Li sat cross-legged in front of the builder’s cottage. He sat in front of the main door which Charles complained rattled the most. It was almost midnight. Clouds covered the moon, making the night darker than usual. The only visible light came from behind Li, where a window in the cottage reflected a dim firelight that kept the house warm.

Inside, Charles was probably a nervous wreck as he waited for Li to put an end to a week-long session of misery.

“Looks like it’s getting near us,” said Li as he looked at the forest’s edge. Under the shadowy veil of night, the trees loomed tall and intimidating like stakes of darkness. Everything had gotten quiet and a deathly chill had filled the air.

Had Li been human, he was sure he would have shivered.

“Indeed,” said Zagan. The demon sat in front of Li, his snout pointed towards the forest and sniffing every so often. “Master, I do not mean to diminish your capabilities, but I could have handled this issue myself. There is no reason to dirty your personage with such a menial task.”

Li rolled his shoulders to get a stretch in. “It’s suspicious if I’m not the one doing it. Plus, I don’t want people to know you’re more than what your disguise entails.”

A cold wind danced by the two, carrying errant leaves.

Zagan stood on all fours, his ears pointed and alert. “It is here.”

“Yeah, I can feel it too.” Li cracked his knuckles and got on his feet as well. His hands opened as he readied to channel his eldritch Druidry.

At the forest’s edge, the wraith manifested. Wispy tendrils of fog gathered into translucent mass that became more and more visible as it approached. It stood at the main road, in front of the house, and looked at Li and Zagan.

It was a houndwraith, significantly larger than a man and composed entirely of misty white fog that became solid at chaotic intervals. Its eyes were a glowing black that stood out even in the night. The head was entirely skeletal, showing off a full row of bony white teeth sharpened to deadly points. Its jaws were easily capable of tearing human heads from their bodies.

Li knew the houndwraith as a level 30 monster that was the spectral counterpart of hellhounds. Where hellhounds specialized in brute force and fiery, elemental damage, houndwraiths inflicted mostly magical damage in the form of potent curses. They were the complete counter to physical damage dealers, not only taking reduced damage from physical blows but also respawning infinitely unless they were killed with a high enough rank spell.

Among Jeanne, Sylvie, and Azhar, there were no primary magic users, explaining why they couldn’t permanently deal with the creature.

“I shall smite this lowly spirit from the astral and physical plains. There will be no trace of its miserable existence in any corner of every world,” said Zagan as he bared his own teeth in a snarl.

“Wait,” said Li. Something struck him.

The houndwraith was afraid, its skeletal body flattening against the ground as it trembled. But that wasn’t the interesting part. It was obvious for the houndwraith to find fear in the face of two existences that overshadowed every single part of it.

What Li found interesting was that it still wanted to fight. It was a relatively intelligent creature that knew that to fight was to court oblivion, and still, through the trembling, the wraith still bared its teeth and managed out a growl.

“To not show complete and utter submission before you, knowing that you are an OId One. This spirit begs for death,” said Zagan.

Li stepped past Zagan and neared the houndwraith. He knew from Zagan that spiritual beings understood his power even in his human form. He knew how overwhelmingly crushing his presence was to spirits. For every step that he took closer, the houndwraith would feel mountains of dread collapsing upon its being, crushing at its every inch of existence. Yet even when Li was close enough that the creature could no longer grow but instead only mewl out a whimper, it still tried to bare its teeth.

There was drive within this spirit that transcended any fears of death or undeath. Not even if the world itself were ending would this wraith budge from its spot.

Its will to live was immensely strong, and Li shook his head. Why was he about to destroy the houndwraith at the behest of a mere mortal? It wasn’t as if the houndwraith was an existence worth any less than Charles. Life or undeath – it all mattered the same.

Li pointed to the forest and tried an alternative. “Go, and do not return.”

The houndwraith did not move.

“I cannot tolerate this disrespect any longer. From a mortal that is clueless about my master’s greatness, perhaps I could understand, but you?” Zagan also came forwards, and as he did so, his shaggy fur started to shimmer, flowing with the wind as jet-black flames. “You are a spirit that understands his rank. You know better than to disobey. Now bare your neck and perish.”

Li stretched out his arm, stopping Zagan from eviscerating the houndwraith. “Wait, Zagan. Communicate with it. Let it explain.”

Zagan stared at the houndwraith. It was a little comical, seeing a massive monster such as the houndwraith cower to Zagan who was simply at the size of a regular large dog, but the houndwraith complied, bowing its head as it communed with Zagan.

“It wishes to see the children within the house, but it cannot enter homes built with runic protections,” said Zagan. His fur solidified again, turning from flames back to hair. His snarl mellowed out, and once more he regained a dignified stare befitting a general among demons. “It means no harm and no disrespect.”

Zagan nodded to the houndwraith. “I commend your loyalty. It is firm and undying, as fierce in death as it was in life. However, ensure you do not insult my master further.”

Li had an idea of what was going on. He hadn’t gotten the full story from the builder.

“I’m going to have a little talk.”

_________________

Li stood by the round table while Charles sat, his eyes glued to the table as he shivered. The presence of the houndwraith was still active, casting a chilling aura all around the cottage. The fireplace’s light was dim, the logs black and shrunken.

The faint light cast an ominous shadow over half of Li’s face, and Charles could not look up to meet Li’s eyes. Instead, Charles shivered uncontrollably, his arms wrapped around his chest.

“Tell me,” said Li. “Do your children feel this chill too?”

“No sir.”

Li knew the lore behind wraiths, and that knowledge did not bode well for Charles.

“As I recall from wraiths, they haunt people or places they had strong bonds with in life. Their passive, [Haunted Presence], only affects those with guilty consciences that wronged them in life.” Li rapped his knuckles on the table. “What did you do, Charles?”

“Nothing wrong, sir, just my duty, sir,” stammered Charles as he bit his lip.

Li grabbed one edge of the table and applied some pressure. The table creaked as it splintered, and when he withdrew his hand, he had broken off a chunk of the sturdy wood with pure strength. He shook his head and dropped the table shard, letting it clatter on the floor.

“I advise you to be honest. You’re a good father, and I can respect you for that, so don’t tarnish that respect with lies.”

Charles stared at the chunk of wood and his breathing quickened. Strength that could snap hardwood like that could easily shatter skulls. A sweat formed on his forehead and he ran his tawny hand across, but by the time it withdrew, another sheen of sweat had formed again.

“Twas’ the lord’s hound, sir,” said Charles. “Lord Lys lets his hounds roam free, and one of them took a liking to my children. It came here every single day for two years, and my children loved it dearly. They loved animals, and I cannot blame them. Other children reject them, and so I understand why they would find comfort in a beast that cares not that they be slow or mute.

But last week, I found the hound behind the house. It had been gutted by some massive creature. A bear, I daresay from the tracks, and no doubt it died defending this house, but I could not afford it any honors. I tossed its corpse in the woods where none would find it. I speak of its fate to nobody, not even my children.

Gods, I know it was wrong and my children still wonder why their dear Rollo hasn’t come back, but what can I do? The lord would have me jailed for having one of his precious hounds perish.”

It all made sense now. Charles had been secretive about this whole matter because his freedom was at risk. He hadn’t gotten to the temples because they would have reported him to Lys, so he reached out to Triple Threat, probably knowing that Jeanne’s good heart would never allow her to turn her back on a single father raising two children on his own. But when Triple Threat couldn’t deal with it, he had become desperate.

“Here’s what’s going to happen,” said Li. “You’re going to wake the children and bring them out. Rollo will want to see them. Afterwards, you’re going to go out into the forest and give the corpse a burial if it’s still there. If not, make a shrine for him, anything to salvage some of the respect you owe him.”

“My children!?” Charles stood up in protest but immediately slinked back into his seat when he felt Li’s presence become more aggressive. “Sir, the wraith is but a monster. It knows no reason. It will tear them apart. And all this for just a dog?”

“Just a dog?” Li put his hands on the table and leaned forwards, staring at Charles with a hard-lipped frown. As Li drew closer, Charles shrunk even further back into his seat. “Tell me, Charles, really enlighten me, why are you any better than a dog?”

“Sir?” said Charles, an expression of equal parts terror and confusion wrought upon his face.

“Is it how long you live? Your, what, seventy or so odd years to the dog’s fifteen? No. Both are so insignificantly tiny figures to me that they might as well be the same.”

Li could see himself reflected in Charles’s eyes. He was human, but something more. He loomed large and taller than ever, a mandola of mirage-like darkness expanding from the outlines of his body.

Li paid no mind and continued, “Is it because you consider yourself human? That you can think and love and fear where a dog cannot? No. That dog loved your children dearly and feared for his life as he fought to the death for them. His feelings have transcended even life, shining brightly through undeath.

Do you think your spirit has even a single iota of that strength?

No, Charles, because unlike that dog, you are a coward. And because you are human, you lie to me and try to mislead me.”

Charles had become pale as snow at this point, his mouth gaped open like a fish, overwhelmed and unable to speak in Li’s presence. Even his shivers ceased as his body prepared for death.

Li shook his head and sighed. “Relax, Charles. I can understand you as well. You didn’t want to let yourself go to jail and have your children starve. I am not one to tear families apart. I will not report you. I will not harm you. Take this as a warning and just know that I’ve increased my price: you’re going to be building everything I need free of charge from now on. Consider that the price of lying.”

Li turned towards the door. “We’re done here. Bring your children out and be ready to work for me at first light tomorrow.”

________

Li and Zagan stood outside the front door. Charles, still a little shell-shocked from what had happened, stood beside them. Li had brought him out because he wanted the man to watch his mistakes.

Remy and Rosa were at the main road, just a ways in front of the house, almost right in front of Rollo the houndwraith. They stared at Rollo with disbelieving eyes, their little eyes and mouths wide open.

Rollo towered over the children, each of his paws capable of crushing them underfoot, but he instead shrunk back, almost as if scared of them, his skeletal head turned away.

“He feels shame and fear that he must present himself to the children in his current state,” said Zagan. “He fears he may scare them or worse, that they may be horrified by him.”

Remy, holding his twin sister’s hand, reached forwards tentatively and put a tiny hand on Rollo’s bony paw. A look realization came upon him. “Rollo?” he said, a smile beginning to beam upon his lips. “Big dog now!”

Rollo, knowing now that his masters still saw and loved him the same, whimpered as he gently lay on his side, exposing his misty belly. Remy and Rosa ran forwards and hugged the great wraithhound’s chest, their cheeks squishing as they pressed them to the wraithhound’s belly.

Rollo whimpered and nuzzled its skeletal head on theirs, gently blowing air to tousle their hair as it no longer had a tongue to lick them with.

“We miss you, miss you much” cried Remy as he hugged Rollo tighter, his sister also sobbing into the wraithhound’s ethereal fur.

They lay like that until they could no more. Rollo’s form grew increasingly more transparent, increasingly less physical, his soul finding peace. When the wraithhound’s form dissipated fully, the last curls of misty matter taking with the wind and floating heavenwards, the children ran back, tears welled up in their eyes.

They knew what had happened. Rollo could not talk physically, but his spirit had told them all they needed to know. They sought comfort in the familiar and they crashed straight into Zagan, sobbing into his black fur.

Li opened his mouth to tell them to stop, but Zagan shook his head. He sat there staring stoically ahead, the children’s little bodies shaking up and down as they buried into the demon’s sides and cried their emotions out.

‘I do not mind,’ said Zagan telepathically. ‘Children are pure. These ones in particular are untainted by the chaos of man’s nature. Good and evil do not fight within them, making them ugly. They are innocence, and innocence is a precious beauty. It is what drove the houndwraith to protect them so fiercely. At least in memory of such splendid loyalty, I shall let them seek comfort with me.’

Li nodded and then looked at Charles. The man hung his head in shame. His children knew he had betrayed them, and now they turned to Zagan for comfort instead of their own father.

“Tomorrow at first day, come to the farm and start your work. Bring your crew. Cancel any contracts you have. And I hope you’ve learned something today.”

Charles sighed as he saw his children, knowing it would take long before they would be able to put their father’s betrayal behind them.

“Yes sir.”