[WARNING !! This chapter contains some disturbing events. Read with your own risk]

“Knaack”, the wooden door opened with a weird sound. His apartment was not one of the best in this locality. But it could be said that it was one of the cheapest. Entering into his room the first thing Zer did was throw his bag down to the bed and lie down. He didn’t even turn on the lights.

It was a long and arduous day. Too much hassle,too much noise. But even inside of his room it was not fully quiet. The doors and walls were not enough to fully block the sound coming from the other side. He just wanted to shut this world from his mind and sleep. So, he took out the earphone from his pocket. He just had put one in his ear and the …..the sound came. A terrible scream. A hollow and muffled yet so loud and clear to him.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh”.

‘What was that?’ Zer just wanted to find out what happened. Should he go down and check. Perhaps something terrible happened. He should check it out. He was a little afraid after hearing that scream but was also curious about it. But when tried, he noticed that he could not sit up. He just couldn’t. His body was like telling him to not go. It was telling him to stay still.

“knock,knock”,A sound came from the door. Zer opened his eyes. He was perspiring still laying on the bed. What happened? Was he dreaming till now? He was confused but that didn't last long as a voice came from outside.

“Zer, Are you in there?” An elderly female voice came in. Zer was well recognized with this voice. It was Aunt Lana’s voice. She was an elderly woman in her late fifties. Her hair was completely white and face was full of wrinkles. Anyone can notice that the hardship of life has taken a toll on her. She lived with her husband next door. As her husband was not in a position to do hard work and they have no children , it was very tough on them to spend days in this city.

She was knocking his door. This broke the trance Zer was in. He got up from his bed and tried to walk to reach the door. In Spite of the door being in hands reach from his bed, he was having problems just reaching it. His legs was total stiff.

He somehow reached the door and opened it. Seeing his all sweaty face , a worried look appeared in aunt lana’s face. She asked him with concern , “Zer, Are you okay?”

Zer understood that Aunt Lana had noticed his haggard face and unnatural breathing and so asked him such a question. He did not want to worry her too much so answered calmly, “Ohh yes, I am pretty okay. I was just exercising a bit. We have to maintain our fitness right?”

“Ohhh hoo hoo. Yes sure sure. You are such a young man.” Aunt Lana replied with a laugh.

“ So do you need anything Aunt….. .Ohh you told me to bring some tomatoes with me this morning. I totally forgot that. Don’t worry I will just go and bring it in a minute.”

Just as Zer was about to turn around to pick up his mobile, Aunt Lana stopped him and said “Oh it is okay if you have forgotten but don’t go now. It is pretty late and you are well aware of the bad reputation of this locality, Zer.”

Zer was confused at first. He came home at about 6 O’clock in the evening. It was not even fifteen minutes till then. But when he looked at his watch , he froze.

“It is ten” , A whisper came out from his mouth.

“Yes, Yes that's what I am talking about. I was worried about you as I saw you coming but from then I never saw the lights in your room.”

Aunt Lana’s room was in a position that she could easily see his window directly. But today after she saw him walking to his room like everyday, She thought that Zer would come soon to deliver her groceries but he never came. And even his lights were turned off the entire time.

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Zer was also shocked and did not want to continue the conversation. So he simply made up an excuse and told Aunt Lana that he was sleeping. After She was gone Zer hurriedly turned on the lights. His heart was beating faster.

‘Shit , What is happening with me?’

This was Zer’s one of the biggest fears that he would really go mad. What has he done wrong? He could not believe that what people had said for him became his reality. This is why he was so reluctant to go to a psychiatrist and even admit that he was seeing illusions and hearing sounds to charles. It would prove that he had really gone mad. But that was until now. Till now others had called him mentally ill. But now he himself was not completely sure about whether he was sane or not.

He was losing his patience. No No No He had to remain cool headed. He thought to himself. He could not lose hope. He took out the pills from his bag and gulped those in with a mouthful of water in one go.The he sat down on his bed. He had no energy to left to remain standing but in his mind there was only one thing. To get rid off from this nightmare. Dr. Charles had told him that soon his condition would surely improve if he took his medication properly.

According to him, Zer’s case of seeing illusions or nightmares was no rare phenomena. Charles was not sure about the reason for his condition but he had a suspicion that perhaps it was related to Zer’s childhood trauma . And in such a case the most wise decision would be to not run from his fear but to stand up against it. And Charles gave the exact advice to Zer. He told him to find out more about what he sees or hears. The Fear of the unknown was the biggest fear in men’s hearts. Once the unknown became known, The fear would lose all his vitality. But Charles did not explain it much too Zer. He wanted to be more certain about Zer’s problem and his backstory. It was clear for him that Zer was not very comfortable to share about his weak points and his family background was one of those. Zer’s casual story telling about his life had proven how vulnerable Zer was to it. But that was a matter of its own.

…………………….

It was dark outside and a sound of metal hitting the stone could be heard from afar in dense forest of trees. But there was no one but wild animals in the vicinity of surrounding hundreds of kilometer to hear the unnatural sound which was coming from the broken black castle. It would be wrong to call it a castle as structure of it vastly different from a normal castle. It was like a monument. Aligned with the mountain and the surrounding forest, it would be hard to notice it as moss and vines had completely covered it. One could notice that the upper portion of it was broken like someone had eaten it with a big bite.

Victor found it by chance. And no one other than Victor could not have found it as this part of the forest was not an area that normal humans would come even in normal daylight. Victor could be a normal villager but in no means he was normal. When he found this place, He thought of informing some authority in the city but he did not do that at that time. He did not know why. But he was sure of it today. It was fate. This place, this day ,It was destined. It was like he was destined to come here. So he did not cower in front of failure.

In the middle of the large hall, he drew a circle on the stone floor. He was strong enough to carve out the circle on the stone that made this thousand year old still standing castle. The Circle was filled with intricate designs of unknown letters all connected to the center.

Soon the carvings were filled by a red liquid. It was blood. And in the middle of the Circle, there was a dead human body.

Strange chantings could be heard. Soon the still liquid blood in the carvings started moving towards the center emitting a strange glow. Soon the dead body in the center of the circle was covered with that blood. But it was no longer blood but something else. The blackish red tar that was covering the body was like in some sense alive. It was pulsating like a beating heart. The same was true for Victor also. He had tried countless times with countless different methods but never succeeded. Perhaps this was the only way and he was just delaying it.

But much to his dismay soon something happened and the ritual failed. The strange glow dimmed into nothing and the center of the circle became silent. Victor's eyes opened wide for a moment and then in the next moment shock, anger, helpness and grief appeared in them simultaneously. He failed. He failed after doing everything that was possible. He couldn't save her.

"Ha ha ha ha haaa haa haaa." , a sarcastic laugh rang out in the silent hall. Victor was laughing at the helpness of himself. In anger he punched at the floor to vent his anger. What more he could have done. He has sacrificed his soul for it and even then failed. Blood flowed out from his hand but he didn't care. He got up and left the hall.

When he reached the place where his horse was tied up, he remembered that in anger he forgot to take his sword with him. He turned around and walked towards the door of the great hall.

But when he reached it, he saw there was a naked boy lying unconscious. His age would be about twenty and his hair was silky black.