Fabian was not a religious person. It could be said that he was an atheist. But the people of the Boonie villager were different from him. Not only did they believe in God, but they were also all followers of Cassius church. It was the most famous religion in the area and its followers were also growing at a phenomenal rate.
The Cassius church's main philosophy for the world was that humans are the only beings in the world who are made like god's reflection. Rest all the creatures of the world were only failed experiments of Gods that he made while making his perfect reflection. Because of that any being that could talk but was not human was called a demon by the church.
Fabian had read this philosophy and had always wondered what kind of beings live out there. It was clear that there are other beings in this world who could talk like humans. But he had never seen or heard about them. But now somehow he has become one.
As Fabian sat there in his broken house, next to the body of Jory he started thinking whether he should commit suicide? He was now a demon. And from the looks of it, he is thirsty for blood. He liked how he got powers because of his transformation. But he didn't want to kill more people. He had been a weak man till now. But that doesn't mean that he should become a criminal just because he can walk like a normal human.
As Fabian was thinking about this, he saw that there was a broken piece of glass near him. That glass belonged to a mirror that he used to have in his house. Fabian then grabbed the glass and looked at himself in the mirror. He saw that his malnourished face looked a lot better now. His sunken cheeks had regained their former bounciness. While his whole skin tone had changed from brown to pale white.
He could also see that his hair color had started changing. His original black color hair had some streaks of white color in them. While his whole face was covered with the blood of the young boy. Fabian felt disgusted by this. He looked like a monster. But it was then Fabian noticed something…
He noticed that he was holding the mirror from his left hand. That blew his mind. A moment ago he was only able to move some of the fingers of that arm. But now he was able to use it properly. He then looked and saw that his original malnourished and bony hands have now some muscles in them. As he noticed this he started thinking about his appetite.
He clearly remembered that only 10 mins ago, he had hands that looked like bones with skin wrapped around them. But after just a meal his skinny hands had grown muscles? How was this possible? Does drinking the blood helps him heal his body as well as strengthen it?
"What the hell is wrong with me? I have a curse that cured me but also made me a monster. Should I be grateful or should I be resentful of the curse?" Fabian said it out loud asking himself this question.
As Fabian said in that sentence that his stuttering had also stopped. Now because of this curse, he didn't have any weaknesses that he resented in the past. It was then Fabian started thinking about the past. All these years he had dreamt about the world. He had always wanted to go out there in the world. Travel to strange places and explore unknown lands. Basically, he wanted to get away from the toxic people of the village that didn't live him in peace.
But due to his weaknesses, he was not able to do anything he liked. But now things were different…
After a very long time of thinking, Fabian decided that he would not let go of this life. He would treat this curse as a blessing and live with it. Even if he is hunted down by the church like a dog in the future. But at least he would be able to complete some part of his dream. And he would be very happy with that…
…
"JORY!!!" Fabian heard a shout at a distance.
Fabian then came out of his house and looked in the direction from where the shout came. He saw that there were a few torches in that direction and people were shouting the name 'Jory' and looking for the boy that he had killed.
Till now Fabian was so engrossed in his thoughts that not once did he notice the state of the village. He could see that the whole village was in ruins. He could see that there was some house that was turned in rubble by the fire while some were just destroyed by an unknown method. That brought him to question what exactly did happen while he was sleeping?
Fabian then saw that his tracks were covered by falling snow so he did not have to worry about being tracked down. So he grabbed the body of the boy and buried it deep into the snow near a big tree by his house. Then he started running in darkness. He was still thirsty at the moment and wanted to drink some more blood. So he thought that he should hunt down one more person today.
He decided that he would hunt a woman tonight. Fabian knew that a woman would be easily scared by his appearance. Plus women are known to have little strength so he would be able to empower her more easily. He had decided that while hunting a woman he would drink her blood, as well as he would get the information about what exactly happened here while he was sleeping…
While running Fabian could feel that his body had changed. His body felt lighter than before. And best of all he liked running very much. For a person that had not run his whole life, he was having the time of his life while running. Plus he also noticed another thing that he was not able to feel anything. Out here it was so cold that a person can freeze to death in a matter of minutes. But Fabian who was wearing light clothes was not feeling a thing while being out here.
While running Fabian soon saw a woman that was far away from her group. He recognized her immediately. Her name was Sherly and she was a middle-aged widow in the village. Fabian knew her as she is the local dress weaver of the village. Her husband died while hunting a few years back. She was now a mother with four kids. As Fabian saw her, he remembered that maybe her oldest son's name was Jory.
Fabian then stalked her for a while. He saw that she was looking for Jory in all the broken house structures. He thought that this would be the best opportunity that he would have. He then stalked her to a broken house. One part of that house was destroyed while the other part of that the house was standing tall somehow….
…
"Jory! My… boy are … you here?" Sherly said while trying to control her sobbing.
First, her husband died and then two of her children also died on that night. Sherly personally was very depressed. She didn't want to live anymore. Her boy Jory was taken away by some sort of creature, most probably a bear. No one in the inn said it out loud, but as the wife of a hunter, she knew that the chances of the Jory being out here was very thin. But she still insisted to look for him.
And now as the time was passing by, the feeling that she won't be able to see her son again. That thought frightened her. But still, with a lot of hope, she started going through every house of the village to see whether Jory was in one of them. She had a theory that while the bear was attacking Jory he would have run inside one of these houses to hide. It was an absurd theory, but this theory was the only thing that was keeping her to fall into the pit of depression.
With a torch in her hand, Sherly was disappointed when she didn't find anything in the house. She was about to turn back and rejoin the group. But it was then she was suddenly tackled from behind. The torch that she was holding fell onto the snow and thus put out the fire on the torch. And before Sherly could know it a bulky hand wrapped her body on the ground and the other hand sealed her mouth shut so that she couldn't scream.
When Sherly saw her assailant's pale white face and red eyes, she got frightened. That man was a stranger. She didn't know that man. And there weren't supposed to be any strangers in the village at this moment. She looked at the man's face once again as she was having a feeling that she knew the person that had assaulted her.