Prologue: The Call to Darkness

One afternoon, in my small office tucked away amidst the small streets of our small town, I found myself reading books about Mysteries. As an exorcist, it's hard to find work specially in a town like mine. As I was dwelling into stories of great Sherlock, a knock on the door shattered the tranquillity. I looked up to see Evan, my partner bursting into the room with excitement. He was wearing his usual suit. He had Blonde hair and blue eyes. Although he is just a junior, he has been with me since almost 2 years.

"Marcus," he said. "You won't believe it! The Minister of Ravensbrook has sent us a letter. They're pleading for our help with a family tormented by supernatural forces. They are just mere apparitions but reward we'll get is quite high."

"Are you sure about that?"

"By how they have described the behaviours, I'm pretty sure the family is just haunted by the spirits of dead."

"Let me see the letter"

"""

𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐟 𝐑𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐨𝐤

𝑂𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟

𝐷𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑀𝑟. 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑐𝑢𝑠,

𝑊𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑖𝑛 𝑔𝑜𝑜𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑔ℎ 𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑠. 𝐼𝑡 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑝𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑢𝑛𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑙. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑢𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑠 𝑎𝑠 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑥𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑒𝑑𝑒𝑠 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑣𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑛𝑒𝑒𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑖𝑛 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑡𝑜𝑤𝑛.

𝐼𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑡𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑎 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑒𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑔𝑢𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑠𝑢𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑙 𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑠. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦, 𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑣𝑖𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑎𝑙, 𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠.

𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝐴𝑠ℎ𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑚𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠. 𝐴𝑙𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑜𝑢𝑡𝑠𝑘𝑖𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑡𝑜𝑤𝑛, 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑏𝑦 𝑎𝑙𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑦𝑒𝑑 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑟𝑒𝑛. 𝐼𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒𝑔𝑎𝑛 𝑎 𝑓𝑒𝑤 𝑑𝑎𝑦𝑠 𝑎𝑔𝑜 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑠𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡. 𝐴𝑙𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ 𝑢𝑛𝑢𝑠𝑢𝑎𝑙, 𝑤𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑤𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑛 𝑎 𝑣𝑎𝑐𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛. 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝑎𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑚𝑢𝑐ℎ 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒, 𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑏𝑎𝑐𝑘 𝑖𝑛 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑏𝑎𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑡ℎ. 𝑆𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑏𝑟𝑢𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑎𝑙𝑙 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦, 𝑏𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑛𝑜𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑑. 𝐻𝑒 𝑠𝑎𝑖𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑎𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑠𝑎𝑓𝑒.

𝐴𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑒𝑤𝑠, 𝑤𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑚𝑦𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓 𝑤𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑛𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒. 𝐴𝑙𝑙 𝑤𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑟𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑎𝑢𝑔ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔. 𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑖𝑟 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑡𝑙𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑦 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠.

𝐴𝑓𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑤𝑒 ℎ𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑙𝑦 𝑒𝑥𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛 𝑖𝑛𝑣𝑖𝑡𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝑀𝑟. 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑐𝑢𝑠, 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑒𝑙𝑝 𝑢𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠. 𝑅𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑, 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑒𝑓𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑏𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑤𝑎𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑠𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑙𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠. 𝑈𝑠, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑅𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑘 ℎ𝑎𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 $2000 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢. 𝑊𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑙 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑒𝑠.

𝐸𝑛𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑒𝑟, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑡𝑜 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒, 𝑎𝑠 𝑤𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑡𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑎𝑐𝑐𝑒𝑝𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒.

𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑙𝑦,

𝑀𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑅𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑏𝑟𝑜𝑜𝑘

"""

"The fortune is indeed quite high," I remarked, raising an eyebrow as I studied the figures on the letter. The thought of such a substantial reward was enticing, to say the least. Evan's eyes lit up with excitement, his mind already racing with possibilities.

"Marcus, just imagine what we can do with this!" he exclaimed, a grin spreading across his face. "We could finally expand our services, invest in better equipment, and perhaps even open our own dedicated office."

I nodded, contemplating the potential that lay before us. "But we must approach this with caution," I cautioned, a hint of scepticism in my voice. "We cannot simply assume that the disturbances plaguing the Ashfort family are merely the spirits of the departed. There could be something far more sinister at play."

Evan's enthusiasm faltered for a moment as he considered my words. "You're right, Marcus," he conceded, a note of uncertainty in his voice. "We must be prepared for the unknown, for the unexpected. Our expertise in the paranormal will surely be put to the test."

I folded the letter and placed it carefully on the desk, my mind already drifting towards the task at hand. "From the sound of it, this might not be as challenging as some of our previous cases." I said.

Evan nodded, a determined glint in his eyes. "I trust your judgement, Marcus. If you believe this is a case worth pursuing, then let us not waste any time. The carriage will be waiting for us outside the office in around an hour. Shall we start packing our equipment?"

A smile tugged at the corners of my lips. "Indeed," I replied, rising from my chair. "Let's gather what we need and ensure we are fully equipped for whatever awaits us in the Ashfort house."

With a shared sense of purpose, we set about organising our tools, carefully selecting the items that would aid us in our investigation. The anticipation grew with each passing minute, mingled with a healthy dose of trepidation. We were about to step into the unknown, into a world where the boundaries between the living and the dead blurred.

The journey to the town of Ravensbrook was long. It took us no less than 32 hours to reach there.

Finally, we arrived at the ministry office of the town. After a little bit of chat, we found out that the house along with the forest was on opposite side of the very way we came from. That was the reason we weren't able to see the house ourself.

Finally, we arrived at the outskirts of the town, where the haunted house stood in solemn silence. The very sight of it sent shivers down my spine, its worn façade a testament to the torment that lay within. There was a sign, placed by ministry to not go anywhere near the house along with caution tape. Before I could enter the house however, I saw a little girl coming out from the direction of house. She was around the age of 10. She had black hair but almost a pale white skin. She crouched and went below the tape. Before I could say anything, there was shouting from the civilians standing around near the girl.

"That's Mary! Stay away! She might also be haunted!"

"Oh you poor little soul. May god bring peace to you."

"She is haunted!!! Stay away from her!!"

"She's completely fine! You are scaring her with all the shouting!"

I agreed with the last one. Although irony, it was correct that she was fine. It also stopped the shouting of others. "Hello little Mary," I said, while approaching her calmly. "Don't be afraid. Can you tell us how are you?"

"I ran away. I am fine but they are not. Can you save them?" she said.

"Ah you don't need to worry about that. Can you tell us anything about what happened inside?"

"That I don't remember. I have no memory of anything that happened inside that house."

It was weird but she was a little girl and I thought that I shouldn't scare her. "Ah you don't worry then. I and him, my partner will go inside and save your family." I said. I was going to pat her head when I felt it, there was a unnerving feeling of dead coming from her.