When Michael returned to his world he went home straight away, where he spend the first few days mostly in his own room. It felt strange to be free, so strange he wasn’t sure what to do with his newfound freedom. He took this moment to tell his parents about his career as demon hunter alongside of his education. The only other person he told was one of his uncles, he trusted this man more than anyone else and, as it turned out, he knew a great deal about demons, even if he wasn’t able to cast magic as Michael was.
He kept in touch with Benjamin, who became a good friend. Together they became ghost hunters. While Michael still went after demons who appeared in their world and killed people, he focussed more on spirits and helping them move on to the afterlife. Their goal was to release all the spirits Xantier had collected, if they’d find a way. They both read up on the subject as much as the could and working in the field gave them great insight in how ghosts were bound to earth and how they could be released again. At one point they learned that the only way Michael could truly be free was to kill Xantier, but they couldn’t as long as he had his spirits. And the spirits couldn’t be set free as long as he was alive. This was exactly the reason why he was banished the first time. He continued to look for ways to get out of this situation and live, but he couldn’t find anything. He did learn a lot about souls and why some demons wanted to collect them.
As months turned into years, he fell in love. The girl was the love of his life and after a while of dating he told her, with pain in his heart, how things could never work out, because he was bound to a contract with a demon. Much to his surprise the girl stayed with him, she told him she wanted to be with him for as long as they could. Eventually they married and got children, a beautiful young girl and two years later a healthy young boy, even though Michael knew he’d have to leave them one day, his life felt complete.
All this time Xantier fought the binding spell. More and more cracks appeared until one day he finally managed to break free. “Michael!” he exclaimed as he raised his arms to the ceiling of his room. “I will-”
“You will what?” Michael asked. He had noticed the binding spell had weakened to a point which would allow the demon would to break through soon, so he had given his wife and kids a kiss, told his wife what was going on and quickly returned to the demon realm with Benjamin. It hadn’t taken long before Borastius had joined them and they had waited together until Xantier finally broke free. Benjamin had asked if it was possible to just renew the spell or bind the demon again, but Michael felt that wouldn’t solve anything, there would always be a time he’d break out again. If he wasn’t here soon enough to bind him again the demon would keep his promise to kill his family. And even if he himself had died of old age by the time Xantier broke free, the demon would still take his revenge. That was something he didn’t want to happen.
When he heard Michael’s voice Xantier quickly turned around and glared at him. “You! You deceived me! I will hunt down your family and-”
“No,” Michael interrupted him with a calm voice as he stepped towards Xantier. “I signed a contract, you wouldn’t harm my family if I would give you my soul. I’m here now to live up to my side of the contract. You can claim my soul. In return you will do as you promised and you won’t kill my family.”
The yellow demon stared at Michael.
“I suppose,” Michael continued, “you’re more in the mood to torture me for weeks without end for what I did, but maybe we can seal the deal right here and now. I’m ready.”
“You surprise me,” Xantier finally said.
“I had some time to get ready,” Michael said with a shrug. “In the end I know I couldn’t escape this, that’s why I’m here. I signed the contract, my soul is yours. What do you say?”
Xantier nodded and walked up to Michael. “Very well. I will claim your soul now.”
Benjamin watched how Xantier approached Michael and put his hand in his shoulder with both sadness and worry in his eyes. He came along so Michael wouldn’t be alone at this point, but he wished there was more he could do. He watched how the demon sliced Michael’s neck with his sharp fingernails and how Michael took his bleeding neck and fall to his knees. He watched a good friend die right in front of his eyes and the saddest part had yet to come, he would lose his eternal soul. When life left Michael’s body as he lay on his side in his own blood, his soul stood up from it. Benjamin could see him clearly, like any other ghost. They looked at each other for a brief moment, after which Michael turned his head to look at Xantier.
“Come here,” Xantier commanded.
Michael glided forward and raised a hand. Like I promised, my soul is yours he said as he put his hand on Xantier’s chest.
It surprised Benjamin he could hear Michael’s words echo through the air. Normally he couldn’t hear the words ghosts tried to speak to him. The only ghost he had ever been able to understand was his grandfather when he came by to say his goodbye’s after he died. It was strangely reassuring to know he had grown close enough to Michael to be able to hear him.
The eyes of Xantier widened when Michael’s soul entered his body. His hands tried to grab him to pull him back, but he was unable to touch the soul. He stumbled back as he clawed at his chest and fell on the ground.
“Michael just entered his body…” Benjamin muttered. Was this what Michael planned to do all along? He hadn’t even known such a thing was possible. At the same time he recalled how people could be possessed by spirits, they had read about it, they had even witnessed it. He came to the conclusion Michael had deducted it was possible to possess a demon too, especially since a demon had no soul of their own. He wasn’t sure how Michael had done it, but he was in there and Xantier knew it.
“Intriguing,” Borastius said. “Xantier, you have a soul now. A demon with a soul.” He smirked as he stepped closer. “You can feel regret now, remorse, guilt. How many people did you kill and slaughter? How many did you torture and abuse for your own pleasure? How many scream filled these castle walls?”
Xantier grabbed his head with both hands and looked at the ground with big eyes. “I… I can’t…Their voices haunt me. Their screams of agony and pain. The faces of those I killed. Make it stop, Borastius!”
“That is beyond my ability,” Borastius stated. “You wanted his soul, you have it now. And everything that comes with it.”
“He had to join the others! I didn’t want this!”
“You did not specify that.”
“I should…”
“Kill his family?”
“My family? I mean his family. I can’t. I couldn’t. I need to get rid of this soul!”
Borastius leaned forward. “The only way a soul can leave a body is when the body dies. Do not forget the body is a simple vessel where the soul binds itself to. Get rid of the vessel and you will lose the soul that gives you all this trouble.” He saw how Xantier looked at him, the delightful mixture of fear and grief and guilt. “Can you live with this, Xantier? Can you live with what you did now you have a soul? There is a way to penance for all the lives you destroyed, you know. Give your own in exchange, you will find peace again.”
“I don’t know…”
“Do you deserve to live after all you did?”
“No!” Xantier exclaimed as he burried his face behind his hands and started sobbing, “I don’t deserve to live! I can’t live with what I did! I need to end this!”
“Then end this, rip your heart out. The heart is the place of emotion after all. Get rid of it.”
Without a second thought Xantier trust his hand in his chest, his fingers curled around his beating heart and he ripped it out. “Well…played…Michael,” he muttered as he fell back, his purple blood spreading over the floor as it flowed out of the hole in his chest.
Benjamin stared at the dying demon and then he looked at Borastius. “Why did you want to let him kill himself so desperately?”
Borastius looked at Benjamin from over his glasses, before he looked back at the bodies on the ground. “You expressed your desire to free the spirits he had collected. In order to save Michael from living eternally in a demon and to set them free, Xantier had to have a desire to die. Neither you nor me could have killed him, the bound spirits would keep their master alive, but as he desired to die, his collected souls allowed him. It was his wish after all.” Borastius looked at Benjamin again. “Start your guiding ritual, they are lost without Xantier and do not know where to go or what to do.”
Benjamin nodded, but he didn’t look at him. He watched how Michael emerged from Xantiers body. “Michael,” he sighed in relief.
Michael looked at him with horror in his eyes. I saw what he did… it was awful, all those people…
“You don’t have to let that burden your soul, you are free to move on now. Take the wandering spirits with you, they lost what bound them here and are confused.” He looked around. “They’re in this room, all drifting in every direction.”
Michael looked around as well. I see them. And I see the light where we have to go. He smiled at Benjamin. Tell my family I love them. And thank you, for everything.
“Take care, my friend. You are a hero and I will miss you. Putting ghosts to rest won’t be the same without you.”
Please continue helping them, I don’t know anyone more suited than you. He rose his hand in a greeting, a gesture Benjamin returned, and he floated upwards. He touched all the spirits in the room and when he rose through the ceiling they followed him. Benjamin watched them go with a smile.
“Are they gone?” Borastius asked.
“They are,” Benjamin said as he looked at the demon. “Couldn’t you see them leave?”
“I do not possess the ability to see the invisible, unlike you or Xantier. I would appreciate you fill me in.”
“I will,” Benjamin said as he smiled. “If you wouldn’t mind to help me find the hellhounds I was with when I was here the first time. I would like to say hi to them before going back to my realm.”
The demon agreed to that with a simple nod of his head. Together they left the castle as Benjamin explained what had taken place inside and Borastius took him to the place where he knew the pack stayed. They remembered him from before and greeted him as if only days had passed instead of years. After spending a little time with them, Benjamin and Borastius returned to the castle so Benjamin could take Michael’s body with him. He wanted his friend to have a decent funeral. While it had been awful to see a friend die, seeing him move on to a better place, that gave peace of heart.
*** © Mariska Bekker ***