It was since long dark outside, moonlight shone through the bedroom window, giving Elias just the light he needed. He had not been able to sleep tonight; too many things were going on inside his head. He sat hunkered down on his bed, trying to solve the rubrics cube Oskar borrowed him. He was almost done, only one side still remained unsolved. The cube felt smooth in Elias hands, the material it was made from had a unique feel to it, almost like marble, its surfaces was completely smooth and flat, but unlike marble the cube was not heavy. In fact, it was lighter than wood. Elias weighted the cube in his hand and dragged his fingers across its surface. The material was alien to him, yet all too familiar. He dragged his fingers across its surface one more time, it almost felt… plastic. He had encountered this material before, in a far-off dream. Images flashed before Elias sight, visions of a golden haired boy in a brown jacket and a blue scarf around his neck, holding a pocket knife in his right hand, stabbing a tree. Elias recognized this boy. ‘Oskar’. It was clearly him; Elias could distinguish his features anywhere. He intensely turned the cube, only a few squares left now. ‘Oskar’ it was true, he had met him elsewhere, in a time and place far away. Maybe it was a dream, maybe not; there was no real way to tell.
Elias put away his thoughts in order to focus on the cube, but they slowly slipped back into his conscience, disturbing his concentration. More visions of Oskar flickered before him. Both of them was sitting on top of a plastic construction, a jungle gym he remembered it being called, Oskar having the cube in his hands. Elias showed interest in the cube and Oskar decided to let him burrow it. Elias saw the other puzzle, the egg. He remembered not being able to prevent himself from slaughtering the escorts protecting it, remembered the dark thirst that plagued him for so long, remembered the long days he spent in darkness with this puzzle as his only company. The rubrics cube in his hands was now further away from being solved because he was not able to concentrate, and how could he? He forced himself to continue, he wanted to show Oskar how to complete it tomorrow. Another dreamlike image flashed by. All was black, calm, a place where he was not tormented by his memories. Out a nowhere a voice was heard, Oskar’s voice. ‘NO’ Elias instantly opened his eyes and saw a man standing over him, pointing a knife at his chest. With a start he rose from his resting place and … feed on him. Elias felt a slight nausea from the visions, but they did not stop coming. He remembered the taste of blood in his mouth; it was both sickening and sweet. He approached Oskar, and kissed him with blood still in his mouth. It all felt so…right. Oskar had just saved him from being killed, yet he remembered that the man was not the monster, he was. It all came back to him, the horrible events in the castle dungeon, the man with the wig, it was all real, not a dream.
Elias inspected his surroundings; the moon still illuminated the room from the window and made the room bath in a blue light. His family was still asleep in their beds; he could hear his brother snoring. It all seemed so real. Maybe the visions were just memories of the nightmare he had after his accident. But he knew it was real, he too clearly remembered the feeling of Oskar’s lips meeting his, the taste of his saliva mixed with the blood from his own mouth. A memory like that could not be false. Elias turned his attention towards the rubrics cube, he finally thought of a way to solve the last squares. He turned the cube a couple of times until all sides were in one colour. He laid down on the bed and closed his eyes, recalling all memories, good or bad. A voice inside whispered a single word ‘Eli’. ‘Yes’ that name was familiar. A creature neither dead or alive, human nor inhuman, boy or girl, just nothing. Elias could feel tears running down his cheeks as he slowly drifted to sleep. ‘The puzzle is solved’ was his final thoughts before he fell asleep.
The sunlight covered the area. A place full of green plants and trees, but no wind was felt in the air. In fact, it was no air, breathing was no longer necessary. No smell was to be found, nor any sound. While the garden was visually beautiful it was a static wasteland. The plant may look like life, but they were as empty as the air without wind. They were like plastic plants, visually impressive, but hollow. The sun itself was the only thing that could be felt. Its merciless rays burned Eli’s skin. She writhed in pain on the ground while screaming on the top of her lungs. Over her towered a creature clad in white, a child, a child with the same blonde hair as her beloved Oskar. Three pairs of feathered wings surrounded it; its eyes were filled with the flames of hate. It spoke to her with the voice of a god.
“I said not question me, unclean spawn.”
Eli could feel the sun slowly disfiguring her body, melting away her skin and destroying her features. Under her skin she could feel the blood boil, the agony was unbearable. Eli moaned silently at the pain. For what felt like an eternity the sun fried her body. Eli felt its excruciating power all the way to the bone. She could no longer make any sound as the light had melted away both her tongue and her mouth. Her vision was now dim. The garden was now a blurry landscape of random grey patterns. The creature that stood over her seemed to be growing in stature, its figure entirely black. The world darkened around her, the only thing she could see clearly was the demonic eyes of the creature, glowing with a cold blue flame. The eyes were like a pure manifestation of her worst nightmare, a perfectly malicious entity. The creature spoke to her, not so much as a voice as a presence in her head.
“I gave you paradise, yet you were not happy. Do not think that I would let you die fast. In fact, I am not letting you die at all. An eternity of suffering is all that awaits you now.”
What was left of Eli’s consciousness screamed loudly inside her head. Despair filled her entire being. No more life, no more Oskar, nothing but…pain. An uncomfortable laugh filled the darkness.
“I would let you in on a secret. Your beloved, Oskar, he is currently suffering the very same fate as you, as will the rest of the world. They have escaped my justice long enough. And don’t even for a second believe that I would let you will meet, ever.”
The claws of utter hopelessness took its grip on Eli’s soul. In an act of desperation she cried out inside for a saviour, that it were a god that could save her from the clutches of this demon. But Eli knew it was useless, she had lost her faith a long time ago. Still she kept calling while the pain grew stronger for every passing second. The eyes of the demon stared at her unsympathetically.
“Fool, there is no God other than me; no one is going to save you. You will suffer like you truly deserve.”
At the very moment the demon finished speaking Eli noticed a shadow behind it. The demon turned around, its irritation was clear despite Eli’s limited vision. A red light filled the area, blotting out the light of the sun.
“You will pay for this Eli, mark my words.”
The demon shook its fists at both Eli and the newly arrived shadow before fading away. The shadow approached her slowly. The only feature that was clearly visible was the cat-like eyes. The shadow bent down beside her and took her hand, whispering calmly.
“It’s going to be alright.”
The red light now covered Eli’s vision completely. She slowly drifted away, into a realm of blood. That almost seemed calming as opposed to the eternal darkness of her increasingly blinder eyes. She relaxed and let the light take her wherever it wanted. Eli could barely believe it, her prayers had been answered.
After a moment of well-deserved rest, Eli was woken by the sound of a wolf’s growling. She sat up with a start and realized that she was surrounded by trees. Under her was a mattress consisting of a pile of hay. Moonlight covered the glade, it was clearly night time. She took a look at herself, relieved of being able to see again. The wounds caused by the sunlight were entirely gone. She jumped as something wet nudged her right hand. She quickly pulled it away and noticed a huge black wolf next to her. Eli stared into its eyes, unlike other animals this wolf was not startled by her. She slowly approached it with her hand again to greet it. The wolf sniffed at it, its nose stroking across her fingers, it licked her hand with its tongue. Eli smiled, she had always liked animals. She patted it on the head; the wolf didn’t seem to mind. Eli hugged it and the wolf licked her face. She laughed joyfully, for a moment forgetful of her confusion over her whole situation. Out of nowhere, she heard the voice of a young man.
“Do you enjoy yourself?”
Eli jolted as the man appeared before her, right behind the wolf. She had not noticed him earlier. He was clad in elaborate black clothes, similar to those worn by Lord Törnkvist. He had black hair and extremely handsome features; some would say he was like an older incarnation of her. His cat-like eyes was like those of the wolf, feral but well-meaning. A smile was clearly visible on his lips, revealing his long fangs. Eli understood what he was, a vampire like herself. But she did not know who he was.
“Who are you?”
His smile got wider.
“You have already asked me that question; my response is the same as last time. In a way, I am you.”
The man approached Eli and sat down beside her on the pile of hay, he laid his arms around her shoulders, and the wolf proceeded to continue to lick Eli’s fingers. The man laughed wholeheartedly.
“I see you already met Fenris.”
Eli took the man’s hand and tightened her grip.
“Thanks for saving me, what’s your name?”
He stopped smiling and sighed heavily meanwhile a tear fell from his eyes.
“I have no name”
Eli could not help but to feel saddened, even a nothing like her had to have some kind of name. The man without a name suddenly pulled away his hand from Eli’s grip. His cat-like eyes gave her a serious look.
“Listen now, there is not much time, I cannot keep away the demon for much longer. Do you remember why you are in this situation?”
Eli tried to remember, now, without the presence of the demon’s influence, her memory was finally clear. Eli remembered Oskar and their escape from Blackeberg, their time on the run. She also remembered the hotel room she and Oskar rented, the one with the red walls. She remembered falling asleep and… the image of a golden city appeared before her. This particular memory was still blurry, but she knew it contained her meeting the so-called demon the nameless one mentioned. Apparently the demon still had some influence over her. Eli concentrated: another vision. She was in a garden, the very same garden that she was rescued from just a moment ago. Eli remembered the child clad in white, the one that later tortured her so badly. She remembered some of the words that were spoken by this demon.
“You have to make sure that you never become a vampire. I could return you to a time that you didn’t have to suffer this terrible curse. I could return you to your family and grant you salvation. The only thing I require in return is a small favour.”
Eli remebered the nature of this favour, a chill went down her spine while the memories of the demon’s words made itself known.
“I need an invitation, to the mortal realm. Say that I can come in.”
Eli felt terrible that she had fallen for such a trick. She did not dare look the nameless one in the eyes; she looked down on the haystack and sobbed loudly.
“I…I…Let it in.”
The man hugged Eli to comfort her.
“I see you understand the seriousness of the situation; thanks to your actions the demon will soon devour the entire mortal realm. You have already heard of Oskar’s fate, but don’t despair yet, the demon made a mistake.”
Eli stopped crying and met the man’s gaze, perplexed.
“What do you mean?”
A faint smile was once again present on the nameless one’s lips.
“I and the demon have fought a battle for control of your body for a while now, I am ultimately weaker than the demon and this battle is unavoidably going to destroy my presence in you, and without me, your body will collapse into a pile of dust. The fact we now share the same body however means that we will have some knowledge of the other. In order to make Oskar’s new reality as nightmarish as possible the demon summoned a soul which was connected to you in life to use his memory against Oskar.”
Eli was still confused about the whole situation.
“How does that help us?”
The man let go of Eli and took a quick look around the glade, he sighed, when took a shorter pause. The only thing things that were heard were the sound of the wind and of the wolf, Fenris, still licking Eli’s fingers. This was enough to get Eli into a better mood; a soft smile was visible on Eli’s lips for a short time.
“This soul, its Håkan, isn’t it?”
The man almost sounded relieved.
“Yes, and fortunately he is still loyal to you. He can still be a potential danger to Oskar, but at least he is someone who is not under the demon’s control, which means he might help. Without outside help, it is impossible to escape this place, but with… I will not lie to you, it is still next to impossible, but at least there is a chance.”
All the sudden Fenris started barking madly, Eli could see tendrils of darkness approach them from the forest. The man without a name rose from the haystack and turned towards the eminent threat.
“This is goodbye; I can no longer keep it at bay. Eli, you must escape this place at all cost. If you fail, not only will you and Oskar suffer for the demon’s hand for all eternity, so will the entire world. We will never meet again, bye.”
A second after he finished his sentence, the man without a name faded away in the darkness, now surrounding the entire glade. Fenris howled in agony before even he was consumed. Eli was now alone in the world, the darkness slowly closed in on her. Before she as also consumed by the darkness, Eli looked back on her memories of Oskar, but she also thought about the man that helped her. Eli remembered what she were taught in the garden, Eden, about the old gods, the child of death, and the origin of vampirism, was it true? Was this man the manifestation of her curse? An angel banished from heaven, sentenced by its rulers to feed on humanity. Eli realized she knew who was to blame, she remembered the name of the demon… Gavri’el. Angst filled her entire being while she lamented over the loss of her friends. Eli knew she would never escape.
“Oskar, nameless stranger, goodbye…forever.”
Morning was coming at the village, the sun shone down through the window; right into Eli’s closed eyes. She suddenly jerked to the side, causing her to fall of the bed. She opened her eyes and saw the daylight; she covered her face with her hands, waiting for an agonizing death. To her surprise she was not in pain, Eli looked into the sunlight until a coloured spot appeared on her field of vision, causing her to finally avert her gaze. Eli could not hold back a delightful smile. He was Elias, a 12 year old human child; Eli was only a distant nightmare, part of another reality. Elias rose from the floor and looked around the room; all the other beds were empty. They must have let him sleep longer once again. Elias turned his attentions towards the floor beside his bed. The cube was just at its foot. He bent down and picked it up. Elias examined it carefully, it was solved.
He tried to remember how he solved it, it was all a haze mixed with thoughts about Oskar. He remembered the dreams. What was real, his current life as Elias, or the horrible life as Eli? Were any of them real? And even if his current life was forged, was it not better to live in a pleasant fantasy than a horrible reality? He could stay here and live a mortal life with his family and grow up together with Oskar. Elias could feel his heart set aflame at the very thought of him. He wanted to be with Oskar, he loved him. Elias wanted to kiss him, like he had done once as Eli. But he couldn’t, they were both boys, he had been taught that it was wrong. According to the village priest it was an abomination punishable by death for one boy to kiss another. ‘Why?’ asked a voice inside Elias head. He did not know the answer, but it were many things in the bible he did not understand. But it did not feel right, why should anyone be punished for genuine love? Would it ever come a time where love would be accepted regardless of psychical boundaries? Would it ever come a time where he and Oskar could walk down the passageway towards the altar, regardless of their gender, regardless of vampiric nature, regardless of their young age? Elias laid down on his bed and drowned his face in the pillow. No matter what life he picked: humanity would not approve of him. The pillow slowly got wet from his tears; Elias knew his situation was hopeless.
After a while of silent lament, someone knocked on the door, knocks those sound was similar to Morse code. Elias almost thought they said ’E.L.I’, but that had to be hallucinations brought on be his absent state of mind. Elias got up from the bed and went towards the door to open it. He hesitated for a moment; another series of knocks was heard. It was clearly Morse code, this time a little longer message; it said ‘L.E.T M.E I.N’. Elias opened the door and stood face to face with Oskar. Elias could not hold back a smile in the corner of his mouth.
“Come in.” Elias said in a friendly, yet mischievous tone.
Oskar entered the room and immediately took a seat on his bed; Elias sat beside him. They looked into each others eyes for what felt like an eternity. Elias could feel his own face turn red. Eventually Oskar tried to form a couple of words on his lips, but he could not seem to find his words.
“Eli I… Eli… I have missed you. The spirit released me, we can finally be together. I remember the time I spent with you in Blackeberg; it was like a half-forgotten dream.”
Oskar put his hand on Elias right cheek and caressed it smoothly. He put his other hand under his chin and lifted his head slightly up, he gave him a hug.
“Eli… I…I love you. Let’s stay here, let’s grow up together. Let the world die, as long as we are together, it won’t matter.”
Elias tried to relax in his arms, but stiffness still remained in his body, at the very core. Inside his head he could hear the village priest’s sermon of what would happen to those who break the divine law. Elias sobbed silently and Oskar tightened his grip. He pressed his cheek against Oskar’s, felt the smoothness of his skin against his. He could hear him breathing; Elias felt his warm breath on his skin. He looked into his eyes, it was the same eyes he had for Oskar that day, when he saved him from being killed while sleeping, eyes filled with love. To him was he not a hideous monster, nor an insignificant peasant boy, to him, he was an angel. Elias put his lips closer to Oskar’s; he gave him an inviting smile. Ignoring the voices in his head, Elias kissed him. In that moment, all doubt disappeared, this all felt so… right, same feeling as that bloody kiss at Blackeberg. Oskar’s saliva mixed with his, it tasted like a mix between bread and butter, probably what he ate for breakfast. Elias let go of him and Oskar took his hand, they both laid down on the bed, looking each other in the eyes. Oskar’s eyes were like a reflection of his, they were both in paradise. After several minutes of just enjoying each others company Oskar rose from the bed and took a few steps towards the door before turning around to face Elias, still lying in bed in the same relaxed position. He smiled warmly at Oskar, Oskar smiled back.
“I have to go now; I have to help my father with some work-related stuff. When I am done we can meet by the river. If that is okay with you, my sweet Eli?”
“I would be delighted to, dear Oskar.”
Elias watched as Oskar left the room, he was soon alone again. But he was for the moment happy.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It was no mistake; Oskar could recognize her features anywhere. Jimmy approached the child and patted her on the head like she was a pet. He put his hand on Eli’s cheek, he stroke her back intimately with his other hand, all the way down to her rear end. A glimpse of disgust was clearly visible in Eli’s eyes. Oskar could feel the anger build up within him. Jimmy smiled in a perverse fashion.
“This child does clearly meet my standards, where did you find such a cutie?”
The foreign boy laughed awkwardly.
“I had him for barely a week now; he used to be one of the bosses playthings. As far as I know he was born into service under the boss. Now he has apparently decided to share his beauty with the customers, he has served his purpose to him anyway.”
Jimmy squinted at the foreign boy for a moment with a confused look in his eyes before once again fixing them on Eli.
“You mean that this is a boy?”
The other boy sighed.
“Was, he was deprived of his boyhood by the boss. It is the way the boss gets his fix. He is really neither boy nor girl, but he can still do the job.”
This was the last straw for Oskar. He let out a growling sound and rose from his chair and approached Eli and the two boys. Jimmy heard his footsteps and turned his attention towards him, to Eli’s relief. Jimmy had a spiteful gleam in his eyes.
“What do we have here, isn’t it little Oskar. Stay out our way piggy or you will be butchered.”
Oskar ignored him and went straight to Eli; she threw herself in his arms and whispered something in his ear.
“Help me.”
He had some difficulty making out the words, but that was what he thought she said. Oskar studied her mouth closely, she opened it slightly. Eli had no teeth; they had taken them all out. He could not understand what monsters they had to be to do that to her. Oskar held her tighter and whispered back.
“It’s going to be alright.”
All the sudden Oskar could feel another hand on his shoulder; he turned around and saw the foreign boy holding a gun aimed straight at his face.
“How sentimental, it seems the piggy is in love. Down on your knees and let go of the child, he belongs to the customer. Eli let go of him and obediently approached Jimmy. The boy with the gun smiled delightfully.
“Good boy, you do at least understand your place. As for you…Oskar, down on your knees, or watch as I fire a bullet into your brain.”
Oskar went down on his knees and the boy put his right foot on his back and pointed the gun at the back of his head. Oskar could feel great pain in his back. The two boys laughed at him and he could see Eli cringe in the corner of his eyes.
“Now you belong to us, piggy. From now on you work for me; I will check out your skills myself. If you pass, I will present you for the boss, he would probably appreciate you. Otherwise, if you prove yourself useless, you can still serve as pleasure and last resort to desperate perverted dregs.”
The boy forced Oskar back on his feet and shoved him towards the bathroom; Eli was by his side being dragged into the same room by Jimmy. Oskar prepared himself mentally for what he knew would follow. Maybe if he closed his eyes of thought of Eli, he would be able to endure.
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The movement of fishes was clearly visible in the clear river, the water glimmered as the sunlight was reflected on its surface, the splashes of these fishes making a distinct wet sound at they played by the surface. Elias admired the beauty of nature as he sat waiting in his and Oskar’s usual meeting place. His mind was full of conflicting thoughts, about Oskar, about religion, even about what reality really was. Elias could no longer separate between the two separate realities, the one here and the one in Blackeberg. Still he could remember the Garden of Eden, how he was granted another chance to earn salvation. This might be a test from that angelic being, Gavri’el, to test if he was worthy of heaven. What he was supposed to do to pass that test he didn’t know, perhaps because of his love for Oskar that occupied a large percent of his thoughts. Elias remembered more words from the village priests, that it would come a time where God will test us by exposing us to temptation. According to the priest, only the people who could resist such temptation were allowed into paradise. Perhaps he was supposed to reject Oskar to win heaven’s approval, but he could not understand how anyone was supposed to do that. ‘It is not fair’ He loved Oskar; he could not possible give him up, even for redemption and an eternity of bliss in paradise.
Elias could hear the sound of footsteps behind him. ‘Oskar?’ It had to be him. Elias turned around. It clearly was Oskar; he stood behind the tree, now in front of him, a smile was on his face. Elias smiled back, he was glad to see him again. He approached Oskar and hugged him, he hugged back. Elias leaned against his ear and whispered.
“Oskar, I have to ask you something.”
“Ask away, what do you want to know?”
Elias let go of Oskar and lowered his head as in grief.
“Oskar, do you care that I am a boy? Is our love wrong?
Oskar gave him a knowing look and smiled playfully.
“Do you not already know?”
Oskar hugged her again, like that time in Blackeberg so long ago; Elias was at first stiff, but his body soon softened up. He relaxed in Oskar’s embrace for a while, enjoyed the every second of his presence. All the sudden Oskar let go of her, he took a step backwards. His eyes changed, instead of the love that had earlier been present, they were full of hate. He smiled in a heartless and disrespectful fashion.
“You shall know your love is wrong, all love not for the Lord is a sin.”
The detestation in Oskar’s eyes caught fire, filling his eye sockets with hellfire. Elias realized this was not Oskar. Behind the would-be Oskar, another person showed up from behind the tree. It was a man, roughly twenty years old, with golden hair. He was clad in a richly decorated white tunic, white slacks, and an equally white and well decorated cloak. His cold facial expression betrayed no emotion, but in his eyes was full of contempt. The man made an accusing gesture with his finger-clad hand towards Elias.
“It’s over, peasant boy. You fail; time to suffer for your crimes.”
Like out of nowhere, two other men grabbed Elias from behind and brutally forced him to the ground. Elias crawled in the dust beneath the man in white, his mouth just an inch from the man’s boots. The false Oskar stood right behind him with the cruel smile on his face. The man in white seemed entirely emotionless. Despite knowing the answer, Elias asked the man a question.
“Who are you?”
The man’s facial expression remained entirely unchanged while he answered the question in a very stuck-up manner.
“I? I am Lord El Gavri, the owner of the pathetic peasants that is your family. But I think you know me better under my true identity, Gavri’el, Lord of Justice. I thank you for your invitation into your world, but you have served your purpose, now it is time for justice to take its course. You shall suffer for your sins, both past and future.”
The two underlings took a strong grip of his arms and forced him on his back. As Gavri’el made a gesture towards them, one of them pulled out a knife, Elias breathed heavily. The underling pointed the knife between Elias legs; he struggled in vain to escape the first underling’s grip while the one with the knife began to peel of his clothes. The fake Oskar approached Elias, still smiling in spite.
“Now its time for the piggy to take his punishment.”
Elias could not believe these words came from Oskar’s mouth. When the man with the knife was done with removing Elias clothes, he put the blade next to his skin. He could feel the cold steel as the man made an effort to drive the knife into him. The last thing he heard before he was consumed by a world of pain was Oskar saying:
“Squeal like a pig all you want, no one will hear you.”
On the way towards the village guarded by an escort of underlings, the only things Eli could hear in her world of pain was the sound of the footsteps of the marching soldiers and the dripping of her own blood. One painful step at a time, Eli advanced towards the village. Stripped of her clothing, she could feel the cold wind on her skin, it was freezing. She stared towards the ground as she walked, watching her own blood falling towards the ground, together with her tears. She shivered from the cold. Eli had lost quite an amount of blood, but she would not die, Gavri’el would not let her. The demon had given her everything just to take it all away in an instant. For a short moment, she was allowed to be her true self, Elias the peasant boy, before she was once again turned into…nothing. For a while, she had a family, and Oskar. But Eli was now denied their company, and for what? Because the divine judge did not approve of her love for Oskar. Eli could hear the sound of mumbling voices, she looked up for just a moment, and they had reached the village. The villagers looked at her in disgust, they saw her for the abomination she knew she were. Inside her head she could hear bible verses being quoted, about how her passions would damn her for all eternity, about the sin of loving man instead of God. The death march continued: each step feeling like an eternity. The villagers gathered around the escort, they had reached the village square. They stopped in the middle. From the back of the escort: Gavri’el came forth to the front of the group, right in front of Eli. The demon spoke to the villagers.
“Dear villagers, I am Lord El Gavri. I bear sad tidings for you all: This… child has been found guilty of an abomination. I found out from a reliable witness that he have kissed another boy, a crime so vile it makes me qualm in disgust. For this, the rightful punishment is to be emasculated and led into town naked to be burned at the stake. Bring me wood and oil, the heretic will burn before sunset.”
The crowd dispersed, only four people were left standing, Eli’s family. Her father looked at her disappointedly meanwhile her mother cried in his arms. Her sister averted her gaze; she would not look at her. Her brother, Elof’s eyes were fixed at Gavri’el, displaying unparalleled hate. Gavri’el turned towards Eli and whispered in her ear.
“Do not think these are mere illusions, I figured it would serve best to punish you if I brought the souls of your dead family here to witness your rightful death, I have showed them what you have done to stay alive. They shun you now, despise you. Know this while you suffer in hell for all eternity. “
Eli knelt down in despair; she met her family’s gaze, it was true, despise was in her fathers eyes. Thought mother just cried it has clear that she considered herself a horrible parent, and her sister would not even acknowledge her. But as Elof met her gaze for just a moment, she could only see…pity, and sadness, as well as understanding. Elof quickly turned his attentions towards Gavri’el again, with renewed rage. Gavri’el turned his fiery gaze towards him, his eyes bursting with fire that longed to consume him. Minutes passed as they stared each other down. The villagers returned with the wood and oil, which they transported in carts, they created a huge pyre and put a large log in the middle of it. Elof turned to the villagers, busy with preparing the pyre.
“How can you support this? Look at yourselves; you cannot honestly think it is justice to burn a child alive. So he has kissed a boy, so what. Why should we punish him for love? Does this justify mutilating and murdering a little boy? I don’t think so. As for you, Lord El Gavri, you come to us and tell us about how my little brother is guilty of thousands of murders and deserve nothing but loathing. I am tired of your hatemongering; I will never let you trick me to despise my only brother. Elias, sorry if I have never said this before, but, I will always look out for you, protect you, comfort you. You are my little brother and…I love you, and I will always be there for you.”
As a reply to Elof’s speech, Gavri’el burst out in laughter. A surge of happiness flowed through Eli’s body ’Dear brother, you still love me?’ Eli took a look at her family again, her sister stared confused, first at Elof, when turned her gaze towards Eli, with a smile on her face. Father was astonished that Elof dared to speak out against the lord, her mother turned towards Elof with a proud smile. Gavri’el stopped laughing and proceeded to slap Eli in the face. He knocked her back and caused her fall flat on the ground. Eli could feel the taste of both blood and dirt in her mouth. Her entire family except Elof averted their gaze.
“You are a fool Elof, the villagers are just mindless puppets. I see that your so-called ‘love’ for your little brother have slowed your mind. He is an abomination, worthy of nothing but an eternity of suffering and loneliness.”
This was too much for Elof, he leaped towards Gavri’el with pure ferocity, pulling out and raising a knife he had hidden in his pocket. Eli and the rest of her family watched in horror as Gavri’el unsheathed the rapier he had at his belt and made a quick movement towards Elof at superhuman speed, piercing his heart with the weapon. He fell down as blood splattered and sprayed everywhere. Eli’s sister, Elin rushed to his corpse with tears in her eyes, Gavri’el made a sweeping motion and separated her head from her body. Eli screamed for all that she was worth, she could see how her father and mother trembled in fear. Gavri’el once again sheathed his weapon.
“That is the fate of those who oppose justice, and those who mourn for them, servants, tie the heretic to the stake.”
Tied up on the stake, stripped of her clothes, her boyhood and her family, Eli felt helpless like never before. The people gathered around her, she could see her father, her mother, torn between their fear of Gavri’el and sadness they must feel by having all their children die in the same day. Gavri’el personally threw a torch at the pyre to start the fire, by his side gathered the false Oskar and the village priest. The villagers and the false Oskar shouted in chorus.
“Roast the piggy, roast the piggy.”
The priest read parts of bible verses, over and over again.
“Suffer not the witch to live. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.”
As the fire got closer, Eli cupped her hands in prayer.
“Forgive me God, please forgive me. Spare me of this fate.”
But it was useless; the fire began to lick at her flesh, causing unparalleled agony. As she was entirely consumed by pain, she could hear the demon speak to her.
“Do not think this is the end? It is only the beginning, from now on it will be nothing but pain, and the cold empty void of loneliness.”
The last thought on Eli’s mind before the world faded was: ‘Oskar, forgive me.’
