The Record of Unusual Creatures

They surrounded the man who claimed to be the seigneur. Shrinking his neck into his collar, the man sat on a broken piece of chair. Its color had long faded. The man looked scared. He grabbed his clothes tightly as his eyes darted between Hao Ren and Vivian. "Who are you?" he asked back.     

"We come from the outside, but that's none of your business." Vivian folded her arms across her chest in an intimidating way. "You're the seigneur? Do you know what happened here?"     

"If you know that I'm the seigneur, you should be humble!" Heimerwin raised his voice, trying to project his authority. However, his uneasiness quickly got the better of him. "I don't know. I know nothing! Leave! You're not welcome here!"     

The man was trying to say that he was the seigneur and did not like the intruders. Despite his confusion and uneasiness, he was still trying to intimidate them with his aristocratic authority. Of course, Hao Ren did not buy it. When Heimerwin got too emotionally unstable, Kassandra put her hand on his shoulder, bent down gracefully and said, "Please calm down. You're alone, but there are five of us here."     

Not to be deceived by Kassandra's beauty, the vampire was a thug at heart. Hao Ren had already gotten used to her ever since he met her two days ago.     

Heimerwin was stunned. He did not know what to make of it; no one had probably ever talked to him like that. But after a while, the seigneur came to his senses and said, "Are you all robbers?"     

Kassandra remained elegant. She smiled and softly explained, "We are not robbers, but if you don't cooperate, I will kill you."     

Everyone was speechless.     

The threat worked as Heimerwin finally knew who the real boss was; he became cooperative. He curled himself in the chair, and his body language showed that he was frightened though he still spoke like proud nobility. As Hao Ren and Vivian interrogated him, he kept repeating his story. "I don't know... I don't know what happened here. I was sleeping on the upper floor, and then you woke me. Where are my servants and butler?"     

"I think his memory's messed up," Hao Ren said quietly to Vivian when he noticed Heimerwin's state of mind. "He doesn't even know that the town's gone. Is his memory still stuck in the past?"     

Vivian nodded slightly, and she knitted her brows together as she looked at Heimerwin. "What's the last thing you remember?"     

"I finished checking the warehouse, came back to the hall and had my meal, then I went to rest in my room," Heimerwin said, glancing at the center of the hall and pointing his finger at the ash-covered oak table. "I was eating at that table. Why has it become so dusty?"     

"Wasn't it like that before you 'slept'?"     

"Of course not," Heimerwin said, holding his head up. "This is a big, beautiful house. My servants always keep it in spotless condition. But now... Where are my servants?"     

"If I'm not mistaken, they're already dead," Hessiana said as she fiddled with her vampire whip. "It all happened hundreds of years ago. The door is there. Go and check it out yourself."     

Heimerwin looked at Hessiana in confusion before Turcan and Kassandra dragged him to the doorway. The man saw the scene outside and was stunned. Then he grabbed his hair and shouted hysterically, "This is a nightmare! Nightmare! Nightmare!"     

They looked at him from afar. Nangong Wuyue poked her brother with the tip of her tail. "Sanba, what do you think happened to him?"     

"Maybe... he's a ghost," Nangong Sanba said, but he was also unsure. "I've never seen anything like him. He emerged from the ashes. And look at his feet, there are footprints, and he has a shadow, which means he has weight and body."     

Hessiana smiled as she looked at the only demon hunter on the scene. "Expert, can you tell us what happened?" she said in a ridiculing voice.     

"Perhaps the ashes in this mysterious realm constructed his body under some magic. Some wraith rituals could also produce similar results. But unless I can conduct a series of detailed tests on his soul, I can't tell how."     

"Don't do that. It's not easy to find someone who can provide us with information. Don't frighten him anymore." Hao Ren waved his hand. "And he's not our enemy. But as you said, wraith rituals could produce a similar creature. So did this seigneur transform himself willingly?"     

Nangong Sanba looked at the dejected Heimerwin who was behind Turcan. "The problem is, he seems to know nothing about his transformation. I thought that he did this to himself for immortality. But if he doesn't know it, then this transformation doesn't make sense."     

"Maybe he lied." Lily pursed her lips. "Maybe he turned the inhabitants of the entire town into sacrifices before he transformed himself into an immortal. That way, no one will find out and go after him."     

Turcan helped Heimerwin as he staggered back into his chair. Hermerwin was still grabbing his hair and muttering to himself. "Oh God... what happened... What is this curse all about?"     

Hessiana lifted the man's chin with her long whip; she was running out of patience. "Don't be a wretch. Have you forgotten that you're still a nobleman? Calm down. As you've already seen, the town was destroyed at least a few hundred years ago, believe it or not. Everyone's gone; they are dead. As for yourself, you've probably guessed it; you're dead too. You're now a phantom."     

Heimerwin did not show much reaction; he was probably suffering from psychological trauma. He stared blankly at Hessiana and took a long time before he asked, "How?"     

"Some powerful black magic; that's what I can say," said Nangong Sanba. "We're exorcists from hundreds of years in the future, like the priests and spirit hunters of your time. We found this exiled town, and now, you're the only one who can talk. Do you know who cast a spell on this town?"     

"Black magic?" Heimerwin repeated these words vacantly. Suddenly, he flinched as if something terrible crossed his mind. "Devil! It is the devil! I remember. There was a demon lurking here! I was bewitched. I was... Oh God, what have I done..."     

The frightened man became hysterical again and curled his body deeper into the chair as if he saw a devil was coming in through the door. Hessiana noticed the anomaly and knocked his forehead with her whip, stamping a dark-red rune of a blood spell on it. "Calm down! Is the devil you mentioned a wizard? He disguised himself as a scholar and lurked in your midst?"     

"Scholar... Scholar!" Heimerwin flung his hand up violently. "It is him! It is him! The monster who sold my soul to hell. He deceived and blinded me. I was—"     

"The wizard is probably dead," Vivian interrupted. "a demon hunter killed him."     

Heimerwin was surprised. A sense of comfort seemed to flash across his eyes. Hessiana took this opportunity by posing more questions, "Do you know where the wizard hid? His black magic lab and the magic books, do you know where they are?"     

"Yeah, I know!" Heimerwin bounced up from his chair. "He didn't live here. The guy was a lone wolf. He lived in the old house behind the town. It's not far from here. I can take you there. I can take you there!"     

Heimerwin swung his arms and strode to the door while the rest of them immediately trailed after.     

They followed Heimerwin down the path behind the big house towards the edge of the town.     

Soon after, there was a thick fog in their way.