Chương 233: Is There Something To Find?

"What do we do if we run into an aggressive ghost, like when we checked out that abandoned basement? I heard that Leton Nebulo's sister was a certified knight as well. She could beat our asses""Don't remind me of that damned basement! The fucker went at us with a freaking scythe!"

"You guys don't need to worry, because… Tada! Look what I managed to get my hands on""A flashlight? Those are pretty common nowadays, you know?"

"You idiot, this is a ghost flashlight–The light it creates hurts ghosts and scares them away, isn't it neat?"

"I never heard of anything like this before. Where did you even get it from, man?"

"I bought it, you didn't know that Leton Nebulo made self-defence tools like this? You should look into it, they're pretty damned neat–Let's be careful though, I don't know how much it can be used before needing to be powered back up" The group of friends walked deeper into the old house.

The floor creaked loudly, dust hung thickly in the air, making them cough and messing with the quality of the image, and more importantly, the place was flooded with darkness–Heldion didn't get why they would be coming to this place at night instead of the day. Not to mention that, unlike the same house that Heldion had gone to for real, this one was boarded up, and not in a haste. The windows were completely and carefully covered with thick planks.

If Heldion were there instead of this other him holding the camera, then he would have immediately pointed that out as suspicious… After all, why would everything be so nicely barricaded, but the back door be left unlocked for anyone to get in? To him, nothing had happened yet, but he felt that this was a trap.

"Ghost Flashlight… I don't think Master invented such a thing, not yet, at least…" The ambience of this video was quite nerve-racking for the young man. This other variant of him seemed to be handling the spookiness just fine, though… The group of boys explored the house little by little, goofing around in whispering voices as they used their flashlights to illuminate the way–This felt like it was sweating dust. The greyness was falling from the ceiling constantly like snow.

Such an environment would make most people uncomfortable, but it was clear that these young men were used to things like that. It seemed as though exploring abandoned places and encountering ghosts was their pastime. Heldion thought that this was a terrible way to kill time. They finished exploring the ground floor, not finding anything apart from old portraits…

"What did I tell you guys? She's super hot!"

"If she's a ghost in here, I doubt you saying that will help us not get attacked, you know?"

"I mean… Maybe I phrase it poorly, but I just mean to say that she's gorgeous-looking, it's a compliment!"

"Just do your best to keep it in your pants, alright?"

"You guys know nothing about romance""Let's check upstairs""With how the floor is creaking down here, I feel like we'll just go right through the steps""What are you, scared? This was a bourgeois household. The wood should be durable" Certainly enough, the stairs did not break, but Heldion noticed that the house wasn't the same as the one he had visited himself. It was very similar, of course, but there were small differences. For one, there were many more portraits than there had been for him.

Had his master not brought things from the house at all before leaving?

"Huh… Guys? This place is freaking freezing all of a sudden!" As if to demonstrate, the one talking exhaled, and his breath was clearly visible.

"Oh shit, there's definitely a ghost in there–Everyone, quiet the fuck up!" One of the boys scrambled to take off a bag slung around his shoulder, taking what looked like mechanical devices out of it–More items Heldion was certain his master hadn't created, or had at least not made public. The young man kept one of them in his hand. The ones on the ground were linked together by an insulated wire.

A square with an antenna mounted upon it, and a small screen bearing the same flickering thin rectangle as computers did when something could be typed somewhere.

"It looks like mechanistry is quite commonplace in this… Reality thing" The young man cleared his throat as everyone else stayed quiet. The Heldion holding the camera looked around, activating another mode so that the image would be clearer despite the dark.

"Aherm, if a spirit can hear me–We aren't here to cause trouble, we would just like to ask you a few questions, is that alright?" There was silence for several long seconds until a light flickered on the object with an antenna, and then text appeared on the small screen. You've gone too deep. The response they received wasn't an answer at all, but more words appeared. Make it entertaining for me, and start running now.

"What the hell…?" Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site. The sound of crackling electricity rumbled through the house, and lights began flickering to life–This was something else that was different from reality. There had been no lightning-based lights in the real house.

"Shit, I think the ghost isn't peaceful""You don't say?! Was the obvious threat not enough of an indication?!"

"Shut up and ready your damn ghost light or whatever!" The lights were flickering like crazy, and the camera began to malfunction, and for thirty seconds, the image was replaced with a dark screen upon which a face, mostly covered in darkness, looked straight at the camera with a wide smile, teeth tainted with red. Are you watching, still? Words appeared on the screen below the face, which Heldion could only assume meant that these were words coming from it. When they stepped into the house…

I knew it was going to be fun. Foolish boys.

"What the…" The eyes lit up with a white, ghostly glow, slowly turning more and more purple. As for you, who found this tape… Keep watching until the end. Be the sole witness of my idea of entertainment. The image went back to what the camera was actually filming, and the other Heldion was stumbling forward, running away as screams of terror resounded throughout the house.

He was alone when he ran into a room, crawling under a bed with his breath so ragged that it was the only thing that could be heard for several minutes. Once again, the image flashes, playing what had happened whilst the face was talking through the screen. The young men had been looking around frantically, preparing to make a run for it, when their flashlights all focused on the same figure standing at the end of the hallway they were in. Heldion believed that this was supposed to be the ghost of Mara Nebulo.

It looked… Somewhat like her, at least overall. The hairstyle was the same one she had in every portrait or painting she was in that he had seen. Her stature was akin to what he had heard from his master, and she wore a long, dark mantle that Leton had mentioned she had nearly always been wearing. Considering that this was the Nebulo home, it made sense for her to be here as a ghost, he supposed, but… She wasn't just a ghost. She was a monster. Her face was distorted and pale beyond belief.

Her eyes were just empty, dark sockets, and her mouth was horrifically misshapen. … That was only at first, though. Her appearance wasn't constant. She moved faster than any of the boys could react to, going straight for the other Heldion, seemingly grabbing him by the throat, lifting him off the ground as her face opened up to reveal countless rows of teeth and a dark abyss from which an eye was peeking from. The camera holder tried to struggle free, but he couldn't touch her at all.

She could physically interact with him, but the opposite wasn't true. A white flash of light suddenly fell upon her, and her ghostly form emitted smoke. T n e d u pm I She threw the alternate Heldion to the ground and pounced at the one holding the ghost flashlight–Or rather, it was like she walked straight at him, but each of her steps happened within less than a second. The poor fool trusted in his anti-ghost equipment, but clearly, he was dealing with something that wasn't affected much by such a gadget.

The spectre crushed his head against the wall, and his remains rapidly dried up until all broke down into dust, leaving only his clothes and whatever items he had been carrying. By then, everyone else had already started running. When the footage caught up to what had already been shown, it cut back to the 'present' with the other Heldion hiding under the bed, doing his best not to inhale the dire amounts of dust stacked down here.

"I should have known… I should have known…" He unconsciously murmured his thoughts aloud. In hindsight, it was indeed true that the house had been off from the very beginning. There hadn't been any insects or any other forms of critters to be seen or heard anywhere. An abandoned house like this would typically become home to rats, mice, and all sorts of crawlers. It wasn't the case here. This place was empty, silent… Hollow. The reason was quite easy to guess now. Everything that entered was killed or driven away.

There weren't even any cobwebs to be found around this place, only accumulated dust. … Screams echoed in the distance, alongside the sound of bones being forcefully separated. However, judging by how often screams were ringing out, it seemed as though the resident phantom didn't know exactly where her would-be victims were. The other Heldion seemed to catch onto this. He made himself small and waited. His friends weren't so lucky. He heard all of them scream, though one of them managed to stay hidden for a while.

The ghost approached. It was easy to tell as the camera glitched in absurd manners, showing a random series of letters at times. Jurer ner lbh? V pbhyqa'g yrg gurz yrnir. V pna qb n orggre wbo jvgu gurz. V pbzzvggrq ab jebat. Vg jnf gur evtug guvat gb qb. V xabj vg jnf. Lbh pna'g uvqr sberire. Heldion had no clue if this was supposed to mean anything, but they just kept showing up and repeating over and over… But as the spectre seemingly got closer, they changed. Jura V xvyy lbh, V'yy arire yrg lbh qvr.

The door of the room swung open, and the ghost stepped in. Her steps were heavy, but did not cause the ground to creak in the least. The other Heldion saw as she lifted herself off the ground, hovering slightly above it as she headed for the closet first. She was definitely going to check under the bed. It was an obvious hiding spot. He would have to make a run for it, even though she was clearly much faster than him.

"Hey, kids! Are you still in here? A neighbour saw you go inside! This place is crumbling, get the hell out of here!"

"Hello? Are you really going to pretend you can't hear me? Fine, don't come crying afterwards!" In a stroke of luck, it seemed like a guard had been called, and this caused the ghost to be distracted. She blinked away, allowing the other Heldion to crawl out from under the bed. He might just be able to make a run for it as long as the guard distracted her long enough. He slowly crept into the hallway. The entire house had gone silent again.

The phantom was lying in wait somewhere, probably planning on slaughtering the guard as soon as he stepped inside… Surely, she was bound to this place. Most ghosts were bound to certain areas, be it where they had died, where they had lived, or a place that meant something to them. Heldion spotted the stairs. Once he got down, he should be able to reach the back entrance quickly…

"Heldion… Help me…"

"Huh…?" He turned around, and the camera stared straight at the ghost's chest. He was frozen in fear, and it was the spectre who lifted the camera. She smiled, actually looking quite charming, normal, and alive for a moment. At least until she screamed at the camera and her face rotted away as she spat maggots at the lens. The tape ended. It was ejected and melted into the ground, disappearing without a trace.

"What the fuck did I just watch?!"