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Haldrom walked through the woods, his eyes relaxed at the site of nature in its dying glory. Fall was his favorite season. Winter was too cold and full of blizzards, spring was dirty, muddy, and too wet. He'd love summer, if not for all the heat and flies, and bugs. This farming season was close to its end, as another year was passing by, and it was time to get out of the city again. The forests were yellow and red in their parting clothes, and Haldrom's mind rested and sailed away into daydreams, his soul sang. Albeit relaxed in his mind, his eyes and ears were alert and angsty to take in everything around him, to capture the picture. Only his nose was hidden in the tall standing collar of his coat, to keep from the chilling wind.

Haldrom quickly heard a sobbing sound and timid cries from a distant cavern off the road. With nothing but best intentions in mind, he followed the sounds.

-Oh, oh! You look like a warrior! My prayers have been answered! Please, for the love of Gods, you've got to help me! You must, if anything human is not void of you! - the elderly man cried with lips shaking, his hands tugging on Haldrom's black coat.
-Tell me what's wrong? I'll try to fix what ails you.

The man pointed into the depths of the cavern.

-Mad! They've gone mad! They came to my home and dragged me in there, and now they will not let me leave! All I can do is sit in this cavern and cry, cry nights and days over this nightmare! Should I take a step past this place, they set out and rush to fetch me!
-Could you be a little more precise?
-Demons! Undead demons! Cursed souls! Pacify them you must, warrior! Please!
-How many are there? - Haldrom inquired, giving the cavern a look of evaluation.
-Three, my lord! - the man seemed panicked.

Haldrom told the man to stay put and entered the cavern. In its depths was a steep decline leading to an end of the forest ground and beginning of cold stone floor tiles, making a narrow tunnel, leading down. Arriving to its bottom, Hal found himself in a tidy, but gloomy looking small tomb. The space was tight and the walls were pressing, emblems of crowned skulls on the walls, on background of an oak leaf. Haldrom took notice of that crest. An oak leaf carved of stone, and on it, a skull in a crown, carved on every wall, out of stone. He never seen a crest like that before.
In the middle of the tomb stood three sarcophagi.

-By the power of the Five, show yourselves! - Haldrom cried challengingly.

A religious threat did nothing much to raise the demon's spirit to action, so Haldrom tried a more down to earth insult.

-Oh deeemons? You yellow bellied monkey brains! Come out and get your heads cut off!

Whoever lay in those grim coffins, possessed death's own composure. No movement or even a sound was heard.

Haldrom went back up the tunnel's tiled stony path towards the surface. He saw the elderly man where he left him. The man was sitting on the pile of fallen leaves and broken thin branches, holding his head bitterly in one hand, and moving the other hand against the dirt, drawing circles.

-Well, Mister, not sure what your name is...
-Cedric... My name... was Cedric Belliot, before I became a fool, a fool. Fool is now my only name...
Haldrom scratched his head.
-Um, okay. Well, it's empty down there, three closed coffins, normal coffins like coffins. No demons. So, maybe we can try this one thing, before I decide that you're insane and this is a waste of time.

Cedric sobered up from his depressed thoughts and looks at Haldrom alertly.
Haldrom continued:
-You count to fifty, then get up and start crawling towards the road. If the demons indeed come out like you say they do, maybe they will indulge us once they feel you leaving.

Cedric mumbled some scared protest at first, but then nodded, somewhat frantically. Haldrom turned back into the cave, and Cedric started counting.

Haldrom ran down quickly on his tiptoes through the cold stony tiles, counting in his head as well, to fifty. He arrived at the tomb on the count of forty six.
Looked around, quiet just like before, nothing happening. Skulls in crowns on the walls, three sarcophagi. Complete stillness.

forty eight.... forty nine... fifty...

Body shift. A glance around. Hand on sword hilt.
Nothing. Quiet as a tomb.

-Oh come on, Cedric, don't waste my time. - Haldrom grumbled to himself.
A few more moments passed.

Suddenly, the eyes on the skulls, carved in the walls shined red, the stones in their crowns lit up like diamonds, and veins in the oak leaves glittered like paths of emeralds. The coffins started opening with a ghastly shriek.
The creepy part was that the bolts on the lids unscrewed themselves, and lids floated in the air and lifted to the side as if by unseen force.
A chill ran down Haldrom's spine and it made him involuntarily grin.

-Now that's more like it.

Three demonic looking half decayed humanoid forms emerged from their sleep. They searched Haldrom's face with their red glowing eyes and hissed:
"Faaaather!"

-No, not quite, I'm not your father, but I can send you back in heavens to meet him.

"Faaaather!" The demons moved right passed Haldrom, despite his drawn sword, pointed at them, and moved on towards the exit, and started climbing up.

-Oh, I see it. Wow, Cedric, you dumb moron, what have you done.
All of a sudden he noticed slight resemblance between their half rotten faces and that of Cedric's.
Cautiously, Haldrom followed the rotting glowing corpses up the tunnel towards the surface. By the time he made it out, they were already dragging Cedric back to the cave by his arms and legs.

-Please! Don't let them take me back!

Haldrom made use of his sword, and sliced off the appenditures, which demons used to carry Cedric. Cedric fell on the ground.
Haldrom stood between him and the demons, and addressed the man:

-Now, tell me straight what this story is about. These fellows think you're their father for a reason, right?

-Alright, alright! I will tell you the truth! A year ago I had three sons, and they were stuck by famine. I don't know how I survived, but I wish I hadn't! My wife died long ago, giving birth to a daughter, and she also died. My sons were all I had. When they died I was so miserable, that all I wished for is to have them back. My youngest one died last, and upon his burial, a man in a black cloak came to me and said that he can bring my boys back to life.
He stated three conditions though: one that I give a drop of my blood to him, two, that he will get to choose what age the sons will resurrect to be, and three, he made me promise that I will never leave them.
Confused by the wording and blinded by my sorrow, I agreed. Agreed, like a fool! I thought they would be brought back to their infancy, but instead! Oh, instead... they were brought to the age after death! Here they are: my oldest, middle, and youngest sons! Demons! Unclean demons! And now I cannot leave them. They take me back, and I can't raise my hand to slay them!

Haldrom raised his sword one more and approached the three figured. One, bulkier than others, one slim, and one fairly short and frail.

-Please, kill them! Send them to their rest! I cannot bare their sight! It's better if they die!

Before Haldrom could move, a tall man in the black cloak appeared before him, guarding the demons. Cedric cried madly "Him! It's him!" But Haldrom stayed calm.

-Why did you decieve this man and done such great evil? - Haldrom asked.
-It was his lesson. He was weak, and allowed emotions to sway his judgement of how life and death work in nature. He deserves his punishment for thinking that dark magic is a good path to cheat death.
-He did not know what magic you planned to perform.
-Do I honestly look like a saint to you?

Haldrom looked over the dark man's form. It seemed to answer for itself.
-Point taken. But if you don't mind, I'll end his suffering with my hands.
-But sir, - the dark man replied, - do you have the right to interfere in a deal made between another man and a God?

Haldrom thought to himself. Then, he made a swift stroke of a sword at the dark man's head. The sword passed through, the dark man's form unharmed.

-You make a valid point. I'm sorry, Cedric. This is what you wished for, and your sons are back, like you wanted. Stay with them, and be mindful of your wishes from now on.

Haldrom holstered his weapon and proceeded on his journey. The day of enjoyment with the autumn's parting gifts to the forest was utterly ruined.