Novels2Search
memento mori
ch1: carpe diem

ch1: carpe diem

Eladio Ariñez was born in 1999, in Álava, Basque Country, Spain, to a struggling but loving family. His father's name is Antonio Ariñez, and His mother's name is Carla Ariñez. he had 5 siblings, 3 girls, and 2 boys: Anita, Andrea, Alicia, Fèrmin, and Herminio. Anita died a couple of years back, she happened to be the one he was the most attached to. his younger days started badly, usually getting into arguments with his mother about brushing his teeth, or sometimes even eating dinner, but then tearfully apologizing after realizing he made his mother sad and proceeding to school. he was always a bright child, but that led him to dwell on the inevitability of his family's death. even though they weren't particularly well off, though his parents tried to make the best of it. as the middle child, he never received any special attention but he wasn't neglected either. he hurt himself a lot while growing up, but even after getting himself suspended from school in a fight, his family's house rules were never particularly strict, yet he was never allowed in the attic.

As a curious teen, after insisting to go up to the attic multiple times but getting rejected each time, he dedicated over a month of his life to learning how to pick locks, eventually achieving a decent level.

waiting for the perfect moment, he goes up there when both his parents and most his siblings are in deep sleep.

creak

-"what the hell... I can barely see anything..." he walks in, nearly tripping over some stray books

He sees a desk, a bookshelf, a whiteboard, and hundreds upon hundreds of papers with mysterious symbols

Exploring the area, he notices that all the windows are bordered up, the only entrance is the one he came in from, everything there seems at least hundreds of years old, even the desk, chair, and a mysterious vial of what seems to be blood.

He opens a drawer, noticing a key in there, he takes it.

after looking for a safe, or even a door nearly everywhere he finds absolutely nothing. while putting back the key, he notices a small, empty space between the wall of the drawer and its base.

-"hoo, now what do we have here..."

lifting it up, he sees a keyhole in which the key fits.

unlocking it, he notices multiple papers

An old scroll draws him in

-"hmm, this is definitely Latin, but why does dad have things like this, and why was he keeping it a secret from us?" he scratches his chin [https://img.wattpad.com/f1dbb2693cef818698929223805ef18041bbfc48/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f4e4d4d37474e68716675347352513d3d2d313232303937373839332e313665616566376338613634633735383532353631333433373834392e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

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-"hmm, this is definitely Latin, but why does dad have things like this, and why was he keeping it a secret from us?" he scratches his chin

while thinking, he subconsciously picks a scab on his forearm, covering his thumb with blood.

attempting to get a closer look, he picks it up, getting blood on it.

the scroll heats up, screeches, and glows. it suddenly catches a black flame which then consumes it, making it disappear, not even leaving ashes behind.

-"shit, what the hell happened?!?" he steps back

putting everything he moved back in place, he goes back to his room and acts as if nothing happened.

a couple of hours later, after his father came back from work, he went up to the attic like he usually does, but came back rather quickly, speeding down to the living room, where Eladio and Herminio, are chatting about a game.

-"DID ANY OF YOU COME UP TO THE ATTIC??!"

-"eh? I didn't did you go up there, Eladio?" he wonders.

-"no, I didn't" he affirms.

Eladio said that, while he was shaking to the balls out of fear since it was only the second time he has seen his father that angry, the other time being when he badly hurt his sister.

-"huff, are you absolutely sure? don't lie to me, this is a seriously dangerous matter!" he steps closer

-"yea, I'm sure, but why would you be so worried if we went up there anyway? you hiding some special DVDs up there?" he jokes

-"Herminio, this seriously isn't the time for jokes.... a really important paper disappeared, you know. I have to go now" he says, while leaving

-"mmk, bye"

-" what was that about anyway, did you go up there?" he laughs

-"no, Herminio, I didn't." standing his ground

-"hmm, ill trust you this once" he turns his head, checking his phone

-"I'm going to the bathroom" he says while standing up

-"hm, go ahead?"

.....

.....

-"I fucked up big time!" he leans his head on the wall

-"how am I supposed to tell dad that it was me?! won't he be like, really angry? like not only did I get into his attic, but I also made one of his papers burn!"

-"aah shit, ill wash my face and try to do some research on that dammed scroll" he stands straight massaging his temples

...

....

-"haa, I ended up taking a bath. well, ill look that paper up. perhaps I can find something?"

opening his laptop, Eladio tries to translate as much of the scrip as he remembers

o magni superi, te nostra --- ---, mestorem --- --- -- terras invocemus in aeternu --- cruoris signaculo.

-"is that everything I can muster up? I mean, I'm sure there was more."

running it through his online dictionary, he gets this:

O great gods, let us in eternity call the earth our reaper, the seal of blood.

-"What? what does this even mean? "let us in eternity call the earth our reaper"? is this implying that earth will kill humanity or something?"

-"ill write it down anyway"

-"I'm guessing "the seal of blood" implies that a drop of blood will seal our fate or something?"

after multiple hours of attempting to find anything, El comes up empty-handed, but with a newfound worry about the future and what that scroll implies.

-"oh, weren't there symbols? it looked something like a peace symbol, right?"

going through a website about ancient runes and their meanings, he finds his answer

-"hmm? What's this... the death rune...?"

Authors notes:

hey! it's me again [https://img.wattpad.com/387d0921816b687c88713f91a0674f6808f25f41/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f473651716338745942304d6458413d3d2d313232303937373839332e3136656165663830306435386166616636343639333231353633322e6a7067?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

hey! it's me again. hope you liked this chapter! ill make more soon, but this should hopefully be enough, right??