A nagging thought kept Kyle from striking the blow. "What happens to her after she dies?" he asked.
Cedric's matter-of-fact attitude didn't waver. "An interesting question, Kyle."
The bound knight spoke up, "Where do you think she's going, boy? Your curse has corrupted her soul as well as her body!"
Cedric's smile bore a tinge of embarrassment. "Sadly, as good an answer as any. Would it comfort you if I said my beliefs are slightly more forgiving? Or perhaps the idea that she'd be reincarnated would comfort you more? Truth is, none of us will know until after the fact and I have, I hope, still long to live." He thought for a moment. "The fact that foul creatures like this exist is somewhat disturbing, I admit."
"That's right, Betrayer!" the old man growled. "You know these demons aren't the only ones who've ever walked the Earth. You know there's a Hell and it frightens you, because that's where you'll be one day, tormented for all eternity by creatures like that one."
Cedric shrugged and a gnome shoved a wad of cloth into the old man's mouth, gagging him.
"I have no real comfort to give you, Kyle," he said. "The only hard facts at the moment are that your sister is dying with or without your help. You do her no favors by prolonging her life."
Kyle tearfully drove the sword downward into Kim's chest. She let out an unholy scream the blade pierced her, loudening into a multi-layered moan as the sword's flames consumed her body. Bits of scale, horn and claw seemed to crawl away from her body like maggots.
As her body burned away to ash something stirred within her chest and a large worm-like creature leapt from the ruined body onto the road.
"What the..." Marisa mouthed as it made a hissing sound to keep the gnomes at bey. Then it slithered away into the woods with incredible speed.
Cedric frowned. "Before you ask, I don't know." He looked to the knight. The look of surprise, confusion and horror on the old man's face implied that he had no answers for what had just happened either.
Kyle stared after the worm's slimey trail, traumatized by what he'd just done and the aftermath.