There was no moon or stars in the sky to provide even a shred of light onto the desolate night. The town feared to light the streets for that is when the demons began to lurk for new victims.

Helsing gazed out his window, his mind was in the clouds and the image of the terrified pirate trembled beneath him. The body snapping underneath his beast form. He instantly snapped back to reality to shake that memory from his mind.

He saw the demons dressed in dark robes and skull masks of various animals carrying glowing glass spheres with what looked like souls inside, lurking around the allies of the town.

Helsing sighed, getting ready for bed. I hope those demons don’t enter this house. Those demons aren’t helping..they’re just making death unnatural...I blame those so-called heroes who killed Azrail for the state of the world. The world is so bad that not even High goddess Lunis will show herself. Helsing lay in bed staring at the side of his room as he regrettably drifted off to sleep.

Helsing stood in the middle of a foggy mountain range with rain starting to stream from the sky above. He began hiking the rocky terrain as thunder rumbled from above then lightning crackled following the thunder. The rain pelted down on him as the violent winds tried to shove him to the ground.

Despite the chaotic storm, he could feel an eerie presence following Helsing’s every step, every twitch of his snake tail, every breath he took, and every single blink of his eyes. Yet Helsing wasn’t alarmed; he remained calm as if the following gaze was an old friend.

Several feet in front of him a flash of lightning struck revealing a silver-haired, brown-skinned woman looking around mid 20s. She wore archangel armor and had piercing turquoise eyes with a pair of feathered wings on her back.

The woman was constricted in so many chains, and the woman had flames around her body but the flames were similarly colored like the Northern Lights that blazed a winter sky. Yet the fire didn’t melt the chains but only tightened them. The woman cried for help in the most desperate of cries Helsing ever heard.

“ Help me! Help me! Please! Someone hear me! I beg of you! Hear me! Listen to me!”

Helsing ran over to the woman but just as he was about to get closer the lightning struck her making her disappear. Helsing quickly stopped himself before he ran off the cliff.

“ What in Tartarus is going on? Who was that? This never happens. This hasn’t-” He was cut off by the heavy breathing of a beast. He turned around looking behind him seeing the tiger bear beast looming over him with lightning striking behind it. Helsing sighed in the way someone sighs when they expect to have a bad day.

“ Just do it. I’m done running from you. I need to talk to the Boogeyman, and I think I need to face you to do that.” Helsing said as the beast growled then leaped at Helsing and when the beast tackled him to the ground.

Helsing suddenly was laying on a frozen pond in the middle of a snowy forest. He carefully sat up looking around. The blacksmith was surrounded by eyeless beasts that had the front half being hyena and the back half being a horse with three jet black tentacles for tails. Their spots were a haunting bright orange that gave off an eerie glow in the dim snowy decaying forest. The beasts snarled with hungry grins and cackled nonsense as ominous music echoed throughout the land.

“ His fear, yes. Such strong fear.”

“ He fears his insides. Hehe, his insides yes.”

“ Bestest fear to smell and hunt. But don’t screams easies”

“ Come come little snake. Come come for dinner.”

“ Guest! Guest for dinner! Come come guest!”

Helsing stared at them in horror hoping to stay perfectly still.

They began cackling as they drooled keeping fixed on their prey. A deep howl that sounded close made the creatures lower their ears and back away from Helsing with obedient expressions.

Helsing exhaled in relief waiting to see his savior but then tensed at the sight of a four eared Clydesdale horse with two paws on its front legs and giant hooves on the back legs. Eyeless just like the others. Its smoke-colored fur was smooth and thin and was decorated with neon poisonous colors. The coal-colored fur on the creature’s chest and scruff was fluffier than the rest of its pelt. Its whip-like tail had a jagged blade at the end that was stained with blood.

The creature had beautiful silvery reigns on its muzzle but no saddle. It stood tall and proud as it snarled at the smaller underlings bearing its pearly white wolf teeth, making them shrink away into the shadows leaving Helsing alone with the shadowy hazy beast. Helsing carefully stood up and started to back away from the beast trying to be silent then he froze as the beast talked.

“ Do not run, Helsing Damascus Curseblood.” The beast said with a ghastly tone in its child-like voice.

“ You must be the Boogeyman..the fear master..the punisher…” Helsing stared at the creature that had shaggy bangs covering its face.

“ False. I am Fear. I am the Deity of fear. Now come with me and I shall take you to Him.”

“ He can come to me if he wants to see me so badly. He clearly wants to talk to me if he sends priests for me.” Helsing crossed his arms glaring with annoyance at Fear. Then everything fell silent aside from that creepy but elegant tune being played from the mountains, from what instrument Helsing could not tell.

“ You dare defy the orders of my Master.” Fear hissed in frustration and fury.

“ I do dare, and you can’t make me because you can’t step onto the ice. If you could step on it you’d done so already. So make your master get off his lazy useless ass and walk his cowardly self down here.”

“ You spoiled slimy cockroach infested sack of-” Fear was cut off by the music suddenly falling silent. Fear bowed his head to the ground flattening his ears in submission as he ran off into the shadows. Helsing heard a small laugh of amusement from behind him, which caused panic to freeze his nerves and blood.

“ Aww, the wee snake lad is all hiss and no bite.”

Helsing turned around to see a pitch-black large wolf whose height was at Helsing’s chest. The wolf had two pairs of pure white cunning eyes with the left side of his face gashed by a large white scar, two tentacles coming out of each of his sides, and only had one for a tail. The creature was grinning with a crooked form of amusement seeing Helsing so fearful.

“ Y-You’re the Boogeyman al-also known as the B-Black Bea-Beast.”

“ Aye, now yer catchin’ on. After all, you wanted me to get off my lazy useless arse and walk my cowardly self down here. Which is foolish to bite the hand that wishes to feed you, and please call me Allen.”

“ What are you talking about? You want to help me? And you said you wanted to be called Allen...are you, Allen Scott?”

“ Aye I do and aye I am. I’m here to hel-” Allen was cut off as Helsing kicked Allen in the face sending the wolf a good distance away from him. Allen stood up remaining calm, but he dropped his grin and his charismatic charm. Replacing it with a gaze of seriousness and a hint of killing.

“ You’re the reason my family is cursed!! You are the one who started the cycle! You are the reason why so many of my relatives lived out the remainder of their days as mindless beasts! I’ll kill you!”

Allen snarled in annoyance and his right ear twitched. Then all of a sudden black spikes erupted from under the ice skewering Helsing through his knees and shoulders. The blacksmith screamed in agony as an orange liquid streamed out of his wounds and onto the ice.

“ Oh quit yer screamin’ I ain’t gonna kill ya. I did not curse your family, entirely. Our bloodline has committed crimes of all sorts, whether justified or not. I’m shocked Tempus didn’t smite us. Now since you’re done throwing your fit are you ready to listen?” Allen’s left ear twitched and the spikes went back under the ice. Dropping the blacksmith onto the ice. The Boogeyman trotted back to Helsing and sat in front of him. Helsing hissed a little in pain, as his wounds closed up on their own.

“ Wait, you said our bloodline, are you saying..? I…I thought you convinced…or possessed a family member to abuse the family…and it just continued from there…I didn’t know…”

“ That you kicked the face of the man who is responsible for you even existing.”

“ I regret nothing.”

“ I’m sure. But regardless I’m willing to help you, Helsing. Guessing from the kick you desire the curse to be lifted from your family.”

“ Yes, can you break it? Please, we’ve learned our lesson. Also, why would you want to help me?”

“ No, I can’t break it. This curse has been in our well, your family, for so long. Only Azrail can undo the Wrath Curse.”

“ Perfect! Let’s go get him!”

“ Ye know he’s dead right? That brings me to my reasoning for helping you. We now have a common goal. We both want Azrail back. If you bring him back he will help you. May I also add that by bringing Azrail back from the grave will bring glory to our family’s name.”

“ But with the curse gone we won’t be a threat.”

“ Yer reputation will still taint any shot of redemption. But if ye do this your family name will be glorified in songs, poems, and tales that inspire the young ones to do glorious deeds. You will be a hero who balanced out the world. Meaning that your family’s bad reputation will drown in your glory.” As he was talking Allen was walking in circles around Helsing then he chanted in a whisper in Helsing’s ear.

“ Helsing, Helsing, Helsing, Helsing.”

Helsing sighed softly and began to think to himself. I can’t deny this chance...it's very tempting, but he is for Pestsis’s sake the Boogeyman. He is a trickster. I’ll have to keep my guard up. But this is my only chance right now to free my family of the curse and restore glory to our name.

“ Alright, Allen. I’ll do it, now tell me how you benefit from this. I doubt you care about balance, and how exactly do I complete this?”

“ There's no death which means people aren’t having nightmares about their deaths which therefore weakens us. As for completing this quest. There is a way for me to guide ye on this quest, lad. I can coexist in your body with your soul, and you can take me to my grave to get my human body.”

“ Hm...where is your body?”

“ It’s buried in my hometown, Fort William in Scotland north of your town.”

“ Alright, where is this Scotland?”

“ For the love of..hm. Hm! Scotland is where you live, airhead. In the Old World, the land you live in was called Scotland.”

“ I see, well then Allen. You’ve got yourself a deal. Let's get this quest started.”

Allen nodded then cracked the ice beneath them and they both fell into a dark pit. Helsing gasped waking up in his bed and sat up panting out of shock. Something in him caused a feeling of not belonging. He felt as if he wasn’t the only soul in his body.

“ Ahh, it's nice to be in a human body once more. Well sort of human at least,” Allen’s voice echoed in his mind.

“ I thought you had a Hellhound body?”

“ I did, alas a consequence of Azrail’s death all Hellhounds turned to stone thus denying me access to my best friend.”

A small flicker of fury sparked in Helsing’s heart, but Helsing set aside those emotions and started to prepare for the journey. Packing clothes in his beaten-up old satchel and grabbing his Damascus steel sword that had a purple soul gem at the end of the handle along with his tungsten arrowhead shape shield then began to sneak toward the kitchen. He began packing food like bread, some fruits, and other foods into a separate pocket of his satchel.

Helsing turned around, and he jumped a little suddenly seeing Gran standing there with her arms crossed and her brow raised. She gave him a look that a mother would give a child that was stealing cookies at midnight.

“ Where do you think you’re goin?”

“ Gran I’m sorry but I have to leave, I figured out a way to reverse the Wrath Curse if we bring Azrail back to the land of the living.”

“ Who gave you such an idea? The Black Beast?”

Helsing remained silent, staring at the ground with some shame on his face. Gran’s eyes widened, and she gasped as she covered her mouth with her hand.

“ You…You allied yourself with him..? Helsing, he’s a dangerous manipulative puppet master! Whatever deal ye made, end it now! It’ll only end in misery!”

“ A little harsh, considering everything I’ve done for her.” Allen’s voice echoed ghastly in Helsing’s head.

“ I’m sorry Gran, but this is an opportunity to redeem our family line and remove the curse. I’m not letting it slip. I do not care what I have to do or who I have to kill. I will get this curse removed once and for all.”

“ I guess there is no convincing ye otherwise. At least allow me to go with you, and I will let your grandfather know we will be gone so he can look after the shop.”

Helsing smiles softly, nodding in agreement. Gran wrote something on a piece of paper then began gathering everything she needed for the journey.

Once they were prepared Helsing and Gran walked out of the house and started riding north in a wagon they hired. Gran was examining the old world map of Scotland, while Helsing sat at the edge of the wagon watching the landscape pass. He began to lose himself in thought and a feeling of conflict. He felt as if there was a massive war inside his head, and overall he just felt off.

“ The feeling is normal, and Hex is very very territorial,” Allen said to Helsing.

“ I can’t control it so deal with it,” he mumbled to himself.

“ My my did the snake forget his afternoon nap?”

Helsing rolled his eyes in annoyance but didn’t respond to Allen’s comment, and continued to watch the landscape pass by lulling Helsing to sleep. After long hours of travel, Gran gently woke Helsing and they got off the wagon.

They began walking around the town, seeing all of the old world homes still fully intact. The town felt odd. Few animals lurked around Fort William. Helsing wandered around examining the buildings and shops' interiors, but they all were empty. Yet the entire town was loved. Though there was a feeling that they were being watched by something or someone perhaps.

Helsing began wandering toward the edge of town where everything was abandoned and run down. He went into the woods and saw a manor of sorts in the distance, causing a feeling of dread and panic in his heart. He was about to turn away, but Gran was heading toward the manor. Helsing regrettably followed behind Gran hiking toward the manor.

They finally made it to the manor and Gran opened the door which made a loud creaking sound that echoed throughout the empty house. The pair wandered around searching the manor for anything. Helsing went to the fireplace area seeing a clump of strange webbing and some vines covering something. He gently breathed on his blade causing the Damascus sword to blaze with bright blue fire.

“ I’m impressed you learned fire magic, and you have blue flames. You must be very skilled.”

Helsing gently burned the cobwebs and vines that covered the painting revealing it. The painting didn’t look like any painting Helsing had ever seen. There was no paint texture or brush strokes.

“ That my friend is a photo. Specifically, a family photo,” Allen’s snarls echoed in Helsing’s head. Helsing examined the photo seeing a dad with well-groomed hair and a gray and black beard wearing a suit with bright blue eyes. Beside him was the mother, he assumed, with long dark brown hair wearing a gorgeous flowy dress.

In front of the parents were four children, ranging from 9 to 14, two girls who both had black hair and blue eyes both had cute short flowery dresses and they were hugging each other with bright smiles. Then the two boys, the one with dark brown hair and enchanting brown eyes, like his mother. The boy wore a mini suit, standing confidently with a serious expression just like his father. The other boy was smaller than the rest and his facial features looked nothing like the others. He was wearing a suit but it looked much cheaper in comparison to the rest of the family’s clothes and had black hair but his eyes were a beautifully fake blue. The small boy looked tense and insecure, and the boy stood away from the rest of the family. Helsing’s expression softened then looked at some writing on the frame of the family photo that read ‘The Scotts’

“ My body is under the floorboard. Dig it up.”

“ This is your family… Why are you standing away from them? Why are your eyes blue? Were…Are you a misbreed..?”

“ Colored contacts. Now dig.”

“ But you didn-”

“ Dig!” Allen snarled causing an agonizing pain to crash in his head and heart.

Helsing used his fiery sword to rip up the wooden floor. Gran went to Helsing and began helping him tear up the floor.

Then they saw a seemingly mid 30s man’s body under the floor. He looked like the boy that stood away from the family, but his eye was closed. The body was completely lifeless, drained of any color with a big scar gash where the Black Beast’s scar is. The body wore a dark cloak that draped down to his ankles and thick leathery boots. Helsing unwillingly kneeled beside the body and grabbed the arm, then dark energy slithered its way from Helsing into the body.

Helsing then stood up and sheathed his sword in his shield, extinguishing the flame. Allen’s one good eye opened then the body sat up gasping and coughing or laughing a little, Helsing couldn’t tell. Gran flinched but reached her wrinkled hand to him offering to help him out of the ditch.

Allen stood up and got out on his own then he dusted himself off. He went over to the fireplace and shifted through the ashes and the burned wood, dusting off a treasure box. He opened the chest and took out two dark fencing swords that had twisted black metal around the part of the blade that was attached to the handle. Helsing and Gran watch Allen with worried expressions. Allen put on a belt that had the sheaths for his swords. He then sheathed his swords and turned to face them then stood up giggling a little. Helsing swears that Allen’s golden eye glowed a little.

“ Ahh ,it’s so good to be back in my flesh.”

I pray to Pestis that I didn’t make a mistake. Helsing thought to himself.