghost. If you’ve got a bladed weapon, I can enchant it with an ectoplasmic spell.”

“Would a woodcutting hatchet work?”

“Sure, the spell should work on anything with a blade, even a butter knife.”

August reached for the spot on his belt where his ax hung, but his eyes widened when his fingers passed through air. “Oh, no! I left my ax back at the mansion.”

“That’ll give you a bit of trouble. The ghost would attack us if I tried enchanting it there.”

“What are we going to do then?”

“I suppose you’ll have to return to the mansion to get it back. That is, unless you can convince the bartender to lend you a knife.”

Their eyes shifted to the bartender, who still frowned at them from across the room.

“Somehow, I don’t think he’d lend me one.” The woodcutter turned back to Irving. “Any change you’ve got one to spare.”

“Sorry, sir, but I already lent all my knives for others to hunt spirits with. None have brought them back yet.”

August swallowed. “That’s a comforting thought.”

“Tell ya what, August. I’ll go back to my place and start preparing the enchantment, while you go fetch your ax. I live by Volnor Swamp just east of town. We can meet there.”

“Works for me.” The woodcutter stood and turned to leave.

“Oh, one more thing before you go.”

August glanced back. “Yeah?”

“Watch out for the Andrew Sisters on your way through Volnor Swamp. Nasty ones, they are.”

“I’ll keep an eye out.” Then he left the tavern.

During the walk back, all he could think of the memory of the ghost he had seen. He thought about it so much that he began wondering if it had been real. Then he ran his fingers along his neck and decided that it had.

When he arrived back at the mansion a several minutes later, the wind began to blow. He held his arms against his chest and shivered. The large dead tree in the yard made it feel more like the late autumn months.

The door to the mansion was closed, but he still managed to open it again. After stepping through, he left it open, for it wouldn’t take him long to retrieve his ax. He stepped through the foyer, scanning the upper walkway for any sign of the specter, but none could be seen.

The dining room and kitchen were also the same as he had left them. When he reached the butler’s bedroom, his ax still lay on the bed where he left it. He picked it up and held it in his hands for a moment as he inspected the blade.

Behind him, there came a crash that made him turn. It sounded like a door slamming shut. He slipped his ax through the loop on his belt and ran out of the room.

In the foyer, he saw that the front door had closed. When he tried to open it, the doorknob wouldn’t turn. Then he felt a touch against his back that made him freeze.

Out of the corners of his eyes, he saw the fog rolling across the floor around him. He turned to find the specter floating behind him. It grabbed him by the neck. The woodcutter couldn’t breathe.

His hand reached for anything around him, but the doorknob was the only thing there. He tried turning it again, but it still wouldn’t move. Finally, August ripped the knob out of the door and smashed it against the ghost’s claws.

It passed through them and struck him in the neck. The blow made him slide down the door. He fell onto the front rug. The air rushed back into his lungs.

When he glanced back up, the ghost reached for him. He crawled across the floor under the spirit. There was a chill against his back as he passed through the specter. Once he was free, he got back on his feet and ran to the butler’s room.

Inside, he shut the door behind him and leaned back against it. The woodcutter sat down and gave a long sigh. A moment later, fog started to roll down the door. Above him, the ghost’s hand had passed through the wall.

It reached down at him, so he dove out of the way. When he looked back, the ghost shoved its head through the door. August’s jaw fell open.

He felt a breeze against his face and turned. The window beside him was still open. The woodcutter ran to it.

August placed a foot on the windowsill, then gripped the frame with a hand. He swung the other foot through the open window, but the ax hanging from his belt got caught. Behind him, the ghost had passed through the closed door and floated toward him.

The woodcutter pulled the ax out of his belt and threw it on the grass a few feet away. The icy hand touched his back and traveled up to the nape of his neck. His eyes went wide, and his teeth clenched together.

He slipped through the window and rolled onto the grass. Glancing back, he saw the ghost reaching for him through the window. But it didn’t pass through the wall to grab him.

With another sigh, he took his ax from the lawn and left to find Irving.

Volnor Swamp smelled of tar and toxic gas. Around him, August heard the sounds of water bubbling and frogs croaking. One of them hopped across the road, and the woodcutter was astonished to find a third eyeball adjacent to its left one. When the frog was gone, he continued down the road.

The trees loomed high above him, blocking much of the moonlight, casting the swamp into dimness. Several pools of sludge lined the road on both sides, with pieces of garbage sticking out. August saw a human skull lying in one, wearing a bronze helmet.

Several yards down the road, there stood a small hut with a firelight inside. The woodcutter increased his pace and arrived at it a few moments later. He went up to the door and knocked.

Irving opened it. “Hello there, August. You seem to have arrived without much trouble.”

“Not much trouble after I left the mansion, no.”

“Good, good! Do come inside and sit down.” He gestured for him to enter.

August stepped through the doorway and took a wooden chair by the wall. To his side was a roaring fireplace with a pot hanging over it. Irving took the large metal spoon that lay against the edge and stirred the glowing green liquid.

The magician turned back to the woodcutter. “It will be done in about twenty minutes.”

“Do you want me to do anything in the meantime?”

“No, all the items have been added to the potion. It’s just a matter of boiling down the water into a paste for your blade.”

“So how is this… paste going to damage the ghost exactly?”

“The paste itself won’t. It’s an ectoplasmic concoction made from ground up chicken bones, among other things, that will allow your blade to strike the ectoplane. This will help the ghost pass on to the afterlife.”

“You mean it’ll go to Heaven?”

“Heaven or Hell, that is for God to decide.”

“I guess I’ll let Him take care of that part then. The ghost certainly can’t stay with me.”

“Right. Though there is one thing I need to say. You must destroy this ghost in one blow.”

“Why’s that?”

“Any attack will use up the ectoplasmic power, which will turn it into ordinary swamp tar. Oh, don’t worry. The tar won’t damage your ax, but it also won’t allow you to hurt the ghost either.”

“Kill it in one strike.” He struck the palm of his hand. “Right in the neck.”

“If that’s the most easily accessible vital spot, yes. I haven’t seen this ghost, so I can’t say either way.”

“What happens if I miss? Can’t I just come back here and have you enchant my ax again?”

“I could, but it would take some time for me to gather the ingredients again. I never waste food, so it’d take about a month to gather the chicken bones. Do you have somewhere to stay during that time?”

“No, I’d have to travel back to my home on the east coast. It’d certainly make life a lot harder for the man I hired to sell the place, so I’d have to forget about coming back here.” He thought about cousin Dexter’s library, which he’d have to leave behind as well.

“Of course, this is all assuming that you came back alive from your confrontation with the ghost.”

The woodcutter stared at the floor. “Right.”

Irving went back to the pot and stirred it again. August took his ax in hand and swung it a few times, picturing the ghost before him. He tried to aim for the specter’s neck, but wasn’t sure he could strike it on point.

The wind howling at the door stole his attention.

“Oh, could you please shut the door for me?” Irving didn’t turn from stirring the pot.

“Sure thing.” August stood from his chair and went to the door. He placed a hand on the edge of the wood, but paused when he saw two figures approaching. “Looks like we have visitors.”

Irving turned around. His face was still as a statue, but his hands were shaking. Bits of green goo scattered over the floor in front of him. “The Andrew Sisters.”

“Who?” August asked.

“Three witches who live deeper in the swamp. They never like it when I perform magic spells because it takes away business from their shop. A couple years ago, they demanded that I work for them, but I refused.

“Why? I don’t see no reason not to work together if you’re both in the same line of business.”

“You don’t understand. They pervert the idea of magic from one of miracles into a self-serving ego trip. They’ve sacrificed hundreds in demonic ritual for just a minor increase in power.”

“Well, that doesn’t sound very nice.” August looked back to the two witches and frowned.

“‘Not very nice’ is putting it mildly. When they get here, they’re going to dump the ectoplasmic pot, and they’ll probably try to kidnap you. Then they’ll drain the blood from your body and use it for some bizarre summoning ritual.”

“Well, we certainly can’t let them do that, now can we?”

“‘We’ can’t, but I need to stay here with the pot. If I don’t take it off the heat when it’s ready, the potion will be ruined. You’ll have to fight them off by yourself.”

August tossed the hatched in the air and caught it. “No offense, Irving, but you don’t strike me as much of a fighting man.”

“You’re right, I’m not. That’s why I’m the one brewing potions and casting enchantments, and you’re the one fighting ghosts.”

“Yeah, I guess this’ll be good practice for fighting that specter.”

Irving nodded. “That it will.”

The woodcutter turned and left the hut, shutting the door behind him. He stood firm as the two witches approached him, wearing hooded robes. The left one lowered her hood to reveal a face of leathery skin and a head of hair that hadn’t been washed in months.

She pointed a finger at the door; a few knife scars crossed the appendage. “Step aside. We have business to attend with yon wizard.”

“Business?” the woodcutter asked. “What sort of business?”

“We’re collecting his spell-caster’s accidental insurance. If you allow us to enter, we shall spare your life when our business is done.”

“Somehow I doubt that.” August gripped his ax with both hands and held it ready to strike.

“Very well then.” The witch snapped her fingers.

The one to her right started chanting and moving her arms. Her hands began to glow green. The dirt August stood upon shifted. Vines sprung up from the soil and coiled themselves around his ankles.

He bent down and hacked at the wild plants with his ax. But whenever he cut one, two more grew in its place. He managed to free one of his feet, but in the haste to flee, he fell.

The woodcutter tried to crawl away on his back, but the vines still held his right foot. He pulled the plant about a foot out of the soil, then slammed his ax through the vines and into the ground. The weeds whipped around wildly for a moment, before withering.

When August looked up, he saw the witch coming closer to him. More roots sprung up from the ground around him. The woodcutter rolled out of the way before the weeds could grab him. He got back on his feet and held his ax to strike.

When the witch turned, he brought it down against her skull. The witch shrieked, raised her hands, and fell back on the grass. Blood leaked from the hole on her hooded robe.

Behind her, the other witch rushed toward him. He felt a tug against his shirt. The third witch lifted him off the ground and shoved him against the house. Her lips shifted into a mad grin, and her hand moved to August’s throat.

As she held him against the door by the neck, her right hand glowed purple. The woodcutter felt the energy leaking out of him. His eyes grew heavy, and it became harder for him to breathe. The world around him grew hazy and darker. He almost thought he saw fog rolling off of her, like that of the ghost.

But unlike the ghost, she was made of flesh and blood.

With the last of his strength, August lifted his ax. He sliced through the witch’s neck. Her head rolled back and landed on the ground. Then her grip loosened. He shoved her body away from him, where it collapsed on the road.

The woodcutter leaned back against the door and took several deep breaths. He let his ax fall through the loop on his belt. When Irving opened the door a moment later, August almost fell through it.

“I’m ready to enchant your ax now, August.”

“That’s just wonderful,” August said.

August sat in the wooden chair and watched as Irving held the ax above the pot. The green liquid had stiffened into a goo, which glowed brighter than it had last time he looked. Irving dipped the blade in the mixture, and it shined brightly for a moment. When he pulled the blade away, a trail of it ran down into the pot.

The green glow from the pot disappeared, and all that remained was a dark sticky paste. Once the excess goo had fallen away, Irving gave the ax back to the woodcutter.

“Thanks for your trouble, Irving.” August nodded to him as he held the ax. “I’ll be sure to come back here with a bag of silver for ya sometime tomorrow.”

“You’d be the first to return at all.” Irving smiled. “But with how you handled the Andrew Sisters a moment ago, you’ve got a better chance than most.”

August gave a dry laugh. “With what those witches took out of me, I’ll be lucky not to collapse on the way through town.

“I guess I can at least travel with you, but like you said before, I’m not much good in a fight–especially not with a ghost.”

“Let’s head out then.”

The two left the hut and went down the road. August glanced back at the two corpses they left behind, but Irving didn’t pay them any attention. The woodcutter shrugged his shoulders and put them out of his mind.

With Irving leading the way, it didn’t take them long to leave the swamp. Most of the lights in town had gone dark, for it was now late at night. The darkness made August weary. He wanted to lie down and rest until morning, but he didn’t know how long the ectoplasmic enchantment would last.

When they arrived at August’s mansion, Irving slowed his pace and scanned the building up and down. The mansion stood still, just as the woodcutter had left it, without any lights coming from inside its walls. The wind blew against the two men, causing Irving to shiver.

“I think I’ll be seeing you off here, August, if you don’t mind.”

“It’s understandable. No reason to put yourself in any more danger.”

“I guess this is where we part ways then.” He turned.

“I’ll hope to see you tomorrow, say, sometime in the afternoon perhaps?”

Irving smiled. “I hope to see you too.” Then he left.

August faced his mansion and walked up to the front door. He found that turning the doorknob didn’t allow it to open, as it was still broken. So he made his way around the house to the window he’d left open.

The woodcutter placed his hands on the windowsill and pulled himself into the room. With his feet firmly planted on the floor, he took out his ax and held it tight. He made his way through the kitchen and dining room, with a careful watch for the ghost.

In the foyer, he still had not seen any sign of the specter. Even the walkway above didn’t contain any hint of its presence. He ascended the stars to get a closer look.

The games room was also just as he’d left it, with the 8 ball and pool cue lying on the floor. The burnt out candle still rested on the billiards table, but August didn’t have a match on hand to light it. The rest of the room showed no other sign of disturbance.

For a moment, he wondered if the ghost had left his mansion, when he heard a howl behind him. He rushed out of the room onto the upper walkway of the foyer. Another cry met him outside, coming from the closed door across from him.

He went over to it and grabbed the doorknob, but a touch at his back made him pause. It felt as though someone had shoved an icicle into his spine. He bit his lower lip and turned back.

Before him floated the ghost, its hand reaching out to him. The woodcutter raised his ax, then realized he was standing too close to make a lethal strike. He didn’t want to waste his one shot at destroying the ghost, so he opened the door behind him and slipped inside the room.

The ghost followed him. The curtains of the room were drawn. The only light came from out in the foyer, which didn’t reach far beyond the doorway. His nose became irritated at all the dust floating airborne in the room.

A moment later, the ghost disappeared into the darkness. The woodcutter’s eyes darted around, but he couldn’t see any sign of it. Then he felt a chill against his neck.

He ran through the darkness until he slammed into the wall. The icy touch against his back returned. A shriek escaped his mouth.

The woodcutter walked along the wall away from the touch, until he felt a heavy cloth at his face. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw moonlight. He realized that he had found the room’s window.

August tore away the curtain. Moonlight flooded into the room, revealing the ghost before him. He retreated back a short distance and held his ax tight.

The ghost followed him, floating before the moonlight. The woodcutter focused on the specter’s neck. Resting on the ghost’s shoulder was a long chain, and he would have to avoid it. He raised his ax above his head.

The woodcutter struck the ghost square in the side of its neck. The specter howled as the blade buried itself in its body. It rushed at him.

August fell on his back, scattering more dust about the room. As he sneezed, the ghost grabbed him by the throat again. His arms scrambled to grab something. The ax handle smacked him in the face. His eyes widened.

The blade was buried still in the ghost’s neck. He didn’t dare pull it out, for then he could never destroy the ghost. But as his mind raced, he was losing air. He would have to destroy it quick, or it would kill him.

His hands wrapped tight around the ax handle. He pushed the blade deeper into the ghost’s neck. The ghost screamed and tightened its grip.

The woodcutter’s head started to spin. He kept pushing the ax further and further into it’s neck. His teeth clenched together as he strained his arms.

Finally, his blade passed through the ghost. His ax struck in the wall beside them. The ghost’s head floated away from its body. It opened its mouth to howl again, but no sound came out.

The ghost began to glow a bright blue, and it floated up toward the ceiling. The sound of a harp echoed throughout the room. Then the ghost vanished in a flash of light.

August was so astonished by the sight that he forgot that he could breathe again. He felt his eyelids get heavy, and the world around him grew darker. The woodcutter fell asleep there on the floor.

August awoke the next morning in the same room, with the ax still lodged in the wall to his side. His body ached from all the fighting the night before, and his stomach growled. He stood and fixed himself a breakfast of eggs and toast.

After finishing his morning meal, he searched all the rooms of the mansion, but the specter was no longer there. He smiled knowing that it really had passed on to the afterlife the night before. Part of him hoped that the sound of the harps meant something positive for the spirit, even if it had tried to kill him.

The woodcutter then remembered his prior obligation to visit Irving that afternoon. But morning the sun was still low in the sky. So he decided to spend a few hours in the library before paying his new friend a visit.

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The wolf leaped from the driver’s seat and began sniffing his nose along the ground.

“You smell anything, Silver?” Joseph asked.

Silver looked up at Joseph. “Just brimstone.”

Joseph frowned. “I was afraid of this. We’re gonna have a hard time finding this one in this environment.”

“What was this demon’s name again?”

“Saneth, I think. Ernie at the Slayer’s Guild told me that this was a flying demon.”

Silver’s gaze shifted to the horizon. “Oh, that’s just lovely.”

Joseph turned his attention toward the sky, but he saw nothing but gray clouds in every direction. The two of them got back into the cart and drove off.

As the cart rattled against the hard earth, there came a yawn from the back. Ruth poked her head through the curtains. Her orange hair still looked lovely to Joseph, despite the dull lighting.

As she glanced around, her eyelids were still half closed. “Why is the ground all black?”

“It’s as much a mystery to me as it is to you, Ruth,” Joseph said. “Go back to sleep. I’ll wake you when we arrive.”

“Okay.” Ruth kissed Joseph on the cheek and slipped back into the cart.

A smile formed on Joseph’s face, and he slapped the reigns to make the cart increase its speed. The world around them was a wasteland, but the sight of it didn’t dampen Joseph’s mood. The people who still lived in these lands were working hard every day to restore to its original luster, and he was coming there to do his part in this.

They passed by a dead tree that still stood fully upright. Its leaves had fallen a long time ago and been swept away by the breeze. There were other lifeless trees similar to it around them and in the distance.

A few miles down the road they saw a farm. A trail of smoke blew form its chimney into the air. But as they drew nearer, Joseph narrowed his eyes.

He couldn’t see anyone working around the farm, nor any livestock. With the ground made of volcanic rock, he understood why there were no wheat fields, but it would make for a decent dairy farm, provided with a steady supply of corn from the traders.

When they stopped near the log cabin, the windows seemed pitch black, like someone had rubbed charcoal across them. Joseph called out a greeting, but no one answered him. He sat in the cart for a moment and waited, before turning to Silver. His hand rested on the sword at his side.

“Keep an eye out, while I take a look inside,” Joseph said. “Make sure nothing happens to Ruth.”

Silver sat up. “Will do!”

Joseph stepped out of the cart and ran up to the cabin’s front door. It was unlocked, so he entered, calling out another greeting. Again, there was no reply.

The interior walls were all bare, and the living room had a pile of burnt wood lying in the center. They didn’t have any of the usual wear and tear that everyday use brings to home furniture.

A doorway led to a small kitchen, and what Joseph saw there made him pause. The walls were covered in scorch marks. Either someone had a terrible kitchen accident, or they had been the victim of a demon attack.

“Saneth,” Joseph muttered. He left the kitchen to search the rest of the house, hoping to find survivors. The bedroom had been ransacked, with clothes scattered across the floor. The bathroom was in better shape, but Joseph didn’t find anyone hiding there either.

He was about to check outside when he spotted a door near the entrance. It led downstairs to the basement. Joseph snapped his fingers and descended the wooden stairs.

When he saw the mess on the basement floor, Joseph’s stomach soured. He stepped around the fallen tools and broken boxes as he searched for any sign of life. Something moved beside him, and he turned to face it.

In the dim light of the basement, he saw the outline of an imp. It came up to the waist of a full grown man. A long thin tail curled up beside its head.

Suddenly, light bloomed as a fireball appeared in the palm of its hand. The fire shot towards Joseph. He ducked down, and the fireball passed over his head. It landed in a toolbox behind him and fizzled out. He turned back to the imp and drew his sword.

“Where is it?” the imp demanded.

“Where’s what?”

“The staff of Sabhar! Where is it?”

“How should I know? I just arrived here from another country.”

“You lie!” The imp threw another fireball at Joseph.

He swung his sword against it. The ball of flame deflected off it and whooshed past him. The heat was strong against his arm as it rushed past.

Joseph advanced toward the imp. His fingers tightened around the hilt of his sword. The short demon readied another fireball.

The imp threw its ball of flames, and Joseph swung his sword. Steel collided with flame. The slayer pushed back against the fireball. His arms strained under the momentum.

The blade of his sword began to cut through the fireball. It sliced the ball of flames in half. Both parts spun out around him, landing in the debris.

The room began to glow as the fires spread around them, and the air filled with smoke, making it harder for Joseph to breathe. The intense heat made his skin sweat. His eyes narrowed at the small demon before him.

He thrust at the imp. The small demon stepped aside. Joseph’s blade struck the basement floor.

The imp threw another fireball. Joseph held his sword up to block. When the flames struck the blade, the metal became hot. The slayer’s fingers burned, and he pulled back. The fireball shot above his head. He blew on his hand and clenched his teeth together to dull the pain.

Joseph slashed at the demon. The imp sidestepped his attack again, but the blade sliced through its tail. It screamed so loud that Joseph had to cover his ears. His eyes widened when the imp tackled him.

Joseph was surprised by the weight of the small demon. He tried to throw the imp onto the floor, but couldn’t get the leverage on him. The imp brought his hands together over his head. A fireball formed between them, larger than the others.

The slayer took his sword in both hands. He held it firmly above his head as the demon brought the giant ball of fire down on him. The blade began to cut through the fire, but the imp kept it held together. Soon the blade would slip through it, and the demon would be free to burn Joseph’s face.

Sweat soaked Joseph’s clothes and poured down his neck. His arms tired as the ball of flame inched closer to his head. All he could see around him were flames and rising smoke.

He heard a bark come from the staircase behind him. Silver dove at the imp sitting on him. The wolf sunk his teeth into the imp’s arm, and they tumbled into a stack of boxes near the back of the room. The imp’s giant fireball landed beside it, the flames licking the wooden crates.

Joseph rushed into the fight with his sword ready to strike. The imp struggled to pull his arm away from Silver, but the wolf held on tight. The slayer pounded his blade into the demon’s two tiny horns, splitting its head down the middle.

Silver let go of the demon, and it fell back into the pile of broken boxes. The fireball chewed at the debris around it. Joseph turned to Silver and motioned for them to leave.

They ran through the smoke and flames to the basement stairs. Joseph pinched his nose as he ran up the stairs. When he reached the top, he rushed out of the house with Silver right behind him. They stopped at the cart, and Joseph leaned against it to catch his breath.

“How did you know I was in trouble?” Joseph asked in between breaths.

“I started to suspect something was wrong when smoke floated through the open door,” Silver said.

Joseph sat down against the cart and patted the wolf on the head. “Thanks, Silver.”

“Don’t mention it. It was no trouble at all.”

“The imp mentioned a staff he was searching for—the Staff of Sabhar. Any idea what it might be?”

“I’ve never heard of it.” Silver glanced back at the house. “But if it’s still inside the cabin, it’s lost now.”

Later that day, the fire consumed the whole house, flames laping the walls and stretching toward the sky. Joseph stared up at the burning building as he sat on the road beside Silver. His clothes were covered with sweat and soot from the fire, as was Silver’s fur.

Behind him, he heard a shifting in the cart and the door opening as Ruth stepped outside. She stared awestruck at the burning building several feet before her. When she turned to Joseph, she gasped, hands held to her face.

“Oh, Joseph! Are you hurt? What happened?” She bent down to inspect his body for wounds.

“I’m all right, Ruth. I just got a little hot down there in the basement.”

She turned to the wolf. “And you, Silver?”

“Yes, ma’am.” Silver lifted his head. “There was a fiendish imp in the house, but Joseph and I took care of it good.”

“Are you sure it’s dead?” She turned toward the house.

Joseph sighed. “I guess we can take a look in the morning, after the fire goes out.”

After making camp, the three of them ate dinner and went to sleep for the night. Joseph lay on a cot insde the wagon, while Ruth sat beside the bed, keeping watch on the road. Outside, the burning cabin still roared.

Joseph’s mind ran through several questions he had, keeping him from falling asleep. The imp couldn’t have carried out the attack on the farm alone. The creature mentioned something called a ‘Staff of Sabhar’, but no one had informed him of any such object.

Without any way to find answers, Joseph eventually fell asleep. Morning came in the blink of an eye—one moment his eyes were closed, and in the next light was filling the wagon.

He sat up. Ruth slept against the wagon wall. Silver’s tail could be seen poking through the window as he sat in the driver’s seat. Outside, the fires had mostly died down, though the cabin was a charred, broken ruin. Joseph took a roll and a piece of meat as a quick breakfast, before leaving to inspect the wreckage.

The roof had fallen into the house during the night. Sections of the outer wall had collapsed with it, though the four corners still stood. Smoke rose from the burnt logs, and ash covered the debris lying on the floor.

He found the door to the basement, but piles of debris filled the stairway. The slayer waved an arm at the wagon, and a moment later, Silver ran toward him.

“Something the matter, Joseph?” Silver asked.

Joseph pointed to the open door. “Do you think you can squeeze through that opening and search the basement for the imp’s body?”

“Sure, I’ll see what I can find.” Silver ran through the house and down the basement stairs. Joseph heard the sound of crumbling wood from the stairwell. Awhile later, Silver reappeared in the doorway, covered in ashes.

“Find anything?”

Silver shook his head. “There was a large pile of ashes at the back of the room, but that could’ve just been the boxes it fell in. I didn’t find any remains.”

“Which means it could still be out there. I better start driving, before it causes us any more trouble.”

They ran back to the road and leaped into the driver’s seat of the cart. Joseph was about to wake the horse when he saw a figure approaching them from far down the road. His eyes widened when he noticed the two large wings hanging behind the figure.

Joseph got out of the cart and drew his sword. Silver landed beside him on the road, growling. Behind them, Ruth stirred in the cart.

“Huh? What’s happening?”

“Stay out of sight,” Joseph said. “Saneth is here.”

The cart shifted as Ruth moved away from the window. Joseph advanced toward the demon, while Silver followed him close behind.

“Tell me where the Staff of Sabhar is, human,” said Saneth, his voice dripping venom, “or I will ensure that your death is long and painful.”

“I’m gonna tell you the same thing I told that imp working for you. I’m from another country, and I’ve never heard of this staff you speak of.”

“So be it.” Saneth pushed off from the ground and flew towards them, his fingertips lit ablaze with fire. Joseph held up his sword to block.

Fire met his blade as the demon rushed at him. Its wings flapped, pushing it against Joseph’s blade. The slayer held his sword firm against the attack. Beside him, Silver bit the demon on the ankle. Saneth screeched.

The wolf dragged Saneth away from Joseph. The weight against his blade faded. He pulled his sword back and swung it at the demon’s neck.

Saneth grabbed the blade with its hand. The flames along its fingers intensified. Joseph’s sword grew hotter the longer the creature held it. Finally, he could hold on no longer and had to let go.

He blew on his palms and slapped his pants to dull the pain. Before him, the demon threw Joseph’s sword into the ruins of the cabin, kicking up a cloud of ashes. Joseph’s eyes darted around.

Silver dug his teeth deeper into the demon’s foot. Saneth grunted and kicked him with his other, but the wolf didn’t let go.

Joseph ran at the demon and rammed his shoulder into its lower jaw. He shoved Saneth to the ground and punched him again and again with his fists. Thoughout the attack, Saneth kept his teeth held shut.

Saneth made fire appear in both hands and brought the flames to Joseph. The fire burned his back. Joseph cried out in pain and struck Saneth again. Silver ran off.

The flames ate away at the skin on Joseph’s back. Despite the pain, he continued to beat the demon’s face. But no matter how many blows he landed, Saneth didn’t seem even phased by the attack. Finally, he couldn’t take the pain anymore and rolled away.

He lay on the side of the road. His clothes were burnt, and his skin still ached, but the fire had gone out. The demon stepped into his vision, standing over him. It made a ball of flames and raised its hand to throw it at him.

Silver ran up to Joseph and dropped his sword on the ground beside him. The wolf spat out wet ashes, his tongue lolling from his mouth. Breathing heavy, Joseph took his sword with a grin.

The demon tossed the fireball. The slayer swung his sword. The ball of flames bounced off to land beside Saneth. Joseph stood and held his sword between them.

His back hurt from the fire, and his legs started to weaken. He glanced up as the demon formed another fireball in its hand, juggling it back and forth with a sinister grin.

Joseph held the sword at his side and rushed at the demon. Saneth threw the ball of flames. The slayer ducked under it. He thrust the tip of his blade into the demon’s chest.

Saneth gaped as blood flew from its mouth. It held its hand to form another fireball, but stopped, its eyes wide. The demon jumped back and took to the sky, blood leaking from its wound.

The world around Joseph became blurry as he watched the sky. His head started to spin. He turned to walk toward the cart, but he saw something that made him pause.

Before him stood a wizard wearing blue robes that swept across the ground. The old man had a long gray beard that went down to his waist. A trail of liquid ran swirled his hand.

“You must be the demon slayer we hired. I’ve been expecting you.”

The wizard introduced himself as Ozrune and cast a spell to make the burns heal faster, though a full recovery would still take a few days. When they returned to the cart, Ruth bandaged the burns on Joseph’s back. As Joseph lay on the cot, Ozrune drove the cart to his own farm a couple miles away.

Silver sat beside him in the driver’s seat to keep a look out. Ruth sat on her knees beside Joseph’s cot and stared at him with with a still face. As the cart crawled down the road, Joseph kept an eye out through a nearby window, searching the sky for any sign of Saneth or his minions.

Clouds still blanketed the air, giving cover to any creatures flying high above. Anything could drop down there them and attack at any moment. Joseph was determined to spot it before the demon landed.

They arrived at Ozrune’s farm about an hour later. When the cart finally stopped, Joseph rose to his feet, groaning. Ruth took his left arm and held it close, staring up at him with eyebrows raised. Joseph grabbed her wrist with his free hand and pulled it away, then patted her on the shoulder.

Outside the cart, Joseph stared awestruck at the sight before him. Green grass spread out around the farm. A few trees sprung up tall by the farmhouse, each one with big ripe apples of different shades of red.

His eyes traveled to the spot on the yard where the grass ended and the hard ground began. He walked over to it and bent down to inspect closer. There was a thin patch of yellow grass bordering the green blades.

The sound of footsteps came to him from behind. When he stood and turned, Ozrune was there. The wizard had a smile on his face behind his long gray beard.

“The field in this part of the land looks wonderful!” Joseph said. “How did you manage to grow grass here, when the rest of this country is in ruins?”

“Come inside the house, and I will tell you,” Ozrune said.

Joseph followed the wizard into the house, and they entered into the kitchen. Dirty dishes were piled high in the sink and on the table. The floor was covered in a thin layer of dry soil, with a few cloth napkins scattered about.

“Pardon the mess.” Ozrune closed the curtains over the sink, casting the room into darkness. He took a candle out of a drawer, placed it on the table, and lit it.

“What’s with the lights?” Joseph asked.

“I’d rather our conversation be kept private.”

Joseph found a stool and sat down. “I’ve never known a field of grass was so secretive.”

“The grass itself isn’t special. It’s the dirt under it that’s different. You do know the reason why nothing grows in the land beyond this farm, right?”

“No, I’m not. The whole time I’ve been here, I’ve been wondering what happened.”

The wizard cleared his throat. “Many years ago, a small army of demons invaded this land and took over. It took our country’s best fighting men and mages to defeat them, and in the process the land was destroyed. Now we can’t get anything to grow, and our survival depends on traders from other countries.

“The most intelligent magic users gathered together and created a magical device which can restore part of the land. We called it the Staff of Sabhar.”

“Yes, Saneth and his imp both mentioned the Sabhar.”

Ozrune nodded. “Saneth has made it quite clear that he intends to destroy the staff in the swamp of Sabhar. That’s why we placed it in hiding.”

“Why not simply use it to restore the whole land as soon as possible? Then it won’t matter if the staff is destroyed, for it will already have served its purpose.”

“No, Saneth can sense when and where the staff is used. We used the staff to heal the land around this farm, and only an hour later, Saneth attacked this farm. It killed the farmer and all his farmhands, leaving only me behind. I was lucky that another had taken the staff away, or the demon would’ve destroyed it, and killed me too.”

“Yes, I suppose it’s best if the staff isn’t used again until after Saneth is defeated.”

“Not exactly. You will find and use it once to alert Saneth of its presence. Then when the demon arrives, you will kill it.”

“Sounds good to me. So where’s the Staff of Sabhar hidden?”

“I’ll take you there. It’s not too far away from this farm.”

They stood and went to the door. When Joseph opened it, Ruth was there, and her eyebrows shot up at the sight before her.

“We’re going on a short trip, Ruth,” Joseph said. “We’ll be back a little later today. Just stay in the farmhouse until then.”

“Oh, okay.” Ruth’s eyes fell to the floor.

“There’s a set of sharp knives on the kitchen counter in case one of Saneth’s underlings comes around to attack you,” Ozrune said.

Ruth looked back up at him, holding a hand to her open mouth.

“Oh, don’t worry. So long as you didn’t overhear our previous conversation, they won’t have any interest in attacking you.” Ozrune turned to her. “You did just arrive at the door, right?”

“Yes, I didn’t hear a word you guys said.”

The wizard smiled. “Excellent. You should be safe here then.” He pushed past her and walked toward the cart.

Ruth’s gaze followed him, until Joseph turned her to face himself and gave her a quick kiss.

“Like I said, we’ll be back soon.”

“All right, I’ll wait here until then.”

Joseph smiled at her and left to follow Ozrune. When he glanced back, Ruth was still standing in the doorway, staring at him. A moment later, he sat in the cart beside the wizard.

Without a word, Ozrune drove off down the road. Silver stuck his nose through the opening behind them, sniffed a few times, and dropped back down into the carriage. Joseph stared out into the wasteland.

Sometime later, the cart stopped in the middle of nowhere, and Joseph began to worry that the magic users had buried the staff underground. Ozrune stepped out of the cart and walked to a tree several yards away from the road. Joseph and Silver followed.

When they came near, Ozrune held up a finger, smiling. He bent down and pushed against one of several mushrooms growing out of the tree. The mushroom collapsed in on itself, and a large piece of the tree bark fell away, revealing a hollow log. Inside the tree, lay a large wooden staff with a green scepter.

Ozrune took the staff and held it high above his head. The green stone in the staff began to glow brightly. He brought it down against the ground, which shook upon impact. A wave shot outward from where the staff struck the soil, turning it from a charcoal black to a soft, earthy brown.

Joseph bent down and scooped a small handful of dirt into his hand. He let the fresh soil slip through his fingers, before standing back up and dusting his palm off on his pants. Silver dug a hole in the dirt beside him.

“Get ready, Joseph,” Ozrune said.

At the words, Silver froze and stared up at him. Joseph drew his sword and shot his gaze toward the sky. Seconds later, he saw a figure fall from the clouds.

The demon landed some distance away, just at the edge of the staff’s magical reach. It flew toward them and stopped a few feet away. The wound in Saneth’s abdomen was stitched closed with uneven threading.

Joseph held his sword before him as the demon approached Ozrune. The wizard back up and stepped behind the tree, his face growing still. Silver bent low and growled.

Saneth reached for the Staff of Sabhar. The slayer slashed at its wrist. The demon pulled back just before the blade would have severed its hand.

Saneth turned to face Joseph. Its blood-red eyes seemed to pierce through him. The slayer recoiled from the demon, his grip tightening on his sword. Saneth stepped towards him.

Silver leaped at the demon and shoved it to the ground. With Saneth’s hypnotic stare broken, Joseph felt the sharp pain in his chest disappear. He aimed his sword at Saneth.

He brought the blade down toward its head. The demon rolled out of the way. Joseph’s sword pounded the dirt. Saneth threw Silver off and stood. The demon scratched Joseph across the chest. The slayer fell onto his back, his sword still sticking out of the ground.

Saneth turned to face the wizard. Ozrune ducked behind the hollow tree, then ran as the demon followed. Saneth lifted off the ground and flew after him, slashing at Silver as the wolf tried to intervene.

Silver spun to the side and lay on his back. As Joseph ran to him, he noticed a long red scratch along his side, but he was still breathing. As Joseph stared down at his friend, the wizard screamed some distance away. He looked up to see Ozrune lying face down on the ground, while the demon flew away. In its claws, it held the Staff of Sabhar.

Joseph ran to the wizard and helped him sit upright. “Are you all right, Ozrune?”

“I’ll live,” Ozrune said. “But this land is doomed if you don’t defeat Saneth and get that staff back.”

The slayer looked up to see Saneth disappear in the clouds.

The wizard told Joseph the location of Sabhar Swamp, the place where the staff was first created. Disposing of the staff in the swamp was the only way Saneth could destroy it, for if he burned it or snapped it in half, its power would destroy him in the process.

So Joseph set off for the Swamp of Sabhar, with Silver following close behind. The slayer’s body still ached from the scratch across his chest and the burns on his back. Silver looked downcast as he trotted along, but kept pace with Joseph.

They passed by the ruins of a large house on their walk, appearing as though half the building had been eaten by a large fireball. The other half had a second story floor that was beginning to cave in, with a broken dresser lying on its side underneath it on a pile of debris.

Joseph glanced away and continued onward. Sometime later, they came across a man wearing ragged clothing. He was picking mushrooms off a dead tree. When Joseph approached him to ask if he needed any help, the ragged man screamed and fled.

Further down the road, they saw another man who kept his distance. He disappeared out of sight the moment Joseph looked away. The slayer scanned the surrounding area, but didn’t see any sign of him.

When they arrived at Sabhar Swamp, the demon stood by the murky water. Saneth stared at the staff, which stuck upright in the bubbling, murky water. It seemed that the swamp would take some time to consume the staff.

Saneth turned at the sound of Joseph’s approach. The slayer drew his sword and held it before his face. Silver stood next to him, his tail raised.

The two of them advanced toward the demon. Saneth conjured a fireball in its hand, holding it for a moment before hurling it at Joseph.

The slayer brushed the fireball aside with his sword, running at the demon with his sword held at his side.

Joseph swung his sword, and Saneth lit its fingers ablaze as it blocked the slash. The metal began to grow hot again. The slayer pulled the blade through Saneth’s grasp, away from the fire.

Silver leaped at the demon. It stepped aside, but the wolf tore through Saneth’s right wing. The demon screeched.

Saneth kicked Silver in the rib cage. The wolf tumbled away, stopping at the edge of the swamp. Joseph stepped toward his friend. The demon held a fireball to his chest that made him stop. It shoved the fire into Joseph’s right arm. The slayer dropped his sword and screamed.

Silver got back on his paws and rushed to Joseph. His eyes darted between Joseph’s burn and the demon’s claw before sinking his teeth into Saneth’s forearm.

The demon made a fireball with his other and brought it toward Silver’s head. Joseph gasped and grabbed the arm with both hands, keeping it away from Silver.

Slowly, Joseph aimed the fiery hand back at the demon, then shoved it in its face. The smell of brimstone. became so intense that Joseph’s senses were overwhelmed, but still he held on to the demon’s arm.

Soon, the fire in Saneth’s hand died down. The demon ripped its arm away from Joseph’s grasp. It’s face was ashen and covered with boils, but its expression showed no pain.

It kicked Silver in the side a couple times, but the wolf held on tight. Joseph scowled at the demon and picked up his sword and sliced through Saneth’s arm.

The demon screamed. The ground shook, and a wave rippled through the swamp. Joseph held his ears, grunting.

When the noise ceased, Saneth rushed at Joseph with another fireball, aimed right for his chest. Joseph held his sword before him. His blade blocked the flames from touching his body. He held the hilt tight in his hands. The metal started to grow hot again. Sweat began to accumulate on his palms and forehead.

Silver growled and leaped at the demon. The wolf ripped away the thread, reopening Saneth’s old wound. Blood poured out of the old wound. The fire against Joseph’s sword extinguished.

The slayer slashed under the demon’s head. Its eyes shifted to Joseph as blood leaked from its throat. Saneth slashed a claw at the slayer. The wolf bit into the demon’s wrist. It struggled to pull free, but Silver held on tight.

Joseph stabbed his sword through the wound in Saneth’s chest. Blood flew from the demon’s mouth as it coughed. Saneth fell back onto the ground and lay still.

The slayer relaxed his stance, then turned his attention to the Staff of Sabhar. He waded through the swamp and pulled it free of the murky water. On the way back, he held it high above his head. Once he was free of the swamp, he sat down with the staff laid his lap.

Silver stepped toward him. “How long was the staff in there? Do you think it still works?”

“Only one way to find out.” Joseph held the staff up and struck it against the ground before him.

A wave shot out, restoring the soil to a healthy state as it passed. It didn’t reach as far as when Ozrune had used the staff, but it clearly still worked. “Looks like I’m not as powerful with magic as the wizard is, huh Silver.”

The two rested by the swamp, until Ozrune arrived and took the staff. Then the three journeyed back to Ozrune’s farm. By the time they arrived, the sky was beginning to grow dark.

The aches and pains in Joseph’s body grew more intense as the sun sank below the horizon. But they vanished from his mind as he saw Ruth staring through the window of Ozrune’s farmhouse. She disappeared at the sight of him, then burst through the front door and ran towards him.

“Oh, Joseph, your arm is burnt!” she said.

“It’ll be fine,” Joseph said, but he couldn’t suppress his pained grunt at Ruth’s touch.

Ruth gasped and looked up at his face. “Let’s get you inside and bandaged up.”

Joseph nodded, and they followed her into the farmhouse.

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We do everything that we do in order to feel fulfilled, and these people are no different. When you feel as though you aren’t moving towards fulfillment, you get bored. When you feel as though you’ll never be fulfilled, you start to despair. Storytelling (whether through film, word of mouth, or any other medium) is a popular way to temporarily feel fulfilled, and the rules of storytelling are applicable to all other forms of fulfillment.

One such rule is that a story must be internally consistent. If one part contradicts another, only one of the two can be considered true within the context of that story, or else the whole becomes incoherent and unsatisfying. There’s a distinction to be drawn here: knowing something intellectually (thinking that it is true) and knowing something intuitively (feeling that it is true) are two different forms of knowledge. Fulfillment is all about what you feel to be true. If you think that two contradictory events are part of the same story but only feel that one of them is a part of that story, then the story can still satisfy you. The opposite situation (feeling that there’s a contradiction but thinking that there is none) fails to produce fulfillment.

Real world motivations work by the same rule: what you believe will fulfill you depends on what you feel to be true about the world. For example, you can think that eating a whole bag of potato chips won’t satisfy your craving for it; but if you feel that it will, you’re more likely to do it.

Another important rule in storytelling is that every part contributes meaningfully to the whole. Writers often mistakenly put one part of a story (whether a character, setting, or some other element) on a pedestal; rather than that piece serving the broader story, the broader story exists to glorify the smaller piece. You get the uncomfortable feeling that you’re supposed to derive some sort of special satisfaction from the presence of that elements alone, implying that the author has an unhealthy fixation with it. It’s particularly common in fanfiction and sequels written by fans of the originals: they’ll dedicate large parts of the story to telling you how great their favorite character is to the extent that it hurts the broader narrative structure.

Such a poor choice creates an irreconcilable conflict within the structure of the story, and therefore only one side of it can be satisfying (for reasons explained above). The difference is that rather than having a contradiction between parts of a story, you have a conflict over that character in the story. If you feel that the purpose of the character is directed outwards towards serving the story, you’ll be bored and unnerved by his or her conspicuous and narratively purposeless glorification. If, on the other hand, you feel that the purpose of the character is directed inwards towards his own glorification, you’ll be bored by the larger story that doesn’t serve him. You can’t have both.

How do you decide which interpretation to choose? It’s simple: the unduly glorified character is inauthentic. When we praise anything, we praise it for exercising its praiseworthy qualities. Just having such qualities without exercising them isn’t enough for the character to deserve special recognition. If the fastest man in the world never got out of bed from his birth until his death, nobody would praise him for how quickly he would have run had he not chosen to be bedridden. In the same fashion, a character that shows their potential to make meaningful contributions to the narrative but fails to live up to that potential is a disappointment. The character has no meaning. The entirely authentic character fulfills its clear and effective narrative purpose, without the need for special time dedicated to praising it. If the character itself were the entire story, then putting it on a pedestal would make sense; because a character in isolation does not constitute a narrative, this is impossible.

Not only is it impossible to make one character (or setting or whatever else the narrative element may be) truly self-sufficient in this way, but the attempt also gradually makes it impossible to glean satisfaction from the actual story (as we’ve seen). In order to feel as though one character can be a whole story, you must blind your intuition to those aspects of the broader story that the individual character lacks. Because the story needs to use those aspects to satisfy you in the first place, blinding yourself to them makes it impossible to appreciate the story. All that you’re left with is a perverse allegory that provides brief peaks of false fulfillment which immediately recede over the horizon, requiring you to blind yourself further in order to find it again.

Again, the same rules apply to reality. A person can’t ever be fulfilled by their own self-esteem, or by putting anything on a pedestal to the exclusion of the broader context in which it appears. All they can hope to achieve by that route is exponentially worsening self-deception, while willfully losing the ability to appreciate or even tolerate anything good in the process. If you put “feeling full” on a pedestal, you’ll become unable to appreciate or tolerate nutrition when it doesn’t make you feel full and will choose unhealthy food instead. If you put “feeling like a good person” on a pedestal, you’ll become unable to appreciate or tolerate altruism for its own sake. You could become bored, or even despairing.

We can even see the effects of a darkened intuition on both fiction and reality at the same time: look at the most obnoxious, obsessed fanbase that you can think of. Do those fans generally have the same worldview that you do, or rather one that you strongly disagree with? Do they act like adults, or do they start petty interpersonal drama and embarrass themselves in public? Whatever the franchise that they dedicate themselves to, they project their willful blindness of that franchise’s faults (no perfect work of fiction exists, after all) onto reality. Healthy behavior is often beyond them due to this blindness; rather than recognize that fact, they tend to believe that they possess a special perceptive ability that the “dumb normies” or “CHUDS” lack.

This blindness can be reversed, but only by admitting and learning to intuitively feel that the work of fiction isn’t perfect. You’ve probably had the embarrassing experience of getting invested in a show that isn’t very good, but when you try to introduce it to someone else you suddenly notice all the poor writing and uncomfortable moments to which you’d acclimated yourself. You probably said something along the lines of “never mind, this is worse than I remember. Let’s watch something that’s actually good”. It’s all about staying away from the garbage and surrounding yourself with people who have a well-developed sense of perspective.

Whether an obsessive political ideologue, sexual fetish cultist, or whatever combination; this can work on whoever your enemy is if you can get them to shift their attention and surround them with enough sane people. In order to do that, you have to become sane yourself.

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The post on the Shenmue III crowdfunding page, announcing that the game would be exclusive to the Epic Store, received well over a thousand angry comments regarding the lack of a Steam release. Many of the backers demanded refunds. The Steam store page for Shenmue III is still up with the November release date, and the backer survey still lists Steam as an option.

Now, the excuse that we’re given as to why this isn’t actually a bad thing is that the Epic Store’s launcher is free to download. But in reality, the Epic Launcher is “free” in the same way that Facebook or Discord are “free.” The launcher collects data on what other computer programs you’re running and the files you have stored in certain directories. And if that wasn’t creepy enough, Tencent, the company that owns 40% of Epic Games, has ties with the Chinese government. The Epic Store is so horribly mismanaged that, during a sale last month, several publishers pulled their games from the store because they weren’t informed about the sale ahead of time.

We’re also told that, because there’s no ethical consumption under Late-Stage Capitalism, there’s nothing wrong with supporting a company that abuses its workers. Other companies do it too, so it’s perfectly fine!

Shenmue III isn’t the first game to be made exclusive to the Epic Store, nor is it the first from Deep Silver Inc. Metro Exodus was another game published by Deep Silver to launch exclusively on the Epic Store. Deep Silver has clearly learned nothing from the poor sales of Metro’s PC release.

Deep Silver also published Mighty No. 9, another game that was fraught with controversy during and after the crowdfunding campaign. They also own the rights to the Saints Row series, the Risen series, and Kingdom Come: Deliverance. According to Moby Games, Deep Silver is “a wholly-owned subsidiary of Koch Media,” which I assume has no connection with the Koch Brothers.

Normally, this would be the part where I call for a boycott of Deep Silver, but I’m pretty sure most of you already refuse to buy anything from the Epic Games Store. They clearly don’t care that the majority of the gaming community hates their guts, because they have Fortnite’s ten million playerbase. So I have a different plan in mind.

I’d like to take this time to introduce the National Socialist Gamer Workers Party, or NSDAP for short. Our party platform includes mandatory Pokémon breaks during work hours, abolishing all copyright laws, and removing women from gaming and forcing them back in the kitchen. We’re planning on having Lucario make a bid for the presidency this election.

This symbol is now the official logo of the Gamer Workers Party. It may appear to be similar to Deep Silver’s logo, but I can assure you that it’s now a symbol of the right wing death squads. Make sure everyone knows it.

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Joseph crawled across the large mattress and patted Silver on the head. “Wake up, Silver,” he said. “We’ve got trouble.”

The wolf yawned and lifted his head. “What’s wrong, master? You smell something foul in the air?”

“No, I don’t think there’s a demon around. But I also have no idea how we arrived here, or why it’s so dark out.”

“Well, let’s scout around a bit. Maybe we can figure out how we got here.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

The two slipped off the bed and tip toed through the room, careful not to crash into anything. Joseph held his arms out in front of him so he would touch the wall before bumping into it. A moment later, he found it and felt around for the doorway.

As they left the room, Joseph kept a hand on the wall. He felt strange patterns in the wallpaper and thought that it would be quite expensive to cover every room with it. The bill for their room would likely be quite high as well.

Later, his hand bumped into a guard rail. He took a step forward, only to find a set of stairs before him. As they descended the steps, he thanked the hand guard for keeping him from tumbling down the stairs.

When they reached the bottom, the sounds of idle chatter and tableware could be heard in the next room. It was as dark as the room he awoke in, but the hotel guests didn’t seem to mind. Their outlines continued wearing fancy clothing and eating their meals as if the darkness around them was completely normal.

A woman called to him from the other side of the room. As they made their way to her, Joseph wondered how she knew his name. Along the way, they bumped into several tables and chairs, much to the anger of the guests who used them.

Joseph placed his hands against the counter when they arrived. “Hello? You asked for me, ma’am?”

“Yes, I wanted to know what you wanted for breakfast. The ceremony will be starting soon, and you’ll need plenty of energy for it.”

“Ceremony?” Joseph shook his head. “What ceremony? I just want to get out of this place and get back on the road.”

“The ceremony of Dula. He is coming to meet us, so we must prepare for his arrival.”

Joseph raised an eyebrow at her. “Okay, I hope you all enjoy his company. Can you just get me some bread and meat for the road?”

“Absolutely.” The woman ducked below the counter.

Her sudden disappearance made Joseph’s eyes widen. He leaned over the counter to find her, but she was gone. The only sight was the bare floor with a few clods of dirt.

Silver stood up on his hind legs and put his forepaws on the edge of the counter. “Where did she go, master?”

“I don’t know, but I guess she’ll be back. We might as well wait ‘til then.” Joseph turned around and leaned back against the counter.

He looked out into the diners, some of whom had stopped eating. Beyond them, the room seemed to stretch out into infinity. He wondered how large the hotel was. How long would Joseph and Silver have to walk before they could find the exit?

A bright light interrupted his thoughts. He held up an arm to shield his eyes, groaning. A moment later, his eyes adjusted to the brightness, and he lowered his arm. A large bonfire had formed a few feet from the dining tables. The flames came just a foot below the ceiling.

All the guests forgot their breakfast and turned toward the light. One at a time, they each stood and formed a line leading to the bonfire. Joseph and Silver followed them from a short distance behind.

The guests formed into groups of two and began to dance around the bonfire. The flames seemed to grow wilder as they danced. Below them, the floor started to rumble. A roar sounded out.

The fire grew, engulfing the guests who continued to dance, ignoring the fire. It was as if they were unable to feel pain. Then, one by one, they each collapsed onto the floor. The bonfire exploded into a cloud of ash which spread all about the room.

Joseph covered his mouth and nose, and Silver bent down with a paw over his nose. As the shower of ash blew against them, they slammed their eyes shut. Once the dust had settled, Joseph opened his eyes and dusted himself off, but the sight made him pause.

Across the room stood a demon where the bonfire had been. It’s body was dark red, with black stripes along it’s shoulders and arms. A clump of black hair grew from its chin, and two pointy ears stuck out of the sides of its head. Suddenly, the odor of brimstone hit Joseph, and he covered his nose.

“Dula!” Joseph said. “The ‘ceremony’ was a summoning ritual.”

With the bonfire gone, the room was darker now, with only smaller flames as illumination. Dula stepped toward them, pushing tables and chairs out of his way. He towered a few feet above Joseph and stared down at him.

“I don’t know how you escaped the mind control which held the others, human, but prepare yourself,” Dula said.

Joseph reached for his sword, but his eyes widened when his hand passed through nothing. The sword which he always carried was gone. He glanced back up to see Dula closing in on him.

He picked up a nearby chair and swung it at the demon. It grabbed the leg of the wooden chair, pulled it out of Joseph’s grasp and tossed it aside. The chair crashed into a wall far away, where it broke in half.

Joseph tipped over a table so that it stood on its side between Dula and himself. Then he and Silver ran back through the dining area. Dula kicked through the table like it was made of plywood and stepped through.

Joseph twisted and turned around tables and chairs, while Dula stepped through them as if they were doll house furniture. Silver bolted to the counter from before. He leaped onto the surface and peered behind it. Joseph arrived behind him a moment later.

The woman from before materialized before them. Silver yelped and slipped off the counter onto the floor. She held out a paper sack to Joseph, but as he took it, he looked up at her.

Her skin was dark red like Dula’s, and her long hair was jet black. Two tiny horns poked through her hair. Joseph took a step back as he stared at them. He hadn’t noticed her demonic features in the darkness before.

“Enjoy your meal, sir.” Then she started to cackle and sunk down below the counter.

Dula roared behind him. Joseph turned around. The demon had cleared all the tables and chairs. Only a few feet of flooring stood between them.

Still holding the bag tight, Joseph ran off with Silver into the darker recesses of the room, into the void which he couldn’t see. When he glanced back, Dula’s eyes glowed at him.

Joseph and Silver were panting when they finally lost Dula and stopped. He sat back against the wall and breathed deeply, while Silver lay down on the floor beside him. After a time, they looked at each other in the darkness.

“I’ve got to find my sword,” Joseph said.

“Maybe you left it back at our room,” Silver said.

“Or maybe they took it from me after bringing us here.”

They were silent for a moment.

“Still, it’s worth a look just to be sure. Better to only waste a moment checking it than hours wandering around.”

“So how do we get back there without meeting Dula?”

Another moment of silence passed.

“Is there a way around?” Silver asked.

“Around?”

“Our room is upstairs. Why not find another stairway, ascend those steps, and search on the second story.”

“What if we can’t find another staircase?”

“Why wouldn’t we find one? This hotel is huge, so there must be another one somewhere in this building.”

“I suppose.”

Sometime later, Joseph and Silver stood and continued searching the dark inn. As they walked along, Joseph though he heard footsteps, but whenever he turned around, all he could see was darkness. He hoped that what he heard was only echoes of his own movements.

They passed many doors along the hall, all of which were locked. This limited their ability to explore, but Joseph realized that their room was probably still unlocked. On the other hand, this meant that anyone could enter and steal his sword. He quickened his pace.

Silver dashed up beside Joseph to keep up with his master. Soon, they came to another set of stairs by the wall and ascended them. Joseph felt for the hand rail and held it, for the room was still dark. A giant rat met them at the top of the stairs. It’s nose poked around the corner as it peered at them.

Joseph stopped just below the top stair and waited. Silver stood in front of him and growled at the giant rat. It was a little smaller than Silver, and Joseph wasn’t sure if the wolf would be able to defeat the rat on his own.

He stepped around Silver, keeping a good distance from the rat, then backed away from it. The rat was about to take a step forward when Silver barked, and it scurried away into the darkness. Silver turned up his head and followed after Joseph. For awhile, Joseph kept glancing back to see if the rat returned, but he stopped after a while.

They continued on in silence for a time, before Joseph noticed another door along the wall. The door was locked, so he shrugged his shoulders and continued on. There were several more along the wall; he tried opening all of them, but all were locked as well. It wasn’t until he had lost count that one finally opened for him.

Inside the room, a bit of moonlight streamed in through the window. The first thing they saw was the unmade bed, as if someone had just slept in it. He stepped closer to find a few of Silver’s white hairs lying at the foot of it. This was the room they had woken up in.

Joseph scanned the room, but his sword wasn’t anywhere to be seen. Nor was there any object which he could use as a weapon against Dula. The only sizable thing in the room was an oil lamp sitting on the bedside table. It looked too fragile to use as a weapon and would be more useful in one piece—if he could find something to light it.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of scurrying feet coming from the hall outside. He stared at the darkness for a moment, before rushing over and slamming the door shut. He leaned back against it and slid down to the floor.

Silver walked over to him. “Something the matter, Joseph?”

“I think this inn has a rat infestation.”

No sooner had he said that than several rodents swarmed the door. Soon, they began gnawing at the wooden door. Joseph stood and pulled the bed up against the door to keep them from bursting in. He panted and held his hands on his knees.

“Come on, Silver,” Joseph said. “We’ve got to escape, before those rats come and overpower us.”

He rushed to the window and threw it open, but the sight outside made him gasp. The inn was perched on the edge of a cliff. If Joseph were to leap from the window, he would fall down into the rocks and water far, far below.

He turned, slumped onto the carpet floor, and looked to Silver. “We won’t to be able to escape that way, Silver. It’s a bit too far to the rocks below.”

Silver’s ears drooped. “Oh, I see.”

“If only…” Then a small light caught his eye. Joseph glanced past Silver to see his sword lying on the floor where the bed had stood. He scrambled across the carpet, took it by the hilt, and held on tight. He nodded to Silver and went over to the door. A hole opened up in the door after only a moment and a rat nose poked through.

Joseph swung at the rat, but it pulled away. The blade struck the door, making a clean cut in the flimsy wooden board. He cursed whoever had been too stingy to buy sturdier doors.

The cut allowed the rat to easily enlarge the hole and crawl through. Joseph swung along the wall and sliced the rodent’s head off. It fell to the floor below, staining the bed sheet crimson. Another rat slipped through the hole, but this time Joseph could only scratch it. Then another went past him before he could even attack.

“Keep watching the door, Joseph,” Silver said. “I’ll handle these two.” Then he leaped at them. The three scrambled around on the floor, and Joseph returned his attention to the door.

Another rat peered into the room. Joseph split its head down the middle. It fell back into the hallway. The rat paws against the door slowed, but there were still many out there. As he focused on the hole, a pair of teeth came through on the other half of the door. Joseph jumped onto the bed as another rat chewed a second hole.

He slashed at it, but the rat pulled back before he could kill it. But another poked through to his right. He stabbed it through the eye. It scurried away back into the hallway. Every few seconds, another rat would poke through one of the holes, and Joseph would attack it, either killing it or scaring it off. After a while, he began to sweat.

One of the rats managed to slip past him as he skewered another. It bit him on the leg before he could back away. Silver dropped the dead rat he had been fighting and leaped onto the bed. He growled at it before snapping his jaws at the rat. The rodent scurried off the bed and Silver chased it.

A crack in the door began to form, going from right hole toward the other. When they connected, the top half of the door burst open and out poured several giant rats. Joseph slid off of the bed, joined seconds later by Silver who had blood dripping from his teeth.

The scratching against the door ceased. The five rats stared at Joseph and Silver for a moment, before diving at them. Silver leaped up and dug his teeth into one of them. They tumbled across the floor. The other four landed in front of Joseph.

Joseph slashed along the three giant rats. The first, he struck in the side, but they all scurried off before he could cut them. Silver continued wrestling with the other giant rat nearby.

As Joseph scanned the room, one of the rats ran across the floor. He slammed the tip of his sword but it missed the rat and struck the carpet floor. Another darted past and was gone by the time Joseph pulled his blade free. He held his sword along his leg and searched throughout the room for any sign of the rodents.

Suddenly, all four of the rats rushed at Joseph. He fell backwards onto the bed, and the rats ran under it. Quickly, he sat up and looked back and forth to each side of the bed. But then he felt one land on his scalp, and he remembered the hole behind him.

“There’s still more of them outside!” Joseph shouted.

He ripped the rodent off him and threw it to the floor, where it scurried under the bed. Then there came a crackling sound. Joseph turned to see what remained of the door crumbling. On the remains lay two large rat claws attached to long limbs, above which was a rat head.

The wererat stepped onto the bed. Joseph stood to meet him, coming up slightly below the monster’s height. The creature breathed a fowl odor on Joseph’s face. It took all he had to keep from vomiting.

It swiped a claw at him, but Joseph brought his sword up to block. As it leaned forward to bite him, he ducked down low and rammed his shoulder into it. The wererat fell back onto the foot of the bed. He aimed the point of his sword at its chest. Before it could move, he pierced its heart.

Joseph looked to Silver, who had killed a couple more rats and was now fighting another. “Forget that one, Silver. Their king is dead now. Let’s get out of here!”

He turned back to the door and jumped through it. On the other side, a couple rat corpses lay but no live ones could be seen. He heard the creak of metal behind him, then paws scraping against wood. Part of Silver’s white coat could be seen from the moonlight behind him. Joseph and Silver took off back into the darkness of the hotel, in search of some way out.

As they ran through the darkness, Joseph continued to hear a cranky metallic sound echoing through the halls. Finally, he stopped to listen. There was a lurch as Silver stopped as well, which caused Joseph to raise an eyebrow.

“What’ve you got there, Silver?” He bent down to the wolf and saw the lamp from their room hanging in his mouth by a wire. Small drops of oil fell from the metal bowl to the wooden floor. “How much oil did you spill getting this out of our room?”

Silver set the lamp down. “Not much. I think it was already half full when we got there.”

“If you say so.” He frowned and stood back up. “Well, hopefully we’ll find more oil when we find a way to light it.”

Silver picked it back up, and they continued down the hallway. Joseph eventually started trying to open doors again, but he didn’t find any unlocked. Soon, the doors were replaced with bare wall, and he gave up searching.

Not long after, they came to set of stairs leading downward and descended them, coming out into a large room. It was just as dark as the rest of the hotel had been, with no windows to provide any light. They went through it, Joseph keeping a careful eye out for anything. Then something bumped into his waist.

Joseph looked down to see a small wooden table covered by a plain tablecloth, decorated with a couple unlit candles and two sets of dishes. The silverware lay haphazard across the plates, all of which were covered in an unknown greasy substance. They stepped around the table and as they continued on, Joseph held his hands out before him.

He kept along the wall and managed to avoid hitting anything else until a counter appeared. He tried peering over it, but met only darkness. Keeping a hand along it, he walked around the counter until he found an opening and went inside. He felt through the cabinets under the counter until a small box found its way into his grasp.

Joseph pulled out the box and stared at it. Inside were several small pieces of wood, and when he held one in his hand, he realized that they were matches. Quickly, he struck one along the floor. A bright spark formed on the tip, and a flame ignited, illuminating the close surroundings.

“Bring me the lamp, Silver!”

Silver set it down beside him, and Joseph lit it, watching the flame inside grow bright. Then he blew out the match and threw it away. He searched through the cupboards under the counter again, but found nothing else which would aid him.

With the new light to see, they looked around at the dining room. As they walked through the room, Joseph noticed a black char mark near the far wall. He realized with a gasp that they were in the same room which Dula was summoned. They had traveled in a circle.

He placed the lamp wire back in Silver’s mouth and grabbed the hilt of his sword. The two searched for any sign of Dula, walking very quietly. There was another hallway which they traveled down. The first door along this hallway was unlocked, but only contained a closet without anything more than a few brooms. From then on the rest of the doors were locked.

Further down the hall, they spotted a picture hanging on the wall. Joseph didn’t remember seeing any other portraits, but he couldn’t be sure since they didn’t have the lamp then. The painting was of a demon stabbing a woman with a pitchfork as a look of horror passed over her face. Broad brush strokes were used in the creation of the art, giving the painting a rushed look.

As he stared at the painting, he could feel himself being drawn into it. The picture seemed to grow larger and larger the longer he gazed upon it. Soon, he felt grass under his feet and a cold breeze against his face, causing him to shiver.

The demon moved its pitchfork toward the woman, who crawled away. It missed and struck the ground, so he pulled it back for another attack. She screamed.

Joseph drew his sword and ran toward them. He slashed through the demon’s pitchfork, slicing off the sharp end. Then he pulled the woman back onto her feet. Up close, she seemed much older now, almost twice Joseph’s age, and he thought that even when she was younger, she was rather plain.

The demon behind him laughed, and he turned to see a spearhead growing out of the broken weapon. It stepped toward them with the newly repaired weapon raised to strike. The woman clung to Joseph’s left arm.

As the demon brought the spear down, Joseph ran his blade though the weapon, slicing off the spearhead. The tip fell to the grass and disappeared. When Joseph looked back up, the demon’s weapon had transformed into a short sword, the same length as the broken spear.

The demon advanced toward them and slashed at Joseph’s face. He blocked the attack with his own sword inches from his nose. It pushed harder against Joseph’s blade until he fell back on the ground. The woman let go of Joseph and ran away.

He tried to stand, but the demon was over him before he could get fully upright again. It raised it’s sword to pierce Joseph through the chest. It bought the sword down, but Joseph rolled out of the way. The blade cut him along the arm as it pounded into the soil. Joseph spun around and cut through the demon’s blade before he could pull it free.

The weapon transformed into a dagger as the demon held it. It rushed across the ground at Joseph. Joseph fell back and brought his legs up, kicking the demon in the stomach. It vaulted over him and fell into the bushes.

Several barks came from his side, and as he stood back up, Silver ran toward him. The bushes behind him rustled as the demon pulled itself free. Joseph ran to Silver, but when he stopped, the wolf didn’t halt. Silver leaped at Joseph, tackled him to the ground, and stood on top of him.

The grassy field and trees disappeared, replaced by the hallway. The lamp sat a few feet behind Silver, giving the room a warm orange hue, a stark contrast with the dull gray sky from the paining. Silver licked Joseph’s face a few times until he protested.

Joseph sat against the wall beside Silver. “What happened? I was transported to another world.”

“Joseph, you were only staring at that painting. You stood there for a long time, as if it had you in a trance.”

“But, I could’ve sworn the demon I was fighting cut me.” He looked down at his arm, but the wound was gone, much to his surprise.

“Demon? You mean the one in the painting?”

“Yeah! I kicked him into a bush, then you went into the painting too and saved me.”

“No, Joseph. You were just standing here in the hallway.”

Joseph stared at his arm for a moment, before standing back up. Careful to avoid looking at it, he took the painting off the wall, flipped it around, and set it down onto the floor. Then he turned back to Silver.

“Come on, let’s keep moving.”

They traveled down the hallway for some time, the walls seeming to stretch toward infinity. There was the occasional door beside them, but all were either locked to led nowhere. After awhile, Joseph detected a slight curve in their pathway, and he realized that it was taking them around the length of the building.

But finally, the hallway came to an end at a large metal door that split down the middle. As they approached it, the door opened to a small closet with a piece of paper lying on the floor. Joseph stepped inside with Silver close behind and picked it up. Written on the piece were several words of gibberish and a horned face at the bottom which had a long, pointy tail and a tongue sticking out.

A moment later, a rushing sound caused them both to turn, and the door closed. Silver pulled his tail out of the way seconds before it would’ve been caught. Then metal chains clanked above and below them. The room was beginning to descend.

Joseph held onto the wall, and Silver crouched down to the floor. They held those positions for some time until the room finally stopped moving. A time of silence passed, then the door opened. Joseph peered around the edge of the door, though only darkness met him back.

“Another hallway.” Joseph stepped out of the room, and Silver followed.

Several pipes ran along the walls down the hallway, and for a time that was all that they saw. Then dust began to appear at their feet as the room grew warmer. The hallway opened into a larger room where the pipes went up into the ceiling, which hung only a floor below Joseph’s head.

Several crates and barrels were piled around the room, and there were two other hallways on the sides of the room. On the far end of the room stood a large wooden chair next to a stack of crates. On the chair lay a large hardcover book with a strange symbol on the cover.

The tome was heavy in his hands when Joseph held it, so he sat down in the chair and opened the book on his lap. The words seemed as much nonsense as the note in the closet before, but as he continued turn through the pages, they began to make more and more sense. The book told of another plane of existence, where powerful beings who had turned from God resided. It talked of spells which one could use to travel to and from this place. Then it began to describe the world.

It was a world without sunlight, without beauty, and without joy. The creatures that dwelled there reveled in their misery and did all that they could to spread it to others. It was a place many millions of miles away from the Earth, yet the residents envied earthlings so greatly that they’d do anything to shorten the distance.

Joseph could feel himself slipping downward into the chair, like it was pulling him in. He remembered the painting from before, and slammed the book shut. The noise the book made echoed throughout the halls. With a grimace, he placed the book inside a nearby box and looked away.

But as he went back to Silver, there came a stomping sound from down the hallway to his left. He bent down next to Silver and stared into the darkness. A moment later, Dula entered the room.

It held a knife in its hand, pointed it straight at Joseph, and ran at him. Joseph dove out of the way, Silver bolted, and the demon struck one of the boxes. It growled and tore the knife out of the crate, pulling free several strands of straw.

Joseph drew his sword and stabbed Dula. It stepped out of the way, and his blade poked through the box that was behind him. The plywood spilled open with more straw falling to the floor.

It ran at him with the knife again. Joseph stepped aside, but the blade cut across his shoulder. A wave of pain ran through his arm, and he almost dropped his sword. He grit his teeth and tightened his grip on the hilt.

He slashed at Dula. It held up its knife to block, but the weight of Joseph’s blade was too great. The knife slipped from Dula’s fingers and flew away. Joseph cut along Dula’s chest, causing him to step back.

It was dark against the wall on the other side of the room where Dula fled to. But when Silver stepped close with the lamp, Joseph gasped at the sight before his eyes. The demon Dula was unwounded. His sword was useless against it.

Joseph slashed at Dula over and over, but none of his attacks even cut through its thick demon skin. Dula only laughed at his futile attempts at harming him, not even trying to dodge. Then it brushed Joseph’s blade away from his chest, where it struck a nearby pipe by the doorway.

There came a hiss like a serpent from the broken pipe, and suddenly a smell of rotten eggs filled the room. Joseph’s eyes went wide. He picked up a nearby box and broke it over Dula’s head as it continued to laugh. Straw and plywood and broken whiskey bottles rained down over it. As it brushed away a large piece of broken wood, Joseph took the lamp out of Silver’s mouth.

“You were brought into this world from fire, and with the same fire you shall leave it!” Joseph threw the oil lamp at Dula’s face. It ducked down so that the lamp struck the wall, but broken glass and oil poured over the demon just the same. The wick touched Dula’s oil soaked head and lit the demon ablaze. The fire spread from its head down to the straw lying at its feet.

Dula screamed over the hiss from the pipes.

Joseph and Silver glanced at each other, then they turned and ran down the hallway across from which Dula had entered. Their surroundings quickly grew dark without the lamp. Behind them, he could still hear the sounds of fire crackling.

Then they saw a faint light up ahead. There was a door at the end of the hallway, and Joseph flung it open. They ran up a flight of stairs and out into the moonlit air and beyond. After running several feet further, a sound erupted behind them and the ground shook.

Joseph and Silver stopped and turned to look back. Flames licked the walls of the inn. The sight brightened the whole area around them. Then the building began to sink down as the cliff gave way, and the light started to dim.

When the hotel disappeared, they ran toward the edge of the cliff and looked down. The crumbled wreck of the inn lay burning at the bottom of the cliff, but there was no movement under the many charred boards. They continued to stare at the glowing sight, until the waves finally extinguished the flames, and all that was left was smoke and burnt firewood.

The first rays of sunlight poked above the horizon. Joseph found a path leading to the beach below the cliff and traveled down with Silver following close behind. They spent half the day searching through the garbage, but found only a few dead rats lying in the wreckage.

Eventually, the tide swallowed the mess, and they had to return to higher ground lest they be swept into the ocean as well. Later that day, after he and Silver had eaten and explored a little, Joseph returned to the cliff’s edge, only to find the wreckage mostly buried. He hoped and prayed that the explosion had destroyed Dula, but at the back of his mind was always a lingering doubt.

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He heard the paw steps of his canine companion approaching behind him. The animal rested his head on the windowsill and scanned the nearby area. A moment later, he glanced up at Joseph.

“I don’t see anything out there tonight, master,” he said. “You sure that something’s afoot?”

“I can smell it,” Joseph said. “Whatever it is, it might not be right in front of us, but something’s out there.”

“Perhaps you’re paranoid. I don’t smell anything strange.”

“Perhaps it’s nothing.”

“Anyway, I’m starving. I’d think you would be too, considering that we haven’t had eaten since breakfast. Won’t you join me at the dining area downstairs for a meal?”

Joseph finally turned away from the window. “I better go along with you, Silver. The innkeeper might get a bit antsy if a wolf like you were to stop by the dining hall without me.”

“I suppose.” Silver turned up his nose and stepped out of the room.

Joseph shook his head and walked after him. “Lord, have mercy on his soul.”

They entered the dining hall a moment later. Other guests crowded the room, talking among themselves. Near the wall, a man played relaxing music on a piano while a woman wearing a red dress sang. Joseph and Silver stood at the end of a short line leading to the food counter. His mind ran over what might cause the foul odor.

When they reached the front of the line, Joseph finally saw the lady behind the counter and almost gasped. Her orange hair was fairly short, coming down below her ears. It reminded him of the innkeeper’s hair, but brighter and more colorful. She wore a tired smile on her face, which held as she stared down at Silver.

“Good evening, sir,” she said. “My name is Ruth. And what would you two like for dinner?”

Joseph ordered a bowl of venison stew and a piece of bread for himself, while Silver had a steak. As she prepared their food, he wondered if Ruth had met other familiars before. She didn’t seem bothered by a talking wolf ordering dinner. A strong whiff of brimstone interrupted his thoughts, causing him to reach for his sword.

By the time she returned, the scent faded, and Joseph let go of his sword. He took their plates to one of the large tables and set Silver’s steak on the floor. Then he dipped part of his bread into the soup bowl and munched in it. He scanned the surrounding area as he chewed.

At his feet, Silver gnawed at the meat. Others nearby glanced down at the wolf, then up at Joseph and frowned. After a moment, he bent down to Silver and told him to be quiet. Silver frowned at him and went back to eating his food.

Over the chatter, Joseph overheard a faint rustling from outside. He took another large bite of his bread, stood from the table, and walked toward the wall. Silver chased after him, the rest of his steak hanging from his mouth. Joseph focused on a nearby window, where the silhouette of a large animal appeared.

Large red eyes stared back at him through the window. The beast was running toward him. Joseph ducked down below the window. He heard a crash above his head and felt glass shards raining down.

A woman screamed behind him. When he turned back, he saw a canine as large as a grown man. Its fur coat was so black that to gaze upon it was to stare into darkness. The scent of brimstone was so noxious that Joseph had trouble breathing. The two stared each other in the eye, until Joseph had to turn away from the evil gaze.

Then the demon dog ran through the dining area. Everyone around him scrambled to get out of his way. Many fled toward the exits, but a few stayed to try and fight the beast. The demon clawed through one of them, and the other two fled as well. The man who remained collapsed on the floor, blood draining from his chest.

Silver stepped between Joseph and the demon dog, releasing a low growl through his teeth. The beast turned toward them and stared down at Silver from where he stood above him. Joseph drew his sword. The metal hummed against wood.

The dark canine didn’t waiver at the sight of Joseph’s blade, instead shifting his gaze onto the master. Joseph felt as if a knife was against his very soul, though this time he didn’t look away. Then the demon dog bounded at him again, but Silver jumped at him.

The evil canine swatted Silver out of the way, and the wolf slid across a nearby table. Silver rushed through the tables and benches to return to the fight. But the demon dog lunged at Joseph before his companion could return.

Joseph held his sword at a short guard between them. The blade struck demon fangs, and a shower of sparks flew from it. He grunted and pushed back against the overwhelming might of the demon dog. Soon, he managed to shove the demon away from him, though it still stood on its four feet.

Then Silver appeared on a nearby table and leaped at the demon dog. Its eye shifted, and the beast struck Silver in midair with its paw. Flying from the strike, Silver crashed into Joseph. The two went sprawling across the floor.

Paws scraped across the wood across from them. Joseph crawled out from under Silver and stood. But as he looked around, he couldn’t find the beast. It had vanished.

After the demon dog left, all the guests had stayed locked inside their rooms, save for one. Joseph stared at the floor as the workers cleaned up the dining room. He had offered to help clean up, but the staff had graciously refused. Silver had returned to their room to catch some sleep.

His eyes trailed over to the bloodstain on the floorboards. It was all that remained of the man who gave up his life to fight the demon. Joseph folded his hands and said a silent prayer to God for the man. As he finished, he noticed Ruth walking towards him with a mop and pail of soapy water.

She stared down at the spot on the floor, then up at Joseph. “Don’t fret,” she said. “There was nothing you could have done to save him.”

“Perhaps.” Joseph sighed. “Though I could’ve warned everyone. I smelled something foul, but I said nothing.”

“You could smell that thing?” She almost dropped her mop. “Y-You’re a demon slayer?”

Joseph nodded to her.

Ruth made a fist in her palm. “Oh, that explains why you were so close to the window when it broke in.”

“You were watching? Why didn’t you flee with everyone else? You should’ve found someplace safe to hide.”

“But nobody saw me behind the counter, and the view was so nice.”

“Even then,” Joseph said. “You should’ve gotten as far away as you could. There’s no telling what the creature would’ve done if he’d gotten his teeth into you.”

She giggled. “I’m not worried, especially with someone as strong as you here.”

“I don’t know why you say that. He fled from the fight right after throwing me against the wall.” Joseph looked back up at her. “Any chance you saw him leave?”

“Can’t say I did. After you crashed, I put my hands over my eyes, and when I finally got the nerve to lower them, it was gone. Have you asked Geta? Maybe she saw something from behind the curtain?”

“Geta? Who’s that?”

“She was the one singing tonight. I saw her hide when the demon burst through the window, so maybe she saw what happened.”

“Okay, I’ll go ask her. Where is she now?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen her since the attack.”

Joseph’s eyes widened, and he turned toward the stage. He vaulted up onto the wooden platform and tore the curtains away. Despite his search, he couldn’t find her anywhere. Then he noticed a scrap of red cloth underfoot.

As he picked it up, Ruth approached the stage. “That’s from the dress Geta was wearing.”

“But why would…” His face grew still as it dawned on him that the demon had left with what it came for. But why did it want her? he wondered.

He turned back to her. “Well, it looks like that demon captured your friend. We can only pray that hasn’t harmed her yet.”

“Maybe there’s still time to save her. What if we organized a search party?”

“Hmm… If it hasn’t killed her, then it likely won’t for a while. I have a feeling that the beast will be back. Its scent still lingers in the air. I’ll wait for its return.”

“I hope you can stop it, sir.”

“Call me Joseph. If I fall in battle, I hope that you will tell others my story.”

“I will, Joseph.”

“Thank you, Ruth.” He nodded to her. “Anyway, I think the demon might target you next, so promise me that you’ll find a safe place to hide.”

“All right, I will.” And then she ran off.

Joseph smiled at her retreating form, then returned to his room. The room was dark, and he heard Silver sleeping on the rug by the wall. He stared down at his friend and companion a moment, before lying down as well.

He lay in bed for some time, examining the ripped cloth in his hand. He still wondered why the demon had for stealing Geta. What need did he have for such a young woman? The only reasons he could think of were rather unpleasant, so he decided not dwell on them.

Soon, he found it harder to keep his eyes open. He let his hand fall onto his chest, the cloth slipping through his fingers. His energy draining, he fell fast asleep.

When Joseph awoke again, he bolted upright and shot open his eyes. The odor of brimstone was so strong that it felt like breathing through a heavy mist.

Joseph bolted up from his chair and opened the window. Beside him, he heard Silver yawn and step toward him from the rug.

“Something happen, master?” he asked.

Without a word, Joseph grabbed the outer edge of the window and vaulted through it. He landed on the grass several feet below with a jolt to his frame. The odor of brimstone was as strong as it had been in the dining hall. A moment later, Silver landed next to him.

Joseph didn’t say a word, instead searching for movement. The night sky provided little light, and the demon dog’s black coat would make it hard to see. Yet he heard leaves rustle to his right, so he went to investigate.

A woman cried out, so he took off in her direction. His fingers tightened around his sword hilt. Silver’s pawsteps struck the ground behind him, but he didn’t slow his pace.

When he arrived at the source of the sound, someone limped toward him through the trees and bushes. Her clothing was torn to shreds, and blood dripped from one of her legs. He stopped in his tracks long enough for Silver to catch up with him. The figure stepped close, and Joseph’s eyes widened.

Geta fell into him and would’ve collapsed if it not for his strong grip. But when he looked beyond her, the bright red eyes of the demon dog rushed towards him. Silver growled and ran to fight the demon.

As Joseph watched them, he set Geta down against a nearby tree and went to join the battle. He drew his sword and sliced it against the monster rushing toward him. The demon ducked below Joseph’s blade, then rammed headfirst into his chest.

Joseph fell backward onto the grass. When he opened his eyes, the demon stood over him. The two stared each other in the eye, before Silver leaped at the demon dog. It turned to counter, but Silver sunk his teeth into its neck. With a cry, it shook him off.

Silver flew away from the demon, landed on his four feet, and rushed back into the fight. Joseph picked himself back up and held his weapon tight in his hands. The two advanced toward the demon, but when they got close enough to strike, the demon vanished before their eyes.

Joseph and Silver halted in their tracks, blinking, then Silver ran off. But Joseph stayed to ponder the situation for a moment, before turning back to Geta. He called Silver back to him and asked for his help.

“All right, miss, let’s get you back inside,” Joseph said. “It’s lucky you escaped from that horrible creature.”

“Escape?!” she said. “I didn’t escape that awful place. He chased me out!”

“Chased? But…”

Then Silver came up beside him. “What’s wrong, master?”

“Silver, it seems that our foe has another motive.” Then the two of them helped Geta back inside the inn.

Joseph’s eyes were tired as he watched Ruth bandage Geta’s leg. He desperately wanted to return to bed, but the thought of the demon attacking again kept him awake. While he was glad that Geta was safe and sound, her return only brought more questions.

Silver approached and rested his head beside him. “Get some sleep, master,” he said. “Wearing yourself out won’t save anyone.”

Joseph sighed. “I know, Silver, I know…” He patted his companion on the head, scratching Silver behind his ears.

“Come on, let’s go for a walk. Do you really need to sit and watch those two?”

“Well…”

“Oh, you don’t need to supervise me,” Ruth said. “Besides, I’m almost done fixing up her leg. Maybe you can help me walk her back to her room.”

“Well, sure,” Joseph said. “I’d be more than happy to accompany you.”

So the four of them went to the room where Geta was staying. Ruth held Geta against her shoulder as they walked, while Joseph and Silver kept an eye out for trouble. They arrived at the room moments later, where Ruth led Geta inside. As Joseph peered into the room, he saw the pianist slip out from Ruth’s bed so she could lie down. The realization made Joseph look away from the door, down at Silver standing on the floor, who grinned at him.

Ruth closed the door when she returned, then stared up at Joseph, smiling at him. “If you’re tired, Joseph, I could always make you my special sleeping potion.”

“Sure, that sounds pretty good,” he said. “What’s in it?”

Still smiling, Ruth put a single finger over her lips. “It’s a secret.” Then she winked at him. “But don’t worry; there’s nothing harmful in it. It’s a recipe I made myself, and the main ingredient is milk.”

With that, Ruth led the way back to the dining area, with Joseph and Silver following close behind. They arrived moments later, and Ruth went to work preparing Joseph a late night drink. All the while, Joseph could only think of the demon that still lurked out there. How did it disappear right before his eyes? And was Ruth in any danger of being hurt or kidnapped by that monster?

As Joseph pondered, Ruth brought him her special sleeping potion. She placed the cup in his hands where it warmed his fingers, and he smiled. He brought the liquid to his lips and drank, tasting the milky brew and savoring its flavor.

He slammed the wooden cup down onto the table and let out a gasp. Ruth giggled him. “I’m glad you enjoyed my sleeping potion, Joseph.”

“Yeah, that tasted great,” Joseph said. “Why don’t you offer it during the evening meals? I’m sure the guests would love it.”

“I’m afraid that might not be the best idea, Joseph. My potion is so powerful that it would have them falling asleep in their dinner plates. It’s a secret item on the menu, just for those having trouble sleeping.”

“Yes, I can understand why you’d want to keep this a closely guarded secret.”

As they continued, Joseph felt the energy in his body seep out of him. He spoke less and allowed Ruth to talk for longer periods. Soon, he even had to lie down on the bench by the dining table. Then Ruth stood and returned his cup to the kitchen.

Silver slept on the floor below him. He heard the faint sound of running water in the kitchen. The soft rhythm helped him to close his eyes as he lay there.

Then his eyes shot open. The foul odor of brimstone had returned. He had help Ruth get to safety.

Joseph tried to stand, but a cloud hung over his head. The dizziness made him collapse on Silver, who woke with a yelp. The two of them scrambled to right themselves. But they stopped moving when they heard the window shatter.

The demon crashed into the dining area, spraying pieces of glass around the room. Joseph bent over Silver to shield the both of their faces from the glass storm. When Joseph pulled his head back up, his face was burning hot as he stared at the demon dog.

He staggered back onto his feet and drew his sword. Growling, his opponent stared back at him. Joseph froze when he felt the demon’s icy stare.

Silver growled. The demon ran at them, its teeth bared, but Joseph deflected its strike. Bone clashed with metal, as he held firm against the demon. Saliva dripped from its mouth and landed on Joseph’s face, the acid burning his skin. He pushed back harder against the demon, shoving him off of him.

The demon never took his eyes off of Joseph as it slid across the floor. Joseph wiped his cheek on his shirt, and the pain dulled a little. When he glanced up, the demon stood near the kitchen door, growling once again.

Ruth! Joseph though. He rushed at the demon and thrust his sword at it. The demon caught the attack in its teeth and ripped the weapon away. Before Joseph could retrieve his blade, the demon rammed him and shoved him into a bench.

As he looked up, the demon darted into the kitchen, and a moment later, Ruth screamed. The sounds of a struggle came from inside the room, with metal pans crashing and glass breaking. The demon burst through the kitchen door and ran out of the inn. Ruth hung limp in his teeth.

Silver chased after them into the darkness, but Joseph couldn’t stand. He crawled under benches and chairs, but collapsed by the open doorway. Already, Silver and the demon had gotten several yards away. His world went dark around him all while his mind screamed at him to get up and fight, to bring Ruth back safe and sound.

A wet tongue licked Joseph’s face when he awoke, so he pushed Silver away and sat up. The dining area was quiet, and the guests were still asleep. He was still lying in the open doorway. He shivered as the late autumn air passed over him.

With Silver helping him, Joseph finally managed to step outside. It was brighter than when he had fallen asleep; morning would arrive soon. Joseph hoped the demon had kept Ruth alive all this time.

He walked toward the spot where Geta had appeared earlier that evening.

“Where are you running off to?” Silver asked. He ran in front of Joseph, who stopped in his tracks.

“I’m going to kill that horrible creature and save Ruth,” Joseph said. “And there’s not a thing you can do to stop me.”

“Well, okay. But if you intend to fight that demon, then you’re running the wrong way.”

Joseph raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Would you happen to know something that I don’t?”

“Only the location of the demon’s lair. I followed him there when he took off with Ruth. I scouted the place, but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to take him by myself, so I came back for you.”

“Good boy! You’re a very good friend.” Joseph bent down to scratch Silver behind the ears. The wolf panted and let his tongue hang out. “Anyway, we need to get going if we’re going arrive before that demon does anything horrible to Ruth. So, lead the way, Silver!”

With a jump, Silver bounded off in the direction of the demon dog’s lair, with Joseph chasing after him. Neither of them said a word as they ran through the forest, and the smell of brimstone only got stronger. Soon, he noticed a small shack up ahead, which he knew had to be the demon’s lair. He could feel an evil aura surrounding it, and dead vines wrapped around it while mold covered the walls.

The doorway was just tall enough for Joseph to walk through. When he peeked inside, he didn’t notice a single soul, though there was little light to see much of anything. Silver stepped toward the center of the room. His white fur coat stood out against the darkness.

“It’s down here, master,” Silver said. “This is where the demon took her.”

Joseph went over to Silver and bent down to the floor. His face was inches away from the black surface, where the odor of brimstone was strongest. He placed his hand flat down on the floor, and a glow formed around it, lighting up the room.

Joseph stepped back as the floor opened up, leading to a long tunnel deep under the ground. He glanced at Silver who stood by his side, staring up at him, then descended the rock stairs. Silver followed after him, and the two of them traveled into the depths of the monster’s den.

Torches lining the tunnel walls lit the way. The only sound were their footsteps, and Joseph began to wonder if his companion had led him the wrong way.

They soon came to a large room, with soot-covered boards along the walls. Ruth lay several feet away, near the opposite wall. Joseph;s jaw dropped and he rushed over to her. When he made sure that she was still breathing, he tried to wake her.

Ruth opened her eyes and let out a gasp. “J-Joseph! How did you find this place?”

“Silver led me here,” Joseph said. “We’ve got to get you out of here, before that horrible creature comes back for you.”

“H-He never left.”

“Huh?”

Ruth pointed her finger behind Joseph, who then turned around. He realized that Ruth was far from the only woman the demon had stolen, for there were many like her on the other side of the room. The demon dog was sitting among them, staring at Joseph.

The bright red eyes of the demon made Joseph clutch his chest. Silver started growling, and as if in response, the demon stood and approached them. Joseph let go of Ruth and drew his sword.

But the demon stopped at the center of the room and stood there, barking at them. Joseph saw Silver trembling for a moment, then snarl at the demon. “What’s the matter, Silver?”

“We need to get these women out of here,” Silver said. “He intends to slaughter each and every one of them, sacrifice them to his master for some dark ritual.”

Then Silver barked at the demon, and the two bickered for a time, in a canine language that Joseph could not comprehend. The demon’s words seemed to shake the very foundation under their feet.

“Joseph,” Silver said. “That… thing told me why he bought these women down here…”

“Well?” Joseph asked. “What did he say?”

“These women are all perfect for raising the next generation of demon hunters. With their healthy bodies, caring nature, and high morals, their children could easily grow up to be a slayer much like yourself. It is for that reason why he wants to destroy them. They will never be able to take over while the slayer guild still exists.”

Joseph remembered Geta returning to a male roommate who was clearly not her husband. Of course, Joseph thought. Her children would never have the abilities needed to become a demon slayer.

“You’ll never take the land away from us, demon!” Joseph said. “Even if I perish in these pits, there are still many who will defeat you.”

Then as the demon ran at them, Joseph stood back on his feet. Beside him, Silver crouched down low, bracing for attack. Ruth sat up and backed away from them toward the wall without a word.

This time, Joseph advanced into the demon’s attack and slashed across its face. His blade struck it in the teeth, and bright sparks flew from his sword. Silver ran up beside the demon and bit him on the leg.

The demon paid the wolf no mind, for the bite wasn’t deep enough to even draw blood. Soon, Joseph found the energy to push the demon away, across the floor. He ran after the creature and ran his sword along its face.

The demon howled with pain as a trail of black blood sprayed from the wound between its eyes. The ground below trembled with the sound, and Joseph almost lost his footing. Silver started barking, only adding to the noise.

Finally, the demon quit howling and lunged at Joseph with blood still leaking from its face. He held his sword at a front guard against the demon, but it brushed his weapon away. When Joseph turned to see where his sword had landed, the demon drew its teeth around him. He ducked out of the way of the bite just as its teeth closed.

He scrambled across the floor to retrieve his blade, but behind him the demon still attacked. The piercing gaze of the demon still bored into the back of his head. A large paw stomped on his back, burning like a hot iron against his flesh.

With his sword still out of hand, he could do nothing to stop the demon. He reached for his sword, but his weapon was still several feet away. Silver continued attacking, but the demon didn’t pay him any mind.

Then Joseph noticed a figure step towards his sword; it was Ruth! She bent to pick up Joseph’s blade and held it in her hands, careful not to cut herself. Her eyes shifted from the sword to where Joseph lay under the demon’s paw.

Ruth inched toward him and held out the weapon with the hilt facing him. Joseph took the sword and held it firm between his fingers and palm. Above him, the demon held its head high, mouth open, aiming to bite him again.

But Joseph spun and stabbed the demon through the roof of its mouth and into its brain. A slow drip of blood ran over the blade, and the lights in the demon dog’s eyes faded. It soon collapsed on top of Joseph

Ruth went over to Joseph, took him by the hands, and pulled. Silver bit into her skirt to help her drag him out. They soon had him back out from the under the demon and upright on his feet again. Joseph stood there for a time, staring into Ruth’s eyes. Then he studied his fallen opponent who still lay on the floor.

“I must thank you, demon,” Joseph said. “Were not for you, Ruth and I would never have known each other.”

Joseph picked Ruth up and held her. She wrapped her hands around his neck and planted a kiss upon his cheek. He glanced down at his companion, Silver, who grinned at him, then to the large crowd who had watched his battle. He beckoned them to follow and walked out of the dungeon.

When they returned to the surface, Joseph could see that the sun had finally risen above the treetops. As they gazed on the sight, he set Ruth down, but still held onto her hand. He turned and stared at her, her beauty shining in the sunlight despite a little soil from underground.

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