“Everything is God’s will…!”

David’s ragged breathing intertwined with Saul’s rising voice as they crashed like massive waves breaking in the distance. At that moment, strength flowed into his gripping fingertips.

Then, light fell.

The sensation of the blade tearing through skin and burrowing deep was vivid.

His hand, filled with tension, trembled uncontrollably. David pressed harder on the blade, driving it deeper into flesh. As he did so, he remained frozen, unable to straighten his hunched body. His mouth opened without even a gasp, emptying all the air trapped inside.

“Ha, haha, ahahaha!”

Young Saul’s laughter at David’s self-inflicted wound started slowly before intensifying. Like someone encountering unexpected joy, his shoulders shook with cascading laughter that filled the entire space.

Amid that laughter, David blinked like someone opening their eyes for the first time. Fragments of the brilliant white light that had colored his surroundings remained as faint shapes, disturbing his vision.

The afterimage persisted despite his blinking. David stared blankly at the dim fragments floating in the darkness around him.

Young Saul’s laughter continued unabated. This violent outburst that seemed it might choke him only stopped when David finally managed to move his stiffened hand and open it. It ceased when he released the smooth, well-polished handle and exhaled his held breath.

He breathed like someone who had been submerged underwater for a long time. While his inhales and exhales crossed in disorder, he heard the sound of approaching footsteps amid snorting breaths.

Well-maintained shoes came into view—polished toe caps faintly reflecting light. David slowly raised his head.

“Foolish one.”

Light dimly surrounded the bloodless, pale, and gaunt cheeks. Eyes that appeared as black as the darkness in which they were submerged, and a dry face with tightly closed lips came into view. The adult Saul, looking exactly like his father, stared at David with a cold gaze.

Saul… As David murmured his name, Saul twisted the corner of his mouth into a strange smile. Then, as though his presence had been an illusion, he vanished instantly.

Silence descended, everything suddenly going quiet. However, the heavy sound of rain violently beating against the window soon filled the surroundings. In the midst of this, David lowered his head, and only seconds later did he recognize something lying before him.

There was something sprawled out like carelessly discarded clothing. His gaze traveled upward along it. The faintly visible outline resembled a person. David reached out to feel what appeared to be the arm of the collapsed figure before him.

He touched thick fabric and gently gripped it. The arm beneath belonged to a man.

In the flickering light, David saw a familiar face. The bluish-white light washed over the limp figure. It illuminated a white indoor coat and a wrinkled face with closed eyes. It was Samuel. He lay unconscious before David, in the exact spot where young Saul had been moments ago.

Ha. Haha. Weak laughter escaped through David’s twisted lips. Ha, haha… He clutched his face and laughed like a madman. Then, between heaving breaths, he wailed through clenched teeth. Indistinct, muffled sounds flowed and pooled, building layer upon layer. All manner of thoughts crashed violently in his mind.

He should never have listened. Despite knowing better, he couldn’t help but listen. David groaned softly. He heard the sound of something breaking—something that seemed to have hardened after accumulating over many years.

David wailed. Hot, uncontainable anguish dripped down his knuckles as he covered his face. Unaware that it was wetting his self-inflicted wound, he burst into tears like a child.

Evil things were beings who desired what they shouldn’t dare covet, creatures most faithful to their desires. The priest who taught David had warned him never to listen if he encountered such beings.

They would tempt him with the words he most longed to hear, leading him to destruction.

“Then, what should I do about it?”

How can I kill it? When David once asked this, the priest remained silent with a rigid expression. David thought the priest would scold him for asking foolish questions, but the priest simply stared at him for a long time with unfathomable eyes.

“Listen to it.”

And then he said:

“Evil things are born from those who crave immortality. They were once human, and each has their own reason for desiring immortality. You must find that reason.”

Then, like someone setting down a long-carried burden, he exhaled a sigh-like breath. The priest who had secretly taught David many things over the years occasionally showed attitudes infused with incomprehensible emotions.

Perhaps that’s why David might have vaguely realized then that the priest knew this moment would come someday.

“If you listen, you’ll learn what it wants. To respond to another’s desire means you understand that desire well.”

But since this was extremely difficult, he advised David not to listen if possible. David merely nodded and promised to remember. Reflecting on the past, David now gained complete understanding.

What he had simply accepted as information that needed to be shared someday might not have been so simple after all.

Looking back, the kindness shown by his supervising priest when they first met was difficult to comprehend. The incomprehensible expression of sympathy when he instructed David to hide his divine grace was not merely pity for someone in an unfortunate situation. There must have been some reason behind the priest’s attitude…

David blinked while staring vacantly at the collapsed Samuel. Samuel, who had identified himself as a “Candle,” and David’s supervising priest of similar age—perhaps the two men also had some kind of connection. And perhaps it was all for divine providence…

David shuddered at the sound of the raging storm. With trembling hands, he clutched his face and turned his blank gaze toward the dark window. He could see lightning striking in the distance. The flashing light enveloped him before quickly fading. Oh God. About to murmur out of habit, David closed his mouth. He no longer knew whom to trust…

He couldn’t trust Saul, Samuel, or even God. Unlike the noisy, chaotic outside, this moment of strange stillness as he sat slumped—David felt afraid, completely abandoned in the world.

David wanted to be loved. He simply desired serene love, to be accepted completely for who he was. That was all. This was why he obeyed his father and swore before Saul. He wanted to earn their trust and receive their complete affection, solely for that reason…

Whether prophecy or divine providence, he didn’t know. It had nothing to do with him. He just wanted to love and be loved. That was all he desired. That was all he wanted… Where had it all gone wrong?

The desire reflected by the evil thing felt horrifying. Tears slid down his damp cheeks. Perhaps, like that being, he too had desired something he shouldn’t have dared to want. Something he shouldn’t dare desire.

David suddenly murmured this. And as the sliding tears moistened his lips, David recalled the person he had dared to desire.

“…Catherine.”

Catherine had said she knew… why the evil thing was fixated on him. David blinked. His eyes rolled. A sudden ominous premonition struck him. The words of the priest who had taught him came back as a warning. That voice he had heard on some day in the past whispered in his ear once more.

“To respond to another’s desire means you understand that desire well.”

David felt his heart beating rapidly. He moved his stiffened body to turn around. Despite the throbbing pain that made him groan, he gritted his teeth and dragged his unresponsive legs, finally managing to turn his body. Then, he saw the empty space.

Catherine, who should have been near the collapsed Samuel, was nowhere to be seen.