A bed

 It was an indescribable sensation as Hāto battled against the ghosts of the fallen, but one thing remained constant amidst the vague feeling he perceived. It was pain. 

"Aaaaaah!"

 A howl of absolute torment escaped his lips, little different from the last hundred. It was short-lived but managed to encompass all of his suffering. Yes, his suffering.

Why am I suffering?

 Hāto wondered. Within him a spiritual battle waged on. 

 In the beginning, Hāto had spoken with three ghosts, but that fact didn't affect the number in the scale of his battle. Instead, he was forced to fight more than a hundred ghosts. He didn't know much about spiritual warfare, but Hāto was positive he was losing. 

 When surrounded by nothing but the malicious intent of the dead, Hāto himself slowly beginning to drown in it. 

Why?

 What little sense of self he still held onto had nothing to be but wallow in the regret of his choices. Understandably, he had done nothing wrong, but here he was still paying a price. Was the world so unfair?

 Just as he stood lost in thought, the last remains of his consciousness slowly began to unravel. It made for quite an experience. If before his soul battle felt excruciating, now he felt nothing but euphoria.

 This was it. Death. His short life had finally come to an end. 

 In Hāto's last moments of consciousness he felt something living beings were not supposed to perceive, perhaps because their souls were safe in their bodies or because of some other binding rule. However, at that moment Hāto felt the vague outline of his soul. It was nothing particularly enlightening, but it was important. 

 After realizing the form of his soul, everything clicked in place. Hāto knew what to do, and how to do it. He also knew he had to do it fast too, lest he risk his soul being corrupted. 

***

 The chirping of birds could be heard as the sun rose through the sky signaling dawn. The ball of light rose and shone on all, good and bad regardless of the people thought of its unfairness. 

 A series of violent coughs were heard for some seconds before the picturesque environment regained it's usual silence.

 Hāto lay on his back watching the rising sun. He found it hard to live after a battle with ghosts, but that wasn't all. He pondered over the details of his encounter, what he felt. The malice of the ghosts, and his soul.

 During the course of the night he slowly won the fight, but not without risk.

 Hāto didn't know what his soul looked like, but he knew what it felt like. Seeing how he wasn't an exorcist or something of the like he had never had a chance to compare several souls, but if one thing stood out about his, it was that it was vast, incredibly so.

After realizing the outline of his soul, he went on the offensive in the only way he thought possible. After comprehending the size of his soul, and realizing it was vast even in the multitude of ghosts, Hāto did exactly what had been done to him. He pressured the souls of the fallen with his emotions, his passion, continuing without stop until they were swallowed, consumed, devoured by nothing but emptiness.

 Now he stood naked in the meadows that lay inside the fence with the monastery in sight. 

[Master.]

[Mas...]

[...Ter.]

 A smile spread across Hāto's face as he heard the familiar voices of the ghosts only this time without them overlapping with notes of violence.

 Sometime after losing their battle the ghosts had become complacent. With their desire for murder gone they were just as lifeless as they were supposed to be, at least that was how it was supposed to be.

[Mas...]

[...Ter.]

[Master.]

 The ghosts seemed to be full of live and found some solace in addressing Hāto as their master. Not that Hāto minded being master over the undead. He had beaten... Earned their loyalty fair and square.

All things considered, things turned out all right.

[If I may ask, how does a living human posses a soul so vast?]

[...Vast...]

[...Soul...]

Hell if I know.

 Hāto also found it unnerving how he heard voices directly in his head without finding a source. He also wondered if his telepathic link with the undead ran both ways.

"Yo, ghosts. Can you hear my thoughts like I hear yours?"

[Rest assured, we are unable to hear your thoughts.]

[...Rest...]

[...Thoughts...]

"Good. Good. Now about our conversation last light. Do you mind if I use your house for a while?"

 During the night was one thing, but Hāto felt insecure being naked outside. It just wasn't he. He wasn't a pervert.

[We are powerless to resist you now, but yes. I do appreciate you asking.]

[...We...]

[...Asking...]

 The disjointed voices were starting to get old.

 Hāto rose on his feet and made his way past the creeking door of the monastery. The insides were modelled in such a way that sunlight penetrated and illuminated every corner. 

 There were large halls that seemed like they were used for sermons or something of the sort. There were dining halls containing remnants of bygone times, with tables lined with dishes that had what was once food on it. Now the sight of mold was all one could see.

Such a sad thing.

 The rooms were by far the most attractive. At least to Hāto, beauty as they said was relative. And the dusty old rooms looked beautiful to Hāto, why? Because they had a bed. An actual bed.

"What happened here ghosts?"

 A long silence echoed in one of the many bedrooms where Hāto stood making him feel as if he had spoken to himself, but then he heard a voice.

[Human greed was what happened.]

[Human...]

[...Greed...]

 Plopping down onto the soft sheets of the bed Hāto, looked at the ceiling above him. He was on the second floor now and for some reason he felt nostalgic. Well of course he did, he was sleeping in a bed.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

[Do I have to?]

[...Have...]

[...To...]

 Hāto felt the place probably had a dark history to it. He wasn't sure, but there had to be something if there were ghosts involved. After all ghosts only came from people, however he was simply too tired to think about any of that at the moment. 

 Hāto's eyes suddenly felt heavy. The exhaustion of his days in the wilderness coupled with his battle with the ghosts had caught up with him and now there was no escaping it. Thankfully, he had a bed.