God

As soon as Alexander found out that Vicky and Mark were missing, he immediately increased the speed he killed the fairies since he didn't have anyone to protect anymore.

After a while, Alexander killed every single fairy in the cave, but no matter how much he looked, he couldn't find them.

He walked up to Hans and they started talking.

"How is Ren?"

Hans shook his head "He looks fine but he has a mark just like Vicky's on the back of his neck"

"We should leave now before his condition worsens and we still have to find the other two"

Alexander didn't forget to bury Leny's body but curiously he didn't find Anna's body anywhere.

Did the fairies eat her? Or did they throw her away somewhere?

But in the middle of the fight? He had seen her body before with a large hole in her chest.

After a while, he didn't think about it anymore. They searched the whole cave but didn't find anything. Hans was carrying Ren on his back as they climbed up the hole to the surface.

"I apologize for not being able to help you" Alexander said to Ren.

Ren smiled weakly on Hans' back.

"Are your wounds healing?"

"...No"

They reached the surface where everything they could see was trees and dirt.

Leny died.

Anna died.

The only person who survived this ordeal is Ren.

And the one responsible for their deaths was Hans or at least he blamed himself for it. If he didn't stop Alexander at that time they may all have survived.

For a long time, they stayed silent, listening to the waves crashing against the rocks below as they walked up the river towards the village.

When they arrived, there was already someone waiting for them. It was the village chief, he was the only one in the village who could understand their language.

"You've come back" The chief looked at them with peaceful and calm eyes.

"Yes… We need help to heal my friend, he has the mark on his neck"

"Please bring him inside my house"

Alexander and Hans followed the chief into his home.

Even though it was the biggest wooden house in the village, there was no one inside.

A fire was lit in the hearth. There was also food on the table, although it was old. They sat down on a bench near the fireplace after placing Ren on the bed.

The chief examined Ren for a few seconds.

"The wounds around his body can be healed. I'll prepare some medicine for him. But the mark on his neck is more than just an injury, it's poison"

"Can you remove it?"

"…I'm sorry but I can't cure such poison anymore"

"Agh!" Ren opened his eyes for a second and screamed in pain. Then he fainted again.

Time was something they didn't have, Ren's life was at risk.

"Where do we get them? You told me you've already dealt with something like this before"

"Yes, in the past I've been able to cure it but I don't have the ingredient anymore. And I can't get it now because it's in an extremely dangerous place"

"What do we do?" Hans asked Alexander, he was really worried.

"We'll go look for the ingredient. Tell us where it is"

"There is only one ingredient but it's not an herb, it's the heart of a monster. You will only find it on the highest point of the mountain in the snow"

"How did you get it before?"

"We waited until it laid eggs and killed the babies... It's a big white lizard, you can't miss it once you've seen one"

"..."

Alexander thought for a second and turned to leave the village to find the ingredient. But the chief stopped him.

"Even if you can kill the monster, you can't take the heart out barehanded. It's highly poisonous and you might die if you don't have any protection. I have something here but it will take a while to prepare"

Alexander nodded and went out of the house.

"Is it okay for him to go alone?"

"It's fine" Hans was really worried about Ren so he stayed in the house to look after him.

The villagers were preparing a feast. It was a tradition to offer a feast to the gods every day.

Alexander sat at the top of a house looking at them burning food and dancing around the fire.

He noticed that all the women danced in circles around the fire as the men watched them. A man was leading a drum by beating it hard.

The drums sounded very loud from where he stood. As the song ended, the men took turns hitting each other with clubs. After a few hits, they fell down unconscious.

Alexander turned away from the celebration. He couldn't understand why they were doing this, it felt really stupid to him.

Around two hours passed and Alexander kept trying to make sense of what he was seeing when Hans appeared on the roof as well.

The chief calmed him down saying that the poison would take around 24 hours to manifest.

Hans sat beside him as he looked at the villagers.

The sun rose above the horizon, and the celebration continued.

Alexander and Hans both stared at the celebration without saying anything.

"It's beautiful isn't it?" Hans said but Alexander had absolutely no clue of what he was talking about.

"I don't see anything"

"...oh" Hans was embarrassed for speaking out loud. I guess he got too comfortable with Alexander since he wasn't like the other vampires who despised humans or viewed them as food.

"..." Alexander stared at him still waiting for an answer.

"...well, it's just. They have something to believe. A god or gods, with traditions and costumes that brings comfort and safety to their minds. It's what religion is about"

"I met some religious people before and they didn't look like this. They tried to kill me the moment they saw me"

"I don't know what to say about that, I wasn't there to see what exactly happened, but here... The belief these people have helps them survive and helps keep their minds at ease no matter what happens. It's a pillar inside their minds that they use to fight against the cold, the heat, and the monsters"

"How? I don't understand"

"They are small, bad things happen. They fear for their lives every single day, maybe they won't have enough food that day, maybe some monster will come and kill them all, or maybe it already happened and their friends and family died. Some people aren't strong enough to simply... accept it, or live with all this fear and sadness. So they believe, and they believe so much that it makes the fear disappear. Each offering, each ritual, each prayer, every single thing makes them believe more and more... And that's just beautiful to me"

Hans got embarrassed from talking so much. This was the first time he could talk about it with someone for so long and don't get laughed at.

Then he saw Alexander's eyes change as he looked at the villagers.

"..."

Alexander didn't say anything but Hans knew that he understood way more than he could see.