Eldon Talbot

The Middle Ages, steeped in blind faith, descended upon the wife of Prince Eldon Talbot with a bonfire of slander. The Inquisition, ignoring all excuses, tortured her for three days, while the prince vainly prayed to the heavens for intercession. When she was declared a witch and sentenced to be burned, the desperate Eldon summoned a demon, selling his soul for power.

At the hour of execution, as flames licked her feet, he appeared in the square—a powerful being with horns and wings of night. With a flap of his wings, he extinguished the fire. But when the inquisitors rushed to attack, his fury reduced the square and the church to rubble and corpses.

He approached his stunned wife, fell to his knees, and, taking her face in his hands, said: "But God did not hear my prayers. For salvation and protection. All that was is now forgotten – I am the Prince of Wallachia, I am the eternal ruler! And the icons wept blood when I destroyed their monastery. And now I come for you – I am the Prince of Wallachia, I am your tempter!"

Pressing his forehead to hers, he shed a scarlet tear from his new eye—black with a bloody iris. "I gave up my soul. And became an emissary of plague and death. And know, I was in hell... That hell is empty, all the devils are on earth!"