" Tell me about the barbarians!", she cried cheerfully as she rushed into the house,

" Tell me, elder brother..."

The young man was sitting on the bench near the window staring at the trees thoughtfully.

" Tell me."

He turned towards his sister slowly, and his face was pale and grim.

" The things I have seen are too horrible to tell you about," he said

" But..."

" Go get the first brother. We must act."

" Yes elder brother."

A moment later another young man came in with a worried look upon his face.

" Little sister said you saw things too horrible to tell her. Are you all right, younger brother?", he said.

" I am all right. I haven't touched anything, but it was terrible. Those 'people', they are not humans, they are demons, man-eating demons."

" What do you mean?"

" I witnessed their ritual. They stood there in their temple, in front of the statue of that tortured man and then they poured blood in a cup, human blood!"

" How do you know it wasn't an animal's blood?"

" Because I asked one of the converts what the words meant. He said they said it was the blood of their deity's son. And then they dipped his flesh into it and the people ate the flesh and drank from the cup. The demons had turned them into cannibals."

" But how could that be? If someone was murdered we would know."

" What about the orphans they collected? Do you know all of them?"

" But... That's horrible! They said they would care for them and educate them."

" And then eat them..."

" But why?"

" To become immortal. Demons have to prey on the living for life breath. Don't you know the stories about the evil alchemists in antiquity?"

" I thought they were fairytales."

" Apparently they aren't. We could have known, we could have known..."

" If what you say is true, we must do something..."

" Indeed we must!"

--

The priest stroked his long beard and looked at the empty church. It had been a fruitful day. Everyone had attended the mass and there was this newcomer, a curious young man, who asked a lot of questions to the regular visitors. He seemed very impressed at the Communion ceremony, although as a pagan he could of course not join.

There was a knock on the door and when the priest called the visitor in, he saw it was one of the first women he had converted. Tears were running down her cheeks and her eyes were filled with fear.

" You must flee!", she cried," They are coming for us!"

" Calm down, calm down. Who is coming for us?"

" Everyone! They say you're a demon and we are traitors."

" This must be a misunderstanding. I'll see if I can calm them down."

" No please, don't go outside!"

--

One year later, a girl stood in the ruins of her house. Her clothes were torn and blood stained. She was alone, all alone. Her brothers were gone, the village was destroyed and the world ravaged. The demons had returned, in large numbers, carrying horrible weapons.

Where could she go? Her world was gone...She walked to the well behind the house and looked into the depths. Hell couldn't be so bad compared to earth. She leant forward and let herself fall down into the darkness.

--

Far, far away, in a land on the western edge of the world, a priest kneeled before a cross and folded his hands. He had seen things beyond his imagination, things too horrible too describe... All because of a misunderstanding.