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Frozen stiff by the voice, the guard turned his head mechanically to see a familiar face scowling at him.

"M-Mom??"

It was an old woman with the same fluffy lamb ears as the guard. Hands around her hips, she stared him down with a sour expression.

"Do you have any idea what time it is, young man? I have been waiting up for you for ages!"

The rest of the guard\'s body slowly turned to face her without him realizing it. He staggered closer, "I-Is it really you?"

His stupefied expression spoke volumes of his mental state as he looked her up and down. From her old apron with burn marks on the left side to the scruffy hair that was iconic to his family and that stern manner of speaking, there was very little doubt in his mind that this person standing across from him was his mother.

"Of course it\'s me!" she chided, "What kind of a foolish question is that! Have you even forgotten your own mother\'s face?!"

Tears formed around the guard\'s eyes before quickly rolling down the side of his face.

"B-But how are you here? You were in the city when it...when the demons attacked! I thought you died..." he whimpered.

"Died?! Who died?! Come here right this second, enough of this tomfoolery! Your poor father has been asking about you non-stop!" she gestured somewhere behind her.

The guard craned his neck to look where she had pointing but couldn\'t really make anything out.

"Dad is here too?"

"Of course he is. Come, take my hand and I will take you to him," she said while extending a hand.

The guard hesitated for a moment but upon seeing the look in his mother\'s eye he could not refuse and reached out. But just when it passed the boundary of the stone doorway he stopped upon feeling the sudden drop in temperature.

"It\'s so cold. Why don\'t you come over here, mom?"

Just when he was about to pull away she lunged forward and grabbed him by the wrist.

"O-OW! Ma, you\'re hurting me!" her fingernails dug into his flesh the more he struggled.

Despite her short and pudgy appearance no matter how much strength he put in she did not budge an inch. Her face became expressionless and her eyes, he just now noticed them.

"What\'s w-wrong with your eyes, m-ma? Why are they black?"

She slowly began pulling and the guard could not stop her at all.

"Ma...amma please...I don\'t want to go there..." he pleaded but she did not react in any way, only silently dragging him in inch by inch.

"Please...someone..." he cried as over half of his body went through.

He closed his eyes when his head was about to pass through the doorway but then all of a sudden he felt an arm on his shoulder and a curse in his ear.

"You dumbass, why would you put your hand in there?! Let go of him!" Hao Xuan\'s leg swung in from the side like an axe, smashing the elderly woman right in her head.

It should have decapitated her without making a sound but she took the full brunt of the kick and only wobbled back a few feet. But it was enough to loosen her grip around the guard\'s wrist which allowed Hao Xuan to pull him back out.

The guard gasped for some much-needed fresh air while holding onto Hao Xuan for dear life. Horrified, he peered at the figure of her mother which appeared more like a very life-like doll than an actual person.

"Who...what is that thing?! She-I thought it was my ma..."

"Is that who you saw? Your mother?"

"Mhm...why? Is that not what you see?"

Hao Xuan shook his head with a grim expression, "Not at all...not even close. Your mother is already long gone. That thing was just trying to trick you."

The guard already knew that deep down but seeing her like that he couldn\'t help but get his hopes up.

"I know...I\'m sorry."

"Don\'t be. It\'s not your fault, that\'s what they do. Next time you see someone and you\'re not sure about them, look at their feet. They usually can\'t get the feet right."

The guard followed Hao Xuan\'s line of sight and noticed that his "mom\'s" feet were backward.

"Demon! It\'s a demon!" he exclaimed while hiding behind Hao Xuan.

But Hao Xuan casually shook his head, "No...it\'s not a demon, at least not yet. It\'s an evil spirit that likes to trick people. And don\'t worry, as long as you don\'t cross the doorway it won\'t be able to hurt you."

He patted the guard on the back while pushing him towards the room.

"Go inside and keep an eye on Wern, I need to do something out here."

"O-Okay, sure."

Rubbing his aching wrist the guard walked into the room, not noticing the black veins spreading around the wound.