The Lost Spirit

Burdens of Circe

By

WISDOM ALAIN
 01
Life Expectancy

Have you ever heard of the town called Pietra? My parents used to argue about it
privately when I was younger, but I had forgotten all they said about it.

I was confused about why they used to have it out; it might be something important to
our family epoch.

Today, now that I turned 18 and finally have the will to get involved in their conversation,
I will ask them about it. My parents were always protective and strict with me; they even
set a bunch of rules for me to not leave our town, Hokume.

It is not only because I'm their only child, but it is also proving that there is something to
do about Pietra.

This is unusual; my parents are not in the house. They don't go out without me, and it's not
even dawn yet. While I was looking for them, there was a sudden, unfamiliar aura that
skimmed my skin and gave me goosebumps.

I'm worried and frightened of my surroundings. This unfamiliar atmosphere stunned me for
10 seconds. Then I started to hear a disturbing scream coming out of our house's
backyard.

Without hesitation, I ran as fast as I could, and when I opened our door in the backyard,
a different outer world came up to me, a foggy area that seemed I'm just dreaming.

As I took a footstep, I felt the white tiled floor with a strange viscosity of black liquid.
“A nightmare-” I started to believe that this is a nightmare.

I saw my mother on the ground sobbing on her knees. She had bruises all over her
shoulder and blood flowing through her stomach and her knee. I went to her, confused
and shaking, it felt so real and when my hand met her skin, she was surprised and scared
at the same time. She didn't recognize me.

The second she realized it was just me, she pushed me hard to get back.

“Run, Yurei! Get away from here! Run! " Mother shouted.

I was confused until I realized there had been a strange sound nearby the entire time. I
turned at the 7 o'clock position, and a big monster was slaughtering my father to death.

I couldn't believe what I was seeing; it felt like my gut had been ripped out of me, and
my heart was beating like a loud chime alerting me that my life would soon come to an
end. I am struggling with all the feelings I have right now.

I was thrilled the moment I knelt on my knees and reminded myself that I was just bound
inside my nightmare. Until I fainted.
 02

Mourning in the Shadows

I woke up baffled on our living room floor. In the seconds that I remembered what had
happened, I started to look around to see my mother; she was there, sitting on my right
side, leaning on the couch with her eyes looking directly at me. She was still covered in
blood.

"Mother, your blood—I could feel it on my back—where is Father... and the monster?" I
said in a trembling voice as my tears started to flow.

I tried to stand up to call for help, but Mother touched my hand gently, shook her head,
and said weakly, "Yu-rei, the monster is gone... by now because... of the dawn, and...
about your f-father... he is—our family is... cursed by the darkness of Pietra."

I couldn't do anything but listen to my mother while I was holding her hand, gently.

"An apology wouldn't be enough for leaving you behind; please be strong." "This day is
your birthday." Mother tears up. "And you, my Yurei, are to become one of the sacrifices...
of the ritual for..." My mother collapsed on me with her eyes open.

"The sorrow in her eye..."

"All of this is just a lie, Mother! Please don't leave me. Please!"

A late-afternoon sun threw lengthy shadows from the window and entered our house.
Suddenly, there was the noise of someone knocking on our front door.

"Someone? No".

I'm not even sure if it's a human. I wiped my tears out and laid my mother on the couch.
Unexpectedly, a pistol fell from her cold body. I took the gun and hid behind the door
quickly.

"Someone's home? I'll break in." An unfamiliar voice of a man coming from outside.
When I knew that it wasn't a monster, I didn't hesitate to open the door, and to make
sure, I pointed the gun at the man's head. He tittered at me and took the gun I was
holding.

"It is you, Yurei. Happy Birthday! I cut off what he was saying: "How did you know me?
Who are you?" I asked out of confusion.

He saw my mother on the couch behind me; he directly looked into my eye and said
with a serious, deep voice, "Oh, my name is Leo." He showed me his ID; his last name is
the same as my mom's. "You were just a baby the last time I visited here; I am your mom’s
brother, and there's no time to explain it all here, as I thought Circe was already dead."
Uncle Leo sighed and we hugged; he then walked behind me to take my mother’s
corpse.

"Where are you taking my mother?"

"To the backyard, I'll bury your mother there, and we must clean all this mess." He
answered hurriedly.

"You know all about this?" I asked, and he turned back his head and answered, "Yes,"
then turned away. "I’ll explain it all to you later; we must get away from here first and
sooner," he added.

"I can’t go there with you, My F-father; he was slaughtered by a berserk monster; his
corpse is...

"Ah, about it... Your mother, Circe, called me on the telephone at dawn; she said that
your father was completely devoured by the monster, Yurei. You are stronger than you
think you are; do not give up," he said with faith.

I could not believe what Leo said about my father. I rashly ran to the backyard to see if
there was anything left of his remains.

He’s right; everything that I saw an hour ago has all disappeared.

"Am I just crazy?" I asked myself.

 03
The Beginning

After one hour, Uncle Leo and I quickly got inside his car. He started the engine and
drove as fast as he could.

“Your too fast Uncle, just what’s going to happen, where are we going?”

“This is only the beginning of the curse and I’m trying to avoid focusing in one place to
avoid the portal to the otherworld; your mother and I are one of the victims of cults ritual
residing within the town called Pietra” He answered without getting disturbed.

“Circe and I are orphans, we used to live there in the Mission of Hope orphanage,
describing the town, it was first a normal town until it become haunted, covered of
mysterious fogs, and unexplained creatures due to its sacrificial ritual for the cults to
reborn their god and create what they called paradise by doing devil works. The
innocents' citizens of Pietra become the sacrifice for rituals to create a dark and
nightmarish world; Paradise.” he added.

“The curse... my mother’s trying to say something about it. I am one of the sacrifices to
reborn their god- and the portal... It is calling me back to the town of Pietra. How could
they involve my parents?” I could feel my hatred through my blood flowing in my veins, I
cannot accept that they killed my parents.

About the other world, I've got no other choice but to confront the challenges that I will
face from that place from now on.

I convinced Uncle to drive to the town of Pietra and stop running away from the portal.

“A revenge won't solve everything, and there is no other way but to execute the leader
of cults named Kali.”

He then stops the car and starts to look for something inside his bag, he gave me a small
letter enveloped and said, “I will now drive to the town of Pietra; I’ll come with you.” As
he drives, he continued to talk, “that letter was the year sister, Circe and I parted away,
kali was my sister’s old friend from the orphanage, she was burned by the people on our
town, and the day that kali’s was burned was the day we parted away, Circe ran away
from town, she leave us behind. ”

“I am sure that my mom has a reason of why’d she leaves but why is that Kali was
burned?” I spoke.
“Because the people in our town believed that she was a user of black magic and
caused the farm animals devoured to death. We couldn't do anything about it, but sister,
she hid something important in that event. Kali was the sacrifice for the paradise, the
cursed was passed to my sister, your mother.” he said in his deep voice.

“How did the curse was pass to my mother?” I asked, Uncles told me to read the letter
he gave me.

The letter says that my mother ran away with father, they were under Kali’s demand to
get out of the town along with her fetus. Kali gave birth to a finger sized fetus, mother
couldn’t believe it, she was the one who first saw it before Kali was burned. She took the
fetus and did what her friend Kali said.

“Uncle, the other page of the letter was all ruined, what happened to the kali’s fetus and
how did you leave the town?” I concernedly asked.

“The fetus didn't survive, it was too early for it to live, but strangely, sister says that she
dreamed of eating the fetus repeatedly and that’s what I think how the cursed was
passed to her.” He spoke.

It was already dusk, When we’re finally at the town of Pietra. This town was like a ghost
town, it is so quiet. We settled quickly everything we needed and made our plans at the
Motel Transylvania, near the church of Pietra called the Virgin Mary.
 04

The Commitment

We stayed the night in the motel, but as I opened my eyes from a nap, a 6- and 2/16-
inch-tall middle-aged black-haired woman with pale skin was at my left side facing the
wall. I was paralyzed. I couldn't move my body or even close my eyes.

In my situation, I thought it was really happening. The woman suddenly said, "Happy
birthday, my daughter; you're finally awake. For all those years of waiting, your-"

The woman glitches floating in front of me with her face close to mine. I was frightened
by how quickly it happened. I could only see her reddish eyes staring at me with her long
black hair that I could feel around my face.

It disappeared the moment I woke up from that strange dream. I couldn’t remember her
face. I didn't mind it.

I quickly stood in my chair and checked the time; it was time for dawn to rise. Uncle was
already gone. There was a letter with a shotgun on the table. I stood in my chair and
read the paper: "This will be our meeting spot, leave the key under the pot outside the
room, let’s meet here before dusk; take the shotgun and use it for self-defense only."

I started to pack my things. I bought the motel brochure that has the Pietra Map flashlight,
batteries, water, mom’s pistol with 2 rounds, and a shotgun for self-defense.

I was ready to go outside. The plan is to execute Kali. She is the leader of the Cult of
Paradise. They will not get away from what they have done to my family. Uncle Will help
me find them.

When I was already outside the motel, I noticed that we were the only ones there. I
promised that I would confront them even in hell. I am going to the Mission of Hope
Orphanage, where it all began.

I couldn’t believe what I just saw; a human-shaped melted silicon creature with its sticky
sounds was slowly coming after me, I ran while looking at the small Pietra brochure’s map.
The sticky sounds wouldn’t stop. I looked around; there were many of them who noticed
my existence and then started to chase me. It was my luck to see the sign of the
orphanage, but sadly, the gate was chained.
I climbed the gate quickly to avoid the creatures that were chasing me. I was about to
break the window's glass, but suddenly, a bat came out of it. I was surprised that my heart
could fall to the ground.

I felt someone start to watch me after the noise that I made. I turned around, but no one
was there, and the creatures also disappeared. I was alerted, but I still went inside the
orphanage through the window.
 05

The Orphanage

It’s murky inside, and as I opened my flashlight, I realized it was the same white tiles I saw
on our house's backyard, and currently, I was in the day room of the orphanage when,
unexpectedly, a terrifying sound of a man screaming seemed to have welcomed me.

I went where I heard the scream, a way through the kitchen. The wall on my left caught
my eye; there was a realistic sculpture of an old man’s face. Suddenly, he opened his
mouth with his blind eyes wide open very slowly, then screamed so loudly to the point
that the antique vase standing in front of it was completely torn apart. It was the one
who made the loud scream I heard earlier.

It was continuously making the same noise until an ear-splitting sound of footsteps began
to come nearer and nearer to where I was standing. I simply walked away in the other
direction, to the right, where I could not be seen by the creepy sculpture or the monster
I was expecting to come near.

I peeked through the walls I was in; I was right about the footsteps I heard; it wasn't a very
ordinary big obese man with pale skin that came; he was covered in red blood, and he
was holding something in his hands: a long and big butcher knife with protruding
intestines. I started to feel nervous. I was horrified at what I was seeing.

The big, obese man strikes his butcher knife into the face of the noisy sculpture out of the
blue. The face of the sculpture fell from the ground, with its blood starting to bleed and
flow over the floor. I step back to get away, but it's too late.

The big man turned his head at me, then started to move fast to come closer with his
knife held in both hands, ready for his next strike. Strangely, he only has one eye in the
center of his face. I looked behind and saw stairs. I took out my shotgun and stood on
four treads of stairs, waiting for him to blow out his eye. When he came to me, I led his
attack and shot him in the eye, but he dodged.