Chapter 6: Truth Beneath the Flowers

Chapter 6: Truth Beneath the Flowers

"Phak, where have you been? So late, what's up?"

"I tried calling, but you didn't answer."

"Did you go to a game shop?"

"Come here," accompanied by a head gesture.

"Painful cry" Phak replied without responding to his father's words.

"I sent you to school, but you come back late because of games. I've spent every penny we earned on your education." The scolding grew louder and more intense.

"Can you get enough of this? It hurts, you know," Phak responded.

Phak finally pushed his father forcefully before his father could collapse. His face was angrier than before.

"You!!!" He grabbed a nearby wooden bucket and swung it forcefully at Phak's face.

Thunk!

As Phak woke up, he found himself in a glass room. His face showed the marks from the glass on his right forehead, along with an expression of anxiety, just like Phak. Each person was in their own space. Before Phak could regain his composure and observe his surroundings, he noticed flashlights and electrical sparks falling around him. He quickly crouched down to avoid them.

"Zap! Zap!"

"Sizzle, sizzle" The sound of sparks igniting.

"Okay, at least it's still usable on days like this," Phak said as he slowly stood up and looked around cautiously.

"Crazy, man!"

"Why the hell did I end up here?"

"Lilly" Phak whispered as quietly as he could because this glass room was Red Sun's torture chamber.

"Just die, Lilly! Where have you gone?"

"Alright, this must be it, the last flower source. Impressive!"

"Let's get things done here."

On the Red Sun's side, they were preparing for some kind of ritual. The cult members were in a frenzy as they prepared for the ceremony.

"Master Joseph, they've escaped, sir."

"How did they manage to get out?"

"I don't know, sir."

"Well, find them and bring them back immediately!"

On Lilly's side, she emerged from a pool of blood, gasping for breath.

"Help..."

"Please..."

"Quick..."

"Help me find a way out..."

"Splash."

The pool of blood flowed and guided her to the backside of the island. She found herself in front of a cliff. It didn't take long for the blood to seep into the sand.

"Drip, drip" 

"Oh, it's pouring rain like crazy."

"Phak!"

"Phak, where are you?"

"Phakkk!!!"

"Crazy!"

The heavy rain poured down before Lilly encountered it. Not far from her location, a fishing boat slowly approached. The fishing boat gradually made its way towards her. Lilly was very happy to see the fishing boat.

"Help, please!!!"

"Help, please!!!"

"This way."

Before long, a fisherman emerged and reached out to Lilly, helping her onto the boat while offering a towel. Lilly, who was in the midst of drying her hair, was surprised by the appearance of this man and felt a strange connection to him.

Immediately as she looked back at the man, he vanished swiftly. What was strange, though, was that there was no one else on the boat when she turned around!

The strangeness and the mysterious disappearance made Lilly feel a sense of danger. Even though she couldn't see his face, she remembered his breathing and his demeanor. She cautiously reached for a nearby weapon and followed the trail of the man into the control room.

"It must be them,"

she thought to herself. She was about to strike the man with the stick, but she had to stop abruptly. The people who controlled the boat had now become the ones who were tied up and gagged. Nick and Nigth were in a helpless state, with their mouths sealed shut and their hands bound to the boat's mast.

Both of them were bound side by side in the control room of the boat.

.....The rain continued to fall, and the sky cracked with lightning.

"Thunderbolt" 

the dark sky and flickering lights

As Night, who had been warning her from behind, Lilly looked in the front mirror and saw behind her the man in a black suit wearing an animal mask, with the Red Sun followers standing alongside him!

She swiftly turned back, ready to strike the black-suited figure again and again with the stick, but to her surprise, it was just an empty suit hanging there.

"Fwoosh!" She took a deep, heavy breath, but before she could exhale, a suffocating darkness enveloped her, and her face was finally covered.

"Where are you going, my dear?!" She couldn't resist in any way.

In the ceremony hall

"There's fire emerging from the sacred area, my lady," said one of the Red Sun members wearing a wide mask.

"What? No way!!!" As the fire erupted from the room, the person in the wide mask entered the room and locked eyes with Phak. The Red Sun member then referred to the other person as "my lady."

"Go after Mr. Joseph quickly."

"Mr. Josephare on your way, sir."

Cut to a scene where Joseph is walking back from the pier on the island, with his clothes wet from the rain.

"Sir Joseph, it's time as predicted."

Mr. Joseph: "Prepare everything immediately; we won't have much time. We need to use them for offerings in the upcoming planting season."

"One more thing, has the fire been extinguished in the sacred chamber?"

Mr. Joseph: "What? Whose craftsmanship is this?"

"It's the young man you instructed, sir."

Phak, who was attempting to escape in a disheveled manner, was captured once again by a group of men in black suits, and his face displayed a strangely joyful smile.

"Haha, caught again."

"They have no power anymore, hahaha!" accompanied by flames roaring in the glass room.

The disciples attempted to extinguish the fire, but the water couldn't enter the room. It evaporated and disappeared swiftly before reaching the area.

"You crazies, go get some blood to stop the fire!" Joseph ordered urgently.

The face-off between Phak and Joseph had occurred.

"Slap"

Before Joseph struck Phak's face repeatedly until Puck's face was bathed in blood, even though his body was already covered in blood from the blood pool and smoke, Joseph dragged Lillie, Nick, and Night into the hall.

"Now, what's next? I've brought them along," Joseph said.

Lilly, Nick, and Night were brought along at the moment when Phak was captured.

"You have nothing to offer or negotiate in what you've done, except your lives... lives that you chose."

"And you will have to live with the consequences of your mistakes."

"Take them to the ritual chamber."

"Ocean waves"  as waves crashed.

"Thunderclap"  the sound of thunder.

"Whistling wind" 

the sound of winds colliding or the roar of forest waterfalls rushing away, destroying everything on this island, akin to the apocalypse of the world... Amidst the turmoil, the rain and winds relentlessly pounded, showing no sign of letting up.

The winds from all directions had been predetermined, and they had destroyed this area as foretold, following the predictions of the ancient tribal seers. The underground water source, created and nurtured by the creators of this way of life, had been tainted by their blood.

Going back to the past, the indigenous people stumbled upon a deep and mysterious cave. They used it as a refuge from danger, and before long, a flower bloomed from the blood of the indigenous people that dripped onto it.

The indigenous people used the flower to extend their lifespans, but conversely, the side effects of the flower made them more ruthless. Wars broke out as different groups competed for control of the land. Their blood spilled onto the central area, turning it into a vast field of giant flowers. Eventually, there were no survivors left to use it.

Fast forward to 180 years ago, Joseph's expedition from Europe arrived on the island in the year 1835, according to the Western calendar, or 2378 in the Thai calendar. They discovered this place, established a base, and claimed power on the island. Generation after generation, Joseph held sole dominion over this place. The flower couldn't produce more because the blood of the indigenous people had been cursed and vanished from the island. The base was relocated, but the flower still thrived and bore fruit when it received blood from women. If used, it would wither away.

According to the folklore of the indigenous people and the predictions of the seer, Nimitta, a catastrophe would lead to the return of the islanders' blood. The flowers would have a chance to bloom again from the blood source within the earth, from the ancients, the creators.

Returning to Phak, Lilly, Nick, and Night in the ritual chamber.

They were in a chamber surrounded by stone walls with no apparent exits. The special aspect of this area was that it received only raindrops from the sky, even when heavy rain poured outside. What had passed down here was just drops of blood. This was a unique place. Puck, exhausted and weakened by the smoke and blood, rested there. Everyone in the chamber waited for this day, the day when they would extend their lives through the ritual.

"Dear comrades, today we have gathered here once again, after climbing the sacred hill and slaughtering the last guardian who turned into a seed for us to extend our lives for a long time."

"But now, we no longer have seeds from the ancient guardians, but we can still wait for the time to make new seeds from the blood of ordinary people, which we have been experimenting with every year until 1922 when we encountered a traveler who allowed us to extend our lives until today."

"... 100 years from now, we will do as we have always done. On the day of the eclipse, we will let the blood of the ancient guardians flow to combine with the earth. But this time, we will begin the ritual. This man, who has taken an important opportunity from us, must compensate with his flesh, blood, and soul. He must kill his companions just as the island's ancient guardians have done. And in the end, he must perish."

"Reveal our faces to mourn them."

Everyone in the chamber has revealed their faces... ...Fishermen with their fish masks, the island's liquor seller, the tiger mask, a local politician, the bear mask, a police officer, and more than 20 others have slowly unveiled their faces.

Everyone that Phak recognized, they were Red Sun!!! Phak, bewildered and shocked, didn't have a moment to fully process what he had just realized.

Phak received a red flower from the islanders he used to encounter every day.

"You, sir, are the chosen one. You must consume this flower," the old fisherman handed the red flower to Phak with solemnity and reverence.

"I don't want you to die, young man. I just want you to be one of us, but... the flower is everything to us. And you must become it with your life. Eat it, young man!"

With great reluctance, Phak consumed the flower, and it didn't take long for him to feel an overwhelming surge of power from something beyond. He was the only one who received it, and everyone else was a victim of Phak's transformation. Shortly after, Joseph ordered one of the female followers to step forward.

Let's go back to the day when Phak ventured into the secret path.

"Where are you going?" Rose asked Phak.

"I'm just taking a walk," Phak replied.

"What are you here for?" Phak asked Rose.

"I saw you coming out here alone," Rose replied.

"Let me go with you, or else I'll tell Nick and Night," Rose insisted.

"Alright, then make yourself useful," Phak agreed.

The deer mask was slowly removed and handed to Phak's forehead.

Rose!

"It's as if I'm already dead, isn't it?" Rose said, looking at Phak with tenderness, as if Phak were an innocent child.

"This is insane."

"Today, you're going to smell my blood, how does it feel?"

"squeaking" 

Rose pulled her coat away from Phak, tugging it with both hands.

"You've been deceiving us all along."

"Of course," Rose replied calmly.

"Let go of me," Rose pushed Phak away not too gently.

"Joseph and I have prepared for this. If you manage to enter, go ahead and kill me so that you'll remember how."

"But it's a fake death, after all, hah."

"Just be glad. I didn't really die..."

"You idiot."

Before Rose could pick up a knife to cut her own fingers, she pinned a note to Phak's front, and then everyone was released from captivity. Weapons surrounded them on all sides.

"heartbeat" Phak's heart raced, and the surroundings began to blur into shades of red. His vision became hazy.

"wheezing" 

Phak struggled to breathe, his body feeling increasingly out of control. Strange sensations surged into his mind, causing his body to tremble. The sense of impending danger grew closer with each passing moment, but it didn't seem to come from the outside; rather, it originated from within his own mind. As he glanced at his own hands, they began to shake uncontrollably. Before long, Phak's vision started to darken, gradually turning into shades of crimson. Scenes shifted and merged, and his consciousness seemed to fade away, as if a part of him had disappeared or fallen into a deep slumber. He couldn't remember the events that followed, but he had a vague sense that something unpleasant had emerged from within him.

Phak looked down at his hands and discovered that they were covered in blood. Startled, he let go of the weapon in his hand and found that the blood had come from his own palm. His palm was riddled with wounds.

"Is... is... everyone still okay?"

"Well, then, what's wrong with you?" Nick, who was starting to regain consciousness, began to scold Phak, though hesitantly.

"Okay... I might not be in control for long. Breathing could worsen the symptoms. There's a secret passage in this room, and I hope everyone can find a way out, as far away as possible, without coming back."

"Do you have a plan?" Lillian interjected, questioning Phak.

"Oh, no! Everyone, get away!" In that instant, Phak pulled out a knife and brandished it, frightening everyone.

"No! Please!" Everyone pleaded for their lives from Phak.

"Swish" 

Blood splashed into the glass room. Bones, legs and arms, as well as a head that was torn from the room, blood splattered everywhere.

"Clap, clap, clap," the sound of applause echoed from the observation room.

"Yay!" which delighted the disciples in the room. With this kind of bloodshed, soon the screams from the glass room gradually disappeared.

.....Rose who doesn't wait. Hurry and look in the glass room.

"Sir Joseph Do you want her to come in?"

"Hm, let her go."

.

..

.....

.......

"Quickly, everyone come in..." Phak said to everyone, holding the blood vial used by the fans to sprinkle flowers from the blood bank. He sprinkled it into the glass room, discreetly, along with Lily, Nick, and Night. Without hesitation, they followed Phak's orders. The corpse from the blood pool that Phak had secretly hidden in the ritual room was used to deceive them, giving them time to escape from here, quietly. As for Phak's condition, which had improved after the blood loss incident, it was due to a neck twist caused by Rose. This made Phak secretly steal the antidote.

"Enough for now."

"Follow me," Phak pointed his finger at the rock, causing the door to open.

"Enter quickly."

Night and Nick, don't wait to go in.

"Lilly, it's your turn. Come on, Lilly," Phak signaled with his hand to Lilly.

"Go in, Lilly. Okay?" ...Not long before Lily received the flashlight from Phak.

"Click!" The knife pierced Phak's chest. Lilly, who saw the scene, was with Nick and Night. "No!!!" Phak was stabbed in the heart.

"Run... go..." Before Phak removed his finger from the rock and himself from the Red Sun group that was entering, the darkness in the room revealed only Phak's smiling face, hoping they would be safe.

"Take care, Nick...."