Wanting again on the altar, the ritual preparations gave the impression to be nearing completion. She had positioned holy water in a circle across the pages of her fenex, centred on them, and sprinkled one thing shimmering over them. A bit the scale of her pinky nail floated on the shallow water, glowing faintly.

“What is that this?”

“It solely seems within the moonlight, so I crushed some golden shells and sprinkled them to trick it’s eyes.”

The ground scattered with mother-of-pearl sparkled like a lake within the moonlight. It was so lovely that for a second I forgot what I used to be imagined to be doing and simply stared at it. Then she held out a pointy dagger and stated.

“Draw blood with this sword and drop it on the bookshelf, and the invisible letters might be revealed.”

“What letters?”

“I’ve heard it’s a spell.”

In change for my blood, I have to summon the grotesque creature in that portray. The conclusion dawned on me.

She gripped my hand tightly as I nervously accepted the dagger.

“You will need to by no means step exterior the road.”

She smiles at me as if to reassure me of her final phrases.

“It’s okay, simply keep as far-off as you possibly can.”

Then, alone, I stepped contained in the boundary drawn by the holy water and knelt earlier than the web page. I glanced up and noticed Simeon standing within the heart of the chapel. The second our eyes met, the tremor in his hand gripping the dagger stopped.

It doesn’t matter what occurred, he would do one thing.

I pressed the blade in opposition to my left palm, attempting to erase my imprecise concern with ache. I pressed it firmly, laborious, and the white of my pores and skin bled. Plop. I may hear the drops of blood dripping onto the paper, and I puzzled if that was sufficient, or not, so I raised the blade and sliced my palm.

“Ugh…”

At that second, crimson, blood-red letters appeared on the pale paper. Swallowing a groan, he learn them slowly.

“The one who sings of everlasting relaxation, whose title is Fenex …permeate the moonlight and are available to me.”

A chilly wind whistled in from nowhere. The candle flame flickered precariously in entrance of him. However that was it. Opposite to my fears, nothing occurred. I go searching in disbelief, and he or she stated one thing.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah …I’m fantastic.”

That’s unusual. Might or not it’s that the summoning failed?

The second I stood up, a powerful gust of wind blew in. Within the blink of a watch, all of the candles by the window have been blown out. The nook of the chapel was already engulfed in darkness. Even Simeon’s determine was solely a blurred define.

“Simeon?”

No reply after I name his title.

What is that this? Have I been tricked by Fenex?

In the meantime, the one gentle is across the altar the place I stand. The candles flicker precariously, as in the event that they might be extinguished at any second, however the material on the window doesn’t budge. That’s proper. That is no abnormal wind. One thing, an unauthorised presence, is approaching.

Simply then, a voice whispered by the breeze.

“…Jae.”

I whipped round to face the supply, the place the nun stood nonetheless along with her rosary.

“What did you simply say?”

I requested sharply, however she simply shook her head wordlessly.

Unusual. I’m certain I heard voices, however….

My coronary heart began to beat uncomfortably. His ragged respiration sounded unusually loud. Blood continued to ooze from the unhealed wound, soaking the paper crimson and moist. The second the pure white drawing was stained crimson throughout.

Heuk-

The final candle was extinguished. Then I felt a stirring within the darkness. I straightened my dagger and turned in direction of the supply of the motion, straining my eyes to regulate to the darkness.

However earlier than I may, one thing spoke to me.

“Hajae.”

My complete physique froze on the sound of an all-too-familiar voice.

“I missed you.”

It was my mum’s voice.

The final time I heard her voice, I used to be solely seven years previous. However ten years later, I haven’t forgotten it. She appeared in my desires repeatedly in the identical kind, all the time spitting out the identical contradictory phrases: that she was leaving as a result of she liked me along with her again to me.

However this time was completely different.

“Hajae, didn’t you miss your mum?”

It was a mild voice, the type I’d by no means hear once more, even when I needed to, as a result of it wouldn’t keep in my reminiscence.

“Mum’s so unhappy. I missed you a lot.”

My son. My Hajae….

I see my mum’s face beaming as she calls me by title. I can’t inform you how fairly she appeared, with a deep dimple solely on the precise facet of her slender cheek. Dad stated it was love at first sight when he noticed that playful smile, so I needed to be identical to her, so I pinched my cheek with my index finger, inflicting the pores and skin to swell crimson.

When she noticed his cheeks swollen as if from a mosquito chunk, she laughed heartily.

‘Even when you don’t, you look identical to your mum.’

So I used to look within the mirror and really feel comforted. I used to have a look at my mum’s eyes and my dad’s mouth to ease my longing. However now I see another person within the mirror. There isn’t a hint of my dad and mom wherever. The after-effects of the accident had turned him into an entire stranger.

“Hajae.”

I heard my mum’s voice once more whereas I used to be misplaced in my reminiscences. I opened my mouth to reply to her affectionate name, however then froze. Within the darkness, my mum’s face was contorted in anguish.

“Do you resent your mum?”

No. I had by no means considered it that means, however surprisingly, no phrases got here out. His tightly closed lips dried up in embarrassment, as if he’d been caught with a secret.

Did I resent my beloved mom? ……who left me with a curse?

“Son.”

Dad’s voice got here from the opposite finish of the road this time, his raspy, skinny respiration bringing again disagreeable reminiscences. It was the final time I noticed him, after he’d been in an accident and was in intensive care.

The picture of his pain-stained face flashed earlier than my eyes.

“I’m sorry I left you behind.”

No.

“I put an excessive amount of stress on you….”

That’s not what I needed to listen to.

I glanced within the course of the voice and noticed a blurry define. The sight of my dad on life help, barely clinging to life, was an excessive amount of to bear. I turned away, not desirous to be reminded of it, and a sneer rang by the air.

“I envy you for not dying.”

I froze in place, shocked.

Dad had by no means been bitter in his life. He informed me to develop up wholesome, that he would fear about me till the day he died, that he was sorry for me. After which……. He stated one thing. With my eyes open, my thoughts turned more and more hazy, as if I have been dreaming.

Simply then, a muffled voice lifted me out of the swamp.

“Shin Hajae-ssi?”

I appeared up and vaguely recognised Simeon. His eyes have been closed as he used his powers, and his face was creased with fear.

“Are you okay?”

“Sure…. okay…….”

Earlier than I may end my sentence, the darkness returned. Simeon was gone, and in his place stood one other. An arm with pores and skin peeling away, a face lined in blood, eyes sunken in anguish. Even his legs have been damaged and he stood at an angle.

“Hajae.”

I hear.

“It hurts a lot.”

A voice stained with ache.

“My son, are you able to come over right here?”

He involves me from all instructions, pestering me relentlessly.

“I haven’t hugged you in a very long time.”

The darkness that had been lingering within the distance had turn into tangible. It paused simply earlier than the boundary line of holy water and wandered round me. The swaying shadows appeared to beckon me to return this fashion.

I shouldn’t exit. That’s an phantasm. Fenex is attempting to trick me.

“Son.”

“hajae.”

“It’s okay, come right here.”

“It’s Dad. Have you ever forgotten already?”

I cowl my ears to strive to not pay attention, however their voices have been ringing in my head, so I clamped my left hand over my mouth and swung the dagger as laborious as I may at my thigh.

Fuuk-

The piercing ache shortly unfold by my physique. I clenched my molars to maintain from letting out a guttural scream. Click on, the sound of tooth grinding echoed vividly. As time went on, the ache solely acquired worse, not higher.

Slowly, my again curled and I fell ahead onto my knees. “Ugh.” I put my fingers on the ground to maintain from falling. There was a snap, the sound of falling into shallow water. The brand new ripples on my fingers are festering gore.

The ache cleared my thoughts slightly. But it surely was just for a second.

“Hajae.”

I hear the voice once more, and though I strive to not pay attention, it one way or the other finds its means in and eats away at my thoughts.

“Look right here.”

It’s a hallucination.

My mum left to maintain me alive, and my dad raised me alone, carrying my mum’s secret with him. I grew up with nothing. I grew up liked and spoilt, so there’s no means my dad and mom would say that to me.

There’s no means…

“Do you blame me?”

I couldn’t assist however burst out laughing on the merciless query.

“Haha… Ha….”

Sure, I do resent you. I can’t be blissful that I inherited a curse or one thing.