Family Problems

As the hours passed, each family had its own problems. Martha's family was on the verge of breaking apart because her father asked for a divorce from her mother. Her brother didn't know yet, so she had to bear that knowledge until the time came to announce it. There's nothing worse than losing the united family you grew up with, but that's how things are.

On the other hand, in Ellie's family, she was getting things ready for when the time came to move without any rush. Her sister Beth took Kassie to the shower for a bath.

Bridget, meanwhile, stood by the window in her room, listening to music and looking up at the sky as it roared with lightning. Feeling the cool breeze coming through the window, cooler than ever, she felt increasingly strange, something she couldn't explain.

However, at that moment, what she didn't know was that Danny was in bed reading the old book everyone thought he had thrown away. "What awful thoughts! How could I throw away a book that could be worth a lot of money?" Danny sat up in bed and placed the thick old book on his knees. His eyes sparkled with excitement, thinking he had a treasure.

Old books felt very nice to the touch, as soft as holding a treasure, and the pattern on the cover also gave the book an ancient feel.

Running his fingers over the embossed pattern, Danny looked at the crossed fangs that seemed to be made of ivory ground into small, sharp points and reached out to grab the edge. At first, the book was hard to open; no matter what method he tried, he couldn't open the sealed fangs in a cross shape, but he managed to open it recently when he accidentally cut his finger.

At that moment, Danny began to read it, feeling an extreme curiosity about those torture paintings.

Upon opening the cover, what appeared were illustrations of murders. The text was incomprehensible, but the paintings were clear. A man with a fierce face, like a demon, held a sharp sword in his right hand and cut the neck of the person he held with his left hand. There were several people surrounding a man lying on the ground, feasting on him. The painting of the woman with disheveled hair and vacant eyes lifted a bloody head, and those demons seemed to devour her.

Each illustration was realistic and chilling. Danny couldn't bear to keep looking for some strange reason. He closed the book, took a deep breath, suppressed the fear that had invaded him, pushed aside the heavy book, looked at the three discs underneath, and pursed his lips. The records came with the books—a secret only he knew.

He couldn't help but be curious to get to the bottom of this. In his opinion, maybe these three records would explain this extremely strange book, what it was, and the story it contains. Following his thoughts, Danny took the discs and walked over to his record player. Opening the cloth bag, everything related to the disc was in view. Looking at the recorded date of the year 1923, Danny became increasingly fascinated. "This book is definitely a treasure."

Besides muttering this to himself, Danny placed the top-marked first disc.

What came out of the speaker in the end was just an introduction, but the words that followed also made Danny understand what the strange book was. "Good afternoon, my fellow clerics. I am Priest Marcus Littleton, librarian of St. Patrick's Cathedral, and today I welcome you all to the City of Los Angeles."

"You have been invited here to witness a unique cultural relic discovered by our missionaries abroad. This is the first time it is being publicly displayed, and it is one of the three mythical volumes of the Naturom Demonto, the Book of the Dead."

Danny was startled and looked out the window in front of him. In the dark night, heavy rain was pouring down and hitting his window. "It's raining very heavily..."

Unbeknownst to what Danny was doing, Bridget stared at the creaky windows through which rainwater flowed. At the same time, Ellie, a single mother packing her luggage, paused and watched as they continued to fill the suitcase.

"Hey, don't be scared..." In the bathroom, Beth, who was pregnant, held Kassie, who was afraid of the thunder, and said, "I'm here; I'm not going anywhere."

Boom!

The thunder kept crackling, and the lightning outside the window was like a snake, constantly moving through the dark night, invisibly adding a bit of terror, and Danny, who was listening to those recordings, cursed.

However, even so, Danny still pressed the play button on the machine when thunder boomed and the sound kept coming from the speaker. "Based on the tests I have conducted so far, the edges of the Book of Death are made of tanned human flesh, and the text and illustrations inside are written and drawn with human blood."

"This must be heresy!"

"But the parchment contains a sacred mystery, and I requested permission from the Church to translate it."

"Unfortunately, my request was denied by the bishops of the church, and they said I must hand over this book to the association of light, so I started secretly translating a large number of words and symbols from the Book of the Dead."

"The book contains various ancient rituals and spells. Judging by the translated texts, it is said that reciting these spells can allow humans to contact supernatural powers outside of the world. Now I will translate the first mantra of spiritual resurrection in the form of a recording."

Suddenly, there was a click on the speaker, and an incomprehensible but chilling sound came directly from it. The sound was very strange and unlike a human voice. Danny felt goosebumps all over his body. He was very aware that something was wrong and quickly pressed the stop button, but the speaker continued playing.

Arghhhh!

Danny seemed to feel something. He turned his head stiffly and looked at the bed. The book known as the Book of Death was flipping through the pages quickly, and it finally stopped at an image of a twisted head and an evil smile, with a sharp knife in hand.

His hand was a realistic evil that seemed to have resurrected the illustration of a woman.

Danny opened his eyes a bit wider. Boom! A crackling thunder exploded in the dark sky. At that moment, an armored convoy passed through the lonely streets, filled with puddles of water.

"Zz... There was an outbreak of cursed energy; they must seal this place as soon as possible."

Anton, who was in one of the vehicles, opened his eyes, feeling a sinister sensation in this place, and said, "Set up the barrier; we must make sure nothing gets leaked."