We enter the mourge next to the cemetery, wandering under the cold green fog and dim light of the blackened star above us in the silence of the Dawn. We walk past statues of people mourning lost loved ones, Beth crushing a Bitter Sludge's mask with a goat hoof, before slitting the throat of a Gorger, leaping at the creature with the legs of a frog, and slitting its throat with her claws, dark red blood splattering on her face.

"Holy shit that was cool!" I exclaim.

"I've had some practice," she smiles as we enter the mourge, the halls empty and dim, whispers of demons hanging in the air as we walk past the still fleshy corpses and unturned and without life. One exposed corpse is pulled out of one of the metal drawers. The man appears old, likely dying peacefully in his sleep judging by his eyes being closed and a slight smile on his face. I approach him with a sigh, his grey hair half gone as I take out my blade.

I examine the blade, thinking of that day. I turn to see if Beth's looking, but she's busy looking at other bodies. I lift the blade to my neck, muttering, "I envy you, sir. Maybe I should follow in your footsteps maybe? I would get to be friends with her again when she dies. Just a quick flick and it's over. Just one flick..."

I press the cold steel to my flesh now. The jump didn't work. Beth can fix the robot. She fought those two demons with ease. She doesn't need me. Hell she's snapping a Gorger's next right now. I'm useless compared to the others. My magic, my skillset. Just one quick flick-

"Wilson no!" She exclaims leaping in front of me, taking the blade, "what the fuck!?!"

Fuck! Uhhhh...

"What's wrong?" I play dumb.

"You were gonna slit your own throat!" Beth exclaims, "what are you doing dude!?!"

"No!" I explain, "I was just- I- thinking. I wasn't gonna do it!"

"Wilson why?" Beth demands.

"I..." I sigh, "I dunno. I just started thinking and that made me think about the past and when the ball was rolling... I mean I wasn't gonna do it. I just... thinking wrong."

"You sure you're not gonna do it?" Beth asks, holding the blade out of my reach.

I nod and reach out for my blade with a stern expression, "I swear, I'm not gonna kill myself with the sword."

Beth sighs, "fine, but if you ever think about doing it, please, talk to someone."

I nod as she returns my sword to me. She looks at me, as if concerned before asking, "do you wanna head back to the dorms and play video games? We can do this later."

I shake my head, "work now, play when everyone is safe. Now we got skin to steal. Find a good body?"

She nods, leading me over to the corpse or a young man, who appears to have died of some illness judging by how thin he is. He's very thin. Malnourished even. He looks a lot like me. Like he never ate. Like all he cared about was work. There's a tag on his foot. It says...

Huh. Cause of death is over exertion. Could this happen to me as well? If I'm not careful, I could die. Then again, is that so bad? I die working and I've known the risks for a while, but looking at this body, knowing this young man may be in a better place, but there are people he's left behind, and hurt by that...

I may not wanna live much longer, but I don't wanna die like that. I... I need help. I need to talk to Ms. Evergreen at some point.

"Can you peel it?" She asks.

"I'd rather not," I admit offering her my sword, "can you do it?"

Beth nods, taking the blade and skinning the body, forcing me to turn away as the sickly sound of peeling flesh fills the silent room. I gag, almost vomiting, when I hear a voice.

The voice bellows from outside the room, "I smell..." the voice stops as if sniffing the air before proceeding to finish its sentence, "a child!"

"Look out!" I exclaim casting Guardian's Aura on Beth as a thin, tall demon breaks down the door, forcing us to leap out of the way. The demon is only skin and bones with see through skin, leaving its veins visible that pump blood under the pale, almost white, opaque flesh. The only distant feature aside from the revolting appearance all over its eight foot body as it approaches.

"What the fuck is a B class Mind demon doing here!?!" I demand, "a Famine Fiend!?!"

"Do you know how to kill one of those?" Beth demands, "cause I don't!"

I shake my head, "toss me my blade and bait it. We'll figure something out."

Beth nods and complies as the demon laughs. "Hunger is a lie!" He exclaims, "what matters is beauty! Beauty and work! I smell a child who fuels my power. Join me child of the Dawn. My lord, Mind, will reward you."

"Don't listen to him!" Beth exclaims, "demons-"

"Oh I know about their lies," I glare at the demon, "leave, Famine Fiend, or else."

The red demon appears behind me, whispering, "do it."

I shake my head, ignoring it. "You have some weakness," I proceed, "and we will find it."

I cast Guardian's Aura on myself, as I lunge, the demon laughing, leaping over me. It lunged at Beth, clawing at her, piercing the magic aura like a hot knife through butter, drawing blood and leaving a massive gash. I can heal a wound like that, but if I do imma go down.

"Stay away from her!" I exclaim, enraged, "stay away from my sister you son of a bitch! You ain't gonna hurt her on my watch!"

I glow with a red energy as the red, demon laughs, and I run the Fiend through, distracting it as Beth claws its chest, sending it over, on its back, dead. Yet the demon behind me laughs, and I see someone who hurt my sister. I stab the body again and again, blood splattering on my face as the lifeless body slowly fading into black fog.

I get up, exhausted, yawning.

Beth glares at me. I can feel her disappointment emanating from her eyes as she looks at me with disapproval and mild anger. "What the fuck was that!?!" She demands, "we talked about this! Did you forget Halloween?"

I sigh, "I... I don't remember half of Halloween."

"What?" She asks.

I explain,"when I say Emmret, my vision slowly began to darken, creating like a tunnel vision effect, as time wore on that tunnel got darker and darker and I got angrier and angrier. When he tried to justify his actions, it went dark and next thing I recall is waking up outside the hospital after leaving a note? I think? I dunno. I just overheard everything else. Look I'm gonna talk to Ms. Evergreen tomorrow OK?"

"Look," Beth sighs, "I need a promise. Promise me this: you will never use your magic to attack a human again."

I nod and reply, "I promise. You got the skin?"

Beth nods taking out a plastic baggie.

"OK let's heal that wound," I smile casting a spell to close the gashes on her arm, only to stagger and almost collapse.

"You OK?" She asks.

"Yeah yeah," I reply, "just exhausted. I expected that spell to knock me out."

"Here!?!" She demands.

"Didn't think it through," I admit, "now, let's leave. The Dawn is gonna end soon and I'm sleepy."

Beth nods as we edit the mourge, the setting sun returning to normal as I wonder why Beth hasn't told the others.

"Hey do you wanna join the others?" I ask, "there are others with The Gift and we can-"

"No!" She exclaims, panic in her eyes.

"OK OK just asking," I sigh, "Jesus. They don't have to know."

I mutter to myself as we walk back into the forest, "I wonder how the Dawn went for them though..."