Ymbert got off his bed, trying to gather his senses altered because of an argument between Isolda and Chopyk. Sound was coming farther compared to past but still it was not bearable. Or at least not far enough that they could close their eyes in peace.

Unable to pass time in the long night, he went to his kitchen. He wanted to have something fatty which could help him sleep. He chose a big loaf of meat and put a frying pan in the stove.

He felt a chill running through his body. Goosebumps were all over his arms. Ymbert closed the window due to sudden cold. Then he felt fine. Noise of devils became less audible until it stopped.

“Thanks god, they’re quiet.” He joined his hands.

Yet he hadn’t changed his mind about late night dinner. He poured double the amount of oil he used to use while cooking and placed the meat on it.

There was no sizzle. He crouched to mouth of oven and blew the fire till it surrounded pan from all sides. As he got up, he saw bubbles forming around meat.

No sizzling.

He checked the jar again to see if he had used oil or water. His fingers were slippery and so was the jar. While trying to open its lid, it slipped out of his hands. The filled jar broke into tiny bits without creating any sound.

Ymbert’s wife came to the kitchen. Her lips were moving, but Ymbert couldn’t hear a word. She pointed at something.

Ymbert rushed to see what she wanted him to see. He ran out of the door to see every villager equally terrified. Everyone had gone deaf in the village.

He gazed around and saw Roderick standing in the middle of chaos. Roderick came towards him with a paper parchment in his hand. He handed the parchment to Ymbert which read:

NOW YOU PEOPLE WILL GET TO SLEEP. I TRADED YOUR HEARING CAPACITY TO DEAF GHOSTS IN THE FOREST.

Ymbert crushed the paper and screamed, pointing at Roderick, “Kill this man. He let the ghosts loose. He traded our hearing!”

But nobody heard the angry man. Roderick left the village soon after.

The ghosts in the forest were closing their ears. They could not take the sound of devils quarreling anymore. They had left the land right after getting their hearing back, but no matter how far they flew, the sound was audible like it was close to them.

At first they felt cheated, but after travelling thousands of miles, they got rid of the sound. Since then, the ghosts never returned to the village to torment the villagers.

Roderick put the cotton in his ears and closed his eyes for a well deserved sleep.