“Welcome home, Catherine.”

The words echoed through the hollow, decaying walls of the manor, each syllable a cold reminder of the love that had once filled this space, now replaced by a chilling emptiness. This was no home—it was a tomb, a place where memories had twisted into nightmares. Each step I took seemed to echo the slow disintegration of everything I held dear, the house crumbling just as my life had.

The moment Silas first spoke of witches, a cold dread gripped me. His words, laced with venomous certainty, chilled me to the bone, so unlike the man I had married. For a fleeting second, a shadow of the old Silas flickered in his eyes, but it was gone before I could grasp it, replaced by a gaze that spoke only of fear and hatred.

The changes in him had been creeping up for months. I had watched him stare blankly out of windows, lost in thought, his fingers drumming a nervous rhythm. His mutterings, though inaudible, carried an oppressive weight that seeped into my soul. And then there was the book—a cursed relic he had found among Mary’s belongings.

Mary... My sweet Mary.

Her illness had struck with brutal suddenness. Despite our desperate efforts, the doctors were baffled, their remedies ineffective. Each day, I watched her deteriorate, her body twisting in unnatural ways. Her hollow, desperate eyes were the most haunting, pleading for a release I couldn’t provide.

After her death, Silas retreated into his study. His anguished whispers, seeping through the door, felt like a plague. I initially thought he was merely grieving, but as time went on, I realized his grief had twisted into something darker. The book became his obsession, a twisted beacon of his paranoia that Mary’s death was no accident.

Much like our Mary, the book had transformed into something dark, almost alive, radiating some sort of Aether that latched onto Silas like a leech. He clutched it as if it held all the answers, and in a way, it did. I tried to reach him, to find the man I once knew beneath that twisted shell, but my words fell on deaf ears. The Aether began to influence me as well, its presence creeping into my mind.

It started subtly—a nagging presence at the back of my mind. But it grew stronger, warping my perceptions. When I looked at Silas, his face seemed to shift and distort, a shadow of the man I once loved. The manor itself seemed to change—the walls felt like they were closing in, the air thick with a suffocating weight that made it hard to breathe. My thoughts tangled, as if the Aether was pulling at the threads of my sanity. The idea of leaving seemed impossible, as though I were trapped in an inescapable cage.

The day he accused me, my world shattered.

It was a night that should have been beautiful, but recent events had stripped all beauty from the world, leaving only grim reminders of our daughter’s death. When Silas invited me to dinner, a flicker of hope stirred within me, a belief that perhaps my Silas had emerged from the dark grip of his obsession. He even dressed as he once did, looking every bit like the man I married.

The dining room was softly illuminated by candlelight, casting flickering shadows. The scent of roasted meat and freshly baked bread filled the air, evoking memories of happier times. As I sat down across from Silas, a smile crept onto my face, feeling a warmth I hadn’t known in months.

“It feels like ages since we’ve had a meal together,” I said, my voice trembling slightly. “Thank you, Silas. I’ve missed this.”

Silas smiled—a shadow of his old smile, but enough to make my heart ache with longing. “I’ve missed it too, Catherine. I’ve missed us.”

We talked about the past, Mary, and the life we had built together. Silas spoke with a tenderness that made me believe, if only for a moment, that the worst was behind us.

“I’ve been thinking,” he said, his voice steady, “about how we can move forward. How we can find peace again.”

I nodded, eager to hear his thoughts. “We need to grieve together, Silas. We need to be strong for each other.”

“Yes,” he agreed, but his eyes held a strange, distant look. “But grief alone isn’t enough. We need to take action to ensure that what happened to Mary never happens again.”

A shiver ran down my spine, but I pushed the feeling aside. “What do you mean?”

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Silas reached across the table, taking my hand with a grip that was too firm. “Catherine, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and praying. I’ve come to understand that Mary’s death was not just a tragedy—it was a consequence.”

My heart raced. “A consequence? Of what?”

His gaze was intense, and I saw a flicker of darkness in his eyes. “Of evil. Of something malevolent that has taken root in our lives. But don’t worry, I know now what needs to be done to honor Mary. Removing the root cause… you.”

The warmth of the evening turned to ice as his voice shifted into a monstrous growl. I stared at him, horrified.

“Silas, what are you saying?” I whispered, pulling my hand away, my pulse quickening with fear.

His smile faded, replaced by grim determination. “You know what I’m saying, Catherine. I see it now—clear as day. The evil has been here, right in front of me, all along. You and your witchcraft... your deception.”

“No, Silas, you’re wrong!” I protested, rising unsteadily from my chair. The room spun, and I grasped the edge of the table for support. “I would never harm our family. You know that!”

“Do I?” he hissed, standing to tower over me. “I’ve been blind for too long, but not anymore. The signs were all there—your unnatural knowledge, your strange behaviors. You’ve been hiding in plain sight, but now I see you for what you really are.”

Tears filled my eyes as I shook my head, desperate to reach the man I once loved. “Silas, please, listen! It’s the book twisting your mind. I’m your wife, the mother of your child. I love you!”

But he stepped back, his expression hardening. “You are not the woman I married. The real Catherine is gone, taken by the devil that wears your skin.”

I tried to move toward him, but my body felt heavy, my limbs sluggish. Panic surged as I realized the truth—Silas had drugged me. The man I loved, whom I thought I could still reach, had become a stranger, a monster.

“Silas…” My voice was a weak whisper as darkness closed in. The last words I heard before losing consciousness were chilling. “You and the last of your kind will be rooted out soon enough... Witch!”

He was no longer the man I married—his posture hunched, his hair and beard wild, his clothes shifting as if alive. He clung to that cursed book as if it were his lifeline. To him, I was no longer his wife, the mother of his child—I had become something to be feared and destroyed.

"The book showed me the truth, Catherine. You’re a witch! You cursed our daughter, brought this plague upon us! You killed her!" His voice was a ragged whisper, a far cry from the strong, loving man I once knew.

I tried to shake off the fog that clouded my mind, but the heaviness only grew, dragging me down into a pit of terror. My arms wouldn’t move, my voice a mere whisper in the dark. Finally, my consciousness faded into the black void.

When I awoke, the world was a blur of movement and sound. Rough hands dragged me across the cobblestones, my body limp and unresisting. The ringing in my ears gradually cleared, replaced by the frenzied cries of the townspeople gathering in the square. They encircled me like vultures, their eyes wild with fear and hatred. I looked up and saw Silas standing before them, his voice rising above the din, feeding their growing hysteria.

I wanted to shout, to plead with them, but the words died in my throat as I noticed something chilling—a familiar, unsettling presence. Among the crowd, someone clutched our daughter’s book, holding it high like a talisman. I saw it then, the faint tendrils of Aether snaking out from its pages, curling around the townspeople like invisible chains. They were no longer themselves; the Aether had twisted their minds, just as it had twisted Silas’s. They believed his every word, not just out of trust, but because the Aether had consumed them, leaving them hollow and susceptible.

The flames erupted around me, devouring everything in their path. The heat was unbearable, searing my skin, my eyes, my very soul. The stench of burning flesh filled my nostrils, choking me, drowning out the world. Each crackle and hiss of the fire was a prelude to my own destruction, the pain beyond comprehension. But it wasn’t just the fire that tormented me—it was the betrayal, the loss of everything I had ever loved.

As the flames climbed higher, the world began to fade. The last thing I saw before the darkness claimed me was Silas’s face, twisted in anguish, a fleeting glimpse of the man I had once loved. For a moment, I thought he might realize the truth, but it was too late. The Aether had claimed him, as it would claim all of Hollow Town, turning it into a graveyard of lost souls, corrupted beyond redemption.

And then, nothing. The ground beneath me was cold and uneven, the night air slicing through the remnants of the vision like a knife. I blinked, trying to shake off the lingering heat of the flames that had felt so real, but the chill of the present quickly reminded me where I was.

The world snapped back into focus, the suffocating heat giving way to the cold night air. I gasped, the memory of the flames still burning in my mind, but the reality before me was no less deadly. Six wolves has circled at the bottom of the steps, their eyes glowing with a sickly light, their forms flickering between solid and shadow. These weren’t just wolves—they were something far worse, something born from the Aether’s twisted grip on this land. Their jaws gaped wider than should be possible, revealing blood and viscera lacquered over wounds that should have killed them. Yet, they moved with a predatory grace, their growls a low, thrumming sound that chilled me to the bone.

Every instinct screamed at me to run. I had to reach the mansion doors, and fast. The wolves closed in, their growls vibrating through the air like a death knell. I leveled my gun at them, bracing myself to make a dash for the doors and slam them shut behind me, hoping it would be enough to keep them out. In this line of work, a painful death wasn’t uncommon, but I’d be damned if it would happen today.