"Hurry, children, keep running! We're almost at the hut—"
Those were Sister Olit's last words before her headless body fell to the grass.
We all froze. From the dark trees, the nightmarish monster stepped into the moonlight, dragging Olit's torn body by its blood-soaked claws. It didn't stop there; it unleashed a terrifying, earth-shattering scream that tore through the silent night, carried by the wind to Lord Albert on the other side of the farm.
"What is that? Did you hear a monster's scream near the forest? The children!" Albert roared, lightning dancing around his body.
The man in the elegant suit smiled coldly, dusting off his sleeve. "Yes. I sent three monsters to surround the place, and it seems the second one has found its prey."
"What have you done, you bastard?!"
"Don't worry, it won't hurt them... unless they move. Isn't that fair?" The man laughed mockingly.
"I must go to them—" Albert lunged, but before he could take a single step, the ground erupted beneath him. A massive cage made of cursed bones sprang up, trapping him inside.
"Your problem with me isn't over yet, Lord Albert. Did you think I would let you leave so easily?"
Meanwhile, terror gripped the children's hearts in the forest. Sixty children, trembling like leaves. They quickly realized the cruel rule: any movement meant death.
But children's fear cannot be controlled. One stepped back, and in the blink of an eye, the monster's claw pierced him. Another screamed and tried to run, only to be crushed beneath its foot.
And me? I, Olaf, the butcher who had terrified an entire world... I was frozen in place. I wasn't afraid of the monster; I was terrified of dying. If I died now, I would return to those chains, to the fires of the Eighth Gate. I watched them die one after another, completely paralyzed.
Dave and Charles, two of the oldest children, couldn't bear watching the massacre. Charles screamed in rage and rushed at the monster in a desperate attempt to distract it. The beast lunged at him with a lethal claw, but Dave threw himself in at the last second, pushing his brother away.
Schlack!
The claw pierced completely through Dave's body.
"Dave!" Charles screamed, his voice tearing his throat as he watched his brother—perhaps the only one who shared the orphanage's secrets with Albert—dangling in the air like a broken doll. The monster tossed Dave's lifeless body aside, and Charles charged at it with an even faster, more furious attack. But what could a boy who hadn't mastered his magic yet do against such a nightmare? With a single, careless swipe, the monster sent him flying into a massive rock, knocking him unconscious.
And the massacre continued.
Amidst this horror, that ancient, dark voice echoed in my mind:
"Look at this trembling chick. What are you afraid of, Olaf? The monster? Or returning to Hell? Where is your arrogance?"
"Shut up..." I whispered inwardly, my breath catching.
"I brought you the solution. Look closely... the power of the Eighth Gate is in your hands. If you want the power to save them, just accept me. Come on! Twenty children remain... the number is shrinking, and time is ticking. Will you enter the gate, Olaf? Or will you keep shivering here, you fake savior? Hahaha!"
"Andrei! Save me!"
"Andrei... please!"
The children's pleas rose around me, crushing what was left of my pride. What should I do? I don't want to go back to the fire! I am too weak to face this.
"Say yes, Olaf. Fifteen children left... time is running out..."
"I... I..."
Suddenly, the forest lit up with a blinding light. A thunderclap split the sky, and storms carrying devastating blue lightning struck the earth. Out of nowhere, Lord Albert descended, having broken free from the cage of bones.
Albert looked at me, then at the dead children, at Dave, and the unconscious Charles. His eyes overflowed with a disappointment that broke something inside me.
"I know you are afraid, Andrei," Albert said in a hoarse voice, panting heavily. "But you are the oldest. You have changed... The Andrei I know would have sacrificed his life for a stranger. But now... that flame is gone. Step aside."
Albert gathered every ounce of energy left in his body and unleashed a lightning strike that shook the earth—a strike that not only obliterated the monster but wiped out a massive chunk of the forest. The beast's remains scattered in the air, but in that very same moment... Albert collapsed.
He fell hard to the ground, his back pierced by dozens of bone spears from the villain's cage. He had come to save us while he was already dying.
The surviving children ran to him, crying and trying to stop the bleeding, while I stood frozen.
"In the end, you chose cowardice. You are worse than I thought," the voice mocked in my mind.
"I am not him!" I screamed inwardly, trying to justify myself. "I am just a soul possessing his body! This boy had no magic, what could I have done? I won't return to Hell for them!"
The voice fell silent for a moment, then spoke with an icy tone:
"Do you know what this powerless boy did before you took his body?"
Images flashed in my mind. Memories that weren't mine. The original Andrei's memories.
"He saved an entire village. While the heroes were searching elsewhere, monsters marched toward his home. This boy took a magical energy stone, placed it in a bike built by his friend, and used himself as bait to lure the monsters away. The price of using that stone without internal mana? It ripped his heart apart while he was still alive. He rode the bike screaming in agony, until the stone died nineteen kilometers away from the village. When the monsters surrounded him, and there was no savior in sight, he stood on his feet, raised his arms despite his shattered body, and screamed: 'When you eat me, you won't touch my village! Because it is safe now!'"
My eyes widened in shock. A child? A ten-year-old did this?
"And who saved him?" the voice continued. "Lord Albert... descending on his great dragon. The boy was dying, so what did Albert do? He killed his legendary dragon with his own hands and transplanted the dragon's heart into the boy's chest! He told him: 'Your death means the word hero dies with you. You are the bravest of us all. And if I must sacrifice my dearest friend for you, I will, because you... are greater than me.' So tell me, Olaf, you who think yourself so terrifying... who are you to be less than this child? Learn from this boy, coward."
I collapsed to my knees. Shame... a crushing shame swallowed my pride, swallowed my fear of Hell. I, the butcher who killed hundreds, was trembling in fear, while a ten-year-old child had faced death with a smile.
From the dark trees, a third monster appeared. It lunged toward the weeping children around Albert's corpse.
I raised my head. The fear was gone.
"Give it to me."
The Eighth Gate opened within my soul. But this time, it wasn't the fire that burned me... it was the shame.
Black flames erupted from my body, incinerating the grass around me. The third monster froze in its tracks. It wasn't afraid of ordinary magic; it was afraid of an entity darker than itself, a demonic presence in human form.
I launched myself like a projectile from Hell. I didn't use magic; I used my bare hands. I tore the monster apart, shattered its bones, and rained down savage, lethal blows, pouring out all my rage and shame. I only stopped tearing it to pieces when the sound of the children's sobs pierced my ears, bringing me back to my senses.
The black flames died out. I looked at my blood-soaked hands, then turned around in silence.
I carried Lord Albert's body, then Sister Olit's. I dug their graves with my bare hands until my fingers bled. I stood with the fourteen surviving children before the graves, in a dead silence.
From a safe distance in the dark, the man in the suit watched silently. He smiled slyly, his eyes gleaming with intense interest as he stared at the black flames that had just vanished from my body. He turned and disappeared into the shadows without a word.
When the kingdom's heroes arrived after dawn, they found only fourteen children, an injured Charles, Andrei... and the ashes of burnt monsters.
As for Lord Albert and Sister Olit... they were now just a memory beneath the dirt.