Rin had swiftly gained recognition as the most skilled exorcist in town, his reputation spreading wide among peasants just within a few months. He performed his duties diligently, driven a purpose that one day he'll learn all there is to know to defeat demons, and safe his lost love, Claus. On this day, Rin was accompanied to the manor home of a powerful local merchant whose wife was ill from some unknown cause.
The officers stood guard outside the woman's chamber, their faces expressed with concern and trepidation as Rin approached the bed. The temperature in merchant's wife's room was frigid and her body seemed frozen under the covers. The short merchant with the squeaky voice, his hands wringing together in stress, begged for aid. With keen eyes, Rin inspected every inch of the room, searching for signs of the supernatural, but found nothing out of place.
"I shall wait until nightfall," Rin decided, his demand resonating with authority. "I will have a better idea of what we are dealing with then."
"What can I do for you in the meantime?" inquired with respect and admiration by the merchant.
Rin observed the sick woman to give a brief clinical exam and looked at her husband. He was clear and stern. "Clear everyone from here," he commanded firmly. "I need nothing to disturb me before night comes."
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Rin braced himself outside the merchant's wife's chambers, he kept a standing posture as the sky dimmed and the world around him transitioned from day to night. After a year of battling restless spirits, he was eager to face his adversary head-on and see if he could exorcise this one on his own. As midnight crested, a strong wind surged into the room, telling secrets of a malice plot. Rin entered the room, setting a candle alight on the table before taking a seat by the bed in quiet vigil.
In moments, the flame guttered out on its own in the sealed bedroom, plunging the room into an absolute abyss. A writhing form emerged from the shadows—a girl with a long tongue and snake eyes—and spoke in a timber deep as a wild tiger.
"You are no ghost," Rin clarified to warn the wicked of his well-prepared status, he shouted loud and unafraid in attempt to make the foul creature to retreat. "You are a demon!"
"Not bad," it said with a blatant laugh, the sounded reply drifted through the room like a sinister melody. "And you know why I am here."
Rin began to chant, an invocation against all evil, the words rolling off his tongue with the full concentration of his mental strength. "This is the realm of men! Evil shall not pass."
The demon cackled wildly, Rin had fell right into its plotted trap. It had already expected his exact reaction. "You are naïve, Gatekeeper! Thank you for freeing us from hell. Ha ha ha! Why don't you join us? The gods of heaven have forsaken you and this world!" An odd aroma entwined around Rin like a cloak, it choked the rest of his soul out from his body and left him unconscious.
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Rin lurched awake, his arm tangling in warm sheets that moved to his skin with a sense of accusation. He blinked away the hazy morning light and saw her beside him—the merchant's wife. Her hair splayed across the pillow like a waterfall of silk, her eyes closed in peaceful slumber. Panic flooded him with no clarity as a scream bellowed from beyond the door, a shout that seemed to strike at the very core of his being.
"The monk is a fraud! He took advantage of the merchant's wife!"
A servant had discovered them in bed together, the innocent bystander to a scene that reeked of betrayal. Rin scrambled to cover himself, his heart pounding in his chest, revealing in an instant the lion head dragon tattoo on his shoulder. A girl rose from the gaggle of servants and maids that crowded outside the threshold, her faces contorted in shock and disgust. "Look! He is a criminal!"
The merchant demanded in fear "Get the police here!"
Strong hands grabbed onto Rin's arms, their grip like iron, and he was bound tight with rope. "I am innocent! Nothing happened!" Rin pleaded, struggling against the bodyguards. "You have to believe me!" But his words were met only by the meddling crowd's accusation: "He's a fake monk! Take him to the town hall and lock him up!" Four men descended upon him with bamboo sticks, pummeling Rin until he fell limp, his consciousness slipping away like sand through his fingers.
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Rin opened his crusted eyes; extreme pain took turn to torture him on almost every part of his battered body. He was locked away on the third floor of the city town hall, the newest prisoner among two others: an old man and a young boy tauntingly eager to watch another suffer.
"Hey! Monk! Are you okay?" The young one snickered as he leaned closer to Rin, his eyes alight with intention to take Rin's food. Rin could hardly move, let alone to protect himself. He didn't recall how he ended up here, all he remember was being beaten black-and-blue like common street trash.
"Why am I here?" A plea for answers in a most unfortunate circumstance.
"You dirty monk! He he he, how was the merchant's wife?" The elderly man clacked his straw slippers against the stone ground and cackled with amusement, his laughter like an insulting dirge to Rin's pride. Rin fought to restrain his temper.
"Do you know what they do to people like you? He he he. You will be hanged in ten days!" The boy squealed in glee as if it were some hilarious jokes. "Why don't you just leave your food for us. You don't need it. He he he."
Just then, Lutenin David boomed through the jail cell door, "Stop it! Leave him alone, or I'll put both of you in the hole!" As David found Rin, he immediately placed some bread and milk into Rin's hands. He uttered softly, "Rin, I know you are innocent. But right now, I don't have any proves. Wait a few days. I'll get you out of here." With that, the Lutenin gave him an odd yet reassuring smile before leaving.
Rin cautiously took a bite from the bread, his hunger gnawing at his insides like a feral beast. As he chewed, he felt something hard inside it—a secret message concealed by David himself, an act of subterfuge that both surprised and heartened Rin. Carefully, he extracted the small, folded paper from within the breadcrumbs, this was his only way out.
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Rin sat cross-legged on the hard and filthy cell floor, feeling unsure for his life and his future. The air was thick with the reek of alcohol and urine, as two guards had given his cellmates far too much drink. The men slumped over, insensate, and unaware of the world.
At exactly midnight, a subtle creak split through the oppressive locked gate of the jail cell. Lutenin David emerged from the shallow light, his eyes reflecting the sparkle of distant lamplight. In a hushed tone, he held on to Rin, "I bribed guards, and made them give them lots of liquor; they won't wake for hours." He beckoned to Rin, urging him to follow out of the cell as quickly as possible.
Through the winding corridors and shadowed alleys of the town, they soon reached a wooded path less traveled. David handed some provisions to Rin, "There was nothing more I could do to save you. I'm sorry, my friend."
Rin placed a hand on David's shoulder, his wanted to pay his gratitude with a secret to this man who saved his life. "You should leave as soon as possible, great evil is coming to these lands, and many innocents will perish." With his parting words, Rin disappeared into the trees, leaving Lutenin David alone to contemplate on his new insight.
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Rin marched through the night woods; the towering canopy overhead provided more hiding place for the lurks of evil. His steps were hurried, for beyond these trees lay the highlands where his fellow comrades awaited his return. He clutched a long lamp in one hand as its faint light the only guardian upon the path before him.
Yet, Rin sensed that he was not alone in this highland wood. As if behind the tall grass, something other than nocturnal wilds were following his every move. A chilling and luring voice coming from within the deep depts of the night. It sounded like Claus—who often teased him with such words.
"What do you seek? Hehehe."
Rin stopped in his tracks and held his lamp steady; the flame created a halo in the encroaching darkness. Looking out into the abyss of emptiness, he shouted: "I know there are more than one of you here! Show yourself, demons!"
The stillness of the unseen answered him back with a sinister laugh like an ominous wind harassing him. "Are you sure you want to see us? Heheheh... Fine! I'll grant you your wish." The voice turned from angelic to devilish in an instant, a spectral provocation that fueled Rin's rage.
"Help me! Rin! Look what they are doing to me!" Rin heard Claus pleading for him from within the deep wood, a disguised call that beckoned him onward into an obvious trap.
Then it came, thundering out of nowhere—a gigantic black bear that slashed at Rin's forehead with its razor-sharp claws. Instinctively, Rin swung his lamp at the beast while it continued to offense him relentlessly. Rin fought for his survival until his last breath.
"Halt, foul beast!" The words were undoubtedly with a power that belied the identity of its source. Rin lay on the ground, his body a temple to pain as blood coursed down his forehead and pooled in the crook of his right shoulder.
The frenzied creature halted its aggression abruptly, its primal instincts screaming out at it to flee. Its eyes widened, and its fur bristled as it recognized a strong presence beyond Rin.
Covered in blood, Rin's breath ragged and strained. Before he could find time to breathe a sigh of relief, he felt himself being hoisted into the air with just one arm, pulled off the ground by an otherworldly strength that defied any comprehension.
His captor, a figure wreathed in the blur caused by the blood on his forehead, spoke, "Ha ha ha! Fate has delivered you to me, Gatekeeper!"