"And?" Kasper asked, his tone impatient. "What happened then?"
"We surrounded the house. No lights. No sound. It was quiet... too quiet." Ang trembled, his fingers gripping the edges of the blood-soaked blanket someone had thrown over him. "Kern ordered us to move in slowly. But before we even touched the door, they came."
"The Torkes?", asked Kapser.
"Yes," Ang whispered, his voice hollow. "From behind us. Out of nowhere. The shadows moved... like they had minds of their own. No footsteps. Just—death. They tore through our men before we even knew what was happening. Screams. Blood. One moment, we were twenty... next, there were five. Then two."
"And the women and children?" Kasper asked, though he already feared the answer.
"They heard the screams," Ang said, blinking rapidly as if trying to shake off the memory. "They came running, thinking we were being attacked by the boy or maybe beasts. They should've stayed back... But the Torkes didn't care who they killed. They were relentless. They slaughtered them all. Mothers, infants, children…"
Kasper looked away for a moment, jaw clenched tight.
"And Kern?" he asked finally.
"That coward..." Ang's voice turned bitter. "He ran. Left us all. Didn't even look back. I saw him ride off on his black horse while the rest of us screamed for help. I don't know how I survived. I think the Torkes thought I was dead. I crawled beneath the corpses and just lay still."
Kasper was silent for a long moment. Then he asked, "What about this grandson? The one you came to kill?"
Ang shook his head again. "We never got to him. We couldn't even reach the house to save ourselves from the Torkes."
Ang looked up at him, fear still lingering in his eyes. "But something was wrong. As soon as the Torkes appeared, the house changed. It was like... like it woke up."
Kasper raised a brow. "What do you mean, it woke up?"
"It was like it sensed the Torkes," Ang replied, struggling to find the right words. "The walls shimmered... a strange energy surrounded it. A protective dome of some kind. We tried to go in to save ourselves, but the Torkes didn't let us get close. And they themselves couldn't touch the house. It was like there was a barrier, a force pushing them back. They clawed at it, screamed at it, but nothing worked."
Kasper blinked, trying to process this. "So the Torkes didn't come for you?"
"No," Ang said. "They didn't. We were just in the way. They wanted the house. No, not the house—the boy. It felt like... like he was their target. But they couldn't get in. We died trying to get out of their way."
Just then, Toren, who had been quietly listening, stepped forward, his cloak brushing against the scorched ground. "Did you see any light?" he asked calmly. "Coming from this house?"
Ang turned his face to him slowly. "Light... yes. A strong one. A beam shot straight from the roof and went up into the sky. Bright white. Blinding. It tore the clouds apart. We saw it from the village. That's how Kern knew the boy was back."
Toren's eyes narrowed. "The light reached the sky?"
"No," Ang corrected him, eyes wide. "It reached the moon."
Kasper inhaled sharply. Even Toren's usually unreadable face tightened slightly. He gasped, "So what the ministers said about a light hitting the moon was true. I didn't believe it as I didn't see it myself. But now after hearing him, it seems that it really happened."
The councilmen, who had gathered behind them, shuffled uncomfortably. None of them had dared enter the house. A group of soldiers had gone in earlier to investigate, but they had returned quickly, claiming the house was empty.
Kasper and Toren exchanged a look, then moved toward the house.
Inside, the air was thick with decay. A sickening stench coated their tongues as they stepped through the threshold. It was more than rot. It was like something had been summoned—or worse, something had left its mark. The house was eerily silent, furniture broken, papers scattered, the floor stained with old blood.
Kasper paused, hand to his nose, "This stench... it's unbearable."
They made their way to the back of the house where a hidden door stood ajar—an entrance to a secret room. The door itself was carved with symbols long forgotten, the wood blackened as if scorched by fire but left cool to the touch.
As they stepped inside, the foul smell intensified, clawing at their lungs.
Kasper coughed. "Do you feel that pressure too, sir?"
Toren nodded slowly, his eyes scanning the chamber. "Yes. Heavily. The air here is dense... saturated with power. A dark power."
A massive magic circle had been drawn on the floor—charcoal lines mixed with dried blood. The symbols weren't just dark—they were forbidden, ancient and evil.
Toren's face darkened. "This is no ordinary spell."
Kasper crouched near the edge of the circle. "What is it?"
"Dark magic," Toren whispered. "And not a minor one. This... this is something enormous. The stench, the pressure—this room has seen something unnatural. A very powerful spell was cast here. And not just any summoning. This reeks of forbidden rites. Soul-binding. Necromancy. Maybe even time-warping."
Kasper frowned. "The survivor said the old man's body was here. But now it's gone."
Toren glanced around the room, his expression grim. "Then maybe the boy took it with him."
Kasper stood, jaw set. "So, what do we do now?"
"We find him," Toren said. "I don't know what happened here. But it was something horrible, something ungodly, something sinister. And it's not over yet. That light... which reached the moon. That's no ordinary spell. That's a message. Or maybe a trigger to something very very big."
Kasper gave a firm nod. "I'll assign scouts immediately. We'll track every lead. We'll find this boy. We'll find the body. And we'll find out what that light meant and report everything to the capital."
Toren turned and walked out, his boots echoing on the wooden floor. "Good. Waste no time. Make this a priority."
He stepped outside and made his way to his carriage without another word. His cloak billowed behind him, catching the wind like a shadow slipping into dawn.
Kasper remained behind for a moment, then turned to the soldiers nearby. "Seal this house. No one goes in or out. Send word to the capital. I want the best researchers and magic experts here within a day. Ask them to analyse every nook and corner of this house."
The soldiers saluted and immediately began preparing the area. Magic seals were placed at the entrance; runes carved into the threshold. Torches were lit, and a perimeter was established.
As the sun was overhead, the mountains, casting golden light over the village soaked in blood, the house stood alone, silent and breathing with unseen power.
After some time, everyone left. Just a few soldiers stayed back to look after the house so that nobody else will enter it.