In measured hundredweight and penny pound

I

"Hollows, they call them?" he asked. A man in his thirties, tall and fair and with deep brown eyes stood in front of the decaying corpse of a monster freshly slain.

Gau nodded. "Yes. At least, in this world they do."

The hamlet around them was still asleep, although not for much longer. The sun was up and the rooster would let hear himself soon and stir the peasants from their beds. 

Who was not asleep was Pawel. He got a rude awakening just half an hour ago when it was still dark save for the dull light blue hue lining the horizon. What waked Pawel were grunts and heavy footsteps trotting along the square in the middle of the hamlet. He came out to see what the ruckus was all about and, which didn't seem to wake anyone else up from sleep.

When he was outside he could see a long tail disappearing behind the house on the far side of only street. Frightened, yet curious at the same time he followed it and then between two tall barns he heard its harrowing call. A long, reverberating howl unlike he had ever heard before. But when he looked behind the barns there was nothing to see.

The place Pawel called his home was nothing more than a small collection of positively ancient daub houses surrounding an open area. Behind those houses were mostly barns and storage sheds for tilling the fields. Yet, whatever it was he saw disappeared into thin air. "Curious," he muttered to himself when an irresistible urge to look upward gripped him. He did and there he saw the monster hanging between the barns, up near the roof.

It's face was white and made of bone, large and shaped like a kite, it had sockets with red dots for eyes it seemed and it bore its teeth on this bony face like a necklace. 

He shuddered and stepped back and to his dismay, the monster lowered itself like a spider descending along a silken thread. 

Pawel let out a yelp, turned and ran. But before he reached the other end, the monster was there already and barred the way out.

Again he turned and ran, this time faster. With his heart pounding in his chest and every hair on his back telling him the monster was just now going to reach out and grab him, he rounded the corner. 

Immediately he realised his mistake upon reaching the fence surrounding a pasture. It wasn't particularly high but at this very moment, even scaling it quickly or stopping to dip under it would be a move too many. He darted to the right and when he was about the reach the other end of the barn, one of the monster's massive claws planted itself in the soil in front of him. 

He looked to his right and noticed the barn backdoor was left open. He hurried inside and slammed the door shut behind him. He dashed through the hay which lay up to knee height on the ground for the first part, then tumbled over a bucket filled with farming hoes and finally fell elbows down into the dirt. He turned around on his back and that the monster was now on the half-floor above him as it must have scaled the outside wall and entered through the hay loft. 

"No, stop!" he cried out and raised hands in self-defense yet, sensing his demise was nigh, he closed his eyes.

The monster leapt at him, beak agape and crooked teeth set on devouring Pawel's flesh.

He opened his eyes again and saw that the monster was suspended in midair and motionless. Without movement too were the tightly packed bundles of straw it had taken with it in its leap. The shovel that was knocked over stood slanted but still as well. All the sound had stopped. 

Pawel's eyes widened and he looked around. "What-?" he wondered.

"It appears you're in need of a saviour," Gau spoke. He stood leaning against a support beam off to the side. 

He crawled away, now not from the monster but from the man who showed up out of nothing. He kept pushing himself backward until his back met with a barrel. "Who are you!?" Pawel yelped.

Gau touted his lips and held up a hand. "Well, I go by many names. The one you need now though, is the one you pray too every day. At least, that's what you did in the past. But not so anymore, am I right?" 

Pawel frowned and tilted his head slightly. "Je-?" he began but shook his head. "No. No, I don't believe you. This is the devil's work!" 

He came off the support beam and shrugged. "Suit it your way. He doesn't care," Gau replied and nodded at the monster, still suspended and motionless. He started walking for the door and was almost underneath the monster when Pawel called out for him.

"Wait! Can you help me? Please, let me live," the man pleaded.

Gau turned around again but shook his head slowly. "I can't. Only you can." 

"How!?" Pawel demanded to know.

"But-," Gau interjected as he wasn't finished. "It is only those covered by the blood of a saviour who can be saved."

"And, you're that saviour?" His eyebrow raised.

"Oh, no. Quite the contrary. I am a keeper of promises," Gau replied.

Pawel had gathered the nerve to get back on his feet. He looked at Gau with incredulous eyes. "You know what? Screw you, I'm out of here," he yelled and ran for the barn door.

Gau, did not intervene. A tepid smile appeared on his face.

No matter how hard he pulled on the doors, however, Pawel could get no motion out of them. Like everything else around him, everything was perfectly still and he imagined he wouldn't even be able lift a single strand of straw. 

"It's quite pointless. Time and space are one and the same thing. Without time, you can't move through space. That door won't move even if you had all the strength in the world."

Pawel only half-heard what was said to him and even that he didn't understand. "Is this your doing? Why me? Why are you doing this to me?" he asked.

Gau looked up at the ceiling. "Where was I? Oh yes, promises. I want to exchange a promise with you." 

Pawel shuddered, something was amiss. "What promise? Will it save me?" he asked with an uncertain voice.

He made a small bow. "Of course. I will promise you that you will defeat the Hollow," he replied and pointed upward, where the Hollow hung above his bald head."

"And, in return?" he asked.

Gau lifted a finger. "In return, you promise that you will never save a single soul from death, ever in your life." 

He searched the floor for an answer to this apparent riddle. "What does that mean? I can't save anyone else if their life is in danger?" 

"Exactly." 

"What if I break the promise? How would you know? What do you care anyway?" he asked.

He snickered. "We'll see about that. But now, I'm going to release my hold over time and space," Gau said and stepped back. "Oh, if you didn't understand, that means the monster will start attacking now."

"Alright! I accept, I promise!" Pawel shouted out.

"Excellent!" 

The Hollow started moving, it came crashing down on the ground. It looked but didn't find its prey underneath them. Instead, it looked to the left and lunged at Pawel.

The young man instinctively kicked with his right foot. The leather sandal he wore tore open under the impact, his foot seemed to sink into the Hollow's face, the face plate cracking under the immense weight produced. 

The Hollow flew back as fast as it came in and landed on its back. With a final, long howl, life escaped from it.