Content warning: Brutalized Pets, Attempted Suicide.

In the dark dank basement of an old house a ritual was being conducted.

image [https://i.imgur.com/KCMilcu.jpeg]

The room in which this ritual was being performed was lightly furnished and dimly lit. At the center was a large pentagram in an unknown language surrounded by lit candles.

A person, in ragged clothing, stood at the edge of the pentagram. He was mumbling an unknown language.

This person was John Li. A desperate man on his last legs in life. At another time he would have never imagined doing something like this. He thought of himself as a respectable man and not someone to believe in such hocus pocus. That was until a series of unfortunate events had led him here, or maybe not. For John was losing grip on his reality.

He didn’t know what was real or fake anymore. What he was currently doing right now might just be one of his nightmares. His thoughts were so jumbled up all the time, and were not well.

It all began when an airplane crashed over the ocean with his whole family aboard. There were no survivors. His sisters, mother, father, aunty and uncles were all gone. He had been too busy with work to go on the family vacation then, and stayed behind with his then wife Lisa. Now he wished he could have been there. The death of his family began the start of a series of heartache, and he would have rather died with his family than lived these last two years. The cruelty that followed from that event for John was so unreal, he thought he must have been going crazy.

Still heartbroken after the death of his family, his partner Lisa cheated on him and was attempting to steal all his money. She had managed to find a legal loophole to cheat John out of his family inheritance with her new lawyer boyfriend.

John couldn’t believe it. For such a loophole to exist, didn't make sense. But all the same, he was forced to spend the last two years trying to appeal to the court.

The source of this loophole was caused by John’s failing mental health.

He didn’t have access to counselors or therapists to help him process the pain he was going through. The stress and pain from losing your entire family was too much for John to bear. He snapped at work and started berating other employees and customers while throwing objects at them. After that happened, he woke up in a hospital with no memory of that incident. When told what he had done, he didn’t believe them, but surveillance video forced him to accept it.

Seeing yourself do something that you had no recollection of is beyond disconcerting. You start questioning everything and wondering what is real. He also started to have memories of things that didn’t happen on top of no memory of other events that did happen.

With such uncertainty in everything, John put his faith in his wife, until it was too late.

She went behind his back and slowly started to gain control of all his assets, which at the time John didn’t think much about. He knew he wasn't well and needed someone he could trust to take care of him, while he tried to navigate the maze of his mind. He would recall doing something only to be assured by Lisa that it didn’t happen. It was all signs to him he wasn't well.

There was a time he was beaten by Rick the lawyer, the person that was supposed to help him with his family's estate. He did this while bragging about sleeping with Lisa. The day after that, John asked about that twisted memory and was told that didn’t happen. That the bruise he got was from falling down some stairs. John was so dissociated with reality that he actually believed Lisa and Rick.

One day he decided to secretly record one of his interactions with his wife and Rick. It was a conversation where they described in detail about their plan to steal everything he owns. They did this right in front of him. John, still feeling so disconnected with reality at this time, honestly believed that conversation was a delusion. No one in their right mind would explain the crimes they intend to do against you right to your face.

He later watched the video back, and it was that same conversation about stealing his inheritance. John asked about that conversation with Lisa and again she said it didn’t happen.

“But, then why was there a recording of it?” He would wonder at the time.

For days John watched the video over and over again, until it finally clicked in his addled mind. He was being gaslighted by his wife and Rick. He was not well, he knew this, but some of the crazy things he was experiencing were real.

He then went to the police and tried to get their help. When he did so, they laughed at him. They then beat him up and said to send their regards to Rick. Bruised and battered, he limped home and wondered did he really just get beat up by the police, or if he just imagined it. The bruises he had were very real to him at the time, but the idea that the police would do something like that seemed so unbelievable to him. His broken mind couldn’t make sense of it, and he questioned if he imagined it.

By the time he got home that day, Lisa was standing in the doorway of their home. Once she saw him, she suddenly started crying and asked how he could do such a thing. He was confused by Lisa's response and asked what she was talking about. She then pointed at a nearby tree and John could only gasp and look in distress.

Hanging from the branch of the tree by a rope was the body of his pet dog. The white fur that was still attached stained red with blood as its body was completely mutilated. Someone had haphazardly taken something like a butcher knife and tried to peel the skin off on one side of the poor canine. The pet husky just hanged there limply with blood dripping down its body. John could feel tears forming in his eyes from seeing his furry friend like this.

Lisa then accused him of killing their pet dog. Rick came outside and comforted Lisa by hugging her and saying everything would be alright.

The overwhelming amount anguished John experienced then gave him a moment of mental clarity. Even at his lowest he would never hurt his pet dog Zu. The idea that Lisa was trying to convince him that he was the one to do that to Zu was infuriating.

When he felt lost in his distorted thoughts, Zu would curl up beside him on the coach. The presence of the dog calmed him and made him feel a little more normal. John viewed the pet as one of the last true remnants of the family he had, and it was horribly taken away from him like the rest.

The tears Lisa was shedding and the concern Rick was expressing looked so clearly fake to him now. He knew it was them that did this. If there was any longer doubt in John's mind that these two were trying to screw him over, it was now gone. His vision started to turn red as anger overtook him.

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After that event, he woke up in a mental institution. He had no recollection of how he got there. It was like the workplace incident all over again. They told him he was raving and screaming when they brought him in. He ended up spending months there until he was discharged. After that, he was deemed too mentally unstable to stand in court and Lisa now had cause to put him into a proper conservatorship.

The death of his family left so much to him. The inheritance was substantial, but with John having trouble with his mental health, it was up in limbo. But once he is placed into a conservatorship, Lisa would get access to it all.

He was out of options. John couldn’t do anything. He couldn’t appeal the court decisions and was soon to what little autonomy he had left. Lisa would have complete control over John after that. From there he did not know what would become of him. Maybe some of the memories of being beaten by Rick were real, which wouldn’t bode well for John. If Lisa and Rick would do something so horrible to his pet dog Zu, what would they do to him?

How he wished anyone else from his family was still here.

His family would see the bruises on John and not buy into Rick's lie of him doing self harm. They would listen to him when he would say that Lisa is lying and trying to steal his money. They would be supportive when he had his mental breakdown, and give him love instead of using it against him, but in the end, he was alone.

That is the misery that led up to this ritual.

Before Lisa could gain complete control of John's inheritance, John was going through his dad's stuff and found a strange book. It laid out a very detailed ritual that claimed it would grant any wish. He had nothing to lose, so he tried to perform it.

Over the days he secretly gathered the necessary items needed, and performed this ritual in the basement of the home he grew up in. He performed this rite everyday for the last seven days. It was all in some vain hope of trying to regain what he lost, but in every attempt nothing happened. Today was his last attempt. He did not have enough materials to perform the ritual again after this.

John was kneeling at the edge of the pentagram, painting runes around it with his own blood. All while speaking alien incantations.

John: “Vada no huckoom da sa ma khan stooolba ygoyh!” he shouted with intensity.

The last rune was painted, marking the end of the ritual. Like the prior attempts, he was met with silence. It was demoralizing, and the end of the line for John.

John: “Why did I think anything would happen? I really have lost my mind,” he mumbled to himself.

He sat there, thinking what the hell he was doing.

He wasn't a superstitious person and didn’t really believe any of this, but somewhere in his befuddled mind there was a tiny sliver of hope that maybe it would work. That small amount of hope had finally been snuffed out, leaving him only one way out.

John pulled out his father’s old revolver from his pocket. He checked to see if it was still loaded, before he slowly cocked the gun.

John stared at the gun for a minute, but it felt like an eternity to him. He was contemplating where he went wrong in his life. Was it marrying Lisa, or was it not pushing his family to postpone the vacation, so that he could go with them. Maybe he was always destined for tragedy since the day he was born.

There was no clear answers, but one obvious way out.

With a shaking hand, John pointed the muzzle of the gun at his head. He closed his eyes and tried to pull the trigger, but stopped.

He was too scared to do it. A few more minutes and he may have built up enough determination to kill himself, but he heard a voice in the darkness.

???: “What do you desire?” something said in an inhuman voice.

John put the gun down and looked to see where the voice came from. Looking around, there was nobody, just himself and the ritual circle in a dark room.

John: “Hello? Who’s there?” he yelled out.

The sourceless voice spoke again.

???: “What do you desire?” it said a little louder.

John was shaken.

“Did the ritual actually work this time?” John thought to himself.

He was beside himself that it actually worked. What rationality he had left told him that this was impossible, but he didn’t care. John just wanted this nightmare to be over.

John: “I want my family back!” he yelled out.

There was a brief pause before the voice spoke again.

???: “What will you give in return?”

John: “Give?”

John was confused. There was no mention in the book about giving something to grant your wish. The necessary sacrifice should have been already paid with the materials used for the ritual. Yet the voice in the dark was still asking for more.

John: “What do you want? What do I even have left to give?”

There was a very unsettling moment of silence before the voice spoke again.

???: “You still have your life,” its words echoed out hauntingly.

A shiver went down John's spine at the response.

John: “I-I don’t suppose there is something else I could offer you?”

He was met with just silence.

Upon that, John buried his face in the palms of his hand while wailing and crying.

“Of course it was like that. Why did I think it would be any different?” John thought to himself.

John's life had become one great tragedy. Pushed to the brink in this painful journey, he thought salvation had finally come to him when he heard the voice, but instead it was another that wanted to rob John of what little he had left.

Even in his delusions, nothing would change for him. He would still die alone.

John: “Fine then. If I have to die, then I'll die for the ones I love. For my life, bring my family back and end this nightmare!”

???: ”Very well.”

A wind blew through the room from nowhere, extinguishing the candles. John was then left there alone in the dark. He couldn't see anything, or hear anything, but his own racing heart beat. He was scared and unsure what was to happen.

At first he could only hear the beating of his heart, then silence, followed by a tightness and pain in his chest. He grasped his chest as he lost balance and fell forward, landing flat on his face.

His whole body twitched and shook before eventually falling limp.

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

It would be a week before John's body was found. The cause of death would be labeled as a heart attack upon discovery and examination, but days soon after that, a major event happened.

It turned out that the Li family and the other passengers of the plane crash had survived. They had managed to escape the crash, but ended up being stranded on an island, until they were discovered by a fishing boat and brought back to civilization.

It was a major news story. People couldn’t believe it at first, it was like something out of a movie, but it really did happen. It should have been a moment for celebration for the Li family. However, all this was not to be a joyous event.

When they had discovered the body of John, they were devastated. They had managed to survive, but poor John did not. Mr & Mrs Li did not expect to have to bury their son upon their return.

Once home, The Li family assets and wealth were returned to them. The whole inheritance process was in limbo due to John's mental health, so it was easy for the Li family to get their assets back. John's sister noted that Lisa seemed a little peeved about that at the time.

The Li family in general was also a little sour at Lisa. They were told that the relationship broke down between her and John, but that she was doing everything she could to support him during his mental health crisis. Some felt that John's mental health was not helped by their separation, but others also felt they can’t entirely blame her for the relationship falling apart.

However, any good will that the Li family might have had towards Lisa was completely lost when John's sister found her brother's records. During the time John was being manipulated, he wrote down his account and had a spare additional recording of Rick and Lisa outlining their plans to steal her brother's money.

John's sister, being a lawyer herself, promised that she would take her brother's tormentors to court.

In the following weeks and months, the Li family would win its case against Lisa and Rick. It was quite easy, considering there was a literal video outlining their plans to cause enough emotional distress to John, that he would have another mental breakdown, so they could justify transferring control of all his assets over to Lisa.

The damages would be paid out and Rick would lose his license to practice law. They would then go on to criminal court where Lisa and Rick would eventually be sent to jail.

There was no satisfaction to any of this for the Li family. It just left many of them with feelings of emptiness. No matter what happened to Lisa and Rick, an uncle, nephew, brother, and son were all still lost.

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

In another city, in another country, in another world a fair skinned man with black hair soundly slept on a bed in an empty room. This man was dreaming of another life, all while the rain lightly tapped against the window of this vacant space.

In time, this person would awake and begin his great work.