Chapter 3. Loss and the Beginning

Opening the door, Roland at first was surprised, and then abruptly realizing something darkened again.

- Excuse me, how can I help the Holy Church and the guard? Maybe something happened, gentlemen?

One of the guards drew a sword from his scabbard and putting a point to Roland's throat barked loudly:

"Don't pretend to be a fool, Satanist." Where is your diabolical spawn?

Nearby, a second guard began to reassure his comrade:

- Grimmy, hush. Why are you so wound up then? We'll find out right now, and there the gentleman from the church will decide what to do with their monster and family.

- Hm ~ The guard grunted displeasedly. - So be it. Come on, lead us to him! ~ he ordered Roland.

A guard named Grimm sheathed his sword and entered the house with the others.

- Dear, did something happen?

Eliza was seriously scared when she heard evil voices.

When she saw the priest and the guards who entered the living room, she fell into a stupor.

She tried to open her mouth, but not a single sound could be heard, because she could not utter a word.

Out of fear, her pupils dilated, clothes began to soak in sweat, which began to flow from her as if a bucket of water had been poured onto her.

For the first time in her life, Eliza is confronted with such intense fear. Fear of the possibility of losing his only child, Marcus.

Eliza held Marcus in her arms, wrapping him in a large dark blanket, just to hide him from those evil eyes that only want one thing - to kill this creature, which in their opinion is a damned child.

The priest glanced at what Eliza was holding and ...

He was surprised, surprised no less than the rest.

The guards, Roland, Eliza, the Priest, all of them were very much surprised.

The face of the child that looked out from under the black cloak was ordinary. The most ordinary childish face.

Black hair, brown eyes and yellowish-pale skin.

"This is ... how is this possible?" But we were told that here is not a child but the devil knows what! - A monster with terrifying, awe-inspiring and multi-colored eyes and snow-white skin.

But what did they see in front of them? The most ordinary one-year-old child, the same as all ordinary children.

And then recalling something, the priest opened the bible of the holy church and began to search very earnestly, turning page after page.

- Here it is! ~ The priest cried out, pointing his finger at the page.

A smile of anticipation surfaced on the priest's face.

- What? Do you understand something, priest? ~ Grimm turned to the old man.

- Yes! The book says that the devils with the help of black magic could transform individual parts of their bodies, change skin color, facial features or even completely transform until the complete transformation into a person of any gender.

- And then I realized something! Perhaps this child instinctively, without realizing it, felt a threat to himself and applied the devilish magic of complete transformation, thereby making himself an ordinary person.

"Then, since this is magic, then it can be dispelled, right, priest?" ~ The guard asked.

"It is, but for this we need to take him to the Holy Church and dip him in holy water, after which, before the statue of the saint, read out a prayer for the blessing of the Saint." ~ The priest began to explain. "Then we will find out whether he is a devil or an ordinary person and everything that has been told to us is nothing more than ordinary children's horror stories."

"Perhaps that too." In general, we will not talk about this anymore. Pick them up, go to church.

Roland could not understand how this could happen, why now?

They had no choice but to follow the guards, otherwise it would only get worse. You can not give them another reason to doubt.

Roland picked up his son, Eliza pressed her body to her husband, clasped his hand and, accompanied by the guards, went to the church.

Pressing as close to her husband as possible, the Woman spoke in a whisper: "Husband, what do you think will happen to all of us?"

"I don't know, my dear." To be honest, I myself am afraid of what lies ahead. Leave everything to the will of the gods!

Passersby noticed a priest and a guard leading people to the church, became interested in what was happening and followed them.

At first there were a couple of people, then ten, forty, eighty, more than a hundred.

The number of people following them grew and grew, until it reached almost a thousand people.

Having reached the church, on the main square, one could see crowds of people numbering about one thousand.

At the center of all this was the Bishop of the Church of the Saint and the clergy.

Everyone was interested in what was happening, and while one told the other, and the second to the third, it spread throughout the city that an ancient rite of illumination would be held in order to make sure that the child of the Otto family was an ordinary person or a creature of the devil!

Seeing such a crowd, the eyes of the Bishop sparkled, and finally there was a cry that drowned out the whole crowd.

- Mr. Bishop, I completed the task, I brought the Otto family. You were absolutely right, this devil was most likely simply disguised, and instead of telling the "Church" about it and killing the child, his parents hid him from prying eyes.

"Good, Priest Daario, stand by my side." Now I'll tell you all what we will do.

- As you can see, here, near the statue of the great Saint, there is a wooden barrel, inside which is holy water of the highest quality. Around the barrel, ancient runes are written that will cleanse this child of black magic. I, in turn, will read a prayer for his blessing. After the rite of purification, when the child is pulled out of the barrel, a ray of light from the Saint himself will fall on him and then we will find out who he really is!

May the holy rite begin.

The priest Dario completely stripped Marcus to a goal and instantly threw him into a barrel.

Marcus tried to resist, cried and asked his parents for help.

But what could they do if a guard stood behind them.

Daario put his hand on Marcus's head and pressed with great force until Marcus touched the bottom of the barrel.

The boy began to choke, he was seized with fear and horror. He began to cry even more, losing more and more air every second.

Ignoring such cruelty, the Bishop began to read the prayer - O Holy One, grant us your face ....

The runes around the barrel lit up with a golden light.

Eliza, seeing that a lot of time had passed, and her child had still not been taken out of the water to catch her breath, panicked.

With tears in her eyes, she rushed to the barrel.

- Son, hold on, just don't die. Mommy is already there, I am now. - Wow, ahhhh!

One of the guards intercepted and put out a foot that Eliza tripped over. Seeing this, Roland became furious, pushed the guards standing behind him and with all his might pulled to his wife.

Surrounding people began to shout at the priests and accuse them of cruelty.

Having reached the guard, Roland hit him in the nose with all his strength, which he had at that time.

The blow was so strong that the nose was pressed into the inside.

The guard died on the spot ...

His whole face turned red.

The remaining guards ran to the rescue, who immediately threw Roland face to the ground. Desperate, Eliza could no longer even get up; all her strength left her ...

Another two minutes passed.

The people had already begun to rage, and about to be ready it was already going to break and gang up on the church, when suddenly everyone noticed that the light of the runes had faded.

The color of the runes from gold changed to dark purple.

Thick black smoke fell from the barrel.

All holy water has completely evaporated.

There was deathly silence ...

~ Crackle.

There was the sound of a cracking stone, and suddenly someone shouted from the crowd, "look at the statue of the Saint."

All eyes rushed to the statue.

The mouths of people opened so wide that it was even scary.

It was as if they were drenched in a bucket of ice water.

Complete, pitch darkness covered the minds of all who were in the square.

The body of the statue cracked in half, bloody tears flowing from his eyes.

And the jade stone from which the statue was made changed its color from emerald to black, like coal, in color.

- D-d-devil, this child is a real devil. O gods, save us. Someone kill him, ahhh!

Screams of pain began to sound throughout the crowd. Many clutched at their heads and fell to their knees.

What they got out of a barrel of holy water was not a child, it was a creature similar to a human child. It was with white skin, black hair and multi-colored eyes. But there was something else that the others did not notice.

But Roland noticed.

In the center, on the forehead of Marcus was a small horn.

- Bishop, what are we going to do?

Looking around, the Bishop reassured everyone with a loud and clear voice.

- TIIIIHOOO !!! Listen to me, do not worry. Bring me the holy sword, quick!

One of the priests, a young girl stepped forward and bowed and handed over to the Bishop an object resembling a sword wrapped in white cloth.

"Now, before your eyes, I will complete a noble cause." I will kill the devil, in the name of the gods and the holy church.

A crowd of people burst into exclamations.

"But before that, I would like you to execute the criminals in our city who have hidden the devilish spawn from us." It's time to do justice!

- Let me!

A middle-aged man of strong physique, more than two meters tall, stepped forward. In his hand he held a huge two-handed ax.

- Who are you? "Bishop asked a man"

- Your Grace. My name is Baldor, I am a blacksmith, and also a man who lost his wife many years ago due to the fault of devilish offspring. With all my heart I hate everyone who is somehow connected with them. Let me at least somehow make amends to my wife for not being able to save her. I would like to do justice in the name of the saint!

- Well, good. ~ the head of the church nodded.

The guards led Eliza and Roland to the center of the square, they were put on their knees and forced to lower their heads down in front of a thousandth crowd.

- Son, goodbye ... ~ Roland whispered.

A blacksmith brought a sword and ...

- Nooo! Dear. Damn you, every single one. You are nothing, you are not people. I hope someday you will suffer punishment for the crime you committed today! ~ shouted Eliza.

- Husband, son, we are about to see each other again. ~ the woman closed her eyes.

A bitter smile of helplessness died on Eliza's face.

~ Boom.

The sound of an explosion was heard.