The pure shock of seeing her own grandmother wore off when Victoria was embraced in a warm hug from the elderly lady. She wrapped her arms around her, clutching her tightly. Adrian stood in silence, smiling at the pleasant sight.

"Grandma...it's so great to see you again." Victoria murmured.

"Likewise dearie. Please, come inside where it's warm."

The two were led inside by the friendly old woman towards the living room where an elderly man in a red chair sat with his eyes glued to the television. The woman went to get his attention and look over at them.

"Adrian these are my grandparents, Evelyn and Henry Wintercroft. Grandma, grandpa...this is my boyfriend Adrian." Victoria said.

"Nice to meet you both." Adrian spoke with a little wave.

"Well hello there sonny. You better be treating our precious angel properly!" Henry exclaimed. Evelyn waved him off.

"My, what a handsome fellow you are. I can see how you peaked our granddaughter's interest." Evelyn said with a chuckle. Victoria and Adrian glanced at each other, a light blush on their cheeks. "Now, why don't you two go grab your things and go unpack in the guest bedroom upstairs? I'm sure you're both tired from your long drive so I'll be making up dinner here shortly."

"Right. Come on Adrian."

Victoria grabbed Adrian's hand and led him outside to the truck. The two grabbed their belongings and brought them up to the guest bedroom. The bedroom had a queen-sized bed, purple curtains draped over the windows, a closet, a long narrow floor mirror and a large dresser with a television on top of it. The two began unpacking their things.

"She seems really nice. This house is very welcoming too." Adrian commented.

"Yeah she's the sweetest. Can't believe it's been about a decade since I've seen her, it's crazy..."

"Well, hopefully she can help us with finding out about your family's past."

"Let's not pester her about that right now. We did just get here after all. Plus, I feel like relaxing after we have dinner. So let's ask her tomorrow, okay?"

"Right. Sounds good."

After a delicious meal around the table, Henry got up and headed back to the living room to continue watching television. Evelyn asked Victoria and Adrian if they could help with cleaning up. They agreed to wash dishes and assist in tidying up. Once the last plate was put into the dishwasher, Evelyn motioned for the two of them to follow her. She led them into the study room.

"Wait right in this spot for a moment." Evelyn said before going and opening a safe up, pulling something out. She walked back over to them holding a rolled up sheet of paper with a red ribbon tied around it. "I'm so happy you two are here to visit...but I know what you're really here to see. This here is the deed to Edward and Mary's house. After they had moved on, this was passed down through generations, starting with their daughter and ending with your father, whom left me to hold onto it. This was in case anyone in the family wanted to move here and have a place to live. The house has remained untouched and safe from being torn down or moved into by anyone outside the family." She explained. Victoria's eyes widened.

"So then this means...we can go see the house?" She gasped.

"Yes. I will write down the address and you can go see it for yourself. However, I'm sure it's been a long day for you so I'd rather you wait until tomorrow to go there."

"Of course. That was our plan."

"Very good. I'll leave the address on the counter near the door. Just let me know when you will be leaving okay?"

"Yes grandma."

Evelyn smiled and put the deed back into the safe. She nodded to both of them before stepping past them. Now they were left alone in the study, excited and nervous for tomorrow.

  Sitting on the edge of the right side of the bed in nothing but red lingerie, Natalia gazed into the empty darkness of the bedroom. The only light was the small bedside lantern on the night stand. She stood up and glanced down at the bed. Lying fast asleep on the left side was Madison. She smiled then headed for the bathroom, her smile fading along the way. The automatic light flickered on. Natalia leaned over the counter and gazed into the mirror at her reflection.

"What am I even doing...? She's my best friend yes but she's also my co-worker...what is going on with me?" She muttered to herself. A chill started to run down her spine.

"It seems that the infectious feeling of lust has overcome you..."

Natalia's eyes shot wide open. She glanced around but saw nothing. Her attention focused back on the mirror, she noticed a faint glow in her eyes.

"That voice..."

"Harbinger...thy voice speaks to you once more oh lady of the people."

"What the hell? I haven't heard the voice since that night..."

"On that fateful night, thy message of the coming end was simply no mere message. It was an invitation thou were unable to resist. Thou were thy chosen vessel. I have been a part of thou ever since. Why is this a surprise to thou?"

"It's just, I haven't heard the voice since then. Just who or what are you?? If I've been harboring you inside of me then I demand you tell me right now."

"It would seem thou mind has been clouded for some time. Now be not the time for thy name to bear relevance. But know that I serve as the messenger of the outer realms. I chose you for your significance amongst your people. A leader. One that many look upon. One that is strong-willed and of sane mind. Thou have spread the message of the fall to very few it seems. With most recently...the one you hold so dearly to you."

"The fall...listen. I know that I'm fated to survive once the cataclysm comes...but what of the others I care about? Can they survive too?"

"The fall will eradicate humanity as punishment for their sins. Humans as individuals...can seem to be ones that are capable of compassion. But as a whole...your species is the embodiment of sin incarnate."

"Just answer my question! Can those I wish to save be saved? Joseph Carter, Vincent Oxford, Madison..."

"The one you care so much for. When thou bodies were pressed against each other, I could feel the deep compassion and affection you two share. As one who has become part of you, I know every thought you have. Every word you breathe. Your love for this human is unquestionable. Perhaps, thou closest companion is worthy of joining thou in unison once the fall is upon your kind...Thy have spoken enough for now. Rest your weary eyes now Harbinger..."

"Wait hold on!"

Silence befell the room. Natalia's eyes stopped glowing. No more words were spoken.

Natalia left the bathroom and took another glance at Madison, sound asleep. While she felt a glimmer of hope, deep down the words spoken by the voice from beyond had her concerned. She now had more knowledge. A name connected to the voice. But what would the road ahead be like until the end of the world? She didn't know. Instead, she chose to listen to it's advice and go to sleep.

  "Let's see what this old home has been holding within it's withered walls." Victoria said with a sense of determination. Her and Adrian kept calm while driving past the snowy hills and fields that made up the majority of the rural area. Trees began to shroud both sides of the road more then before. Pulling up a rather steep hill then turning a narrow curve in the road, after not seeing a single side street for miles, to the right one was finally visible. A worn out mailbox sat coated in snow to help label the driveway. Adrian pulled into the road and pressed onward down the long road. Beyond the old, dying trees an open space lie ahead with a house visible in the distance. Victoria's eyes widened at the first sight of the house once they got closer. The grass surrounding the lot was very tall and unkempt, coated in a thick blanket of snow. Remnants of a withered fence separated the lot from the cliff side even further ahead. Adrian pulled the truck into the main driveway and parked in front of the house.

"Here we are...it's pretty eerie don't you think?" Adrian took note of the decrepit appearance of the house. Victoria simply nodded and hopped out of the truck to get a better view. He joined her to also take a look.

The worn house was two stories tall, made of white oak wood and a dull grey roof. The door was in the middle with a single broken lantern hanging off the side, a porch area could be seen off to the right side. A chimney also stood out towards the left side, presumably that was where the living room was located. It was beautiful, yet depressing as a sight due to the toll the weather and lack of residency had taken on the state of the home's condition. Victoria pulled out the key to the house and clutched it against her chest.

"So this is where Mary and Edward lived all the way back in the late eighteen-hundreds. It's so...jarring. Like a time capsule of the era." Victoria murmured.

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

"It's spooky almost. They even lived near the ocean. There's a cliff to the east there past that fence. Bet it was fuckin' beautiful here back in the day." Adrian commented.

"Isolated, surrounded by trees and a view of the ocean from the cliff...yeah. It's strangely beautiful even now. Let's head inside though. It's freezing out here."

"R-right!"

Victoria took the key and stuck it into the lock below the doorknob and tried turning it but with no luck. She tried again and put more force into it, soon hearing a clicking sound. She took the key out and tried opening the door but struggled so she just gave it a good kick. The door flung open. The two headed inside and shut the door behind them. Inside was just how they pictured; old, grimy, dusty, and smelly. There was a staircase in the middle and the house was separated into two different sides. To the left was the living room where the fireplace was. To the right was the kitchen and living room.

"Alright. I say, we should split up and start looking around for anything useful. I can check downstairs here if you wanna check upstairs?" Adrian suggested.

"Yeah that sounds good. Just be careful. This house is ancient and cannot be that safe." Victoria warned him.

"I'll be fine. You be careful up there, okay?"

Adrian grabbed Victoria and kissed her. The two exchanged glances and nodded before splitting up. She pulled her phone out for a flashlight and began to head upstairs while he went for the living room. The stairs creaked with every step she took, cobwebs being batted out of her way. The upstairs was also split into two sides. She checked the left side first, finding an empty guest room devoid of any furniture so she moved on past a bathroom to what seemed to be the main bedroom where Edward and Mary would've resided. The silence and atmosphere gave Victoria chills all along her body. She began to glance around, finding old tattered clothes in the closet and boxes stacked on a shelf above. The boxes were mostly of old maps, pamphlets and postcards from the various places they had visited. She did however put the few old vinyls off to the side. The room did contain a phonograph in the corner but she was certain didn't work. She then checked under the bed and found a small rectangular chest with a lock. Now she had to find the key. Luckily for her, in the nightstand drawer was a tiny key that she tried and worked to unlock the chest.

Inside the chest was a stack of papers and a book. The papers were birth certificates, bank statements, and other crucial papers to keep safely stored away. The book had a symbol on the front of a circle with a large star and a smaller star along with a few curves and lines. An ominous aura could be felt emanating from the strange old book, making Victoria hesitant to even open it. She decided to do it anyway out of curiosity. The worn, dusted pages were difficult to make out, but remnants of words and odd sketches filled them from front to back. Flipping back through, subconsciously her hands stopped on a specific page. Her eyes were glued to the page's contents. The weary remains of a sketch was hard to read, seeming to be some kind of otherworldly creature. She focused intently on the sketch before a mysterious faint voice echoed through the hallways outside the bedroom. A sharp chill ran down her spine and she stood up straight, dropping the book on the bed. Her head turned over to the mirror above the dresser. Unable to resist, she slowly walked over to it and met the eyes of her reflection once again. The faint voice sounded closer, now inside the room but unable to make out what it whispered.

"What am I feeling right now...?" Victoria asked herself. Her reflection, originally normal, started to distort slightly. The eyes narrowed, the mouth now formed a smirk and the pupils shifted to completely black, lifeless voids. "...the fuck is going on...??"

"When will thou mind open up to thy own existence? Face me, child of the fallen."

The faint voice, now much closer, whispered into her own ears. The reflection was distorting even more, shifting and shaping her limbs and torso into a black, shadowy figure with tendrils expanding from various areas. Victoria started to panic, her heart racing and head throbbing with pain.

"Shut up! Get the fuck away from me!" She screamed, clenching her hand into a fist and punching the mirror with all her might. The old frail glass shattered into pieces, cutting into her skin and spilling out onto the dresser and floor around her. She paused and breathed heavily, leaving her hand in the broken mirror.

Downstairs while Adrian was shuffling through old newspapers and magazines from the old times, he caught wind of the scream from upstairs. Panicked, he dropped everything and quickly bolted up the stairs and towards the bedroom. He stopped in place at the sight of Victoria having just punched the mirror, with her knuckle bleeding profusely. He was beyond flabbergasted, shaking his head to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.

"V-Victoria?!" He gasped.

The shadowed form in the mirror evaporated. Victoria turned her head to the side after hearing his voice.

"Adrian...?" She muttered.

"S-stay there!"

Adrian ran down the stairs out to the truck to grab the first aid kit and rushed back inside up to Victoria. He cautiously approached her and grabbed her shoulders, helping her step away and sit down on the bed. He took some tweezers, wipes and gauze wrap from inside the first aid kit and sat next to her, picking out the glass stuck in her skin then started wiping up the blood streaming from her cuts. Victoria sat quietly, her eyes wide open with a couple tears streaking down her cheeks as she watched her hand being treated.

"What the fuck happened with you? Why did you just hit a mirror like that?? You're fucking scaring me babe...I swear." Adrian hissed now wrapping the gauze around her hand.

"I..I...I don't know...Adrian I..." Victoria shuttered as she spoke.

"You what?"

"...I peeked into that book next to me, then I started hearing a faint voice, then it felt like I was out of control and went over to that mirror. Then my reflection it...it..."

"It what??"

"...It started to contort. My eyes, m-my face, then my entire body was twisting into some, weird shadowy beast... It sounds crazy I know but I saw it with my own eyes...I've been seeing weird shit like this for a while but never to that extent..."

"Shadowy...beast? I know you said you've been dealing with weird mental anomalies for years but...this is something else."

"It's only gotten worse. And I don't know what to do about it. I...was thinking of asking grandma. Maybe find answers about that too."

"Hand me that book you mentioned."

Victoria handed him the book. She leaned on his shoulder and wiped her eyes while he flipped through the pages. He only glimpsed through them until he came to the one that Victoria had stopped at and nudged him.

"Th-that one...there. I don't know why but that particular one I went back to and stopped at." She murmured.

"Huh...just what is this book? It's so old and worn like everything else. Half the shit on these pages are illegible and the sketches are all faded. But why this page in particular? The sketch is...bizarre. Like some shit out of a fantasy novel. Maybe we should take it...I didn't find much on my end. Did you get to explore anywhere else up here?"

"Only the study was untouched."

"Let's take a peek there then we can go. Keep pressure on your hand okay?"

"Thanks. I will."

Adrian and Victoria got up to go wander over to the study, studying the various books lining the shelves. Many of the books were too worn to be of any use. Sitting on the table between the two reading chairs was an old scrapbook however that caught their attention. They sat down and Adrian opened it up. Inside were a series of photographs taken of a couple in various locations. Towns, cities, mountains, forests, and several old abandoned structures like a train station and a church.

"Those two must be Mary and Edward..." Victoria said.

"The earliest photos are here. Look. I think that's a wedding photo." Adrian pointed out.

Victoria honed in on the old photo. The man wore a tuxedo while the woman wore a white gown with a matching veil and holding a bouquet of flowers.

"Oh definitely. They look so young even then. They aged like fine wine. Quite the happy pair."

"Yeah...turn the page."

The first two pages contained early photos of their life. The next two pages contained later photos of their life. One photo was marked with text labeled; Discovery of a lifetime!

"Eighteen-seventy-four. They're standing in front of some cave. Must be pretty important, that date and photo. Only this one and the wedding photo had any marks on it with pen."

"Right, that was the date the story I read was written. But look at every other photo after that particular one. They look...different."

"You're right. They look, uh, I don't know...not as happy? Like they're drained mentally or something?"

"Before the discovery, they were bright and enthusiastic just from their expressions. After that, they don't look the same...I think that experience in the cave they wrote about really changed their lives. In a way they didn't expect."

"Yeah...let's take this with us too. We should probably go. All this dust and shit isn't good for our lungs."

"True. I'll keep holding onto the strange book. You take that. Let's...just get the hell out of this old place..."

Adrian was the first to leave the house. Victoria turned around to take another glance at the interior of the home. She noticed the darkness clouding the upstairs, peering into the void and catching faint glimpses of strange patterns as if messing with her vision. She shuttered and turned to leave the house, shutting the door with force and locking it tight.

  Natalia sat quietly as she tuned into the news. She could already see the consequences of her actions being set into motion following her attack orders given to the commander-in-chief not too long ago.

"We are here to report that the elusive leader of the insurgent forces in the Jordan conflict has been successfully captured by joint American and British forces following a direct order from the President after the location was finally identified after many years being in the dark. We cannot officially disclose the leaders name at this time on orders by the government but will be giving updates over time. With the leader in custody the military will be commencing their plan, Operation Goliath. A strategic bombardment of all insurgent encampments and forces. Now that civilians have been completely evacuated, this will be going into action very soon. Stay tuned for our live coverage here on the International News Network."

"Looks like your plan worked after all..." Madison stated, sipping on her coffee.

"Just as I figured. Now we watch the insurgents go up in flames and finally end that damned conflict..." Natalia breathed a sigh of relief.

"So now does that mean we can finally start cutting military funds and putting them into our infrastructure?"

"Yes. Give it some time, and the new bill can start making changes. I'm fixing this damn country as much as I can before...well, you already know."

"I do...I only wish the people could know too."

"We don't need mass hysteria firing up into the public and causing all kinds of trouble. Excuse me for a moment. I need to make a quick phone call."

"Of course madame."

Natalia stepped away into a corner and pulled her phone out to search for a specific contact. She listened as the tone rang three times before someone picked up on the other hand.

"It's Natalia. I, need to discuss something with you. Regarding what I have harbored inside of me...it spoke to me for the first time in years since I first received it's message. Said some questionable things to me. Maybe you could help me gather some information about it. Figure out just what it is exactly."

"Of course my lady. When you are done with your work for the day, please do come on over. The followers will be gone by then. Let me pry into that mind of yours some more..."