The street was quiet, with a light fog lingering in the air. People hurried along with their coat collars turned up, and as soon as they entered the residential area, the human presence vanished completely. Occasionally, a house with lights on could be seen, but the overall atmosphere was eerie and gloomy.
As soon as I entered this street, the ring on my thumb tightened around my finger. It was a dull pain, but persistent enough to be bothersome. What on earth did Plurititas give me? I don’t know. Is it warning me that this place is dangerous?
At the same time, a scene appeared before my eyes. Trees, the ones I saw earlier. And a house. The house without glass in its windows, staring at me like a gaping hole. It was eerie and foreboding. Owen’s vines extended inside the house.
“There it is. Do you see it?”
“It looks like a haunted house.”
“But it’s strange. It’s not a rental property, is it?”
What?
Upon closer inspection, the other houses had signs or placards saying “For Sale” on the doors or front yards, but this one had no markings at all.
“Who bought this house?”
This was bad news. If the person who kidnapped Liam Moore knew we were coming, it would be very difficult for us. If they were waiting for us, could I handle it?
“You can go back.”
I said, saving the recent events in my notebook. It was a habitual action I took whenever I moved to a new area. I pulled out my revolver. I should have brought more bullets.
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
“Nonsense? Where?”
“How can you go in there alone without knowing what’s inside?”
Owen Cassfire approached, clattering.
Would the front door be locked? Actually, it didn’t matter since the windows were missing, but it would be preferable to use the door when bringing a wounded Liam Moore out.
“Ah, fine. We’ll go together then.”
I couldn’t be responsible if he got hurt. Ah, whatever. Let’s just go in. The vine shimmered as if urging us to go deeper inside.
The door opened naturally. The house was devoid of any furniture. The few items that were there were covered with white cloths, giving the place a ghostly, chilling appearance.
“You seem accustomed to handling a gun, miss.”
Owen’s whisper reached my ears.
“Hush.”
I put a finger to my lips. The vine stopped. The small guiding light bent down and stuck to the floor.
“The floor…?”
Owen clapped his hands lightly.
“A basement. There must be a basement here!”
But as we explored the house, we hadn’t seen any stairs leading down. There were stairs going up, but none going down, so we couldn’t imagine there was a basement.
Could it be hidden? I hurriedly searched the room. Candleholders on the wall, the fireplace, nothing. Owen crawled around on all fours, pressing on the floorboards.
“We definitely need to go down here….”
Could it be that if you move a candlestick, a staircase appears? But my attempts were futile; the candlestick didn’t move. I wanted to stick my head out the window and shout for a hint. Is this an escape room or something? While I fumbled with the candlestick, Owen called out.
“Miss?”
I turned my head.
“This looks suspicious.”
Owen was halfway inside the fireplace, pressing the bricks around. I carefully peered inside. The structure was strange for a fireplace. That is,
“This, there’s no chimney?”
“Wow, did they want to kill everyone by suffocating them? I’d like to see the face of the person who built this.”
I agreed. With this structure, a fire or smoke would flow back into the house, causing carbon monoxide poisoning for anyone inside.
And then, when I placed my hand on the floor, it sank. Before I could react, Owen and I were sucked into the fireplace.
I screamed. Owen screamed. The fireplace hole quickly receded.
The floor flipped. The dark basement welcomed us. Gravity pulled us to the bottom.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Bam! Ugh! Oh my! Damn! Thud!
Rolling down, we crashed to the floor and lay there groaning from the impact. My bones ached all over.
During the fall, my knee might have hit Owen’s head, but it wasn’t my head, so it should be fine, I thought. Owen lay there for a while, crying out, “You hit my head, you hit my head!”
“Are you okay?”
I asked.
“Do you think I am?”
Owen snapped back. His pouty tone suggested he was more hurt emotionally than physically, but there were no signs of a concussion.
“Since you’re talking fine, I guess you’re okay….”
“Damn it, you sound just like William!”
Owen grumbled, rubbing his forehead vigorously.
“They say people become alike when they live together.”
I chuckled, helping him up.
Turning my head, I saw the entrance we fell through. The hole that swallowed two people was slowly closing. Below it was a steep, cliff-like rock wall.
No, it wasn’t a wall. At first, I thought it was just a cliff, but on closer inspection, it was a very steep and dangerous stone staircase, like a basement staircase. It looked almost like a slide. It seemed we had just tumbled down from there.
The ceiling was extremely high, and the space was vast enough to look like a naturally formed canyon.
A slow, droning sound filled the space. Was it crying? Sleep-talking? It was hard to pinpoint.
I didn’t need time to adjust to the darkness. The faint light emanating from the bizarre drawing on the floor illuminated our surroundings.
“Ugh.”
Owen groaned softly.
In one corner were dried-up mummies, without even a chance to decay, lying around. Some had already turned into skeletons. The stench was unbearable, sticking to the air.
There were an enormous number of them. Had so many people disappeared in London? How could nobody question their disappearances while they were being taken?
I felt a sense of horror. At this moment, I felt disgust towards the one who created this space.
“What is that…?”
Then I saw the bizarre glowing drawing. It depicted stars, moons, celestial bodies, wings, and other things all at once….
At the centre of it, I saw the man I had been looking for. Even from a distance, I could tell. It was Liam Moore.
“Can you tell what the drawing is about?”
I asked. Owen Cassfire kept staring at the drawing on the floor, his neck drenched in cold sweat.
“It’s madness. This isn’t something an ordinary person could create. That, that… it’s a new creation made by weaving existing things together.”
“What purpose would they have for doing this?”
“I don’t know, but it can’t be good. At least, maintaining that thing is definitely costing William his life.”
The man muttered, “William’s life,” scratching his head nervously. I heard him curse softly.
“If we forcibly remove it and the rebound hits William, he could die. I can’t do this alone. We need help from Greenwich….”
Water constantly dropped from the stalactites on the ceiling, forming puddles on the floor.
Drip.
Drip.
I wanted to rush to Liam Moore right away, but I couldn’t understand the meaning of the glowing drawing on the floor and couldn’t act recklessly. Owen also held my arm tightly, preventing me from running out.
“Wait…. Something’s wrong.”
I knew it too, but I couldn’t pinpoint what was wrong.
A beam of light aggressively shot from Owen’s hand, reaching the ceiling like a flare.
“…!”
When it reached the ceiling, we saw it. The horrifying and grotesque truth.
Why do humans always hurt themselves out of curiosity? The truth is safe only when it remains in the dark. Realising this once again, I felt a deep, bitter understanding.
It was a mass of muscles. An organic tangle of unformed blood vessels and flesh. What was it? I couldn’t tell. It looked like spider webs, or maybe tendons.
The thing clinging to the ceiling pulsed regularly, emitting a noise like a chorus of wails. Did it have eyes? Was it a living being? We couldn’t even tell if it recognized our presence.
The long, hanging objects occasionally swayed, dripping liquid that pooled on the floor.
“It’s hanging something.”
I whispered. Owen Cassfire, now pale, stared fixedly at the ceiling, his eyes wide.
At that moment, one of the masses split open, and a dried-up mummy, without a drop of moisture, fell out.