Secret Unveiled: A Chort

He was nine years old when it happened.

His father was the head of a prestigious family who gathered many soul guides into their territory every ten years. This year was especially happy for their family because the nine-year-old boy had shown that he too possessed the power of an estimated soul guide.
An angel of Weles chose him and he gained incredible power.
However, he didn’t know how to control it. Whenever his father or another guide tried to teach him, he couldn’t get it.
He always lost control of his own powers. One time it opened many gates. Another time it nearly destroyed an innocent soul. He was scared of it. He didn’t want this power.

They said there was someone else like him.
Like him, her power was so strong that it was difficult to control.
She also came from a powerful family of soul guides. Her name was Leontina Ostrogski.
She was older than him. Sixteen years old, if he remembered correctly.
She was supposed to teach him how to control his overwhelming power.
When she arrived, she was wearing a beautiful navy blue gown and her dark hair fell like a cascade down her back. However, the first thing he noticed about her was that her face was hidden behind a silver mask.
She was strange when he talked to her. She stuttered and didn’t like talking to new people. However, whenever the topic of ghosts came up, her eyes would light up and she would start speaking a lot, forgetting about her shyness.

Like every soul guide, she changed at night. Her angelic personality was taking over.

The first time he saw her face, he was taken aback. Her golden eyes, sweet as honey, looked at him gently every time she taught him something about the soul guide’s tasks.
He could never forget the warmth he felt when she reassured him that his power was not dangerous.
She said that, just like hers, it was a gift to help both the living and the dead.
He stopped looking at it with contempt.
He was finally glad to have these powers.
This feeling only grew stronger when he helped a ghost reach the heavenly Weles.
It was the first time when a ghost he helped, had thanked him with tears of joy in their eyes.

Leontina hugged him, happy that he had succeeded.

“Dar! You see? With your power, you can achieve so much and help so many people," she exclaimed happily. "Just as your name implies.”
“My name?”
“Yes, ‘dar’ means gift or blessing, and ‘rad’ means joy. Together, your name means someone who rejoices in what is precious and in the gifts they have received.”
“So my power is a gift?”
“Yes, thanks to it, you can protect what is precious to others. Your power will bring you and others joy. Their smiles will light up your face. You won't even realize when you start to feel happy because of others' happiness.”

He wished such moments could last forever.
He had received so much warmth from her.
He could only hope that someday he would be able to repay her.

Then came the day of the summit.
Soul Guides from all around the country started gathering at his father’s residence.

Everything started to fall apart when, one morning, a messenger arrived to say that the Ostrogski family’s castle had been attacked and burned down.
Everyone was shocked.
Leontina looked as if her whole world had collapsed. It was her family that lost their home.

Making matters worse, the alarm was raised. The watchman said that an army was coming for them.
They should be safe behind the castle walls.
At least, that's what they thought.
However, a servant opened one of the gates and invited the enemy in.
What followed was a bloody fight.
They tried to fight back, but the enemy soldiers were more skilled. Their lord fought fiercely and collected the heads of the soul guides he had killed.
“I have the Weles’ angels!” he declared loudly.

The nine-year-old boy trembled when he saw his father’s severed head.
His father's face was contorted by the pain he had felt before he died.
The boy put his hand to his mouth to stop himself from making a sound.
Suddenly, he felt someone grab his hand.
Scared that it was his time to die, he was relieved to find that it was Leontina.
She took him away.
They walked through corridors, carefully avoiding the enemy soldiers.
When they reached the outside, they tried to go around the moat, but it proved difficult.
“W-w-we’ll j-j-j-jump,” Leontina said, her voice trembling, but she tightened her grip on his hand. The boy looked at her, tears welling in his eyes.
They heard a shout. Someone had noticed them.
Before he could react, Leontina pushed him, and he fell into the water of the moat.

The last thing he saw were her eyes, shining gently as they looked right at him, as if telling him to live. He was reflected in their golden surface.
Her gaze was as sweet as honey, but filling with tears. He would never forget those eyes.
Then a spear went right through her heart.
He couldn’t bear to see it.
He closed his eyes.

When he came out of the water he hid in the forest, hoping to be safe.
But a bulky man found him.
He had green hair and a pair of horns growing from his head.
He grinned at the sight of the trembling boy.
“You're soaked,” the creature said.
The boy looked at his clothes. All that running and swimming in the moat had ruined them. But he didn't care about that.

“Hey, interested in signing a contract?”

The boy looked up, surprised.
“I’ll grant you any wish you desire, but I don’t want your soul. I want you to work for me. Become my servant.”
It was crazy. Was he supposed to be this thing’s servant? Never!

But then the golden eyes appeared before him.

She looked at him gently as the spear pierced her body.
She was the person who changed his life.
She taught him to love himself.
But now she was dead.
She died because of him.

“Is it possible to bring someone back to life?” the boy asked, his eyes full of determination.
“Yes, it is.”
He agreed to the demon’s contract on the condition that the girl who had saved him and whom he had fallen in love with would be brought back to life.

She could save many more souls than someone like him.

However, he didn’t want to disappoint her, so he decided that even as a chort, he would only capture evil souls.

He hoped that one day he could see her happily helping the ghosts and people.

It was only when he grew up that he became fully aware of what had happened.
The demon had orchestrated the entire attack with a certain lord, who turned out to be a foreign count who was terrified of death.

The demon knew who Dargorad was.
He knew that the boy he had found was a powerful Soul Guide.
So he turned him into a chort and used him to transport objects between the world of the living and Selew.

One of those objects was a coffin. The demon strictly forbade him from opening it. He was just a nine-year-old child at the time and this was his first task as a chort. Frightened, he dutifully carried out the assignment.

Over time, his duties expanded to include capturing souls under contract.
As he was also a talented Soul Guide, his power as a chort was greater, enabling him to capture more souls.

He was obedient.

Or at least he tried to appear so while looking for a chance to break free from the arrangement.
To stop hearing that dreadful voice in his head.

He never would have expected to meet her again the way he did. At that cementery.
To discover that she was a doll.
To realize that she was so different from a living being.

And now he had to aid this demon in destroying her.