#tdwkau

[polistini]

To preface the deal of what happened between Kolstad and Uhlir I think its a good idea to explain what exactly they both are. Kolstad is something that people dub a 'boogeyman'. Theyre beings that have assumed the responsibility of guiding people onto the path that individual deems to be right, and some use fear to get this. Others assimilate into human populations and do so in more casual and healthy ways by being in positions of guidance. Kolstad has been around for centuries and has done that in many places around the world. At the time they met Uhlir they had been a town's priest during a time where people didnt bathe regularly and monsters were a very big very real fear (i havnt settled on a era yet)

Uhlir is a ghoul, which are beings who are birthed looking like human babies and replace a couples actual child or leave theirs outside the homes of welcoming people, and is raised until the ghoul child becomes unruly and runs into the wilderness and assumes a more monstrous form. They have to eat meat to live essentially. They can live for hundreds of years but they need to eat more and more as time goes on to keep from rotting, and they often scavenge anywhere they can to keep from decomposing more.

One of Kolstad's duties in their job was to essentially maintain a graveyard near the church they lived in, during a winter they had noticed some graves were being dug up and desecrated. This troubles their community so it troubles them too and one night they decide to stay in the graveyard to try to catch whatever it is doing that.

Kolstad essentially catches Uhlir digging up things to eat in the graveyard and because Kolstad just genuinely likes beings of all kind and understands he doesnt do this out of spite, they decide to try to help him. Uhlir initially tries to tear them limb from limb because ghouls know people are dangerous and not to be trusted. Kolstad isnt human and could easily overpower Uhlir if need be but they dont want Uhlir to Know because they dont want any sort of agreement of help to be borne from fear.

So after convincing Uhlir they arent there to hurt them Uhlir tentatively agrees to stop digging up the graveyard if Kolstad brings them food. Which Kolstad does for weeks and Uhlir realizes there is actually no danger and Kolstad must just be either really clueless or really weird (or both) and starts somewhat talking to them for a while. During one of these talks Kolstad offers Uhlir a place to stay at the church/their home and essentially join the human town under the cover of being a wayward person in need. Uhlir vanishes for a while after that to mull things over but ultimately agrees because Kolstad says he can leave if he doesnt like it.

But he does like it because ghouls are typically solitary and fight a lot, so its nice to be able to talk to someone without worrying about them trying to bite your face off. Kolstad is similarly happy because Uhlir doesnt really care about their status in the People Communities and treats them like any other rando and in a way its comforting. Because of their guiding intents Kolstad is often in positions where just being someones friend is often weird or would create an uncomfortable power imbalance that they would like to avoid.

The two live together for quite some time and become very close. They live together, work together and are nearly inseparable, despite the towns initial confusion and suspicion they ultimately accept Uhlir. Things are good and both genuinely feel as though theyve finally found a true friend after centuries of near isolation. They continue on like this for quite some time more before things begin to take a downward spiral.

While Uhlir is out he is approached by other ghouls which is, weird to say the least because they are territorial and solitary. The other ghouls essentially heard that one of their own has assimilated into an actual human population which is goddamn Unheard of. Uhlir tries to just ignore them because hes happy and thats fine who gives a shit right? The other ghouls begin talking about how this must be some sort of cruel stunt and that humans always end up doing the selfish thing and betraying each other, let alone a monstrous outsider.

Now this gets Uhlir thinking and worrying about if Kolstad has been stringing him along the whole time, maybe waiting for a perfect time to expose him. To have him killed or chased away to show power maybe. He attempts to push those kind of thoughts away but unfortunately the seed of doubt has been planted rather firmly. Uhlir had been hurt before by people and has seen the damage they can do, whats to say Kolstad was any different?

The thing is, Kolstand isnt a human. They know full and well the way humans can be towards things that go bump in the night, and they do their best to not be the same way. But they wont tell Uhlir the truth of their origin because an entity like them is one feared by nearly every creature. Kolstads worse fear is that Uhlir will find out about their nature and suddenly their equal friendship will turn into Uhlir only sticking around out of fear.

There is a hitch in their communication and Uhlir begins to withdraw and Kolstad has absolutely no idea why. In a rather short period of time Uhlir has convinced himself that he needs to get Kolstad before they can get him. He keeps thinking theres no way someone would bother to do all this without some ulterior motive. Uhlir begins to form a plan that would 'save' them from ever being turned upon.

Ultimately Uhlir decides to create false evidence of Kolstad being the monster, not him. He claims they were the one tearing up graves and they were the one doing everything that was out of the ordinary. They manage to actually turn the entire area against Kolstad and leads a Literal Angry Mob into the church while Kolstad is in there cleaning. He figures that the town people can 'dispose' of Kolstad and then he can take their place and be safe and no one can ever turn against him. Its not rational thinking whatsoever.

Kolstad had not been expecting any of this and suddenly theyre greeted with the people theyve cared for over a span of decades and their only genuine friend demanding that they be put on trial to expose their monstrous nature. The townsfolk all urge Uhlir to the one to expose Kolstad since he is the one who was the "sole witness" of Kolstads monstrous state. To Uhlir Kolstad is just a person, who will be killed by the trial and then he thinks he can live his life without the fear of betrayal.

Kolstad is stunned and shocked and hurt in ways that cannot be simply described in words. They decide that if they want to see a monster they have no choice but to oblige. They reveal their giant ice void fear being form and thats when Uhlir realizes the severity of the mistake they have made. He only understand that Kolstad literally never had any intent to hurt him or anyone once its too late. Hes left genuinely wordless and the rationality in his brain finally clicks on and he kinda just gawks in horror at what he has just done.

Of course now theres no fixing the situation, theres no chance of redemption, no possibility of going back to how things were. The towns people are in hysterics and chuck whatever they can grab at Kolstad out of fear and rage and they just, sadly, slowly, leave. There is nothing for them to to say and they have no heart to attempt to "fix" a completely ruined situation. Once Kolstad has left/ been chased out of the town Uhlir is congratulated by the townspeople for ridding their area of such an evil being. Uhlir is just shell shocked and wants to crawl down his own throat and die.

Uhlir attemps to find Kolstad for months after this but theyre long gone, and they have No intentions of coming back. You really wanged that one up, Uhlir. Good Job.

The whole situation fucked Kolstad up so bad they wandered forests in complete isolation for nearly 70 years just kinda attempting to come to terms with what happened. They slowly began to re-assimilate into human society but has been on a much more down low level. Only in the Present Time have they began to make 'friends' again, but even then they hold people at an arms length. Its been actual centuries and its still something they get upset about from time to time.

Uhlir's whereabouts are unknown and he may or may not be alive anymore but lord knows he  regretted everything Way too late.