Many years have past since that fateful night when I made a pact with the Devil. I remember it as clearly as it had happened yesterday. I made my way to the old crossroads beyond the bridge where the hanging tree stood. It was the dead of night and my body shivered as I buried a small box in the dry earth... and waited... waited for the Devil to appear.
The skies darkened and the moon vanished behind the clouds. The wind dropped and time stood still. Out of the corner of my eye I saw phantom figures screaming from the hanging tree. Their tortured, twitching faces merged into one with their bulging eyes and purple tongues lolling helplessly from their dead mouths. The sickening sight shook me to the core but I could not avert my eyes from their ghoulish features. My hands clasped my ears but their piercing screams deafened the silence. Over and over again they screamed and died and I prayed for them to stop.
Without warning the screams stopped and the condemned men and women vanished as quickly as they appeared.
A pungent stench hit my nostrils as a long black shadow covered my body.
"You prayed to me, my follower?" a voice rasped behind me.
My body was rooted to the spot as the voice appeared in front of me. I could barely open my eyes for fear, but when I did I saw the most grotesque creature that ever walked the earth. The smell of putrid flesh pervaded my senses and I feared I would pass out.
"Answer me!" the voice demanded
"Yes I summoned you." I replied.
"And what is it that you want Captain Moonlight?" the voice sneered.
"I want to make a deal........" I whispered, "I want to sell my soul in return for eternal youth and immortality."
"Do you now, and how many years do you wish to live before I come to claim your soul?"
"I don't know" I stammered.
The Devil handed me a scroll and a pen dripping in what looked like blood.
"Sign!" he ordered
I scratched my name onto the paper and handed it back.
"Your soul is now my property and I shall come for you when I'm ready, one day when you least expect it. You may have one score years or you may have ten score years. You made a poor deal Moonlight and you better make the most of it. But, for now you have your youth and strength and freedom. Treasure it, for it will pass."
The Devil slipped the scroll inside his cloak and as I looked skyward I saw a black steed galloping towards us from behind the clouds. It screeched to a halt, nostrils flaring and saliva dripping from its mouth. It was twice the size of normal horse and its eyes glowed red. In a swift move the skeletal figure mounted the steed and galloped skyward.
The deal was done. I was immortal.
As I turned towards my horse I could hear a faint laughing sound from the hanging tree. "You shall regret it," the voices cackled, "you shall regret it."
I did not look back. I knew they were right, but what the hell - I was 23 years old, and I could never grown old and no mortal could kill me. The adventure begins. TBC
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