Ronny spent more than an hour moving rubble, but all he found was corpses. When he realized that he was the only survivor, he fell to his knees, sobbing. Demons passed him by with sullen looks. The pain of losing friends was something that the soldiers related to regardless of species.

He didn’t cry for long though. When Ronny remembered the Inn, he suddenly found the strength to move again. He sprinted at top speed, bumping many Demons as he passed. They never lashed out at him though, instead sharing in his melancholy.

Ronny made it into the Warrens, which the Demons seemed to be ignoring. As he approached the Inn, the door opened in front of him. Alice had been waiting for him to get back, “Get inside!” She shouted.

He obeyed and they locked the door with both the key and the bar. They’d be safe there for a while, but that fact didn’t offer much consolation.

“All the other doors are locked now. That was the last o-” She stopped when she saw Ronny’s teary eyes and bloody hands, “Oh my god… Ronny, what happened?”

He looked at her in the eye and looked down again. He sat down on a chair and started crying again. It would be a while before he could talk normally.

Theo came out from the kitchen. He looked at Ronny and in that same moment, averted his gaze. The kid had never seen a grown man crying that way, and the sight of it was upsetting.

After a while, Alice sat down next to Ronny. She didn’t say anything for a few minutes. Theo also sat down beside him.

Eventually, Ronny spoke on his own, “Everyone… they all died. I looked and looked, but… it was just a sea of corpses. No matter where I looked, death greeted me.” He sniffled, “I’m the only survivor… but it shouldn’t have been me! There teenagers working there. They were half my age! Why was I the only survivor!?” He reached his answer, “God! You’re watching me, aren’t you? Why didn’t you save anyone else?”

That was a decent question. He’d survived by pure chance, and not by any intervention on my part. That said, I could have saved everyone there if I’d felt like it, but honestly, there was reason to. As long as Ronny kept getting stronger, his problems didn’t matter to me. And plus, humans died all the time anyways. Saving them only would have delayed the inevitable.

“Answer me!” I’d never seen him this angry. Not on Earth, and not on this world either.

Even so, I had no intention to respond.

“I’ll remember this, god. Don’t think I’ll forgive you so easily.”

Again, it didn’t really matter if he liked me or not. I did own the guy’s soul after all.

He closed his eyes and took a few breaths. His voice was a little calmer the next time he spoke, “Sorry Alice—and you too, Theo. I didn’t mean to have an outburst like that.”

“It’s understandable.” Alice tried to comfort him, “How about we eat? It might help you take your mind off things for a bit.”

“Sure.” He spoke slowly, “We can do that.”

Next to the door were some weapons. Just a club and a dagger, but better than nothing. Alice prepared the apple, cheese, and bread combination they’d had the night before. This time, Theo voiced no complaints. He ate his portion quietly. It was Ronny who wasn’t eating. He just picked at his food without ever putting any into his mouth.

“The food… is great tonight.” Theo’s voice quivered a little, “If you don’t eat, I might just have to steal right off your plate!”

Ronny forced a smile, “I can’t have that, now can I?” He forced himself to eat. When he finished, he stood up and announced that he was going to bed.

Alice didn’t say anything about keeping watch as he left. She decided to stay up all night to give him some much needed time to heal.