The dress of the woman in white painted her curves as she walked to him. Stepping over wooden boards, toppled down doors and broken bodies, she moved with the grace of a swan. Her spotless dress glided over mud and blood without loosing a drop of its shine. Her bare feet walked over stone and glass without as much as a scratch. She wasn’t in a hurry, but she wasn’t lingering either. She walked with the inevitability of someone who was exactly where she should’ve been.

The woman in white stood tall over him, her dress swirling around the man. He was covered in black - his clothes, his sword, his hands, even his soul. He was an inquisitor, an omen of a cruel death in the world of the living. Hers was the gentle hand that lifted his victims up when it was all over.

“I’ve fulfilled my duty to the lord” - the weary man said - “I’ve sent these beasts and heretics back to him for judgement.”

“You’ve done more than that. And I’ve been present at all your acts of worship.” - the woman said with a gentle voice.

“Let me go to him now.” - he said.

“I will not let you to that.” - she replied softly.

“Who are you to defy his will?”

“The people you killed call me Morana, but I go by many names. I’m the one your lord did not find worthy of mention. The one standing between you and him.”

“Will you torture me then?”

“Yes”

“Will you chain me and drown me again and again? Will you put me in hot oil to boil for eternity? Will you send vultures to peck at my insides?”

“No, I will do no such thing. I will leave you here, whole as you are, to think about the things you’ve done.”

“I will face my fate with a pure heart knowing that I’ve served my lord and relieved the world from evildoers.” - he said gathering whatever strength he had left to put on a smile on his weary face.

“These are bold words coming from a child killer.” - lady death answered.

“Your wolves didn’t spare the girl with the red hood, so I repaid them in kind.”

“We’ve been cruel, we’ve done unspeakable things, but we do not kill children. No wolf harmed that girl.”

“Then who did?”

“You tell me.”

The man in black’s eyebrows dropped down, pressing his eyes when a sudden realization hit him.

“No…”

“Everyone fears your kind, but on your way here there was one whose dread ran so deep even dogs could smell it.”

“No…”

“Emotions don’t lie. That’s what you used to say when you lived. I wish I could feel yours right now.”

“The speaker… He wasn’t afraid of the beasts. He was afraid of me. He thought I was there because of him…”

“He did. But you were too busy hunting monsters to see the ones living among men. Do you know what you would’ve found if you went to the speaker’s house?”

“No, don’t tell me!”

“I won’t. I’ll leave this to your imagination.” - Morana said.

The man in black’s head was heavy. It fell down until his chin pressed against the chain on his chest. His eyes followed it to silver cross at its end, now blackened by blood. When he lifted his eyes up again, he was all alone, with nothing but his thoughts, emotions, and the bodies of his victims to keep him company.