Chapter 1: The exorcist

It was a cool evening as Derek made his way towards the farmhouse, a worn down looking place, with chipped paint and splintered floors. It was small, with a single story, with perhaps a cellar underneath. In daylight it probably would have looked like a quaint little house… however in the light of the setting sun there was something foreboding about the small house… or perhaps that was just a trick of his mind, considering what he was there to do that wouldn’t be very surprising….

Derek was a mage, a practitioner of various magical arts, mainly focused in runecrafting. He specialized in enchantments and more sturdy, long term spells… it was a dying art, one that few took interest in because it wasn’t as flashy as say, elemental magic, or healing. That said, it was by far the most flexible form of spellcasting, albeit also the most time consuming of the magical arts.

Although an accomplished mage, that wasn’t Dereks’ profession… although magic certainly did help in his line of work, he specialized in an area that most mages would find rather ridiculous… the paranormal. Magic was a science at its core, based in reason and logic. What interested him however were things outside of the scope of accepted magical theory… the fringe elements where the understood laws of nature started to break down… currently, no magic university accepted the paranormal as a valid field of study. To the magical community the world was binary, something was either based in the physical, or magical, and in some cases a hybrid of the two. However Derek believed in a third, much less well defined state of being, something that defied the laws of both the physical and magical world… and that’s why he had been brought here today.

The church had sent him a letter informing him of a rather strange incident that seemed to lie under his area of study… a girl, no older that twelve, seemed to have become possessed by some sort of demon, at least in the opinion of the local church's priest, who had reported some rather strange activity during his visit. The girl in question recoiled when presented with the talisman of the oak tree, the symbol of the local religion. She had also reacted violently to holy water, thrashing around violently, screaming as if in great pain.

Legitimate cases of possession were few and far between, but those that were were often very dangerous… and almost never ended well. He had worked two previous cases of what he believed to be true incidents of possession. In the first, he had been forced to kill the possessed before they could harm another individual. The second case… well, it would be the case that haunted him for the rest of his life.

Maybe that’s why he felt a chill run down his spine as he reached the door of the farmhouse, large briefcase in hand, leather clad hand reaching up to knock on the door.

He didn’t have to wait long, a few short seconds later the door opened, a middle aged man answering the door. The first thing Derek noticed was how worn down the man was, clearly not having slept more than a few moments over the past few days. His face was covered in a thick layer of scruff, not having shaved in quite a few days. His hair was a wiry black with streaks of grey throughout, his eyes a dark brown, carrying a deep sadness and despair. He tried to offer a weak smile, although it didn’t reach his eyes. “Please, come in, come in… she’s in the back room.”

The man lead Derek back to a small bedroom in the farmhouse which seemed to belong to the young girl. It had been a nice little room, a few simple toys scattered about, even a book of illustrations on the bedside table. There were three people already in the cramped room, the mother of the young girl sitting in a chair by her daughters bed, the young girl who currently had her arms and legs bound to the corners of the bedframe, and a holy knight. Holy knights were the Church’s answer to threats that didn’t respond well to prayer alone… considered to be one of the finest trained soldiers in the world, they were few and far between, and usually only arrived in situations that were deemed dire by the church.

The young woman was wearing full plate armour, which seemed to gleam even in the dimly lit room, polished to a silvery shine. He honestly wouldn’t have known she was a woman if not for the fact that she currently wasn’t wearing her helmet, holding it under one of her arms as her other hand rested on the hilt of the sword on her hip. She had short blonde hair, almost white in colour, with sharp blue eyes and strong facial features, reminding Derek somewhat of a hawk.

Derek gave a polite nod to the woman, who didn’t offer one in reply… not surprising, considering the church didn’t exactly get along with magic users… the days of burning people with magical talent were long gone, but the distrust of one another remained to this day. Derek didn’t really mind, figuring his interactions with the young woman would be fairly limited.

The mother of the young girl stood as Derek approached, looking just as exhausted as her husband, but much more hopeful. “I’ve been by her side, praying constantly in the hopes that she will get better… she seems to be getting quieter, so I think it is helping.” She said, stepping out of the way so Derek could take a closer look.

The young girl was in poor condition… she was a mess, clearly not having bathed, or even left the bed in the past few days, which would have to be thrown out considering the foul mess that she’d made of it. Her arms and legs were bound to the posts of the bed with rope, her wrists and ankles badly chaffed from struggling against her bindings. She had been fairly still when Derek first entered, but seemed to grow restless as he approached.

She let out a low growling sound, spit forming at the corners of her lips as she glared at him. She had been a cute thing at some point, he could see that… but her face was twisted with rage and pain, her hair a tangled mess on top of her head. Derek sighed to himself… children, it was never easy when kids were involved, no matter how many times he had to deal with situations like this, is never got any easier.

He placed his briefcase on the empty chair the mother had previously been sitting in, opening the case and reaching inside for his first test. A silver flask with an oak tree engraved on its surface, a sign of the Church of Good Harvest, common around these parts, and the religion that the family subscribed themselves to. Twisting open the flask he splashed some water at the young girl, which caused her to hiss and pull at her bindings, trying to get away from the liquid as she thrashed about. Derek observed her for a moment, letting her calm down a little before moving on to the next test. From around his neck he removed a chain, at the end of which was a pendant of a silver oak tree. He dangled the pendant in front of the young woman, who glared and backed away from it, letting out a growl of anger.

Letting out a sigh Derek put the pendant away in a pocket of his robes, leaning forward to inspect the girl more closely. She didn’t seem to like him getting too close, either pulling away, or snapping her jaws at him like a wild animal, determined to sink her teeth into him.

Eventually, he took a step back, fairy confident he knew what the problem was… he was quiet as he packed away his things, closing the briefcase. He turned to the parents, not looking forward to having to deal with what came next. “I’m afraid there is nothing I… or anyone else can do for the young girl for that matter.” He said, seeing the hope drain from the face of the mother. “But… she’s possessed! Surely you can do something… she’s been getting better, she just needs a little more help.” The young woman pleaded, which caused Derek to shake his head. “She isn’t possessed… if she were, there would be something I, or the knight here could do. Hell, even if it were some sort of magic… but I’m afraid that she has an illness, an illness that’s progressed well beyond the point of treatment.”

The mother looked shocked, staring at Derek with disbelief. “What do you mean not possessed?... What about the holy water? The pendant? She pulled away from them, why would she do that if not possessed?” The mother insisted, desperate for something to be done for her child. “That wasn’t holy water… it was just well water in a flask with a symbol on it, a symbol that would have zero power in my hands, as I don’t believe in any sort of god or higher power.” He said, being honest with the parents of the young girl, figuring he owed them that at least.

“She reacted the same way when I moved closer… she doesn’t want to be touched, and seems to be afraid of water… both of which are signs that she is rabid. I would guess that she was bitten by an animal recently? The infection takes a little while to take hold, but once symptoms start showing there isn’t really anything that can be done…” Truthfully, part of him wished the young girl were possessed by something… at least then he wouldn’t feel so completely useless right now. He had been these people’s last hope, and unfortunately, he wouldn’t be able to help them. “As for the prayer… she hasn’t been getting better, just weaker… she hasn’t drank anything for the past few days I assume, no food… her body can’t keep fighting as it has been, it’s running out of energy. If it weren’t for the considerable pain she is currently in, I doubt she’d remain conscious.”

The parents both stared at him in disbelief, clearly unsure of what to say. “Now… I know that the choice I’m about to give you is rather… difficult… but it is what I believe would be best for your young girl.” He said, reaching into his ropes, pulling out two small vials of liquid, one vial red, the other blue. “With the amount of pain she is in, and her limited ability to swallow liquid… I could give her the pain killer in this vial, but it would only ease her pain to a certain extent… she could spend hours, or even days in agony, only to die when dehydration takes its toll…” He paused, before holding up the red vial. “Or, I could give her this… it’s a poison, fast acting… It will keep her from suffering longer than she has-” Dereks words were cut off as the mother of the child slapped him across the face, causing him to pause mid sentence. Thankfully the husband grabbed hold of her before she could do much more, the young woman breaking down into sobs as the husband held her.

“We won’t be giving up on our girl… not now, not ever.” The man said, looking to Derek to ensure that he understood what he meant. “Now, if you would be so kind as to leave my wife and I… we need to pray for our girl.” Derek understood, it was difficult for people to accept when all hope was lost. “I’ll leave the vial with the painkiller here. Try to get her to swallow as much as possible.” Derek said, placing the small, blue vial on the nightstand. “I will have vials of medicine sent here for you and your wife, you aren’t showing symptoms yet, but you may be infected with the virus…

He didn’t wait for them to respond, knowing that he was the last person they wanted to engage with after having suggested they allow him to put an end to their daughters life. He glanced over to the knight, giving her a short nod to instruct her to follow him out of the room… his fee still needed paying after all, and since it was on behalf of the church, she would be the one handling his payment.

The two left the family to pray in peace, stepping out into the cool evening air. Derek sighed as he leaned against the wall of the house, feeling somewhat emotionally drained from what he had just done. The holy knight joined him, looking him up and down for a moment, seemingly more curious about him than she had when he first arrived. “For a mage, you certainly don’t seem to do much in the way of magic…” She said, clearly having expected something a bit more flashy from him. “There was no need… if the girl had actually been possessed, I’d have put up wards, more secure bindings… but in the end there’s really nothing I can do for that sort of illness, healing magic isn’t my speciality, and her illness has progressed well beyond the point of being fixed even by someone well versed in treating such illnesses.” He said, before adding. “So, I trust you have my payment?” He asked, to which the knight simply nodded, reaching into a small bag at her side and pulling out a small notebook and pen.

“How much will you be charging for your services?” She asked, prepared to write down a number. “Well, considering travel costs, supplies, and the treatments I’m going to have delivered to the parents… four hundred silver should cover it.” He said, which earned him a rather surprised expression from the knight. “You are going to charge that much for a few minutes of work? Do you have no shame?” She asked, clearly finding his rates outrageous. Derek simply shrugged. “The church can afford it, and you aren’t paying me for what I had to do, you are paying me for the amount of time and effort I just saved you from going through. How many more days would you have been sitting there waiting for a demon that would never come? How much would a healer who is unable to do anything to help the poor girl have charged you for their services, only to end up with the same result?”

The knight didn’t seem convinced, but wrote down the amount he specified anyways, ripping a sheet from the small notebook and handing it to him. “You can turn this note in to any church that is a member of the Unified Church for the amount specified.” She said, to which Derek nodded, quite familiar with how this all worked. The Unified Church was the organization under which all recognized religions banded together under, having long ago come to the conclusion that they were much more powerful working together than they would ever be fighting against one another. All approved churches under The Unified Church simply set aside ten percent of all of their donations to be sent to the grand cathedral, and in exchange were granted the protection and power belonging to one of the worlds strongest organizations provided. He would present his receipt to any church belonging to The Unified Church, and could collect the amount specified from their collected donations. Said church would then send his receipt as proof of payment to the grand cathedral, who would then reimburse the church for the amount specified… it was a neat little system, quite useful considering the amount of traveling done in his line of work.

“If you are sure it is safe, that she’s really just sick… do you know how long she has left?” The knight asked, her voice taking on a much more somber tone. Derek sighed. “Normally, I’d have no idea… they probably try to make her drink and eat something, and the little bit of moisture she is getting might allow her to linger on for days… however, I can tell you that after they give her that pain killer, she’ll fall asleep in about a half hour… and by morning, she’ll be gone.” He said, which earned him a slightly surprised look from the knight, able to piece together what he had done. “Oh… well… I suppose I should inform a priest then, so that he can be there to at least give the family some comfort.” She said, not judging Derek on his decision, having seen for herself how much pain the young girl must have been in… if there was truly no saving her, than it was best for everyone that she pass as peacefully as possible.

Perhaps it was knowing that the mage had gone out of his way to keep the girls suffering from being more prolonged than it had to be, but the knight looked upon him a little more kindly now. “So, what will you do now?...” She asked, finding herself curious as to where the mage would be headed next. “Well, I had been on my way to a small village, not too far from here… There’s been an illness reported, and although the church has sent healers, none have been said to have arrived, or reported back… Of course a possible possession case took priority, but I still have to see if I can figure out what’s happening to these healers.”

The knight listened with interest, finding the tale she told him to be quite strange… and oddly intriguing. “Alright, then I shall follow you.” She said, clearly not about to wait for an invitation. Derek looked at her, confused. “What?... Why would you do that?” He asked, to which the knight shrugged. “It is my duty to do good wherever it is needed most… it sounds like right now, those people are in need. Besides, if it turns out something nasty is killing all the healers before they can reach the village, what are you going to do, splash water at it from your little flask?” She asked, flashing a grin before putting on her helmet. “Lead the way. We can stop by the church as we leave so I can inform the priest of your discovery, and ensure the family is taken care of. After that, I am free to assist you.”

Derek wasn’t exactly sure what to say… although he had to admit, she had a point. He was no knight, and his speciality was more on the study and treatment of supernatural issues, not so much hand to hand combat… a knight could certainly come in handy. “Alright… I suppose I could use another set of hands if things get rough.” He said, picking up his briefcase.

And with that, the two saddled up and headed off into the sunset, headed towards town.

END

So, that was my first chapter! Already working on a second, would love to hear anything anyone has to say.