Alexander Quin frowned at his visitor. The cleric hovered at his door, the symbol of Pantalus glowed on the burned remains of his armor. One hand had been destroyed even after death. Smoke drifted from the remains of fingers.

This was someone who had decided to give everything at one go instead of measuring out portions.

“What do you want me to do?,” asked Alexander. A scarred hand rested on the hilt of the sword at his hip. The grip had been rewrapped repeatedly from the look of it.

This wasn't the first time he had talked with a spirit who made demands on his time.

“The city is full of demons,” said the ghost. “The clerics and knights need to push them back. I shut off the source with some help from my friends. The gods would like you to help us clear the demons out if you can. We don't know how long Skaren will be occupied trying to get Pitt from the Underworld and restarting his circle.”

“Neil Skaren is behind this?,” said Alexander. “What was he planning to do by letting demons run loose and kill people?”

“I'm not real sure,” said Macomber. “We're assuming that he was intending on sacrificing everyone in the city, as well as Pitt. We don't know what he planned to do with the energy generated by such a move.”

“He probably hoped that the energy would allow him to join the Eternal Court,” said Alexander. “The quantity would be massive before you added in anyone special he might have targeted. This Pitt? What do you know of him?”

“The gods acted as if he was a member of your Brotherhood at one point,” said Macomber. “He seems very strong for his appearance.”

“Sounds like Roland,” said Alexander. “So we should go out and kill demons until they are gone?”

“It would be better to drive them from the city and then hunt them later,” said Macomber. “We need to rally the defenders against them if we can.”

“Let's start by visiting the local temple,” said Alexander. “We can use that to build up our force until we are able to clear the district. It might be enough to draw the remaining defenders to our flag until we have a big enough group to take care of things.”

“How long do you think that will take?,” asked Macomber.

“I don't know,” said Alexander. “Trust Neil to create a scheme that relied on the demons just staying in place while he went about his own plans. I wonder what he promised their king to create a surge like this.”

“Maybe more of a presence on the surface,” said Macomber. “What could he want? He already controls his own vast realm and several adjacent to that.”

“I have found that if someone controls a resource, they always want more of that resource,” said Alexander. He stepped out of his shack and closed the door. He started walking along the street. “Greed is a bad vice in rulers. What they have is never enough.”

Alexander pulled his sword as he walked along. He seemed to be watching for anything to come out of the night. His eyes glowed to Macomber. The cleric decided that it must be a trick of the light.

“What was this Brotherhood?,” asked Macomber. They were walking down the middle of the street. Stealth didn't seem to be a priority.

“Once upon a time there used to be giants in the world,” said Alexander. “Other monsters looked on them as leaders. And they hated the races of man they shared the world with in those days.”

Macomber knew that Alexander had walked the world then. Some of this must be first hand experience.

“The gods wanted to battle the giants and their league in person, but it was determined after the first sortie that a full conflict would kill the people that the gods were trying to protect,” said Alexander. “They couldn't go to war in their full persona without destroying a huge portion of the world. That defeated the purpose of things.”

Alexander paused to look down several alleys dumping on the street at almost the same place. He nodded to himself. He started walking again.

“The gods decided that a force should be given a portion of their power to help save the world,” said Alexander. “This one thousand would move out in the world and exterminate the giants and monsters with the powers they had received.”

“And you fought with them?,” asked Macomber, stating the obvious to keep the words moving. This history was a part of the world's lore, but no one lived that had actually seen it. No one lived other than the ones who had fought this mythical war. “With Skaren and this Roland?”

“Yes,” said Alexander. “My inheritance from my father allowed me to keep stride with them. They both had reputations before becoming part of the Brotherhood. Afterwards, their natural abilities just grew as they carried out the war.”

He raised a hand as they came to a crossroads. He looked down the sidestreets. He pointed to a tower rising behind some buildings. A fire seemed to be burning in that direction.

“The demons might have set the temple of fire,” said Alexander. “Let's go over and have a look for ourselves.”

“What happened to the Brotherhood?,” asked Macomber. He fell in step with the demigod.

“Most of us died,” said Alexander. “I thought both Roland and Neil were dead. I haven't seen them in years.”

“So they don't know you're still alive?,” said Macomber.

“I don't think so,” said Alexander.

Macomber thought about that for a second. Skaren hadn't known whose shack he was attacking earlier. He had just wanted to clear the owner out of the way so his demons could take the site.

If he had known, he would have made sure to capture, or kill, Alexander to carry out his plan. He wouldn't have needed Pitt if he had a good second choice.

He might have sacrificed them both to carry out his plan.

“How many do you think are left of the Brotherhood?,” asked Macomber. His temple, or the temples he had visited, had not spoken of such a force outside partial legends. Maybe there had been a command to forget that piece of history with the passing of the majority of monsters.

Maybe the Brotherhood had covered that up themselves to keep from fighting other wars after their main task had been finished.

“Only a few,” said Alexander. “I would have said maybe five or six before this. Most of us have retired from the world. We had been asked to protect the humanities, and we did. Without monsters, there's no need for monster hunters.”

Macomber understood that. Sometimes putting down a responsibility was the only way you could live the rest of your life. A lot of people didn't want to be one thing all their lives. He supposed clerics like him were the exception.

“It looks like the temple is on fire,” said Alexander. “I don't see any demons.”

“Do you see any clerics?,” asked Macomber. “Whose temple is this?”

“It belongs to my father,” said Alexander. “The hourglass is there on the front of it. It's hard to tell with the fire that's already been through.”

“I'll go in and look around,” said Macomber. “Maybe there's someone alive in there.”

“I think you should stay near me,” said Alexander. “Ghosts will probably be unwelcome after everything that has happened so far.”

“I hadn't thought of that,” said Macomber.

Alexander went to the gate of the temple. He held out a hand and made a turning motion with his wrist. The fire shrank and vanished as Macomber watched. The ghost had felt something, but it wasn't quite a clerical grant.

“I think we can go in now,” said Alexander. “Let's see if anyone will answer the bell.”

He pulled the rope on the outside of the gate. A bell sounded above them. It rang three times before falling silent.

“On a timer,” said Alexander. “At least that's still working.”

“Do you think they will answer the door?,” asked Macomber.

“We'll give them a few minutes to pull things together,” said Alexander. “We don't want to give them a reason to attack us.”

“Who's there?,” said a shaky voice from the darkness above them.

“A hero and a ghost,” said Alexander. “We're here to help you if you need it. Do you need help, or should we move on?”

“Who's the ghost?,” asked the voice.

“Warton Macomber, representing Pantalus,” said Macomber. “We're here to try to rally fighters to help clear the neighborhood. Do you have any way to help with that?”

“Macomber the Exorcist,” said the voice.

“I have been called that,” said Macomber. “Why?”

“Hold on,” said the voice. “We're opening the gate.”

“Keep an eye out,” said Alexander. “There might still be demons out.”

The gate opened. A horde of fiends grinned at the two of them. Wicked looking instruments of murder cut the air.

“Yes,” said one of the demons. “We're still about.”

“Not for long,” said Alexander. His sword glowed as he moved faster than any human being should. He stepped back to the gate a moment later.

The demons looked down at their bodies. They looked at him. Some of them laughed in relief.

“Was that it?,” asked the spokesman.

The demons fell to pieces, then burned to ash before Alexander and Macomber. One had time to reach for the demigod. He stepped back to let it continue to burn away.

“Let's see if they left anyone alive,” said Alexander. “Then we'll go on to the next temple.”

“That was very effective,” said Macomber. “Clerical grant?”

“No,” said Alexander. “I can control time.”

Macomber nodded. Why shouldn't he be able to control time? His father was the god of time after all.

“Wait here,” said Alexander. “Keep an eye out. I'll do a search and we'll move on if there's no one here we can ask to join us.”

“I don't see why not,” said Macomber.

Alexander flickered for a moment. He rubbed his scarred face. He shook his head.

“The demons killed all the clerics from the looks of things,” said the demigod. “I couldn't find anyone living.”

“Let's move on,” said Macomber. “There has to be people we can save.”