Random Short story

Were he to slow down, just that tempting few seconds, desperately gasping for air, he knew and felt it, that creature would surely catch up to his ever more straining and heavy steps. 

Cholik couldn't run anymore, the last vestiges of his stamina afforded his aging legs a brisk walk, with heart racing and ragged, heavy breaths, carrying him closer to the church.

A thick carpet of mist glowed a hellish ivory color under the full moon, shrouding the icy stones below.

Just a hundred strides more he thought, reassuring himself over and over again, pure horror chilling him from the inside, just as the icy winter night air cut through his thick robes, his skin and flesh, down to his bones. 

I should have never heeded that request… Gods forgive me. 

So caught up in anxiety fueled thoughts, the old priest barely registered the ominously looming black shapes lining the road, houses, marking the edge of town. Faint orange glows pierced the spectral veil of silence and stillness up ahead as his aching legs carried him on, further into town. 

 Willing or otherwise, Cholik stopped at the sight of the church tower's black shape looming over the settlement as a silent, stern-faced sentinel, as if standing guard against otherworldly creatures, reminding the gray haired priest of his duties. 

Though he'd sworn servitude to divinity and those sent by the gods, Cholik always hoped and prayed these obligations would not exceed holding mass and blessing his flock or occasionally conveying messages from the Divines. Despite the fact that he was sworn to combat the infernal maladies plaguing mortal kind, over his sixty long years of priesthood, Cholik had seen but one person afflicted so, and that was during his training to handle these matters, but this night was different. The stout brother Thomas wasn't there to step in when things spiraled out of his grasp, nor was the enigmatic head priest of his order to answer particular questions about why something worked or failed, all he had now was his rapidly fading trust in divine intervention and a growing dread of the creature who was once the Innkeeper at the crossroads. 

My prayers didn't work, the spells don't work… I can't stop that… Abomination any more than this twice damned fog can.

He reasoned, trying to push out the guilt at knowing he just led it back to his town, to the people whose souls he had charge of, and, even if it had wandered off the trail, it would surely find a way to one or another village, or happen upon unsuspecting travelers.

Images of the possessed innkeeper murdering people flooded his mind, mercilessly shredding away at his conscience as he arrived to the church's front steps leading to safety beyond the sturdy, double winged oak door.

With numb, frostbitten fingers, Cholik rummaged through his garments, seeking the key, heart racing ever faster, some relief at the thought of safety now struggling with his guilt and knowing…

The creature wouldn't stop, it wouldn't go away, instead lie in wait for when he'd leave the church grounds… perhaps even find some way to sneak in under cover of darkness, approach his unsuspecting form with silent, cat-like steps and… 

No, not happening.. I just need… just some.. Time, that's it, I just have to regroup before facing this… Evil. 

Even as his bony, shaking hand brought up the large, iron key to the lock, he knew those thoughts to be false, only there to calm his conscience. 

Fiddling around the keyhole for a few moments, Cholik's blood froze at a vaguely familiar sound from behind, much too close for comfort. 

A series of three, faint and blunt thumps of flesh against the icy stone walkway. Without seeing it, he knew, he saw it in his mind, the black eyed innkeeper crawling toward him from behind, down on all fours, like a wolf…