Father

My hand began to warm up as a deep crimson covered my skin. Tenebris looked up at me, struggling to lift his head. He grabbed my hand that was still clutching the knife embedded in his neck. He stared at me with nearly lifeless eyes and uttered a simple question:

"Who art thou?" Tenebris asked.

I could not answer. I did not understand how my body had suddenly moved the way it did, but I couldn't take any credit for it. I knew it was not me who did that. I let go of the knife and Tenebris began to slide down the wall, taking a seat on the ground. He looked down between his legs with hsis arms resting on his knees. He took heavy breaths before speaking.

"Oh son, I-I'm sorry I co-couldn't protect thou." He said as if a lump was forming in his throat.

He looked up, resting the top of his head against the black thread infested wall.

"Son, ple-please forgi..." His eyes widened. "Wait, thou'rt not mine..." He said in a breathy tone.

He stared up at the gray skinned corpse that had been suspended just above him. Though the corpse no longer had eyes, its face seemed to glare down at Tenebris in its lifeless position. With the last of his own life, Tenenris began to cry.

"No, no.. Dahlea, what have I done to our boy." He muttered. The life began to drain from his eyes before he uttered his final words: "Dahlea, protect our son." With that, the church hall stood silent. I stared at Tenebris's lifeless body, then looked at his blood on my hands. I calmly stared at my finger for sometime, feeling that something was off. Then I realized, I was not shaken. I looked at Tenebris, dead as can be, yet I felt nothing. No regret or sickness, not like I have felt previously. I had killed a man, and nothing came of it. It was almost as if I have done something like this before.

I heard softly paced footsteps echoing from behind me. I turned to see Fesha approaching slowly with her bag around her. She continued until she was standing beside me, staring down at Tenebris. The silence brought tension between us, so I decided to speak.

"I guess this means I'm stronger than you huh." I said jokingly. She turned to face me with a serious expression. She took a step back from me and glared.

"Telleth me, art thou the same man I met?" She asked.

"Listen, I don't know what came over me, but I assure you I'm still me." I reassured her.

"Thee once had the eyes of a man who's never seen war. That's why I couldn't ask of thee to fighteth along side me, but looking at thine eyes now, I wonder why thee hadn't aid me in battle sooner." She said.

I stood frozen, trying to collect my thoughts. I don't know why, but something urged me not to tell her about the other person I had seen inside of me. It didn't sit right with me to hide something like this from Fesha, but I couldn't bring myself to do it, or perhaps it was the other person who refuses to tell her.

I sighed. "All I can tell you is that I blacked out, then my body just started moving on its own."

"If that's the case, then whoever thee was in thine past life must have been a god on the battlefield." She spoke eerily.

I decided not to speak on the matter further. It seemed to only bring more tension between the two of us, so I put it to rest and decided to discuss something else.

"So what will we do now?" I asked Fesha calmly.

Fesha looked up at the corpse strung up on the wall. "For now, we must sever the life from this boy, so that he may finally go in peace. I'm sure what has become of him now is far too painful." She said.

I stared at the Tenebris's son, shocked at what Fesha had said. How could he possibly still be alive? If so, I began to question what Tenebris has been trying to do with him. Before I could think more on it, Fesha had verbalized her thoughts.

"Seems that Tenebris thought he could saveth his son with the miracles of his newfound god, but in return, his god attempted to make him a vassal." She spoke.

Fesha walked up to Tenebris's body and pulled the knife out of his neck. She inspected it then raised it towards the corpse on the wall. She closed her eyes in remorse and spoke. "I apologize on behalf of thine father, for he did not knoweth the weight of his sin. May thee be released from thine suffering." With that said, Fesha plunged the knife right into the boy's sternum. The bones made a loud cracking noise as the knife pierced them. Somehow, Tenebris's son looked even more lifeless than before, this time in peace. I closed my eyes and bow to pay my respects. I opened my eyes and saw Fesha standing there, waiting for me to finish. Once I was done we both turned and began walking toward the door.

A question came to my mind. "What are we going to tell the people?"

"From what I can tell, none of them possess the power to cast miracles as Tenebris did, so they may not even have contact with their god. Perhaps they followed him because he was the one blessing them. Anywise, they will indeed abhor us for this, so we shall leave quickly." She said.

As we approached the church's front door, we heard murmuring from the other side, like a crowd was waiting for us. I lifted the large wooden plank that was keeping the doors shut and threw it to the side. Fesha pushed the doors open and sure enough, the towns people were waiting outside the church. They must've heard the sounds from the church and gathered together. They all stared at us as if they were waiting for us to say something. Then, the old lady that had pointed us to the church earlier spoke up.

"What has thou done?" She said worried.

I was at a loss for words, but Fesha knew exactly what to say. "Everyone, heed my words. If it was prosperity ye seeketh, I assure ye that the god ye worshiped would never bless ye with such. We humbly apologize for the commotion we caused, but I promise ye that no peace would've come if we hadn't done what we did." She said loud and clear. "If ye so desire, ye may witness the true, grotesque form of thine god." She finished.

Fesha looked over at me, signaling our time to go. We walked forward and the towns people parted the way for us, staring at us in fear. The child who was once curious about me before was now hiding behind adults and averting his eyes. We moved on and I looked back to see a couple people entering the church. I could hear their screams of horror even from far away. I turned away and looked down. Fesha saw my discomfort.

"Worry not, they shall be fine. They deserve to learn the truth, even if it's gruesome. Healing shall come after." She said.

We wandered off, back the way we came through the tunnel of vines, knowing we would probably no longer be welcomed into this haven. It was nice while it lasted, but we had to continue onward. As we left the borders that the grand walls had set up, I had realized that we never restocked our supplies. Though we left empty handed, it may have been for the best, out of having respect for the distraught citizens.