The Nature of the Witch-Hunter

Since the Serpent first crept into Adam's garden, evil has always been with us. Wherever Man has travelled, he has found spirits, demons, monsters, and all manner of enemies to both his mortal flesh and his immortal soul. These creatures come in many guises, and oft go unseen by the very common people who they most endanger – unseen, at least, until it is too late to escape their clutches.

Let us thank God, then, that for almost as long as these evils have plagued mankind, there have been men and women with the faith and courage to fight them, to keep evil at bay so that the good men and women of the world may carry on with their lives, all unaware of the doom which awaits them should the vigilance of their guardians ever waver.

Such a duty is one that few would choose willingly, particularly if they understood the nature of their foes. And indeed, when those foes are invisible to the untutored eye, even a willing guardian would never know that his efforts were needed. How, then, does one become such a guardian? What makes a man or woman into one of those endangered sentinels known as Witch-Hunters? If you are one of those for whom this book is intended, you may already suspect the answer, but in the interest of completeness, I shall endeavour to set it forth below.

The process may never be known with complete accuracy, but the common elements are clear. Firstly, an individual must perceive the existence or actions of one or more evil, monstrous creatures. As I have mentioned earlier, this is an unlikely event in and of itself; the demons that plague our world are most cunning indeed at concealing themselves and their doings. Usually, their presence only becomes obvious to their victims, and only when it is too late for those victims to escape their fate. However, on rare occasions, individuals can see these foul beasts in their true forms, and live to tell the tale.

Let us suppose, for example, that a demon, taking the form of a lost child – for such guises as these are common tools for the minions of the Adversary – has lured its victim to an isolated spot in the woods, the better to make its attack unmolested. The unsuspecting victim, a simple farmer, has been pursuing the apparent child for some minutes through increasingly isolated terrain, hoping to rescue the child from the ominous wilderness, all the while unknowing that the true danger is to himself. Once far enough from civilisation that the farmer's shouts cannot be heard, the child reveals its true form, its hellishly glowing eyes and taloned hands becoming apparent only as it springs to the attack. It seems likely that the only witness to this horrid transformation will be the farmer, who will doubtless perish horribly before he can fully come to grips with what he has seen.

But perhaps another traveller, through Providence's intervention, has been wandering through the same woods for reasons of his own. Let us suppose that he is a trapper, seeking a likely place to set a new snare. Hearing the sounds of pursuit in the woods ahead, he approaches their source, and comes upon the farmer and the demon just as the latter – unaware of the trapper's presence – assumes its true and hideous form. Thus we now have two individuals who have seen the demon's true nature. Will they, then, both become Witch-Hunters?

They will not – at least, not with certainty, for perceiving the true face of evil is only half of the process. Having perceived their monstrous enemy for what it truly is, only a brave few are willing to act against it. It is this willingness to act in the face of terror that makes a man or woman truly a Witch-Hunter.

To return to our hypothetical tale, who could blame the trapper if he were to flee into the woods, never looking back for fear that the demon-child had heard him and was pursuing him? Most men, even those who boast of their courage, would do so in a heart's-beat. But perhaps our trapper is made of sterner stuff; instead of running blindly away, he unlimbers his wood-axe, steals up behind the demon-child even as it is preparing to pounce upon the hapless farmer, and strikes its head off, calling upon the Almighty for strength as he does so. In that moment, he will become a Witch-Hunter, and will thenceforth begin to perceive signs and portents as Providence guides him to where his strength and wisdom are most sorely needed.

The farmer, for his part, will doubtless be grateful to his rescuer. But if he did not act to defend himself – if he passively surrendered to his fate, rather than striking out against the monster that confronted him – then he is no Witch-Hunter. He will count himself blessed to have been rescued in the woods, and will doubtless say a prayer for his rescuer every Sunday for the rest of his Earthly life. But he will remain one of the humble flock, and will rely on the world's shepherds – the Witch-Hunters – to protect him from the dark.