Introduction
A Bit of Insight

	When I was little, my grandfather used to tell me and the village children a lot of stories. Though there was one that he was especially partial to. It was a story that took place in a world much like ours... that's how he started it. 'This story takes place in a world much like ours'. This story was about nine "gates" that were set up in specific areas all around two continents that formed a circular shape. Each "gate" was like a portal that went to the very depths of the Hells themselves. One day, a group of people, a cult he called them, went around to open all nine gates. It was believed that once all nine gates were open, then the Demon Lord of all the Hells, Beelzebub, would be allowed entry into our world, and he would begin to run amok and reign havoc down upon our world. However, like every story that goes this way, there were heroes that set out to stop this from happening, and it had a happy ending as these legendary heroes succeeded in keeping the gates closed and defeating off this "cult". Though behind closed doors, when all the other children were away, I heard a part of the story that no other ears had ever heard before.
	Grandfather told me that history has a tendency to repeat itself and that time, like an hourglass, must be flipped and started over again. He told me that, once again, something like that legend would happen. Of course, I was a child, and I didn't really believe him. After all, we were raised on stories like that and were told that they were all just that. Stories. Myths, legends. Fairy tales. Though what my grandfather told me no more than a week before his death will always stick with me. He said, "Believe me boy, what I tell you is by no means a fictional story. It is no more a myth than your existence is. And you know why, boy? Because I was there. I was with them to close the gates, many, many years ago."
	Being the obnoxious child I was, I didn't put any stock into it. It was a story, and that was that. A week later, my grandfather died and I was raised in an orphanage that was a part of our local church, as my mother had died giving birth to me and my father walked off not much longer after that. I become good friends with a boy named Laira, who's parents left him on the side of the road and he was fortunate enough to be found by one of the priests at out church and brought in. On nights we couldn't sleep, I used to tell him the story that my grandfather told me, the whole story, and how everything was, supposedly, true. It wasn't as if I believed in it or anything. But apparently Laira did. He became obsessed with the idea that the world would be thrown into chaos and that we had to stop it.
	It was probably about shortly after I turned seventeen that I finally started to believe that maybe what Grandfather had told me had some truth to it. One of the people from our small village, Tohsg, set out on a hunt with a group of friends. He was the only one who came back, stumbling in and barely able to walk, with marks and injuries from a creature that I couldn't have even imagined. The next day, when the priests and the orphans awoke not only was the man gone, but Laira as well. I snuck out of the orphanage with another orphan, a girl by the name of Serin, and went looking for both the man and Laira. When we finally found them, an unspeakable act happened. It was then that I began to believe that maybe some of the things that my grandfather told me were true. And with this event, Laira said to me...
	"So, wha'dya say? Y'believe 'n fairy tales now?"











A   F A I R Y   T A L E
The Nine Gates



	"Agony? Agony!"
	The boy jumped suddenly as he heard his name called by a familiar voice, blank and empty blue eyes meeting those that were a glistening dark brown. Rain poured down from the dark grey skies, splattering against the younger boy's head, the spawned liquid running its way through the black strands in front that stuck to his face, running the length down to his nose, making his eyes barely visible. Though judging from the look in his eyes, actually seeing wasn't his main concern so much as it was to see if his friend was alright. His hand ruffled the older boy's short-cut dirty blonde hair, causing rain and water to spring forth from the unkempt strands and join their kin as they fell to the already well-moistened grass below.
	"Huh? Oh... sorry... was just thinking," the blonde-hair boy responded.
	The other let out a sigh of relief, shaking his head slowly. "Jeez, though' ya' were 'bout to join y'er gran'pa for a secon' there... startin' t' worry me, y'know?"
	However, Agony could only nod his head slowly. "Sorry, Laira. Won't happen again."
	Laira, the black haired boy, shrugged his shoulders as if he were saying that the occurrence was over and done with and nothing to think about. Almost as if Laira read Agony's mind, his brown eyes moved and fell upon the plain grave that was set up before them. A piece of stone with a name clumsily chiseled into it, just like it had been with every other burial. Though this didn't seem to satisfy Agony. After all, it was his grandfather and he wanted something more than just what every-other person got. Though it had been years past since he died, and it was really too late to do something. The stone was already weathered and fastened to the ground in place, right at the head of where both of the boys knew where the body was buried. Their eyes watched the headstone for a moment before Laira placed a hand upon Agony's shoulder.
	"C'mon, man. We need t' get outta this rain 'fore we get sick."
	Agony nodded slowly and followed Laira away from the lines of filled graves back to the lines of homes, which weren't too far off. At the end of it all was the church in which Agony had been raised for the past few years, and Laira almost all his life. Almost as if the action were routine, as they entered, they were offered a towel each and white tunics with brown trousers, their usual lounge-around clothes. They stripped off their wet clothes, the rain having seeped through their black garments to the point in which they were almost stuck to them, then dried themselves off and redressed in their dry clothes.
	"So y'gonna stay up and play cards wit'us tonight or ya' turnin' in early?" Laira asked the other boy as they dressed and started off down the hall, rooms on each side, each where two children (of the same gender, of course) stayed.
	"I'm kind of tired," Agony admitted. And beside that, he also had the strange stench of death stuck in his nostrils and even the horrific, bitter taste of decay on his tongue from having stood in front of his grandfather's grave most of the day.
	"Righ', well, y'er loss, y'know? Hope y'er feeling bett'r in the mornin'."
	Laira patted him on the shoulder before heading off down the hall to one of the farther rooms where they both had gone some nights. It was where some of the boys stayed up late, past their bedtimes, sitting around and just playing cards and talking about whatever came up. It was mostly girls at that point. Though it wasn't Agony's cup of tea that evening. Tea. That would do some good, he thought to himself as he opened the door to the room he and Laira had shared since they were little. But he was too tired to go get any tea and ended up collapsing onto his bed with his eyes shut, and before long, he drifted off to sleep.

	"Wake up! Get up!"
	For a second time recently, Agony was jarred to attention, bolting up right in his bed while throwing his sheets and covers off of him in one swift motion. By the time he had gotten to his feet, Laira was already up, with the door open, and hopping into the hall as he pulled his slippers on. Agony followed after him, almost mimicking his friend in the act of trying to see what was going on and getting his slippers on at the same time. In what was almost a flash, all of the boys and girls from the orphanage in the church were outside the front doors and scurrying together as a group into the town, the rain still coming down just as hard as it was when Agony and Laira came in only hours before. A crowd of people had gathered around what seemed to be the source of all the commotion and all the children tried to get a look at what was going on, the older kids lifting the younger ones up onto their shoulders just so they could see and describe the events to them.
	"Dammit. T'is's why I a'ways sai't was stup'd not to 'ave a village lead'r, y'know?" Agony heard Laira swear, standing right next to him, both of them trying to get a good look as to what was going on. The older boy had to admit, he thought it would've been a good idea to have an elder, or a village head, instead of everyone living on their own free will without even the church to command them. It wasn't much longer since the wave of people parted and the children were finally able to see what was going on, the priests and nuns right behind them, but not trying to stop them from seeing what had occurred. Some of the children gasped, others cried and some ran back to their rooms, retching and vomiting along the way. Agony recognized the man vaguely and brought it to Laira's attention as to who it was.
	"S'poor Mist'r Clyde," Laira said, repeating word for word what Agony told him.
	Clyde, one of the village's hunters who served as a source of getting food, had come back from a recent hunt. Though, one of the problems was the fact that he was the only one back, when he usually went out with at least five other men. Second, the most sickening, was the fact that he was covered in blood, impossible to tell if it was his own or someone or something else's, though due to his massive amount of wounds and loss of flesh in some areas, it would be considered the former. Most seemed afraid to even go near him, though two people finally managed to help him along to the place where the wounded were usually taken; the church.
	"Whadya t'ink 'appened t'im?" Laira asked Agony, watching from a distance as the two people, dragging Clyde behind, entered through the two large church doors.
	"I don't know. But I know I've never heard of any of the creatures outside of the village doing things like that."
	"Yea', really. Dun t'ink it's monste's or somethin', do ya'? Y'know, t'e demons like y'er grandpa used t' tell ya' 'bout?"
	Agony shook his head, immediately dismissing the thought. "No way. That stuffs just -"
	"- a fairy tale?" Laira responded quickly, finishing Agony's sentence, the older boy shooting him a glare which only brought a smirk to Laira's face. "C'mon, le's go see if we c'n find out wha's goin' on."
	Laira led the way, Agony trailing not too far behind, the two boys racing into the church along with the rest of the children. However, as most of the other children went back to their rooms, Laira and Agony went further down the hall, finding two other children right behind them. Agony didn't recognize them, though as of late, he never paid attention to any of the people in the church-orphanage except for Laira. Laira, however, picked them up right away and said their names with a commanding and demeaning tone.
	"Rennyn! Myranda! Whadinda' bloody 'ell are you doing here?" the younger boy hissed at them, his blue eyes turning almost cold as they narrowed.
	Rennyn was an eleven year old boy who had been in the orphanage since he was a baby, his story much like Laira's, except that he had a sister younger by three years, Myranda, who cowered behind her brother at the sound of Laira yelling at them. Though, at the same time, Laira kept his voice lowered so that they wouldn't be discovered. Agony placed a hand upon Laira's shoulder to try and calm him, and it worked for the most part. Or at least for long enough for the boy to explain just what, in the bloody Hell as Laira put it, they were doing.
	"Well we'eard'bou'da'mista'Clyde'n'we'wanna'see'f'e's'okay," Rennyn spat out, his voice sounding like it belonged to someone half his age, splicing words together as if he was attempting to get the whole statement out before Laira snapped at them again.
	All eyes were on the black haired boy who eyed the two younger children, then just rolled his eyes slowly. "Jus' be quiet."
	They both nodded in unison and crept along behind Agony and Laira, holding each other's hands so as if one decided to run away, they would drag the other with them.
	"You're too harsh on these kids sometimes," Agony whispered to Laira as they snuck down the hall.
	Laira merely shrugged his shoulders, smirking. Laira was far from the oldest in the orphanage, even Agony was older than him, though he was by far the bravest of them all and this caused even the oldest ones around to look up to him. After all, he was the only one with the idea to go and see what was up with the hunter, Clyde. And, naturally, this wasn't the first time Laira had a crazy plan. Agony recalled that it was Laira's idea for the older boys to stay up and play cards every night, and he was the only one with guts enough to stand up to one of the priests whenever they were to get disciplined. Of course, no one saw him for a day or two after that, but that's what made him all the more admirable. Plus Agony heard more than one of the girls giggling and gossiping about him when they thought no one was listening. Though Agony was probably the only one not jealous of his friend, probably just because he wasn't seeking out that kind of attention from anyone.
	The light from the door left ajar stood out in the darkened eye like a sore thumb, and the four steered clear of it, at least for a moment. Laira, as per usual, was the first to peek around through the opening and inside. When the coast was clear, he waved Agony, Rennyn and Myranda over to look with him. The eights eyes watched as priests and nuns busied about the man's body, cleaning out his wounds and wrapping them with fresh and soft towels and cloths. Myranda's fingers tightened about her brother's arm as she started to tug, about to whine when she remembered Laira's warning.
	"Brudder, I wunna go back," she sniffled.
	Rennyn shook his arm as if trying to get her off. "B'quiet Myra."
	"Both 'f you, shaddup," Laira hissed.
	That silenced the both of them fairly quickly. Though Agony paid more attention to what was going on in the other room as opposed to the bickering between the other three, turning his head so he could use his sense of hearing instead of sight. He strained to try and hear what the priests were saying to each other, mainly trying to find out what could have done this. Though he wouldn't admit, Clyde's actual condition was a distant second for him.
	"Bu' ith'cawy," Myranda whined again.
	"Shh!" Rennyn said again, causing Laira's attention to snap towards them again.
	"I tol' you both t' shaddup!"
	This time, however, Laira raised his voice too loud and some of the occupants of the next room over heard them. "Who's there?" they yelled.
	"Shit!" Laira swore loudly, grabbing Agony by the collar of his shirt and Rennyn by his shoulder, dragging them along quickly as he hurried down the opposite direction of the hallway, Rennyn's hand still with Myranda's causing him to pull her along. 
	Laira let go of Rennyn as they whipped past his room leaving the boy to help his sister get to her room, Agony surprised at how Laira managed to pick it out in such a moment, now capable of running on his own. They hurried into their room, hearing the sounds of slippers striking the stone floor hallway, racing after them. The boys ducked into their room, slamming the door shut and both undressed quickly, their clothes ending up in piles on the floor before they each dived into their own beds, pulling the covers up quickly. Just as they managed to cover up, the door slammed open, two of the priests storming in. Almost as if recognizing the room, one of them growled before finally roaring out a name that seemed too familiar to him.
	"Laira! Get up, now!"
	Laira played it cool, groaning as he groggily shifted in his bed, pretending as if the yell didn't break his state of 'sleep'. Though as the priest yelled again, Laira groaned, slowly starting to sit up. "Hrrm, wha's'wro - ack!"
	Laira was pulled out from his bed by his ear, the boy keeping a grip on the covers which he kept about him as the priest dragged him out of the hall. As Agony heard the three sets of foot steps, one labored (Laira still putting up his act, Agony thought), he could hear the yelling voices disciplining the boy. With a sigh, Agony gave in to the inviting grip of sleep and drifted off, hoping that his night wouldn't be interrupted again.

	Agony awoke in the morning on his own. There were no cries, no yells, nothing. He sat up slowly, yawning as he stretched his arms out above his head. Glancing to the side of him, he took notice to the fact that the bed was still empty. They never let Laira go, he thought. He must still be in punishment. With a sigh, Agony rolled out of bed, hunting around the room for his clothes and getting dressed slowly. After all, he wanted to take his time because like almost every day, it would be boring. A day of chores and prayer until late in the day when he and the others would finally get to have some fun. Well, all but Laira that is.
	"Bastard still gets out of work though," Agony swore.
	He pulled on his slippers as he opened the door, hobbling out. Though, Agony found the hall filled with what could've been nearly all of the children in the orphanage, girls and boys of all ages, lined up in the halls which threw Agony off. Once he finally managed to get his slippers on, he squeezed past people, until he finally came across someone he recognized. Serin was a girl the same age as Laira, and of course, was one of the many girls who had one of their little crushes on him.
	"What's going on?" Agony asked her as he finally managed to squeeze into position to stand next to the younger girl.
	"Dunno. I hear that that guy they brought in last night is gone. Just up and disappeared."
	Agony's eyebrows shot upwards suddenly as he turned to look at her again. "Huh? How's that even possible, the guy couldn't even walk on his own!"
	"Dunno. He's just... not there. They left 'im alone for a little bit and when they came back, poof. No guy."
	Agony shook his head slowly, standing on his toes to try and get a good view as to what was happening, though couldn't get a good enough glimpse. And with a half-hearted sigh, he returned to standing flat on his feet, crossing his arms in an almost pouting sense, suddenly feeling younger than he really was. The look must've been somehow humorous, as it brought a small giggle from Serin, her hand lifting to cover her mouth. He just blinked at her, scratching the back of his head and wondering what he did that was really so funny.
	"Laira's gone, too," she added after she calmed down.
	"What?" Agony exclaimed as he looked towards her. "They didn't kick him out, did they?"
	"Don't think so, 'cause they seem as stumped about that as they are about the other guy. Guess he just disappeared, too."
	"Probably off getting into trouble," Agony said, sighing.
	"He's probably out looking for that lost man," she responded, sighing dreamily as her hands folded in front of her, a goofy grin on her face. "He's so brave."
	"Brave... yeah, guess that could be it." If one didn't know better, they could possibly say that Agony seemed almost jealous of his friend and his way with not only the girls, but all people. 
	He turned and started to push his way through the people, though before long he felt a hand upon his shoulder. It was Serin again. "You're going to look for him, aren't ya'? Well I'm coming too!"
	Agony groaned, rolling his eyes as he shook his head. "Could tell you no, but I doubt you'd listen, huh?"
	"Right!" she said cheerily, taking his hand and dragging him along through the children and 'young adults' until they came to the two large oak doors that served as both entrance and exit for the church, then slipped out.
	It was raining yet again, Agony noticed, coming down just as hard as it was the night before. His grandfather would have said it was raining cats and dogs, though Agony never really understand the expression. He just knew that it meant it was raining pretty hard, and he sometimes used the term anyway. As they got outside, he managed to pry his hand from Serin's so as to be able to walk at his own pace and on his own. They stood in front of the closed doors of the church, looking around slowly at the myriad of exits from the village that led right into the forest.
	"Which way do you think they went?" Serin questioned.
	"I don't know," Agony admitted, biting his lower lip. "It'd be too hard to just start from one place and go looking, unless we got real lucky."
	Serin agreed. "Yeah. Maybe we should just look around the town, see if we can find any clues."
	"I guess that's the best tactic. Not as if we can do much else."
	They split up, each going their own way as they began to look around. Agony resisted the urge to ask the rare person that went running by to go home for safety from the rain if they had seen either Laira or Clyde. If anyone knew that he and Serin were intending to go looking for them and leave the village perimeters, they'd be in trouble. Not to mention that Laira was already in trouble for leaving, so they'd get in even more trouble for following him. At least he can do these things guilt-free, Agony thought. Laira never did care if he got in trouble.
	It wasn't long, surprisingly, before Agony heard Serin calling him. "Agony! Agony, over here!"
	He groaned, rolling his eyes. They were going to get caught and in so much trouble because of her, he thought as he ran over to her, following the sound of her voice. When he got there, she was crouched, knees to her chest and mud staining the bottom of the plain black dress she wore, like all the girls wore. Her hands rested on her knees, eyes staring at one specific spot of the muddy ground. 
	"What is it?" Agony asked.
	"Look."
	Agony looked towards where she was pointing, and at first, saw nothing. So, he crouched down in a position much like she was in to get a closer look and finally saw what she spoke of. Blood. It was dried and mixed in with the mud quite well. "How did you find this?"
	"I just looked. Guy was bleeding before, figured there would've been some blood, y'know?"
	He nodded and lifted his head, standing and looking about to make sure that no one was really watching them. Then, he grabbed Serin by the top of her dress and pulled her along, ducking quickly into the forest, letting her go when he was sure that the trees protected them from detection of the townspeople. Serin pouted, straightening out her dress before glaring at Agony.
	"What was that for?" she yelled.
	"Shh! Had to be quick so no one saw us!" Agony hissed. "Come on, let's start looking, they have to be somewhere around here. And with those injuries, that guy couldn't have gotten too far."
	Serin nodded and set off, her head turning from side to side as she looked for both Clyde and Laira. More than likely just Laira, Agony told himself. He began his own search, weaving between trees, pondering on calling out Laira's name. Though that might draw attention to him and possibly Serin that they wouldn't want. Agony hadn't gone hunting before, but he could only guess that some of the creatures out and about were dangerous. It was at that point he wish he had some kind of weapon, anything would've sufficed. And just by chance, he tripped over that something, falling face-first into the moist grass below with a thud. Groaning, he got to his feet slowly and looked back to see what it was. A larger branch from a tree had apparently been snapped off, either by some tall creature or possibly a storm he slept through. It didn't matter, he told himself as he snapped off the smaller spawns of branches from it and started to use it as a walking stick. That was when he heard it.
	"Ahh! Help!"
	Agony spun in a complete circle, trying to determine where the voice came from. It took him a moment to recognize the voice. "That's Rennyn!"
	"It came from here!" he heard Serin call before she ran off in that direction.
	Agony raced after her, careful of any other falling branches that Serin seemed to dodge swiftly. In the matter of a few seconds, Agony had caught up with Serin and passed her, determined to get in front as he had the 'weapon' and could actually defend her if need be. Trees blocked his vision from seeing too far, but he was able to make out someone, or something, clinging to Rennyn as the boy tried to push it off. Rennyn fell to the ground, the thing going with him, and as the two of them drew nearer, Rennyn's screams of pain drowned out the sounds of ripping flesh and splattering blood.
	"Sonuva' bitch, get offa'im!" Agony heard Laira cry as he came running from the opposite direction as them, seemingly twice as quick.
	As Laira came up, closer, Agony could see he, too, held a large tree branch, both hands gripping it tightly. He spread his legs and gripped the branch with both hands tightly and sent it in a downward arc towards the creature's face. It hit, dead on, throwing the thing off of Rennyn along with flesh being torn from the motionless boy's scalp, a nice chunk of the creature's jaw sent flying off into the forest somewhere. Laira put his feet on each side of the creature and began to bring the branch down, repeatedly, into its face, a loud, sickening sound coming from the contact that made Agony and Serin's stomachs turn, a sound that was much like a foot stomping into mud, only they knew that this wasn't just mud, but something's flesh and skull and brains. Panting, Laira eventually sank the branch into the face of, who Agony discovered as he came closer, Clyde. Serin fell to her knees next to Rennyn, lifting him up slightly and shaking him as she sobbed, retching at the sight of his ripped and torn flesh all about his face and neck. The sight became too unbearable and she turned, vomiting onto the grass, hurling up whatever she had eaten that day.
	"That... was..." Agony sputtered, staring between Clyde and Rennyn, wide-eyed and unmoving.
	"Shit... I was... t'late," Laira sobbed, the branch slipping from his hands as he fell to his knees, burying his face into his hands, his solemn cries heard muffled through them until it came to the point that his mind seemed to mimic that of Serin's, his hands pulling away as he vomited as well, though not as easily as Serin as he apparently had nothing to eat that morning, only discolored saliva and body fluids coming up.
	Agony followed in suit, turning away and retching up nothing but his bodily fluids all over the grass, eventually wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. Once all three had recovered, Serin and Laira both stood, tears still running down the soft curves of the young girl's cheeks while Laira's eyes were blood-shot and red. They refused to look down at the two bodies, only glancing between each other.
	"N.. n... now what do you we do?" Serin squeaked quietly.
	"We have to tell... the priests what happened," Agony managed to choke out in response.
	"D'ya really think they'd believe us?" Laira said bitterly. "Whadya wanna' tell 'em that Mist'r Clyde wen'an' ate one of th'kids?"
	Agony had to admit it sounded stupid when he said it like that. "Can't just ignore that this happened."
	"But... what can we... really do?" the girl whispered.
	"We go back an' pretend tha' ain't nothin' 'appened."
	"What the hell happend to him?" Agony wondered aloud, shaking his head.
	"Soun's like somet'in' outta' one'uh y'er grandfath'r's stories, huh?"
	The older boy groaned, the taste of bile still fresh in his mouth as he turned away. "Don't even start with that, Laira."
	Serin, however, didn't know about what they spoke of. "W... what stories? What're... you two talking about?"
	"Nothing," Agony hissed.
	"Wha', dun' wanna tell 'er?" Laira said, his voice muttered. "So, wha'dya say? Y'believe 'n fairy tales now?"
	"I just want to get back. Let's hurry up."
	Before either could object, Agony started away, heading back towards the village. Laira stood, watching him for a moment, then turned his gaze to Serin, allowing their eyes to meet. He shrugged his shoulders and nodded, placing a hand on her shoulder to lead her along. They treaded back slowly, heads hung low, each one deep in thought. Agony reeked of vomit and mud, Laira was soaked from the waist down in blood, and Serin's hands seemed to be almost dyed crimson, mud caked on to her dress. They each pondered on their own how they would explain this to everyone back at the village, but couldn't come up with anything. Serin bit her lower lip hard enough to almost draw blood as she quietly wringed her hands, staring at the floor blankly. She never would've thought something like this would've ever happened in her lifetime.
	By the time they got back to the village, they found themselves in shock. In the open, rain poured down heavily and they actually felt it, unlike when they were in the forest, as the trees took most if not all of it. Laira and Serin were glad for it as it washed away the mud and blood on them, though Agony couldn't seem to care less. He was too busy glancing about the town, which seemed almost empty, deserted. It wasn't long before both Serin and Laira caught on to the fact as well, the three walking through the village close together.
	"Where'd everyone go?" Serin whispered, the horror in her voice more than evident.
	"I really dun' lik this," Laira said quietly, eyebrows lowering as his eyes narrowed.
	They moved through the village warily, watching their surroundings closely, seeing not a sign of life. Along the way, Laira took the lead, heading towards the church, figuring the best place to go would be there. Could always be safe in a church, he thought. He opened the oaken doors and looked in, his eyes closing partially as he leaned forward, hand moving to his stomach. Then, spinning around, he pushed Agony and Serin out of the way, suddenly retching again, bile of more saliva and some blood coming up over the dirt path. Agony and Serin, together, looked in next and almost immediately did the same as Laira. Within the church were scattered bodies, mutilated, flesh ripped and peeling off, blood splattered over the ground and walls everywhere. Brains and entrails were common place in the halls, on the floors and ceiling alike.
	Laira was the first to regain his composure, turning to look inside again, swallowing hard and scrunching his nose at the horrific taste of vomit. While the other two were recovering, he bravely stepped forward and slowly crept it. Agony saw him out of the corner of his eye and quickly moved to grab at him, Serin following right along.
	"What do you think you're doing?" Agony hissed quietly.
	"I 'ave t'see if a'yone's alive!" Laira yelled. "There migh' be someone le't inside! Jus' stay 'ere, I'll be righ' back."
	Laira pushed Agony away and crept over the bodies, moving deeper and deeper inside and down the hall. Agony stepped back, pulling Serin with him as he sighed, shaking his head. Inside, Laira peeked inside doors left ajar, holding his nose shut tightly with two fingers as he examined each room for only a moment. Along the way, he made the mistake of looking down and seeing the body of the little girl, Myranda, lying face down. Groaning loudly, Laira looked away quickly and continued down the hall. Sounds of soft sobbing soon reached his ears which gave him a slightly renewed vigor as he quickly passed over the bodies, hunting down the noise, tracing it to one room. Opening the door, he peeked inside, seeing a lump, covers thrown over it, ontop of a bed. Taking a deep breath, Laira slipped in quietly, then spoke.
	"'ello? You 'kay?"
	The lump moved quickly, arms and legs springing out and kicking in a flurried blur, throwing the covers off as a loud, feminine shriek came from the girl under the covers, who appeared to be around eleven, maybe twelve. She soon saw who it was and almost immediately attached herself to his waist, sobbing against Laira's stomach. Sighing, Laira petted the back of her head, managing to peel her off of him before speaking again.
	"S'okay, I'm gunna' get ya' outta 'ere, 'kay? I'll carry ya' out, jus' keep yer' eyes closed, 'kay?"
	The little girl nodded her head lightly, wrapping her arms tightly about Laira's neck as he crouched down. He lifted her up, patting her on the back gently, then slowly crept out of the room. Holding his breath, he slipped down the hall, though stopped as he heard yet another sound. A low groan accompanied by a slight slithering noise. Turning slowly, Laira looked about, his eyes almost immediately spotting the rising body of one of the older orphans, throat torn out and the torso seemingly partially hollow. Though it had no real trouble rising and starting to lazily drag its feet in the process of creeping towards Laira. It wasn't long before others began to rise in the very same manner, all beginning after those still living.
	"Shit!" Laira swore loudly, turning to see that one had risen behind his back when he wasn't looking.
	He rammed into it with his shoulder, careful of the crying little girl in his arms. The force sent the creature stumbling back and hitting the ground, head cracking open against the hard floor. Laira raced out, stepping on bodies if he had to, which ended up waking up some of them. As he came closer to the doors, he called out to Agony and Serin, hoping that they were still there and hadn't decided to abandon him. But he knew Agony, and he knew he wouldn't do that to him.
	"'ey! Get ready t'close the doors!" he yelled.
	Outside Agony got behind one of the oak doors while Serin took the other, peeking around the edges to see Laira come racing towards them, bodies rising behind him and the already risen shuffling after him. Towards the end, Laira stumbled, tripped and fell forward. He twisted his body in mid-air so that he ended up landing on his back with a loud thud, skidding across the wet and muddy ground, still holding the girl close. Agony and Serin immediately shut the two large doors as quickly as they could and raced over, helping Laira up to his feet, though interrupted by a groaning noise. Serin was the first to see it, causing her to shriek.
	"Look! Look!" she yelled, pointing to one of the housewives of the town, most of her hair and scalp missing, showing the grey, blood-stained brain matter, her legs twisted and deformed, dragging herself along towards them.
	She wasn't the only one either, as Agony pointed out two more of the creatures coming from another side and Laira finding three more from yet another. And to add on to it all, the sound of loud banging against the doors rang out. "Whada'ell shoul' we do?" Laira yelled.
	Suddenly, as if a light shining from the Heavens, the idea dawned on Agony. "My grandfather's house! It's on the edge of the other side of the village! It has a ton of locks on the doors, we can hide out there!"
	"Lea'da' way!"
	Agony searched the depths of his mind, trying to think as quickly as he could and mapping out the directions in his brain that led to his grandfather's old home, before finally speaking up. "This way!"
	He rushed by the people that moved towards them, Serin only a step behind and Laira only another step behind her. Though with the line they moved in, by the time Laira had to cut through the creatures, he ended up having to knock them off, dead and crusted fingers gripping around his shirt and ripping part of it from his upper body. Laira paid it no mind and hurried on, making sure the girl was okay as he ran after his friends. Even with the load he carried, he managed to catch up to right behind Serin. More of the creatures popped out from between houses, throwing themselves at the four, though each time they came just short and hit the ground with a thud. Weaving their way through, it was only a few minutes before they reached the end of the village, the house just a bit larger than most of the others clearly in sight. All three of them seem to gain speed and vigor at the sight of this and rushed by quickly. Agony threw himself against the door and quickly pressed down the thumb latch that opened the door and tumbled in, thanking whatever gods there were that it was unlocked. Serin rushed in and Laira followed, setting the girl down, who attached herself immediately to his legs. Eventually he managed to shake her off and instead, she moved towards Serin, clinging close to her.
	"Weapons? A'y weapons?" Laira asked Agony quickly.
	"Uh, I don't really remem-"
	"C'mon, t'ere's gotta' be somet'in'!"
	The thought suddenly struck him. "An axe! There's an axe out back that he used to cut fire wood!"
	"Goo'. Keep t'e door closed 'til I tell ya' to open it, 'kay?"
	"No! What the hell are you planning on doing?" Serin yelled at him, both frightened and enraged.
	"Jus' do it!" Laira hissed, slipping back outside and slamming the door shut.
	Agony obeyed, latching the locks shut. He always remembered thinking that his grandfather was so paranoid, having so many durable locks on the door, but he thanked the late relative for that much, and lack of windows for the creatures to access. The three of them were quiet inside as they waited, impatiently, for any sign of Laira. Serin was the first to jump when she heard the sudden loud groans of the creatures coming in, flesh ripping and blood splattering. They endured the sound for only a few moments before Serin shook the girl off and hurried to the door.
	"They'll eat him alive, we have to let him in!"
	"No!" Agony reached out and gripped her wrists tightly, pushing her away from the door and causing her to stumble back. "... we have to wait for him to say it's okay."
	"But what if he doesn't!" she protested in a sob, holding her wrists as if he had hurt her that much.
	Agony didn't reply and merely cringed as he still heard the noises from outside, the thickness of the door muffling most of it. However some of it was still rather clear. It seemed to go on forever and came to a sudden halt. There was absolutely no noise that they could hear. Though Agony eventually figured that perhaps Serin was right, and Laira wasn't going to call out to them. He began to even believe in the worst as he quickly undid the locks and flung open the door. The sight surprised Agony and threw Serin off, and on a closer look, made her sick, though she seemed to have enough sense not to vomit in the house and choked the bile back down. Laira was bent over, panting with his hands on the butt of the shaft of the axe, sweat glistening on his face, moist black hair sticking to his flesh on his forehead. Blood was splattered all about, myriads of body parts and organs spread all around for almost as far as the eye could see. Even the black clothes that Laira wore couldn't hide the amount of blood that had been spilt. And even though more of the creatures were coming from a far, from quite a distance, countless lay dismembered all about the front of the house. Taking his time, Laira slipped inside, almost casually, tossing the axe aside as Agony shut and locked the door. He peeled the shirt from his body, throwing it away like a rag as Serin and Agony took notice of something different about him. A touch of silver stained his hair, and when they could see his eyes, they almost seemed to glow a dull brown.
	"Laira," Serin whispered softly, holding the girl close, the younger orphan's eyes always closed, having not open her eyes since she saw Laira in the church.
	"Wha'?" he almost hissed in response, though didn't wait for her to follow up as he turned to Agony. "Y'er gran'fath'r got a'y spare clothes 'roun'ere?"
	Agony stared at Laira before finally nodding and responding. "Yeah... right over there," he said, pointing him over to his grandfather's room. "There's... a basin in there, with a built in water pump so you can... wash up."
	Laira nodded slowly as he started away. "Righ'. I'll 'urry up."
	The door slammed shut behind him as Laira stepped into the room, and Agony and Serin were left staring at the closed door in silence. "W... what's happened to him?" Serin whispered.
	"I don't know," Agony admitted quietly, then turned to look at the girl. He crouched down, petting her head softly. "Hey, are you okay? You aren't hurt are you?"
	The girl didn't respond to him, only clung to Serin tighter. Serin pried the girl off with some trouble before taking her turn. "What's your name?" she asked her, voice soothing and soft.
	The girl opened her large blue eyes, staring into Serin's own green eyes. Shakily, she responded. "Riana."
	Serin nodded, forcing a smile to try and calm the girl down as much as possible. "That's a very pretty name. Do you mind if I call you Ria?"
	The girl seemed to think about this for a moment, watching Serin, eventually deciding that she was good, so shook her head.
	Nodding again, Serin introduced herself. "Well, my name is Serin and you can call me Ser if you want. That boy right there is Agony, and the one that saved you is Laira."
	"Is Laira going to be okay?" the girl managed to say, her voice quiet and squeaky.
	"Of course he is," Agony answered this time, forcing a smile for her as well.
	"How old are you, Ria?" Serin asked.
	Riana looked at her hands, for a moment before replying. "Ten."
	"Can you read?"
	Riana nodded.
	"And write?"
	She nodded again and Serin smiled.
	"Well, be glad, 'cause Agony there can't," she told Rianna, the smile turning into more of a grin as she winked.
	Agony groaned as he heard the little girl manage a giggle, rolling his eyes. "Ugh. When Laira's done in there, we can probably find other clothes for us. Until then I want to try and find something out, you two stay out of trouble."
	Serin grinned at Agony, standing and taking Rianna's hand, leading her along. "C'mon Ria. Let's take a look around the house, okay?"
	Agony turned away and began looking around the walls of the main room, which were lined with books. His grandfather always read to him from these collections, and in spite of what Serin told the little girl, Agony could and did read. He ran a finger along the spines of the books as his eyes flew over the titles, his head tilted slightly to read them a bit easier. Then, he stopped at one of the more familiar books. Large, thick and bound in red leather, the title was clearly stitched on the spine in gold. 
'The Nine Gates and Other Fairy Tales'. Pulling the book out from the shelf, he moved it to a little desk his grandfather had set up in front of a fireplace for nights when he read. Opening the book, Agony began to flip through the pages rapidly, eyes skimming the neatly written text.
	
	Laira stayed with his back against the door for sometime before he finally moved. The room was decently sized, with a bed and a nightstand, a small desk, a burrough and closet to keep clothes in, plus as Agony told him, a basin and built-in water pump. Hanging, tilted and dusted on one wall was a circular mirror, plain, and black-framed. He moved towards the water pump, pumping the handle up and down until water spewed out into the basin, thick and muddy at first, though the clear water soon flowed free and washed away the dirt. Taking a small pail from the foot of the basin, he filled it up and dumped the water over his head as it hung over the basin. Cold water dripped down his face and the back of his neck from his hair, Laira shaking his head to try and dry it slightly before running his hands through it a few times.
	He turned to look into the mirror, leaning against the wall with the palms of his hands. In the mirror he could see that from just thinking between his trek from the main room into Agony's grandfather's room, the little bit of silver in his hair had become a streak right along a small fraction of his bangs. Laira scoffed, shaking his head slowly and abruptly slammed his fist into the mirror, knuckles crack as the bottom part of the glass chipped off. Glaring at his own reflection, Laira remained motionless for a few moments. Then, he leaned down, picking up a bigger piece of glass that had been broken off. Leaning closer to get a better look, he winced slightly, digging the tip into his skin right under his eyelid, just deep enough to cause it to bleed, then slowly dragged it down, panting heavily, eyes shut tight in pain, ripping the glass piece away as he groaned loudly. Almost right after, he repeated the action, starting on a different part, but doing the same thing, this time the cut longer, then moved onto the other side of his face, the first cut long while the other was short.
	Laira threw the glass away and moved to the water basin and dunked his head under, crying out with his face underwater as the cold singed the cuts, causing pain to rush through his face and sent tingling down his spine. He quickly pulled his head away, stumbling around the room until he found the closet, opening it and pulling out a random cloth to dry his face. When he pulled it away and his vision cleared, he looked into the mirror, the cuts on his face starting to blood again, the effect seeming to look almost as if he were crying tears of blood. Drying and cleaning his hands, he set the cloth aside then and began to dig through the clothes, looking for something of his liking, careful not to get the blood from his face upon them. Eventually he decided on a loose fitting white shirt, the sleeves cut short and folded over to be even at the elbows, the v-shaped neck left open with three loosened crossed laces. Over that he threw a black leather vest, decorative crimson-red designs upon it in bleeding, swirling patterns.
	He got rid of the pants he wore and donned knew black leather pants he found in the burrough, surprised that the pants were so snug and figured they were from the old man's older, adventuring days and found a pair of black woolen socks and black boots, which he added onto it. Laira took this time to dig around through the old man's things, pulling open drawers and throwing clothes around, looking for something of interest. Eventually he came across a brown leather belt with a large brass buckle. As he pulled it out, he found that attached to a part of the belt was a sheathed weapon, a wide, curving dagger, just shy of a foot in length, while the handle was wrapped in brown leather, just long enough for his hand. Under the belt in the drawer were two black leather gloves which he pulled on, then snatched up a small straight-bladed sword-shaped earring he saw setting on the very bottom.
	Moving back to the mirror, he decided to do things the hard way yet again, sending the needle of the earring through his lobe, causing the blood to start to flow again. Though he quickly grabbed the cloth, wiping the blood from both his ear and the blood welled up on his face away again. Once he was sure it was safe, he attached the back of the earring to keep it in place. Satisfied to an extent, he went back to searching idly through the things of his friend's grandfather, checking under the bed last. It was there that Laira found a large, brown leather bound book, plain as day on the outside. But when he pulled out it and set it on top of the bed, then opened it up, he found messily scribbled words that he could barely make out with descriptive pictures of beasts drawn that Laira could only imagine. He flipped through the pages quickly and stopped on one, staring at it with wide eyes.

	Agony waited patiently for Laira as he read through the book that his grandfather used to read to him from, about the Nine Gates. Serin and Riana lounged lazily in front of the fire that the three of them built in waiting as a joint effort. They heard no real noises from the outside, or from the room that Laira was in. In fact, the silence that plagued the entire area was almost frightening and horrifying. However, Agony broke the silence as he spoke, although quietly.
	"Here it is, the story of the Nine Gates."
	"The Nine Gates?" Serin questioned, sitting up and watching Agony, Riana leaning against her, eyes closed, perhaps asleep or perhaps just feigning it.
	"My grandfather used to tell me this story, about nine Gates around two continents... there was a cult that tried to open all nine, and it's said that if all the Gates are opened a great evil will be released upon the world."
	"Oh... a fairy tale," Serin murmured.
	"I used to think so," Agony replied with a sigh.
	Before Serin could comment, the door to the old man's room opened and Laira slipped out, his new appearance bringing shocked gasps from all three, Riana seeming to have jolted awake at the sound of the door opening. Laira looked at them all, a brown leather book tucked under his arm while his other hand rested upon the hilt of the dagger that was sheathed in the scabbard attached to the belt, right above the front of his right leg. He moved swiftly over to the desk Agony sat at and dropped the book down on top of the one he was reading, opening the book to a page he marked with a piece of cloth. Then, he left Agony to read it as he looked about the main room, eventually finding a full-body mirror which he used to observe himself.
	"What... happened to your face?" Serin was the first to ask as all three watched him.
	"Nothing important."
	While Serin and Riana scrambled to their feet as Agony began reading the pages Laira showed him to himself. The two girls rushed to Laira's side, looking at him and observing him, as if sizing him up. Laira merely stared at them blankly, until Serin leaned close enough that she was nearly nose to nose with him, eyes narrowed. This caused him to lean back slightly, but she only leaned closer, jade green eyes staring into his. Then, he leaned back and pointed at him.
	"Your eyes... they're kinda'... red," she said, Riana nodding in agreement.
	Laira blinked a few times. "Are they?" he asked, blankly.
	"What is this?" Agony suddenly interjected.
	Laira motioned for the girls to come with him as he moved back to the desk, pointing a finger to the picture drawn in the book. "Y'er gran'fath'r saw a coupla' these thin's b'fore. Zombies. T'e undead."
	"Zombies?" Serin asked quietly as Riana hid between her and Laira.
	"You think those are zombies out there?"
	"No. I know t'ey are."
	"So what do we do?" Serin asked. "We have Zombies that took over our entire damned village and who knows what's going on with these nine Gates?"
	Riana didn't bother to put in her input, simply staying quiet, twirling her shoulder-length blonde hair around her fingers. Agony closed the book Laira brought out and set it aside, then turned attention to the book he had, specifically the map. "Here. This is what the two continents look like. And there's nine places, each marked with a number."
	"Each one'uh t'e Gates?" Laira asked.
	Agony nodded.
	Riana suddenly reached over and pointed to a dot on the small map, mashing the tip of her finger against the weathered paper until Serin suddenly realized what she was doing. "Hey, that's Tohsg!"
	"Yeah, it is... this could really help us. Laira, look around for a backpack or something to take while me and the girls find some clothes for ourselves."
	Laira nodded and began to dig around the other various rooms of the house while Agony first went in to get some clothes and get changed. He walked out with a loose fitting green tunic and black trousers which he tucked into his black boots. Thrown over his shoulder was a dark grey hooded cloak which he soon threw over himself and pulled about himself tightly, observing himself in the mirror as Serin took her turn. By the time she came out, she came out with he pile of old clothes under her arm, a pair of black tights she found cut short to go with the warm weather outside, though kept most of her legs covered with a sheer material she found that she ended up wrapping about her legs to mock stockings, and to top it off, were another pair of beat up black boots she found. A loose navy blue tunic was tucked into a black leather belt around her waist, an empty dagger sheath attached to the belt, though a wrist band she found and wore on her right wrist did, however, have a small sheathed dagger in it.
	"Wow, your grandfather sure had a lot of things, especially things that fit," Serin said, fastening on a few thin silver chains about her neck that she found, to complete the costume, her ears already pierced with a gold ring in each.
	"He traveled a lot, and went out on adventures with his father since he was about my age. Been living here since he was a kid," Agony responded casually. "Kept a lot of spare clothes just in case, and kept some cloth in case he needed to make his own clothes as Grandmother died before I was even born."
	Serin nodded and Riana soon interrupted. "What about me?"
	Serin took her into the room, shutting the door and began to dig through for clothes for the younger girl. Laira had already found a backpack which he deposited the two books (except for the map page, which he ripped out and folded up, placing into his vest pocket) along with a few other books he thought might come in hand. Once Serin came out with the redressed Riana, with long-legged black tights that were like Serin before she had cut hers and a similar blue tunic and black leather belt. The only real difference was that she lacked any weapons. Once they were done, Laira slipped into the room, grabbing a few clean cloths and towels and threw them inside. He cleaned out a canteen he had found, then filled it with clean water from the pump and passed it to Serin to carry while he slung the closed backpack onto his shoulders. Agony took up the axe, using his old shirt to wipe the blood off of it, then examined the blade.
	"So, what do we do first?" Serin asked.
	"T'e first gate's nort'east'f 'ere," Laira responded. "But'ere's also a town a bi' furt'er sout'east. Native't."
	"Nativegt," Agony repeated, nodding. "Maybe we should go there first. Maybe we can get some help."
	"Sounds like a plan," Serin spoke up, ready.
	The four of them nodded together, then moved towards the door, Agony releasing the locks and Laira and Serin dragging it open.