He walked in to find that the bed was not made and the room was in disarray. A few things were missing, but nothing unusual. He walked up to the bed, to find blood on the floor, in a trail leading to the bathroom. He thought this strange, but now his mind was going fast. His mind told him to follow the blood. He moved as fast as he could through the living room, kitchen, and second hallway, and stopped when he found the closed bathroom door.
He stared at the trail leading to the door for a while, hoping that it was all a dream, and he would wake up in a warm bed. He backed up, telling himself that this was impossible. but even he knew the odds of his grandmother being on the other side were high. He walked back to the door and opened it slowly, following the blood trail with his eyes lead to the sink. He breathed a sigh of relief of not having his worst nightmare come true. His grandmother wasn't there.
There was a bloodied note that said Bergelmir. The note had drops of blood on it. He wondered why it was so cold in the room, he normally would have been sweaty from all of the running, but now he was chilly. He grabbed the note, realizing it was warm. He looked down at the water and saw it was red, so he grabbed a towel and put it over the sink. He did the same at the bathroom sink.
Bergelmir.
Why did that word remind him of something? He started thinking about everything and nothing at the same time. Still looking over the note. He could tell it was a name, but he could not remember who or what it was. He could not get his mind off of that word and it was bothering him worse than a hangover. It was like a hand was trying to wedge itself in his head and squeeze his brain.
He framed the name, and then he remembered. The name Bergelmir means "Mountain yeller" or "Bear Yeller". Bergelmir is a frost giant in Norse Mythology and the son of Thrudgelmir and the grandson of Ymir, the first giant. Bergelmir and his wife are the only two survivors of all the giants after Ymir's death and the flood. They used a hollowed-out tree trunk to sail on the flood, it was the first boat. Because of Bergelmir and his wife, the race of frost giants was able to survive and live in Jotunheim. That was where he remembered it! It was a tale his grandmother told him about when he was younger from the book of Kvards lesser known giants.
She kept that book under her safe deposit box because she said people are less likely to go looking for it when they find a deposit box. They would be so happy about finding the safe deposit box that they wouldn't think to look under it. He stepped away from the bathroom and went towards his grandmother's office where she kept her safe deposit box. He got to the room and found that whatever or whoever raided his grandmother's room and was the cause of either the blood or whose blood it was had decided to raid the safe. Thankfully underneath it was not touched.
He pressed the button on the side which would unlock the wooden plank under the table that the safe deposit box was on. It contained a small black notebook, another note with an inscription on it, and the book He was looking for, Kvards lesser-known frost giants.
He turned to the page with Bergelmir on it and found a note left to him with his grandmother's handwriting. He felt an ache in his heart.
The Church, Ancoats
Be careful.
He turned to the old black notebook and tried to look through it but it was blank? He flipped through it but the whole thing was blank. He took the note which seemed to be the only thing in this safe deposit box that he could read and put it in his jacket pocket. He put the other 2 in his cross-body bag. He strapped the bag on his back and rushed out of his grandmother's room and headed down the stairs and stopped on the bottom floor.
He went outside and back onto his scooter, he needed to drive to Ancoats now. It was night time and there was a full moon in the sky. He needed to drive quickly but carefully. He arrived in Ancoats and walked out of the main highway. Then he saw it. The church in Ancoats, that was burnt down years ago. He got off his scooter and looked at the building. There were a few more scooters parked nearby.
The moon was shining on the dilapidated building and it looked like no one was there, but even so, he decided to follow the instructions of the note and be careful. He slowly crouched down and checked if anyone was on the scooter in front of him or behind and if there was a person in the mini-van behind him. He looked around a bit but couldn't find anyone. He snuck slowly towards the church keeping low as to avoid all the windows and keeping to the shadows of the buildings.
He leaned against the wall beside the church, wrapped himself in his leather jacket, and breathed slowly so he didn't make any sound. He gave a quick peek into the church and saw dark figures moving about. He slowly snuck towards the back of the church behind the pews, not making any noise, and bent down so he was in a crouching position.
He could hear strange noises coming from further inside the church, like humming, and voices. He peered around the corner and could see 4 strange creatures with grey skin, braided hair, and long beards, wearing black hooded robes and doing some kind of ritual. It was very dark, but in the middle, there seemed to be an altar with a person on it. Ben shivered wondered what on earth is going on and what had he stumbled upon. He couldn't see the person's face clearly so he couldn't tell if it was his grandmother or not.
He decided to investigate in the back a bit further and see how he could get closer to the altar. He saw that there were a few more windows behind the altar that he could get through to see what was happening better. He slowly snuck down the back aisle of the church and up the small stairs and bent down to check if his cross-body bag wasn't visible to any of the windows. It wasn't on the opposite side of the altar window. He looked up to see if there was a shadow behind the altar where he was on top off but he didn't see any movement.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
All of a sudden the four creatures started chanting loudly and the air started swirling and the pew started shaking. Ben was in a perilous position at the moment and struggle to hang on while they did whatever they were doing.
Then he heard his grandmother's voice in a sinister tone.
Come closer…
Ben froze, confused. His stomach was churning as his knees went weak from first seeing these strange creatures' red-lined faces as if they were going to crack apart, and now hearing his grandmother's voice. He knew it wasn't really his grandmother's voice. His grandmother would never sound so sinister. She was a pillar of strength, a tall strong woman with a strong commanding voice.
Come closer…
His eyes blurred, as he felt like he was going to throw up and his knees shook, he heard the frightened screams and moans from inside the church. The creatures were also on their knees, chanting and crying out some kind of ancient words. He tried desperately to stop himself from shaking and scamper away but to no avail. Then he heard half growling, half warbling, and half chanting.
Come closer…
A circular portal appeared before him and he lost his strength to move and stopped his shaking. He saw the creatures' faces as they levitated up and disappeared into the portal. Then he saw the person on the altar faces press against the portal and disappear. Ben was frozen so he couldn't move.
Ben fell down from where he was because he had no strength to stand up. He had no strength to call for help. He then slipped into the rushing darkness and knew no more.
***
Ben woke up with the biggest headache ever. What even was that? A hangover? No, he'd never even had one of those as bad as this. Oh, he'd downed a bunch of that disgusting home-brewed whiskey the old man who lived near his grandmother had kept in a locked cabinet, but that couldn't have been it. There was all that stuff he had in his system, but it wouldn't have made this kind of timing.
All that was missing was a lack of coordination. It was as if Ben wasn't entirely in control of his body right now. His eyes were still closed and he could hear movement around him but no voices. He tried to sit up but found that his head spun like mad or so it felt to him. That's when he remembered what happened.
His grandmother was gone!
For some reason, Benjamin had been compelled to come to this church. The last thing he remembered was stumbling across some strange people chanting and doing… what was it? A ritual? No, that didn't really make any sense. They sounded like they were crying out to the sky. He'd seen them doing all sorts of strange things but nothing had ever looked like a ritual to him.
Benjamin looked around the room he was in, but it looked entirely unfamiliar. He could feel all sorts of dust particles swishing around him and his thoughts were all mixed up. What the heck had happened to him last night? What was that voice that sounded like his grandmother? why did it make him feel weak?
He glanced down at his hand and saw that he was bound by metal. His feet were similarly tied down with something that looked like he could break it with one good jerk, but it was firmly attached to the ground.
"What the heck happened to me?" he wondered as he struggled against his bonds.
He looked to in an old cell of some sort that looked poorly made. He glanced down and saw the remnants of a bowl and it looked like someone had been feeding him. He wasn't certain what that stuff was but it left a terrible taste in his mouth. He continued to struggle as his head slowly started to clear, drawing him out of his resulting headache.
"I feel like I've been drugged." He thought to himself as he tried to move his head around.
He then noticed a figure shadowed in the corner of the room. The figure was dressed in similar attire that the four strange creatures wore. He struggled against his bonds, feeling his heart beat faster.
"Uh… hey. Where am I?" He asked.
The figure in a black cloak similar to those grey creatures leaned across to the large bowl in the middle of the room and started spooning more of that stuff onto the bowl that was in front of him and ignored Ben. Ben couldn't understand why he was being fed that but then again, he remembered he wasn't entirely himself when he was first put here. He tried to call out again but no sound came out. He closed his eyes tightly, hoping that the stranger that had just walked in would help him. After a few more spoonfuls, the figure in a black cloak stood up and walked away.
"Aah, so you are finally awake, how are you feeling?" The stranger asked him. He was wearing a hooded white priest robe but with a strange symbol where the usual cross would be.
"I'm not sure. I feel drugged and weak. I wasn't like this when I got here. Is it some kind of witchcraft that I'm under?"
"Witchcraft?" The stranger paused, and then walked over to Benjamin and stared down at him.
"What do you know of witchcraft?" The stranger asked. He sounded like he was eighty but his skin was young and smooth. Benjamin couldn't make out his facial features through the hood of his cloak.
"I don't know. I was really out of it. That stuff was weird. I was in a church, then some weird stuff started happening?"
"A church? You've been in a church?" The stranger looked genuinely curious now.
"Uhhh. Yeah. Why?" Benjamin wasn't sure what was going on.
"You don't remember?" The stranger asked.
Benjamin shook his head. pretending not to remember everything that had happened
"Alright then. Be safe my son. Now, eat. Eat up. We do not wish to see any of our flock die to anything else. You're one of our own now." The stranger said.
"I don't want to eat that stuff. Just tell me where I am and where this place is" Benjamin insisted.
"You must eat or you'll die. Your body will reject the food if we force it upon you when you have regained consciousness. you must accept the lady's grace." the weird priest said in a zealous voice.
"So You're not going to force me to eat this slop, Good. What is this place anyway?"This conversation was confusing and didn't make any sense he thought.
"Never mind that now. You should eat or you'll die. We wouldn't want that, would we?" The priest said.
"It looks terrible. Who are you anyway! I don't even know you. Why would I even trust you?"
"I am the Goddesses Chosen! Nu'lar! the one to carry her light! Eat or do not it matters not when you will soon feel the Goddesses light you will… understand"
"Who is your goddess?." Benjamin sighed as he stared at the slop. "What are you doing?"
"We must fulfill our duty to see to the health of our flock. The Gods do not always take notice of what we do. enough questions eat. I will be back to take you to see the Goddesses light"
Gods? as in multiple? That sounded ominous.