Entry 1: The Night Patrol

Town constable Vancel stared down at his father’s hunting knife as he waited for the Revenant to appear, watching the glow of the Aurora dance across the blade. The reflections moved across the metal like ripples on the surface of a lake, soft and slow, gradually fading from blue to green to violet and back again in a dazzling display of color. His breath misted in the cold night air and condensed on the blade in droplets that scattered the light shining down from above. He huddled deeper into his fur coat, shielding himself from the cold, and raised his eyes to the market square in front of him.

With the exception of the occasional guard patrol, the Hartsfeld markets were completely abandoned. Lit by nothing but the glow of the Aurora, they looked like a ghost town, all locked doors and dark, empty windows, with dim lantern-poles casting long shadows across the cobblestones. A few buildings had gaping holes torn in their walls, and the cobblestones were marred with long gashes in the rock. So far, there was no sign of the Revenant that had driven Hartsfeld’s merchants from the square and that had caused so much devastation.

The undead demon had tormented Hartsfeld for a week now. On the first night, it had erupted from the alleyway where Old Hartle Bur had been murdered the day before. The vengeful spirit had claimed the lives of five guardsmen and six merchants before Vancel had finally managed to get everyone evacuated, leaving the terrified townsfolk confused and astonished. Then, that morning, it had vanished without a trace, fading into the dawn as if it had never existed at all. With nothing but rubble to show that the ghost had ever been there, the townsfolk had hesitantly returned to their homes to get on with their lives.

When the Revenant had appeared again the next night, they’d learned not to repeat that mistake a second time.

Every night for the past week, the Revenant would stalk the empty streets, only to vanish into thin air when the sun rose in the morning. Hartsfeld’s people had taken up refuge in the neighboring village of Faradell, too frightened to go back to their homes until the situation improved. The night patrol guards were the only living things to brave the town’s streets.

And now, after a full week of torment… nothing.

All was quiet in the night. Quiet, but never still, not in the Aurora’s shifting twilight. Shadows danced in the darkness, moving to and fro in time with the slow shimmer of the Veil of Lights overhead. He shivered as he watched. The shifting patterns of light and shadow played tricks on his eyes if he tried to watch for too long.

He glanced up at the moon and scratched at his beard, trying to guess how long he’d been crouched in this little alley. It had been… What, two hours now?

Lights above, what’s taking it so long?

Of course the Revenant would decide not to show its face on the night that Vancel’s hired help had finally arrived in town. Perhaps it was scared of his secret weapon.

Of course, that was assuming that his secret weapon was actually any good.

Vancel shot a covert glance at the man crouched next to him in the alley.

He’d introduced himself as Elias Finley. He was a tall man, pale faced and slender, with jet-black hair framing his glasses. Silver embroidery at the edges of his midnight blue cloak gleamed in sharp contrast to the plume of raven’s feathers lining the collar.

A Restbringer, a Raven-man, a Sky-Light Wanderer. Vancel had grown up hearing the stories, but he’d never met one in person. Outlander men and women who stalked the night, using their strange powers to put the sleepless dead to rest. The stories describing them warned that they stole memories and devoured souls to stay alive. They were bad omens, these Raven-men. Supposedly taking one in was enough to curse their host’s house with a whole year's worth of bad luck.

Liza, his wife, had pushed him to send for one anyways. She’d said she’d dealt with them back when she’d lived up north and assured him that the rumors were false. There was nothing dangerous about them at all, she’d said. She’d told him about how they worked, and Elias himself had filled him in on the details that she’d missed. But even with Liza’s assurances… Well, it was hard not to be unsettled by someone who made their living hunting the lost souls of the cursed and broken. He’d felt more uneasy in the last three hours he’d spent with this man than he had in the last year.

Behind his glasses, Elias’s eyes flicked towards Vancel.

The constable looked away quickly, turning his gaze towards the square.

“That’s a pretty knife,” said Elias.

“Hmmm? Oh, this.” Vancel glanced back down at the blade he was fiddling with. “Just a family relic. My dad gave it to me before he passed.”

“Ah. I’m sorry for your loss.”

The constable shrugged. “It is what it is. Nothing you could have done about it. I’m just glad he died before he saw what’s been happening to the town. Poor man was already angry enough about the state of the town. Gods above know how he would have reacted when Hartle died.”

Elias raised an eyebrow. “Why was he so frustrated?”

“Well, he helped build this place, you see. Saw the best and worst of it over the years. The man knew everybody! I don’t think he really believed anyone in the town had it in them to kill one of their fellows, not even one as rotten as Old Hartle. So when he heard I’d found Hartle knifed in that back alley a few days before Hartle was killed… Well, I don’t think he would have taken it so well.”

Elias nodded. “I see. I’m sure that was hard for you.”

“It is what it is,” said Vancel again, more forcefully this time. Lights above, he’d barely processed this himself. He did not want to talk about it with a stranger, much less a stranger he could hardly stomach!

The Raven Man paused, as if he might take the hint. Then he spoke again.

“What was his name?”

Vancel blinked. “Hmmm?”

“His name. What was it?”

“His name was Korvir,” said Vancel. “Why’s that?”

Elias shrugged. “He died around the same time as Hartle. A person doesn’t always become a Revenant immediately; sometimes it takes a few days for them to reappear. It’s best practice to learn the names of anyone who died at around the same time one showed up, just in case.”

The constable stared at him. “It’s not him,” he said.

“I think you’re right,” said Elias. “All the signs point to Hartle.”

“I knew my dad. He would never do anything like this.”

The Raven-man smiled and shook his head. “I wish it were that simple all the time. But Revenants aren’t always as straightforward as that. Undeath… changes a person. Warps them into something they never would be in life. Hartle’s the most likely suspect, but it never hurts to be prepared for the unexpected.”

Vancel said nothing, staring out into the square. Lights above, Liza. I hope you’re right about this. The Raven-man wasn’t doing much to endear himself to Vancel right now. Just the thought of his dad wandering the town in a murderous rage like that made him sick to his stomach.

Elias just stared at him, eyes inscrutable behind his spectacles. “If it helps, I really don’t think that—”

Vancel shook his head. “Just… don’t. I think I can understand why you’re asking, but you know what you need to know about him, right? So just drop it. I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

The Raven-man closed his mouth. “As you wish,” he said, and looked away, staring back into the shifting shadows.

They sat in silence for a long time. At last, Vancel spoke up again. “Seen anything yet?”

Elias paused and closed his eyes as if he were concentrating. Then he shook his head. “He hasn’t woken up yet. I’ll feel it when he does.”

“Gah! It’s never taken this long before. Why hasn’t it shown its face?” Vancel shook his head and started fidgeting with his knife, passing it back and forth from hand to hand.

“It will be here. You don’t need to worry about it.”

“You sound pretty sure.”

The Raven-man shrugged. “Revenants are unpredictable in some ways, but this isn’t one of them. They don’t always come at the same time, but they will appear at least once a night.”

“And what do we do if you can’t deal with it? What if it’s too strong for you?”

“We’ve got his name and an object he’ll remember fondly. That’s all it takes to make such a young Revenant harmless.” Elias reached into his cloak and pulled out a silver medallion. “His medallion hasn’t gone anywhere. We’re going to be just fine.”

“Hmmmph.” Vancel spun his dagger around in his fingers, then slammed it into the sheathe at his waist, folding his arms to shield himself from the cold. “Still can’t believe that Old Hartle managed to make such a ruckus. We’ve had trouble with him before, and if anyone were to wind up with this kind of nasty curse it would be him. He probably stole from the wrong person and got himself killed for it. But as rotten as he was, losing him that way left a big old scar on the town’s heart. Who can you trust now, you know? That was bad enough. And then this… well, this is something else entirely. This isn’t a murder. It’s a living nightmare. The townsfolk are terrified. I’m terrified. Terrified enough to…”

“To send for someone like me,” finished Elias.

Vancel cleared his throat and looked away.

Elias just chuckled. “No need to hide it. I know all about the Order’s reputation out here on the frontier. I hope you’ll see that you made the right choice in ignoring whatever campfire stories you’ve heard.”

“I already told you it was my wife’s idea,” grumbled Vancel. “I trust her judgment, and so I trust that you can help us. Mostly.”

Elias smiled. “Wise of you. She sounds like a wonderful-”

He stopped talking and narrowed his eyes.

Vancel felt a chill. “What’s wrong?” he said.

“I just felt its Malaise,” said Elias. “It’s awake.”

“It’s… Malaise? What?” The constable tilted his head to the side, listening to the night. He heard a cold wind whisper through the alley, heard Elias’s slow, rhythmic breathing…

And then screams, echoing in the distance. His guardsman, crying out a warning.

A low, howling roar drifted through the streets, and Vancel smelled of brimstone in the air. Orange light rose over the top of the shopfronts, blazing amidst a column of thick black smoke.

Elias leapt to his feet and held his left hand out in front of him. Blue light spilled out from his fingertips.

Vancel yelped and stumbled backwards. As he watched, the azure light spread out through the air like a splash of watercolor before coalescing in Elias’s hand. A spectral scythe formed in the air, crystallizing out of the light. Its staff was as long as Elias was tall, and the wickedly curved blade was as long as his forearm. The whole weapon was translucent, like polished glass, and it seemed to suck the light of the Aurora into itself, giving it a strange halo. Just looking at it was enough to make Vancel shiver.

The weapon dropped into Elias’s waiting hand, and he swung it up onto his shoulder. He tightened his grip on the medallion he carried in his other hand. “I’m going after it,” he said. “Don’t follow me. I’ll let you know when it’s safe for you to watch.”

Then, without another word, the Raven-man charged forward into the shifting twilight.

Blasted outlander! thought Vancel. Warn me before you do something like that! It had been a long time since someone had gotten under his skin this much, and he wasn’t sure why. He could almost feel the irriation pressing against him. The idiot man would put the whole town in danger charging off into battle like that.

Vancel climbed to his feet. Then he promptly ignored Elias’s command and started running towards the western edge of the market.

His wife could tell him that he was wrong about the Raven-men all she wanted. He still wanted to see it for himself.

***

Elias’s midnight blue cloak flared out behind him like a waving flag as he ran through the marketplace, his boots clattering on the cobblestones. The weight of the Blade-Sigil’s scythe sat comfortably in one hand, and he clutched Hartle Bur’s medallion in the other. He could feel blood pumping in his ears, and the smell of brimstone filled his nose.

Hopefully he wouldn’t need anything more than Hartle’s medallion tonight. But if he did… Well, a little extra care had never hurt him before.

For now, though, it was showtime. If all went well, this would be over before the night was out.

He fixed his eyes on the distant orange glow and the plume of smoke climbing towards the sky from within that light. It painted a dark smear against the flow of the Aurora overhead.

As he drew closer, the Revenant’s Malaise began pressing against his mind like a low whisper, trying to stoke his temper and send him into a rage. He could hear the screams now. Metal clashed against stone, and heavy footfalls thundered in the darkness. He swore under his breath as he listened to the sounds. He’d warned the guardsmen! He’d told them not to get too close! Now they would be under the full sway of the Malaise, and if he didn’t get there soon—

All of a sudden, a man flew through the air overhead, screaming in terror before the sound was cut off by a sickening crunch a few streets over. Elias tightened his grip on his scythe, picked up his pace, and rounded a corner to find himself at the edge of a bloodbath centered on the Revenant.

The full brunt of its Malaise crashed against him like a tidal wave before he could even process what he was seeing, but he kept moving.

No! I’ve lost my chance! I’ve already failed and it’s all my fault and they’re going to die and how DARE they go against my orders! How DARE they how DARE THEY HOWDARETHEY-

He stumbled to the ground. He wanted to scream, to yell curses into the wind, to cut down the whole crowd of idiot soldiers all by himself. Rage and pain and loss battered against him, threatening to wash him away in a flood of pure, unadulterated malice.

Then, just as quickly as it had come upon him, the crushing weight of the Revenant’s Malaise fading away like the tide going out to sea. He gasped as if he had just been splashed with cold water, and looked down to see a faint aura of violet light flickering around him. The power of his Mirror-Sigil, his shield against the emotional onslaught trying to dominate him.

Lights above, this is a strong one! The force of this Revenant’s Malaise had nearly driven him to his knees. No wonder the guards had ignored his advice.

He stood and started running again, finally taking a good look at his target. The Revenant stood in the center of a four-way crossroads, towering above a group of five night guards—- a skeletal giant of bone, flame, and tattered cloth, as tall as a housetop, with billowing black smoke in place of its hair and beard. The garish glow of its flame-wreathed body illuminated the whole intersection, and yet its flames gave off no heat. Long, spindly arms ending in knifelike claws scraped against the cobblestones as it walked, and its eyes burned like crimson stars deep within its shadowed eye sockets.

The five guards at its feet hacked away at its legs and feet, screaming in anger. Spears and axes flashed in the firelight.

Fierce. Determined. Dogmatic.

And totally useless. No earthly blade would harm the Revenant.

As Elias watched, the Revenant growled, swinging its talons at the clustered guards. It was a slow giant, and so most of the guards scrambled out of the way as claw swung towards them.

One wasn’t so lucky. The giant’s claws caught him in the back as he ran, and he went down in a spray of blood. Elias dashed forwards. “Go! Get out of here!” he called as he approached, waving his scythe in the air to try and get their attention.

As one, the remaining four guards turned towards him. Their collective gaze went first to the scythe, then to the cloak, then to his face. He could see the glint of Malaise-induced madness in their eyes.

“Raven-man!” cried one of the guards. They all started running.

Towards Elias.

“Lights above,” he swore.

Well, this was better than letting them get themselves killed by a mad spirit. He stopped in place, pocketed Hartle’s medallion, and hefted his scythe in front of him with both hands. Its glow dimmed slightly as he willed his Blade-Sigil to cut away the touch of the Revenant’s Malaise and nothing more.

Behind them, the Revenant’s head turned towards Elias. Its baleful red eyes focused in on the newcomer that had just lured away its prey.

The four guards ran in range of striking distance of Elias’s scythe a moment later, madness gleaming in their eyes. They attacked with no real formation, just mad ferocity. As the first one swung his ax at Elias, the Restbringer darted sideways, then swung his scythe up through the throat of his attacker.

There was no blood. There wasn’t even a tug of resistance as the scythe passed through the throat of the first guard and directly into the head of the second. Instead, both men’s eyes went wide, and they collapsed. Their limp bodied thumped on the cobblestones.

The Revenant howled as the guards fell and began marching towards Elias.

Before his other two foes could react, Elias twisted his scythe in midair, reversed the blade, and brought it down in an diagonal sweep that passed through the torso of the third and fourth man. They both crashed to the cobblestones just as the first man began climbing to his feet.

“What… “ He looked dazed, but the madness in his eyes was gone. “What happened? What came over me?”

He turned towards Elias, then looked towards the Revenant, then back to Elias. “Oh! You’re the one Vancel said might be able to help us! And we attacked you? Why would we—”

“Questions later, running now!” snapped Elias. He pointed towards the road behind him. “Get your friends on their feet and get out of here. And if you see anyone else, tell them that if they value their lives they need to stay away from this intersection!”

“Please! I’m sorry to have attacked you. I want to help—”

“You’re out of your depth here. I know you just want to help keep the town safe, but the best thing you can do right now is to stay out of my way. Now go!”

A footfall nearby shook the earth, drowning out the guard’s response. But the man began pointing towards the alleys leading out of the intersection as he helped the other three guards to their feet.

Good. Elias turned back to the Revenant.

And swore as he saw it raising a hand up above its head.

He dashed to the demon’s left as its claw started to fall, leading the blow away from the soldiers as they scrambled to safety.

Seconds later, the claw slammed into the ground, digging deep gouges in the cobblestones and sending chips of rock flying through the air.

Elias stopped, whirled on the Revenant, and charged towards it as it started to raise his hand, swinging up with his scythe.

A flash of crystal blue cut through the fierce orange of the Revenant’s firelight, and the spirit wailed. Its claw, severed at the wrist, flopped limply to the ground, then evaporated into a cloud of black smoke. All that was left where its hand had been was a hazy stump.

The Revenant roared and stepped backwards, staring in shock at its arm arm. Its eyes blazed a little brighter, and it raised its other claw to strike again. Razor-edged talons glittered in the firelight as they swiped towards him.

Elias dodged out of the way as the claw cracked the earth he had been standing on seconds earlier. Then the Revenant began sweeping its hand towards him, scraping it across the cobblestones. Elias slowed and dismissed his scythe. It melted away into blue mist. He waited until the demon’s claws had almost reached him, then leapt up and over its wrist.

He dropped to the ground on the other side and slammed his hand against the cobblestones.

Green light blazed beneath his fingers in the circular shape of the Chain-Sigil, and a ghostly chain shot up out of the ground. Clattering and clanking, it rose up into the air and snapped forwards like a tentacle, twisting tightly around the wrist of the furious Revenant. The end of the chain hung freely in the air as its coils squeezed tight.

Elias stood up, leaving the symbol blazing on the stones, and snatched the free-floating end of the chain. Then he slammed it down against the floor a few feet away from where it rose from the ground. A second symbol appeared on the ground, and when Elias drew his hand away, both ends of the chain locked securely in place.

The demon screamed, straining at its bindings. But the harder the Revenant pulled, the tighter the chain squeezed. It began pounding its stump against the translucent metal, yanking at it again and again, but the chain held firm.

Elias took a few steps backwards until he was sure he was out of the Revenant’s reach. Now that it was chained to the ground, it wouldn’t be able to follow him, and it would be safe for him to slow down a bit. He raised his left hand, stretching it out towards what was left of Hartle, and moved it in a slow circle through the air.

“Remember,” he whispered.

Violet light flowed from Elias’s hand, and the air seemed to warp and ripple in front of him. Then, with a flash, the light disappeared, and a silvery disk about three feet in diameter hung in the air before his fingertips. It was made of polished glass, and dark purple smoke flowed across its edges in a slow circle.

The Revenant growled, turned to glare at Elias, and then met the eyes of its own reflection in the depths of Elias’s Mirror-Sigil.

Its growl died in its throat. The Revenant went perfectly still.

And, as always, the Mirror worked on him, too. As soon as the Mirror appeared in the air in front of him, he caught a glimpse of his own reflection on the other side of the glass, and blackness closed in around him.

***

He awoke in the darkness.

He hung alone in an endless void of empty space. No ground beneath his feet, no stars or moon in the sky above.

Just him.

Him, and the Veil of Glass.

It loomed in front of him, a wall of polished glass that trailed off into infinity on either side of him, cutting the blackness like a polished dagger. It was just a foot or so taller than he was.

He looked at his reflection in the veil.

He was dressed in the traditional attire of a Restbringer. His face, worn by three years of hunting the dead, stared back at him. No, there was nothing different about his own reflection today.

There was just somebody standing behind him.

A pale-faced woman in a white dress stood looking over his shoulder. She had eyes as blue as the ocean, and the light of an Aurora he couldn’t see shimmered on long black hair that danced in a wind that Elias couldn’t feel.

He glanced over his shoulder.

There was no one there, of course.

Hadn’t been in years.

Her reflection looked directly at him, smiled softly, and closed her eyes. Then, she faded away into the darkness, leaving Elias’s reflection alone in the mirror.

He closed his eyes, blinked back the tears, and let himself fall back into reality.

***

Elias tore his eyes away from the mirror, shaking his head. He was back in his body again, standing on the ground in front of the Revenant.

It was still staring into the Mirror. As unsettling as the Mirror was for him, it had a much greater effect on the dead.

Like a moth to flame, he thought. Drawn in by the reflected warmth of memories that it could almost feel, but could never really touch again. All that was left of Hartle’s humanity rooted the Revenant to the ground, entranced by the life he had once lived. What little of its Malaise he could feel through his protection began to fade away as it gazed into the depths of the Mirror.

“Remember who you are,” he whispered.

The Mirror dissolved into a stream of violet light that traced a circle around the Revenant.

The Revenant’s spirit would stay in the Mirror-Space Elias had just left until something distracted it, even without the reflective surface. Now he just had to—

“Elias!” cried a voice from behind him.

Elias jumped and swore under his breath.

The Revenant stirred, growling softly as the glowing violet halo spun around it.

Thankfully, the sound of the voice wasn’t enough to rouse it from its stupor. Elias whirled around to see Vancel running towards him. He jerked a finger to his lips with one hand and wildly at the Revenant with the other.

“I told you not to follow me!” he whispered as Vancel approached. The Constable shrugged and lowered his voice. “Guards told me not to come here until you were done binding it. Looks pretty bound to me. So I figured I’d see what’s left for you to do.”

“Looks can be deceiving. This is the most delicate part of the process!”

“Is there any problem if I watch it?”

“Is there…” Elias frowned. He wanted to say no. He wanted to say no very badly. Anchoring was dangerous and delicate, and if a bystander got in the way, the consequences would be disastrous.

But how much danger was the Anchoring really in? Letting the constable stay would keep Vancel closer if Elias’s hunch was wrong. Plus, so many rumors about the Order thrived on bad information and cheap mystery. If a local leader like the constable could gain a good understanding of how a Restbringer actually worked…

“No,” he said at last. “No problem at all. I think that would be good for us all. Just stand back, stay out of the way. And Vancel, please, for the love of all that is good in this world— don’t make too much noise!”

Vancel nodded and stepped backwards.

Elias turned and stretched his hands towards the Revenant to resume the binding.

Twin streams of light, first green and then blue, flowed from his hands, and the chain holding the Revenant in place merged with the emerald ribbon.

The two rivers of light swirled and spun around each other, then melded together with the violet that had encircled the Revenant. Then, like three rivers merging together as one, the power of all three Sigils—Mirror, Chain, and Blade—merged into one brilliant band of light.

It shimmered and danced, rippled and waved, its light dancing in harmony with the glow of the heavens above. It was as if someone had cut a ribbon of color from the heavens themselves and wrapped it around the spirit. A soft hum filled the air, rising and falling in time with the dancing colors before them.

He heard Vancel gasp behind him.

Elias smiled and pushed his hands forwards. In the very center of the swirling halo, the red light in the Revenant’s eyes began to fade. Its body began to shrink, its proportions becoming more and more human, and the light pressed in on it as it collapsed. Its colors began to blend and brighten, and soon all that was left of the Revenant was the shimmering white silhouette of a man. The colors of the Aurora blazed all around it.

Almost done. Elias grabbed Hartle’s medallion from his pocket and raised it high above his head. Time to see if he and Vancel had gotten the right name.

“Hartle Bur!” Elias cried. “This medallion is now your Anchor!”

Two fiery red coals flared to life where the glowing figure’s eyes should have been.

Elias’s eyes went wide, and he turned to Vancel. “Get away from it! It’s going to-”

The glowing halo disappeared and the spirit’s silhouette exploded.

A blast of fiery orange slammed into Elias and hurled him backwards. He rocketed through the air, too shocked to do more than gape at the column of fire climbing into the sky in front of him. The moment seemed to last forever.

A shadow began rising from the smoke, towering above the rooftops once again.

Then pain exploded all through his back as he crashed into the oak wall of a nearby storefront. His vision flashed. A sharp crack split the night as the wood behind him caved inwards, and he slammed against ground with a grunt, rolling for a few feet before he slumped to the ground. Hartle’s medallion slipped from his fingers.

Elias shook his head, trying to clear his vision. The whole world was swimming. He hissed through clenched teeth as he staggered to his feet.

His legs were trembling. Why were his legs trembling?

“That,” he gasped, “was not part of the plan.”

Blood trickled down his forehead, and his back seemed to burn. He stumbled as he walked.

No time for the pain! The Anchoring had failed. He needed to act now.

Ignoring the splinters that crunched beneath his boots, Elias stumbled up to the hole he’d left in the wall and looked outside.

In the depths of a cloud of thick black smoke, twin scarlet fires stretched towards the heavens. It had returned to its skeletal form, even taller than before, and its fiery aura was darker, more violent. Tattered strips of cloth waved in the air around it, rippling in the wind.

Its wildfire eyes swung down towards a lone body slumped down by the wall of a brick storefront all the way across the intersection.

Vancel.

No—

Vancel was out there alone! Elias leapt into the intersection and ran as fast as his unsteady legs could carry him. The Revenant raised its remaining claw. It grinned wickedly as it stared at the constable. The constable stared back, but his eyes were glazed and unfocused, looking up but seeing nothing.

Nonononononono—

There had already been two casualties too many tonight, and now he was going to lose another one! He felt tears in his eyes as he ran, both from the pain of his wounds and the loss. He wasn’t going to make it in time. Elias leapt forward and slapped his left hand down on the ground. The Chain-Sigil flared beneath his fingers, and another chain shot up out of the stone, racing towards Vancel as the Revenant’s hand overshadowed him.

The chain would still need to cross nearly half of the intersection to reach Vancel in time, and it wasn’t going to cross that distance in time.

Knifelike claws gleamed above the constable.

Vancel rolled over to face the Revenant, groaning softly.

Too late. He was going to be too late again.

A faint spark of humanity flashed in the Revenant’s eyes. It hesitated for just a second, drawing its claw back.

The chain snapped around Vancel’s ankle a second later and lurched backwards, coiling in on itself to drag the constable out of harm’s way. Vancel yelped as he shot towards Elias, bouncing and bumping across the cobblestones until he slid to a stop at the Restbringers feet. The chain vanished as soon as he stopped moving.

Elias scooped him up and ran all the way across the intersection. Two burning red eyes swung towards the pair, and the Revenant roared before it lurched towards them.

Not good, not good, not good—

The ground shook as the Revenant took a slow, plodding step forwards.

He glanced down at Vancel, and his eyes went to the dagger sheathed at his side.

An old man on his deathbed, tired and angry that the fledgeling town he’d watched grow had gone so far downhill. A Revenant that projected waves of intense anger, sparking defensive rage in all those nearby.

And a Revenant that, at the last moment, had shown an uncharacteristic spark of mercy towards Vancel, the son of a dead man.

That wasn’t mercy. That was recognition.

Elias stood as Vancel sat up. The Revenant’s Malaise had full sway over him now.

“How dare you!” he hissed through clenched teeth, reaching for his knife. “We trusted you! Liza believed you could save us, and you failed! Now this town will rot because of you—”

Elias casually stretched out his hand, resummoned his scythe, and slashed it through Vancel’s throat, cutting him off from the Revenant’s Malaise.

The Constable stumbled, sputtering, and fell down on his hands. Elias dismissed his weapon.

Thud. Another step.

After a few moments of stunned silence, Vancel climbed to his feet. His eyes were wide, his breath ragged.

“What…” he whispered. “What was that? That awful feeling!”

“Same thing the Revenant is feeling. Rage. Frustration. Violated trust. All amplified and intensified, churning in its head like lava.”

“Is that what it feels all the time?” The constable’s voice was small.

Elias nodded. “Our work isn’t just for the people the undead hurt.”

“But the Anchoring didn’t work. It’s still here.”

“Doesn’t always work the first time. But…” He sighed and reached out his hand. “...I think it will work on the second.” Elias gave Vancel a pointed look from behind his glasses. “I’m going to need your knife.”

“Why would you…” Vancel’s face went pale, and he sagged to his knees. “It’s not him,” he said.

Elias just sighed. “Well, it’s definitely not Hartle. The Anchoring failed because we got the name wrong.”

“It’s not him. I knew my dad. He wasn’t like… like what I just felt.”

The image Elias had seen in the mirror flashed through his head. He smiled sadly. ”I warned you that it wasn’t that simple.”

Thud. Another step. The constable wouldn’t meet his eyes.

“Knife and name,” said Elias. “I have one. I’m going to need the other. Now.”

“It’s not him.”

“And what if you’re wrong?” Elias’s voice was as soft as a snowfall. “You’d condemn him to suffer through what you just felt forever? You’d abandon the town? Leave this place to die as his wrath intensifies?”

Silence.

Thud.

Another step. “Your choice,” said Elias. “Worst that happens if I’m wrong is that we have to try again with another name.” He paused. “Or, well, we die here, and this village goes to ruin.”

Silence. The constable licked his lips. Elias could see sweat on his forehead.

Then, at last, Vancel drew his knife and passed it over to Elias. He spoke through clenched teeth.

“Do what you need to do.” His voice was hollow.

Thud. Another step. The Revenant was almost upon them now.

Elias smiled, and grabbed the blade out of Vancel’s hand. “Thank you,” he said.

Elias turned and thrust out his left hand.

The Mirror materialized in front of him. He’d already entered once tonight; he could look at it safely for now.

The Revenant had entered to, and its and kept advancing.

“Korvir!” cried Elias.

The name seemed to echo in the air, crackling with power. This time, Korvir’s Revenant stopped moving entirely.

Elias smiled. That’s more like it.

“Remember who you are,” he whispered.

Ribbons of blue and green lashed out of Elias’s hand as the mirror dissolved, spiraling around the Revenant once more in an Aurora of color that melted away its shape to reveal Korvir’s spirit beneath.

The glowing figure’s head turned towards Vancel. Towards his son.

Elias held out the knife Vancel had given him.

“Korvir, this knife is now your anchor.”

The glowing figure dissolved entirely into the halo of light surrounding it. Then, with a sound like wind rushing over the noise of a thousand whispers, the light surged forwards, slamming into the knife. The metal sucked in the light and began shaking so violently that Elias had to cling to the knife with both hands. The handle grew as cold as ice, and frost began to form on the blade.

After what seemed like an eternity, the last few droplets of shimmering light vanished into Vancel’s knife. As it vanished, lines of white fire appeared on the surface of the metal, forming the shape of a stylized anchor inscribed in a circle.

Elias let out a sigh of relief and collapsed to the ground.

“It’s over,” he said, holding the knife in front of him. “Thank the Heavens.”

Vancel, still on his knees, glanced down at the knife. “That’s it, then? He’s… moved on now?”

Elias shook his head. “He’s still got a long way to go till he’s ready for his Final Rest. I’ll need to bring him to the Pillars of Heaven for that. But for now, he’s safely Anchored to your knife. He’s managed to grab hold of enough of his humanity that he won’t suffer any longer.” He paused. “I’m… sorry you had to see him like that. I know how difficult it can be to see a loved one trapped in the echoes of their dying moments like that.”

Vancel nodded. He still wouldn’t meet Elias’s gaze. “I never thought… I mean, he was my dad. I thought I knew him. He wasn’t perfect, but… he lived well. I was sure he’d never done anything to deserve a fate like that. I was so sure…” At last, he turned towards Elias, staring at the Restbringer with haunted eyes. “Tell me, Raven-man. Is that… is that what he was really like? That anger I felt when he burst out of his bindings- was he really like that on the inside?” His voice trembled as he spoke.

Elias felt his heart crack within him. The pain in his back and in his head were nothing compared to what this man was feeling.

He laid a hand on the constable's shoulder.

“Don’t think like that,” he said sternly. Then his voice softened. “Please—don’t do that to yourself. There is a lot our Order doesn’t understand about Revenants like him, but there is one thing we do know—that I know.”

He sighed. “Becoming a Revenant is not any kind of judgment. It’s not a curse or a punishment. It’s just something that happens, and it can happen to anyone, no matter what kind of life they live. Something just breaks when they die, and what they were feeling when they passed—they’re just stuck in that forever, feeling it tenfold until a Restbringer can break through to their humanity.”

Vancel frowned. “So what I was malice…”

“...was not something your dad would have ever felt in life,” said Elias. “My guess is that he died angry that someone had gotten away with murder in the town that he’d worked so long to protect. When he died, the transformation into a Revenant set that anger burning out of control.” He lowered his voice. “He didn’t do anything wrong, Vancel. Let go of that idea. He was just sick. That’s what they all are. Sick, confused, alone, and in desperate need of help.” He looked up, staring into the light of the Aurora. “Out of all the rumors about what we do, I wish I could end that one,” he said softly. “We’re physicians, not judges. Revenant’s are sick, not cursed. I don’t think there’s a single rumor that hurts more people than that idea.”

The constable was silent for a moment. “Thank you, Restbringer,” he said at last. “Thank you for putting him out of his misery, and for teaching me. I’m sorry I was too stubborn to see who he was at first. And I’m sorry for misjudging you.”

Elias smiled softly. It was the first time he’d heard Vancel refer to him as a Restbringer instead of a Raven-man.

“We’re all used to it. You’re forgiven. Send my regards to your wife- I get the feeling things would have been a lot worse for you if she hadn’t been able to convince you to send for me so quickly.”

He climbed to his feet, dusted himself off, and then stumbled, falling back down to the ground, yelping as his legs gave way beneath him.

“Elias? Are you all right?” said Vancel.

The Restbringer chuckled as he tried and failed to stand up again. “I guess that blast at the end left me in worse shape than I thought,” he said, reaching up to wipe blood from his brow.

Vancel stood and reached out to the Restbringer. “Let me bring you to the infirmary. It’s the least I can do after what you’ve done for Hartsfeld. What else do we owe you for your services?”

Elias took Vancel’s hand, and the constable pulled him to his feet. “Other than medical attention?” he said. “A few weeks of rations and anything you can remember about your father will be more than enough payment. Stories, likes and dislikes, any kind of information that I can take to the Pillars of Heaven. All of those memories will make it easier for him to find his Final Rest.” He held out the knife. “And, unfortunately, I will need to take this with me as well.”

Vancel grimaced. “I figured as much.” He turned away, clearing his throat. “Could you… I mean, is there any way you could get it back here? When you’re done with it?”

“Of course. When I come this way again, I’ll be sure to find you and return it.”

“Thank you,” said Vancel. The pair began walking towards the town’s infirmary. “I would hate to lose that reminder. Memories are all I have left of my dad, and that knife… well, it’s worth far more to me than the steel it's made of.”

Elias nodded, smiling. “Memories always are.” His voice was soft in the darkness. “At the end of the day, they’re all anyone has left, aren’t they?”

The sound of their voices drifted away on the night wind as they walked. Soon only flickering shadows moved in the crossroads, and, at last, all was quiet in the night once more.