It was a dark night, and the small town was asleep. The full moon half covered by cloud was not bright enough for the poor boy who tried to read the Bible. He was sad because he was an orphan. He blamed his destiny that he could not afford to pay even an electricity bill on the devils who had taken his parents away three months ago. Several tears ran down his cheeks, but he soon wiped his face. “Why, me? I hate those who killed my parents. I curse devils.” The reason why he was left alone was that his parents ran away because they were not able to pay off the huge debt. It, however, was not until a week ago when he met a strange priest that he firmly believed that devils took their parents away. The priest had told him a lot of things about devils and gave him the Bible, admonishing him that only Jesus could save him from the pain he had been feeling. The boy gave up reading the Bible and knelt down on the wooden floor, folding two hands tight. “The God, my father, please bestow me light so that I can read the Bible. The God, please punish the devils who took my parents away from me. I hate devils. I abhor devils. They are sly and evil. They are…” It was not until the tomorrow morning that the boy finished his pray of hatred. The boy, however, never knew at that time that the priest was passing his house by with a fast speed.

The priest seemed frightened by something following him. He was running away from something horrible, or at least he thought so. That thing had no shape but only its shadow. However he tried, the shadow followed him from a certain distance behind. It might have been better for that priest to run to the square, for there was a good chance that someone was there, but he ran to the deserted place, and no one was around. The priest shouted: “What the hell is following me! You devil. Yes, a deceitful demon. Go back to the place where you belong!” It was quite obvious that the shadow kept chasing him. He tumbled down several times while looking back to check the shadow, but he immediately stood up and continued running away. After a long run, he suddenly stood still. He was panting, sweating badly. He looked around the place like a horrified prey with two blood shot eyes. “Damn it!” It was the dead end. Although he did not hear any sound, he knew that something was approaching him slowly with a perfect composure. The priest in confusion fell backward and cowered down at the end of the road. “What the fuck are you, I am a priest. Devils, begone!” The shadow stopped coming closer to him, and someone floated up slowly from the shadow. It was a man wearing a dark robe, and he had a big scythe in his left hand. The priest tried to see the face, but it was hidden under the black hood.

A dark cold voice came out from nowhere. “Come with me.” The Priest held up his cross and shouted, “You, you are not just a devil. You are more evil and greater than that. You are Phantom King!” The dark being shook his head slowly. “Come with me.” “Why? It is the God’s world, but not devils’. I am a righteous man. You can not touch me! I do not go with you! I am representing Jesus, and I will enlighten more people to believe in Jesus so that they do not go to Hell, your home, Phantom King!” The priest felt that the temperature around was getting colder “That is why you have to come with me. Listen, you pathetic man, you called yourself a priest, and you insisted that you had tried to save people from going to hell. You also said devils are evil.” The priest acquiesced, “Yes, I said so.” “However, is there really Hell or Heaven? Have you ever thought of how such terrible devils can live together in so-called Hell if they are deceitful to one another?” “What are you trying to say, Phantom King, Devils of course help one another. They are alike.” The cold being resumed talking with a monotonous tone ever. “Then can you say they are really evil or sly? Do not angels love each other, but hate devils? Do not people love certain of them but not the other? You know that they are nonsense after all. You weak humans created those fantasies to justify your dark nature and to enjoy happiness blithely. You just wanted to run away from the darkness rather than admitting it, just like yourself now. You remember the boy whom you gave the Bible and told many stories about devils a weak ago? Although you might think he was saved from the sin and the painful past, he is now living in the past. Every night, he prays to the God about the returning of his parents from Hell and curses devils. That boy does not try to achieve his dreams on his own, but only depend on the God’s miraculous power. He is wasting his life just like you do now.” The priest murmured. “Religion has been extremely influential to the world. You do not understand the benefit of it. You do not understand anything about religion...” The shadow spoke, “The difference between accepting good principles of religion and being obsessed with it is as far as the distance between Hell and Heaven.”

The priest knelt down and cried out for the help, but no one could hear that. Yes, the devil behind the electric pole might have heard it, but it only gave a cold smirk to the priest. Phantom King slowly turned back and vanished into the darkness. There was no one in that place anymore. No priest, no demon, but only a silver cross on the ground.