Miinhart Forest, Desmond, 10416 P.C.

Winter was teasing in Desmond, Todd decided. An icy wind blew through the trees and made the bare branches shudder. As they walked, a bit of snow fell, dissolving immediately once it hit but with promises to return. The gambeson jacket helped with keeping him warm, and after a bit of digging he had discovered wool gloves at the bottom of his backpack, which were a blessing. Bethany was slow in her thick coat, and Jessie had eventually given up on dealing with the child's slow pace and now carried her piggyback, trudging through the thick, wet underbrush with a purpose. Todd let her lead, following behind with the weight of the shield threatening to topple him. Jessie didn't seem to care that he was exhausted. "Would you rather be dead?" she'd snap at him, and he'd clamp his mouth shut and press on.

As they walked, Todd couldn't help but think about Benjamin and Colette. They were both dead, and he wanted to blame himself for it — it had been his presence that had endangered them, hadn't it? If he hadn't been there, this might not have happened. Of course, it had all been out of his control, but he needed to blame someone for the miserable situation they were now in. He had no idea what they were going to do — catching up to Annabella and Stephanie would be impossible. Surviving on their own in the wild?

Well, since he had Jessie, the odds of it were at least not on the impossible side of the spectrum.

There was one question that bugged him for hours before he finally mustered the courage to ask. "Jess... can I ask you a question?"

She was several feet ahead of him, picking her way through the soggy underbrush with the dexterity of a deer, Bethany's added weight hardly seeming to affect her. "Sure."

Todd rubbed his tongue along his bottom lip, which had become well torn up over the past two hours of him gnawing on it to distract himself from the ache in his muscles and the exhaustion that weighed heavy on him. "When Colette..." He could barely say her name without his voice breaking. "Before she died, you told her... you said that the Immortal One would be proud of her, and you said something about..."

"'May you rest in peace with the martyrs of old in Euforemalta forever.'" Jessie sounded much older than her twelve years when she said it, wistful and low in a timeless sort of way. It sent shivers down Todd's spine.

"Yeah, that," he said, stepping over a soggy clump of grass. "Do you believe that? I mean, I thought you didn't believe in the Immortal One. And what is Euforemalta?"

"Paradise," Bethany said, surprising Todd with her first word in hours.

Jessie nodded, glancing over her shoulder at Todd. "Whether I believe it or not is irrelevant. In their last moments you tell them what they want to hear."

Todd paused. "Do you believe in the Immortal One?"

"We've had this conversation before."

"Let's have it again."

Jessie sighed, stopping and turning around to face him. "Look at what happened," she said, gesturing behind him. "Dead and captured, the lot of them. I don't even know how we've evaded capture this long. Where was their god today? Has He so much as lifted a finger to help us? I said what I said to Colette because that's what she needed to hear in her dying moments. Where is she now? I don't know, and I struggle to care." With that, she turned and kept walking, adjusting her grip on Bethany.

Todd swallowed hard, watching her with a strange sort of sorrow in his chest. This girl was so hurt. She had seen so much... she had no hope. She only survived. "What about Euforemalta?" he asked. "What do you mean, 'paradise'?"

"That's what it means," she replied. "You could call it an afterlife if you wanted to. Euforemalta was the original paradise the Creator made for His creation. After our ancestors screwed it up, we were banished to other worlds, imperfect worlds made for imperfect people." Her voice lilted almost melodically with mockery. "His followers believe that once they die, He takes them back to Euforemalta. To paradise." She turned around to him, walking backwards, a slightly crooked smile on her face as she said, "There's no other world of paradise. He destroyed it making these ones. Welcome to Euforemalta!" she declared, wheeling around to continue her march. "Or, at least, its remnants."

"You sound bitter."

"I am. My mother and father are dead and they both thought He'd bring them to that glorious place of paradise when it was destroyed long ago."

"How do you know?"

She stopped, heaving a sigh as she let Bethany down and flexed her arms. "There's a lot you don't understand about the universe, Todd."

"Then tell me," he pressed, clearing the distance between them and searching her eyes. She knew a lot more than she was letting on, and he wanted to know more. He wanted to understand what had made her so cold toward the thought of the Immortal One. He wanted to understand both sides of the story.

Jessie narrowed her eyes at him, studying him. "I don't thi—"

The next moment she was gone. Bethany shrieked. Todd stared in shock, frozen, his mind fighting to comprehend what had just happened. Jessie was gone! He snapped out of his shock, panic consuming him. "Jessie!"

"Todd!"

He whirled around, the shock returning as he saw Annabella just yards away. She was bound to a tree with some sort of block cord, looking more exhausted and physically worn than he had ever seen her. Bethany cried out, running to Annabella.

Todd couldn't think — everything was happening so fast. "What are—?"

"Bethany, get back!" Annabella ordered, her voice pinched as she nudged the child with her leg. "Todd, get her away!"

Annabella's panic frightened Todd. He dashed forward, reaching for Bethany. He felt the wind, heard the rustle of the leaves, saw Bethany disappear right before his eyes as if she hadn't been there in the first place. Todd stumbled to a halt, terrified, struggling to comprehend what had happened. He was looking right at Annabella, but his mind struggled to believe she was truly there.

She was looking beyond him, her eyes wide. "Todd—"

He reacted without thinking, drawing his sword and swinging it with unconscious precision.

'Stop!' An invisible hand stayed his, froze his arm in midair — and just in time.

He had almost removed Bethany's head.

"Always be slow to draw your weapon, son," Benjamin whispered in his mind.

"Impressive restraint, Todd Nathaniel Vinson," the creature holding the child commented. Todd had never seen such a sight before in his life. It looked like some demonic creature with pure white skin and fully black eyes and a long black cloak and — were those tentacles coming out of its back? It held Bethany at arm's length; she was stalk still, her face pale, eyes huge with terror. Todd's blade was mere inches from her neck.

Todd felt sick, even a bit dizzy. Something powerful had stopped him from killing Bethany, and he might have been thankful if he hadn't been so utterly horrified over the close call in the first place. Slowly, he lowered his sword, breathing heavily. "What are you?" he whispered.

The demon lifted Bethany over his head; a tentacle grasped the child, lifting her high into the air. She was too terrified to scream. Todd braced himself, gripping his sword tightly and swallowing hard. Those tentacles were growing.

"What am I?" the creature asked. In a blink, it and Bethany were gone.

Todd took a sharp breath. Something slammed into his shield. He hit the ground hard on his chest, his sword flying from his hand. The grass was soaking wet, freezing his legs as it soaked through his pants. He looked up at Bethany's cry, finding her bound to another tree on the other side of the clearing, kicking her little legs against its stump.

"Todd, get up!" Annabella yelled at him, and he struggled to get to his hands and knees.

'Stay down,' the voice inside whispered, and he obeyed, dropping back to the ground as he felt the wind of an attack whisper over his head. What was it? He couldn't see.

'Roll left, now!'

He rolled, narrowly missing whatever it was that slammed into the ground right where he had been laying.

'Wrong left, but effective enough. Get up now.'

Todd obeyed, scrambling to his feet. His sword lay on the ground just feet away, and he dashed for it.

'No, don't!'

Too late. Todd grabbed the handle as something slammed into his side. He flew through the air, hitting the ground before getting jerked back up into the air by his ankle. He dangled upside down several feet above the ground, trying to gather his bearings. His sword lay in the underbrush just feet away. He couldn't reach it.

The demon creature appeared before him, standing in the middle of the clearing. Behind him, Jessie had reappeared, bound to one of the trees like the other girls. She squirmed hard against her bindings. "Todd!"

Staring at the demon creature, Todd wasn't as afraid as he thought he should have been. This thing was a product of nightmares coming true, and he was dazed and aching. Yet, it was as if the negative thoughts and feelings within him had been muffled, stuffed into a box in the back of his mind — still there, but ineffective. He was simultaneously dazed and focused, terrified and determined. This creature was a Lurker — its true name was lost to him, but he knew Annabella had mentioned it before at some point. Deadly. Dangerous.

And, for good reason, overconfident.

"You ask me what I am," it said, withdrawing a sword from the folds of its cloak. "I will tell you what you ought to call me."

The tentacle released Todd and he fell, ducking to shield his head and taking the brunt of the fall on his shoulder. He rolled to his knees and sprang to his feet, hands working feverishly to unbuckle his shield. The voice in his head ordered him to hit the ground. He fell hard on his back, barely managing to pull his shield free before he landed on it. A tentacle lashed at him, and he lifted the shield to protect himself. It hit the shield hard, knocking it out of his hands before he could secure the strap on his arm. He rolled over, reaching for it, but was yanked back into the air by the demon as the tentacle found his ankle.

"You could call me Death," the Lurker continued, whipping another tentacle at Todd and wrapping it around his neck, releasing his ankle as it lifted him higher into the air. Todd grabbed the tentacle in both hands, panic flaring within him as he struggled to breathe.

"No! Stop it!" Annabella yelled in fury, giving the tree she was bound to such a powerful kick that its branches trembled.

The tentacle released Todd and he fell like a rock, hitting the ground on his hands and knees beside his fallen sword. He gasped for breath.

"However, I'm not here to kill you," the demon said. "Oh, no. I know of one who would be delighted to meet the Deliverer."

It knows who I am. Todd kept his head down, catching his trembling breath. His sword was right beside him, his hand on the hilt, the creature right before him. He had no plan. Terror played every fibre of his body.

'Focus.'

He did, and he saw the symbols engraved in the sword. Mercy. Forbearance. Hope. Peace.

They were glowing red-hot.

The Lurker clearly did not notice. The flat side of the Lurker's sword touched Todd's cheek, and he flinched at its cold metal. "Go ahead, Deliverer. Cry out to your god. See if He will save you from mine."

Todd looked up at the creature, looking fear straight in the face and saying "Where are yours, anyway? Won't they come off their thrones and deal with me themselves, or are they too scared?"

The Lurker looked taken aback by Todd's backlash. It tightened its grip on the sword. "At least I can see my gods."

"I asked," Todd began in a whisper, "where—" he tightened his grip on the sword— "are your gods—" he whipped his sword around and sliced the Lurker's hand clean off— "now?"

The Lurker screamed, the sword falling to the ground with its severed hand. Todd shoved himself to feet, swinging his red-hot sword again and slashing three of the creature's tentacles in one swing. The Lurker screamed again, staggering away from him.

"Well?" Todd asked, braver than he had ever felt before in his life as he picked up his shield and strapped it on his arm with a jerk. "Where are they?"

The Lurker shot all four of its tentacles at him, and he sliced two with his sword and knocked the other two away with the shield. The Lurker was weakening, staggering backwards as bright, crimson blood flowed from its severed arm. It continued to whip at him with its tentacles, but Todd had the voice in his mind to aid him. He blocked every strike, slicing off the assailants again and again with a sword pulsing red. Its heat was powerful, yet it did not hurt him.

"Your gods are tyrants!" he yelled, smacking away its feeble attempts with vigour. It had super speed, he found out, but it was severely weakened, only able to perform short bursts. It darted around him but the voice in his mind seemed to know its every move.

Todd didn't back down. Fury was seeping out of the box in his mind, taking over his senses. Fury not only at the enemy, but at himself for not taking everything as seriously as he should have. He should have pushed himself to train harder instead of whining about it. He should have spent more time with Colette and the other kids, should've taken the time to get to know them. He should have taken the time to get to know Benjamin and all the secrets and wisdom the man had held, secrets and wisdom he had taken to his grave, never to impart to Todd or anyone else. He should have sought out the reasons why these people believed the way they did, the purpose behind their hope and desperation — he hadn't understood, he hadn't believed, he hadn't taken any of it seriously up until that moment, looking right into the Lurker's pitch-black eyes and seeing, for the first time, what he hadn't truly believed existed: pure evil.

All of the monsters in his life had been fake. A mix. Human, messed up, broken people struggling to find their ways in a broken world.

The creature before him, even just a Lurker, was a monster. A true monster. It did not care, it did not struggle with a moral compass, it wasn't broken. It was simply evil.

This. This is what I've been brought here for. To do.

"You can tell your gods I'm here," Todd said, hacking away and blocking every tentacle swung at him, not missing a single one. He was on fire, metaphorically, to match his fiery blade. Every swing was precise, every action fluid. He felt no pain, only the heat of the moment, the confidence, the assurance.

The Immortal One had never seemed so believable before that moment.

Todd backed the creature up against a tree. "You can tell them I'm here to signal their end and a new beginning. The Immortal One's son is coming." Todd stopped his attack, breathing heavily, eyeing the demonic creature before him. It faced him with both awe and terror. "If your gods want to meet me," Todd declared raggedly, "then they can leave their thrones and find me themselves. You can go tell them that."

He was calm. Turning his back on the creature, he looked first at Bethany, then Annabella, then Jessie. Bethany looked awed, while Jessie only looked grim. Annabella watched him in shock. She opened her mouth, but the voice inside of him had already spoken the warning. Todd whipped around, blocking the creature's attack with his shield and taking off its head without a single thought. The Lurker crumpled to the ground.

"Or don't," Todd whispered, breathless. He turned away, looking around the clearing again. The daze was setting in. The boxed up feelings in his mind — the pain, the exhaustion, the fear — they were fighting to break loose, held back by the adrenaline of the moment.

'Well done, Deliverer,' the voice in his mind whispered.

"Todd..." Annabella was staring at him, as pale as the snow that still gently fell, her dark eyes full of wonder and fear. And... admiration? "You... you just killed a Velniasol."

Her words burst the dam that held the exhaustion back. It was like a bucket of bricks had been dumped on his shoulders. "Oh, that's what they're called," he managed to say, his voice lighter than he felt. He took one step and collapsed to the ground.