A case cannot solve itself. That was the motto of the American Supernatural Intelligence Division. Operated in the depths of Indianapolis, the division had recently received a bizarre mystery.

"Tom, we're stumped...The men, all twenty-three of them we've sent...they've all gone missing without a trace!" Barry said, his voice lingering in concern.

Tom dropped his head into his hands and looked down, with nothing but frustration in his mind. "I know! I know! Can you please shut up? What am I supposed to do?"

"What about the intern? Crazy smart 19-year-old kid, who finished a master's in anthropology! He said he's coming in today!"

"I'm not risking it! I could be fired!" Tom yelled, slamming his fist into the desk.

The door slowly creaked open upon Tom's last words, as a dark silhouette appeared, fading in, uncloaking a boy with wavy umber hair and a pair of mystic black eyes of death.

"I couldn't help but overhear you two," the boy smiled.

"Who are you?" Tom asked, still angry. The boy gracefully ran his fingers through his hair, flicking it backwards. Barry, disappointed, facepalmed and swivelled around on his chair, regaining his attention to his computer where he was halfway through his work.

"El-"

"You're Elias right?" Tom interrupted. Barry couldn't hold his laughter and giggled, frustrating Tom even more.

"Yes..." Elias replied.

There's a case here. The Mona Lisa, 23 disappearances. Some say there's a curse attached, but I don't buy it," Tom mumbled, tossing a folder toward Elias. "Read through that, and good luck."

Elias caught the folder, flipping through the file's sparse notes and thinking back to what had led him here. He knew of his talents that paved this path, and he knew if it meant facing off with a so-called cursed painting, so be it.

Still, Elias disliked this ignorant attitude, catching the folder with ease. He quickly flipped through it and skimmed the brief, highlighting the phrase: "23 Disappearances on this Case".

"Well? What are you waiting for?" Tom yelled.

"Jesus Tom! Shut the fuck up!" Barry interrupted. "He's the fucking intern!"

~

The plane flight was tedious, but Elias pulled through the jet lag and landed in Paris. He'd never been to Europe and had only seen media of it, and experiencing everything all at once was like a dream come true.

The Louvre was more than an experience, it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to see, to view ancient paintings, artifacts and stories. The faint scent of polished wood and stone of the Louvre mingled with the lingering breath of time as Elias entered the grandeur rooms of the exhibition, emitting a magical aura.

Elias was careful, not to seem suspicious. He slowly made his way towards the Mona Lisa painting, where the majority of the people had gathered around. Suddenly, a hand rested on Elias's shoulder. Elias turned around, shocked.

"Been a while, hasn't it Elias?" James smiled.

"James? I haven't seen you since high school!" Elias laughed.

"What brings you here?" James asked. "I'm here on vacation!"

"Work for me," Elias said, rolling his eyes. "Got into a supernatural intelligence division..."

"Really? That sounds cool!"

"The people there are dicks,"

"That's unfortunate..."

"Well, this is my first case, and it's about the Mona Lisa..."

"Did you know, the Mona Lisa has a flaw? I've heard rumours that DaVinci has a badly placed stroke near the hands..." James remarked. James walked forward for a better view and reached out, pointing at the flaw.

"Don't get that close!" Elias chirped. James didn't hear Elias through the thick noise produced by the crowd, unaware of his surroundings. Then, a man pushed forward through the crowd, bumping James and making him lose his balance. His hand unfortunately scraped the painting, leaving a faint mark on it as he descended and landed on the ground with an oof.

"James! Are you good?" Elias exclaimed.

"Yeah, I'm fine- Argh!" James screamed as he got up. His hand was gone, literally cut off, but there was no blood surprisingly. His hand had seemed to disappear out of thin air, Elias considering that James's hand might have been translated into a different dimension.

"Aaah!" a man screamed, fading away. Elias's eyes darted around the room and witnessed people disappearing, along with their body parts.

"What the fuck?" Elias yelled. He drew his attention back to the Mona Lisa painting. The woman in the painting was gone and chaos had begun.

"Elias! Help! Help me-" James screamed as the rest of his body faded away, leaving only his face. It wasn't long before everything went dark for Elias, for he was also transferred into a new, magical realm. It was indeed dark, Elias's vision was engulfed with shadows and only after what seemed to be hours, did Elias finally slowly open his tired eyes to see the clear blue sky. James quickly approached Elias and leaned down, helping Elias up.

"Elias! You're awake!" James exclaimed.

"Where are we?" Elias asked.

"Didn't you major in history? You should know this!" James panicked.

"Jesus, it's anthropology, not history. I'll take a look," Elias replied frailly. "It can't be...This isn't our world...We're in a different dimension...It feels like it...And it also feels like we're in 16th-century Europe!"

"We need to get outta here," a man said.

"I agree," James added. "But where do we start?"

"There..." Elias announced. He pointed towards a small flight of stairs that began just up ahead, just beyond the path. A massive castle stood upon them, and the only thing that blocked them from entering it was the set of doors.

As they crossed the cobbled footpath and descended the flight of stairs, a small sign with the word "Library" in serif letters was placed beside the door.

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James pushed the creaking wooden door open, flooding the pitch-black library with the bright sunlight. The walls were infested with mould and cracks, implying the abandoned nature of the structure. The bookshelves seemed untouched, with them reaching to the ceiling, acting as pillars of some sort.

Elias carefully stepped into the library, with the dust-ridden floor creating squeaky sounds that echoed amongst the bookshelves.

"Look at all this dirt, guh!" a woman exclaimed. "Those cobwebs! Yuck!"

Indeed, the library seemed abandoned, but the books seemed clean, and shinier than anything else in place. It certainly contrasted the dull brown palette adopted by the library, creating somewhat of a welcoming yet ominous atmosphere.

"Phones everyone! Turn your flashlight on and start looking around!" Elias commanded. It was suddenly much brighter with the addition of the flashlights, making it much easier to navigate the labyrinth-like layout of a library.

"Hey! Now isn't the time to smoke Howard..." a woman barked.

"Lisa, this helps me calm down!" Howard explained.

"Smoking? Great! Give me that lighter!" Elias exclaimed. Howard stood in shock, with his lighter in his hand. Elias snatched it and smiled. "Thanks, man, and don't smoke in here,"

James helped Elias light the candles in the library, adding some natural light that helped illuminate the darkness and help conserve the batteries of their phones. It was much cosier now that there was some sort of light, and hence they were able to begin exploring.

"Look at this Elias, a book." James signalled. He picked the book titled "Divine Arts" up from a nearby table and flipped it open. People nearby huddled beside James, trying to read the contents.

"May the most tender item lead to a graceful flight. Maybe sometimes you must not just paint through the night." Elias read. "I'm assuming tender refers to the youngest thing in the library..."

"I'll start checking the books," a woman added.

"Same here!" another chirped in.

It wasn't long before everyone began to search for the youngest thing. Elias didn't care about the books, he pondered on the statement as he explored the library.

Many people began inspecting the bookshelves to analyse the most recent books, but there was no luck. Instead of success, only misfortune came in the shape of fantastical yet horrendous monsters. The books the people checked slowly transformed into horrible, bloodthirsty creatures with a pair of wings and sharp, pointy teeth. They were relentlessly chasing whoever opened them and chomping their arms, legs or even heads off.

The group was in shambles, screams filled the maze of bookshelves and chaos was imminent. Panic quickly arose and Elias realised that this was nothing he had done before.

"Youngest..." Elias thought. "Time...?" Elias gazed at the grandfather clock.

"Elias...doesn't this look like the Mona Lisa?" James interrupted.

"What does?" Elias asked while he remained lost in thought by the grandfather clock.

"That canvas..."

Elias darted his eyes to the green canvas, realising that it was indeed the half-finished Mona Lisa.

"I know where we are...and I think I know how to get out..." Elias muttered.

"Hurry up! There's a ghost coming!" James screamed. Elias again, turned around to see in shock the abomination of a ghost that faded into existence. A devilish green monster, plagued with ridiculous wrinkles and demon red eyes appeared, of what seemed to resemble the Mona Lisa.

"You dare fool around here?" the Mona Lisa hissed. In the background, the constant flapping of book monsters ticked Elias, annoying him ever so more. The gruesome squeals of pain and death were inevitable, as the book monsters began slowly consuming the remaining people one by one. It was complete chaos and all some could do was run; they didn't have time to mourn the death.

"Go, distract the ghost!" Elias directed, taking out his gun. He loaded a magazine into the gun and aimed.

"What? How?" James asked. However, it was too late for Elias had already run back and began shooting a few book monsters down.

The Mona Lisa took advantage of James as he didn't know how to distract her, crawling into his skin and haunting him. James was scared. It felt like thousands of glass shards had pierced his skin, and the sensation of the ghostly figure phasing through his body made him tremble with utter fear.

His breath hitched, coming in shallow gasps, followed by his heart beating at the speed of light, forcing cold sweat to drip from his forehead.

"Please...Don't kill me!" James wailed as he stumbled to the ground. He gazed up, the Mona Lisa loomed over him with a deathly stare. Her eyes were like the devil's.

"Back off!" Elias shouted, firing a bullet at the Mona Lisa. The bullet phased through the ghostly properties of her body, striking the wall. The Mona Lisa somehow felt the sensation of an object passing through her body and turned her attention towards Elias.

The Mona Lisa slowly closed the distance between it and Elias and mumbled, "Why do humans trespass on this sacred land?"

"Fuck! One bullet left..." Elias exclaimed as he inspected the barrel. "Unless..."

"What are you waiting for?" James yelled. Elias hesitated, quickly scanning the area again to make sure he was right. He knew something was off about the location and that there was a much larger problem with higher stakes.

Suddenly, the grandfather clock struck midday, and the pendulum swung back and forth and produced a deafening vibration that paralysed the Mona Lisa in place.

Elias suddenly realised that time was the key, and that the grandfather clock played a vital role in the solution of the curse. There was this strange tingling sensation that suddenly crawled underneath his skin, making Elias feel the weight of his decision. What if he was wrong? What if this would seal them all here forever? He glanced at James, whose face was pale with fear but who managed a nod of trust.

"No more ghosts," Elias muttered, steadying his hand. With a deep breath and on the third strike of the pendulum, he pulled the trigger. The gunshot echoed through the room, shattering the canvas in a blink of an eye. For a moment, silence engulfed the room, and Elias stood firm.

"Why did you shoot the canvas?" James wailed. "Now we're never getting out!"

"No, James. We are getting out. Da Vinci's intention in painting the Mona Lisa was to emphasise the beauty and mystery of life, and there appears to be a mistake that seems to oppose the perfect values Da Vinci had imagined," Elias explained.

"What, the Mona Lisa is ugly?" James replied. The Mona Lisa suddenly slipped, falling face first on the ground.

"Yes, exactly. This isn't the real world, but rather a manifestation of Da Vinci's dream," Elias explained. "These are fragments of his thoughts that have still lingered after his death."

"You're saying the Mona Lisa is impure and there's something fucked up about it?" James questioned. The Mona Lisa began to become more transparent by the second.

"Remember the flaw you noticed in the painting? That stroke may be the curse itself, the imperfection that haunted him. By breaking down these illusions, we're dismantling how Da Vinci saw the Mona Lisa after death!" Elias added.

The Mona Lisa had vanished from existence with no trace left behind. The book monsters fell to the ground, one by one like targets on a shooting range. The curse was slowly fading and so did they too.

"His view, poisoned by a single mistake, became a curse. Now that it's destroyed, people will accept its beauty, and as we return to the present, time will heal the memory of that flaw." Elias continued.

"Wait...I think we're going back! We just lifted the curse!" James exclaimed.

"Yes, we did it. Let's go!" Elias laughed. The surviving bunch cheered, and then a violent force suddenly tugged on everyone's body.

"Wait what's happening?" James screamed.

"I don't know!" another commented.

"Help!" another added.

One by one, they were pulled towards the mysterious portal, with the ground slipping away beneath them. Arms flailed and voices shouted as they struggled against the unseen force.

"It's our way out! Hold on!" Elias clenched his fists and closed his eyes, hoping for the best and surviving the trip back to reality.

The air around them grew thinner by the minute, vibrating with energy as the portal's centre opened wider, pulsing with a strange, otherworldly light. It swallowed them whole, one by one until only the echo of their voices remained in the space they left behind.

~

"Wake up..." Elias mumbled.

"Huh?" James groaned.

"You passed out for a good hour..." Elias explained.

"Oh..." James stood up and gathered his balance with Elias's help. His hand was back, though the ones that died in that realm were still gone. Elias didn't think people would die in front of them, yet a ghost appeared.

"Guess that's one case I'll never forget," Elias remarked, with a slight smirk on his face. He glanced back at the Mona Lisa, now back to normal and felt finally relieved.

Despite the case being solved, an uneasy feeling entered his mind of a domino effect and a chain of the most bizarre cases ever raised by mankind. Elias stood there and gazed at the painting for a final time.

Without warning, a loud bang echoed through the room as the entrance door was flung wide open in a split second. Several armed security men barged into the Louvre, surrounding Elias and the others.

"Freeze!" the guard shouted. "Who are you all? How did you get in here?"

"Wait a minute...That painting...It's back to normal!" another guard exclaimed.

"Who did this?" another guard questioned.

Elias stepped forward with his hands in the pockets of his large navy jacket and began, "Well excuse me men, I did. I'd suppose you'd want to hear the whole story, so, picture this..."