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“However, the results of this type of magic were disastrous. Souls are not made to exist in this world without a body. The reason why souls pass beyond this world is because it is tortuous for souls to exist in the living world. Forcing a soul to remain in this world like this is tantamount to torture.

“The pain of this type of existence erodes whatever rationality the person had in life, eventually turning violent and lashing out against anyone living. The original creator of spirit binding magic, Gunder Hortensius, was actually killed by the soul he bound.

“The results of this magic also didn’t achieve anywhere close to the immortality the necromancers thought. A soul in a spirit binding will still eventually dissipate over a long enough period of time. It is not exactly known why that happens, but Archmage Pema hypothesizes that souls try to destroy themselves by grinding against the magic binding them until nothing remains, all as means to end their own suffering. This would be equivalent to grinding oneself with sandpaper to death. If true, it encapsulates how unethical this type of magic is.

“Needless to say, this type of magic is labeled as forbidden and is illegal all across the western continent.”

—“Necromancy: An Honest Study Turned Foul” by Ester Bastet

Joe and his team approached the former home of Mark.

Dan trailed behind a little, letting both Mike and Joe take the lead. A clear display of apprehension was on his face as they approached the ominous house.

Even Joe was becoming a little more unnerved as he approached, but he did not show it. There was just a constant sense of foreboding he couldn’t shake.

They passed by a broken metal gate that made a squeaking sound as the wind blew against it, causing it to rock back and forth on its rusty hinges. The entire property was surrounded by the remains of a stone fence. Much of the man made structures around the property still remained surprisingly identifiable.

The surrounding plant life was a little gray and struggling to grow. One would think that if such a place was abandoned, nature would slowly reclaim it, but it almost seemed like any form of life was repelled by the house. The closer they got, the less plant life there was. Even the grass stopped growing a few feet away from the house and only bare dirt separated Joe from the property.

Now standing in front of the house, Joe stared at the open door that led into a black abyss. It felt like he was standing on the precipice of something, and part of his being was telling him to turn back.

Ignoring what he was feeling, Joe started to climb some stairs to get onto the front balcony. As he did, one of the wooden steps broke beneath his feet and he stumbled.

Joe: “Fuck,” he yelled out, just barely catching himself on a nearby handrail, saving himself from falling on his face.

Mike: “Woah, you OK?”

Joe: “Yeah. But, be careful. This house doesn\'t seem too structurally sound.” he said while pulling himself up.

As he pulled, the railing he was holding broke off the section he was holding. Joe stumbled again, but this time landed on the steps, hitting the side of his body against it.

Joe: “Ow,” he said, groaning.

Mike moved right beside Joe and helped him up.

Mike: “You didn’t break anything, did you?” he asked as he pulled Joe up by his arm.

Joe: “No, I\'m not gonna need healing magic or anything like that. It’s just a bruise. And let me correct myself, this place is not maybe unstable, it is unstable. So, be extra careful,” he said as he stood up.

Mike: “Hmm, I don\'t know. Maybe that’s a sign we shouldn’t go in.”

Joe: “When did you become superstitious?”

Mike: “It’s not superstition. I don’t want a building falling on our heads.”

Joe: “We can’t turn back now, can’t you feel that. That weird feeling in the air. It\'s kinda similar to that weird feeling we felt before Rob died.”

Mike: “I don’t know about that. It was a lot more intense with Rob back than it is here.”

Joe: “But it’s still similar. I just think that this place and Rob are connected somehow. I’m sure we’ll find some clues inside. So, come on,” he said while gesturing to Mike and Dan to follow him.

Joe then pushed forward with his team behind him. He had only moved two feet into the house from the front door and it was already starting to turn pitch black. Both him and Mike pulled out small light torches to illuminate the hallway in front of them, so they could see where they were going. The torches didn’t seem as bright as any of the officers expected.

It somehow felt darker than it should have been. The shadows wrapped and clung ever so tightly to every corner of this place, despite the light. It almost seemed like the darkness had a malignant intent directed towards them and their presence here.

The limited amount of light of their torches reflected off the bits of glass and debris scattered amongst the ground. From what they could see, there was water damage on the flooring and walls of the building.

The air smelled musty.

Dan was visibly shaking and standing real close to both Joe and Mike. He could both see and feel the strangeness of this place, and it terrified him.

Dan: “A-aa-a d-d-do y-you any of you h-have an extra t-torch,” he said while stuttering, afraid and desperately wanting a light source for himself.

Joe: “Nope, you\'re out of luck kid.”

Mike: “Here, you can take mine. Just keep it steady,” he said while handing Dan the light.

Everyone stuck close together as they moved through the hallway of this ominous condemned house. The floorboards creaked with every step they took.

The first room they came across was a living room. The furniture was surprisingly still here, if a bit damaged from water that may have leaked through the roof onto it. There was a couch, a few closed cabinets, tea table, and shelves full of books and other miscellaneous things. The space was quite densely packed.

Mike: “I’m surprised no one stole anything. Then again, this place is considered haunted, so people might be too scared to come take anything.”

Joe: “Hmm, looks like there is a lot of stuff to search through in this room. How about you guys check out this room while I go upstairs?”

Dan: “W-w-what?!? That’s a terrible idea! You\'re not supposed to split up in a haunted place.

Mike: “Ok, we’ll search around here and some of the other rooms on the ground floor while you do that,” he said, ignoring Dan

Joe nodded and proceeded to head upstairs, while Dan protested. The veteran detective left the group and walked around a little until he found a flight of stairs leading upward.

Each step Joe took up the steps leading upstairs creaked loudly and echoed throughout the main floor. Even Mike and Dan, who was a reasonable distance away, could still hear it from where they were. Once at the top, he continued through the dark hallway.

The first room he came across looked like an empty bedroom. The dresser drawers were pulled out and any clothing they may have had was gone. In the corner was the remains of a broken bunk bed that had collapsed on itself. Joe shined his light throughout the room, but didn’t see anything immediately of interest. He decided he would check out the other rooms first before searching this one.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Shining his light down the hallway, he saw at least two more doors. He continued his way towards the door on his right, all while making loud creaking sounds with each step he took. Peering inside, he saw what looked to be a master bedroom.

There was a large mattress on a simplistic metal bed frame that looked big enough for a couple to sleep in. There was a similar looking dresser that had its drawer pulled out just like the previous room he examined, but this time there was clothing flung about the room. It looked to be mostly women\'s clothing too. As he shined his light around the space, there was a glimmer on top of one of the dressers.

Curious, he approached the dresser in the room.

Once closer, he could see that the glimmer he saw was the reflection of the light on the glass of a picture frame. He then picked it up and closely examined it. The photo in the frame was ripped in half, right down the center. Only the left side of the picture was still intact But what remained, he saw a pretty black haired woman in a fancy blue dress gown. Standing in front of her was a young brown haired boy in a similar fancy short sleeve suite.

“That little boy must be Mark and the woman behind him must be his mother. This must be a family photo, but why is it ripped in half like this?” he wondered to himself.

Joe flipped the picture frame around and carefully popped the photo out. He then quickly held the back of the photo to the light and examined it.

On the back was someones incomplete hand writing that read:

“—g wife Esmeralda and family.

—live happily and healthy.

—your dear husband.”

Was all the half ripped in half of the photo had written on the back.

Joe: “So it is a family photo, and it sounds like there is a husband," he said to himself.

Joe presumed that the woman in the picture was Esmeralda and the little boy must have been Mark.

He then flipped the photo around and looked at the picture carefully again. This time he noticed the arm of someone wrapping around the shoulder of the woman, but couldn’t see anything to identify who’s arm this was. The person holding Esmeralda was cut off at the shoulder and only his arm could be seen.

Joe: “Hmm, half of the picture is missing. The other half must have the husband in it. It must be somewhere around here,” he said as he started to search around the room.

He slowly sorted through the various storage and clothing throughout the room for ten minutes, but couldn’t find the other half of the photo. He did find what looked to be empty bottles that once contained different types of pills. Based on the labels on those bottles, Joe could tell it was medicine related to sleeping and managing depression.

“Well, I was told the mother wasn\'t well. If these are her pills, it looks like she was suffering from a sort of mental condition. Maybe something like PTSD if she was having trouble sleeping and was depressed, but without knowing more, it could be anything.” Joe thought to himself.

He did one last search around the room, but didn’t find anything. He exited the room and continued to ponder what he knew so far in the hallway.

“I managed to find some empty pill bottles and half a family photo. There was no mention of Mark\'s father from anyone that we talked to. I just assumed he was just a deadbeat that abandoned Mark and his mother, but based on this picture, he seemed like he was involved in their lives. Although, the fact the photo was torn in half, almost like it was purposely done to remove the husband from it, might be indicating how truly involved he was.” He thought to himself while looking at the photo he got from the master bedroom.

“Hmm, could be another lead if we could find the father, assuming he’s still around.” Joe concluded before pocketing the picture he was holding.

He then slowly made his way towards the final door in the hallway. He casually opened the door, as he did, something flung out and smacked him right in the face. It causes Joe to stumble about backwards and panic while the floorboard creaked loudly beneath him. He quickly pulled out a gun and pointed it right in front of him, while erratically shining the light forward, trying to see what smacked him.

Joe moved the point of his torch around until he settled in on a single object dangling in the center of the room. It was a rope with a loop in a knot that hit him. It was attached to something on the ceiling and swung out toward his face as soon as the door was open.

He stared intensely, flabbergasted, recalling how Mark’s mother apparently hanged herself.

Joe: “Is that a fucking noose? Why the fuck is that here?” he said in disbelief.

He couldn’t believe that the noose someone used to hang themselves was still here, with no one taking it down. Joe thought for a moment that it was a prank someone left, but also couldn’t believe anyone would come around here to do something like that. This place had such a dark history and feeling surrounding it, no one would willingly come around here.

Looking into the room he just opened was a small bathroom with a toilet and a shower. The walls were filthy and covered in black mildew. He shined his light up at the roof of the room and saw that the rope was tied around a light fixture in the ceiling.

Mike: “Hey Joe, is everything OK up there?” he called out from downstairs.

Mike and Dan had heard the commotion Joe made when the noose smacked him in the face, and were calling out to make sure he was ok.

Joe: “Yeah, I was just startled,” he yelled back.

Dan: “What’s our name?” he yelled out from below.

Joe:“What?”

Dan: “If you\'re not a ghost impersonating Joe, you should know our names.”

Joe: “Shut the fuck up, Dan!” he yelled back frustrated by Dan’s behavior.

Dan: “Ahh, why would you say my name? Now the ghost will know my name!” he yelled out in panic.

“If you were worried about that, why would you ask me to yell out your name then?” He thought to himself, annoyed.

There was a sudden load creaking followed by a crash and the sound of wood splintering from the main floor beneath Joe, where Mike and Dan were.

Dan: “Ahhhhh!”

Mike: “Fucking holy light!” he yelled out.

Joe immediately readied his weapon and ran downstairs towards where he heard the crash. He made his way to the entrance way of the living room where he left his team. He stopped just from entering the room, as dust was stirred up and he couldn’t see anything inside.

Joe: “Hey, are you guys ok?"

He didn’t get a response, but could hear both Mike and Dan coughing from the dust.

Joe stood there and waited patently. Eventually the dust settled to reveal his team was OK, but now dirty and covered with a thin layer of gray dust.

Mike: “Cough, cough, cough. Y-yeah we’re fine. Cough.”

Joe: “What the fuck happened?” he said while entering the room.

Mike: “Dan freaked out when you called to him and bumped into a shelf, tipping it over.”

In the center of the room was now a bookshelf fallen over onto its front side with Dan standing beside it.

Dan: “I-I’m sorry,” he said while trying to rub the dust out of his eyes.

Joe shined his light onto the bookshelf that fell and noticed that there were drops of blood on the back of it. He then moved the direction of the light towards where the shelf was standing and noticed a rectangular metal panel with a dial embedded into the wall with more drops of dried blood on it. It was a safe.

Joe: “Actually, good job Dan.” he said while walking over to the panel.

Dan: “Huh?” was all he said, taking a little while to notice the safe Joe was looking at.

Mike: “So there was safe behind that shelf the whole time.”

Joe: “Not only that, look here. There is dried blood on the back of the shelf and the safe.” he said while shining his torch on the dried blood.

Mike: “Hmm, so maybe there was a scuffle around there and the shelf was quickly moved to hide it.”

Joe: “I don’t think the shelf was moved to hide the blood so much as the safe. There’s only a few drops here. It would be easier to wipe it down than move furniture around.”

Mike: “You’re probably right. So, what do you think the blood is about?”

Joe: “Not sure, but we might find a clue in that safe.”

Dan: “Are we going to have to rip that out of the wall and take it to an expert to get it open?”

Joe looked at the safe then tapped his knuckles against the metal, making a deep hollow metallic echo. He channeled his aether while touching it to see if it would be disrupted, it wasn\'t.

Joe: “Nope, this is a basic safe. It has no mage protection on it. Just give me a second. “

With an open hand, he made a twisting motion a couple inches away from the safe and the dial on the safe started to turn. Joe was creating a magnetic field, using it to try and feel out the inner working of the locking mechanism of the safe. After a few seconds of concentration he could feel the wheels of the locking mechanism and had an idea of the position they needed to be in. He generated a stronger magnetic field and rotated the disk inside until he was sure they were in the right position.

Joe then reached out and turned the lever on the safe. With a click, the safe door easily swung open. Joe expected to find documents or money inside, but found neither. The only thing he saw was a folded up switchblade.

With visible disappointment on his face, Joe reached inside and took it. He rotated it around in his hand and carefully examined it. The handle was metallic and had an intricate pattern carved into it. He then pushed the button on the handle and the blade flicked out. There wasn\'t as much of a design on the blade, apart from what looked like an eye carved into the center of it.

There were also a few drops of dried blood on it.

Joe: “Hmm, so i think what happened is that someone cut themselves on this blade and got blood on it. Then they got blood on the safe and the back on the bookshelf.”

Dan: “How can you be so sure?”

Joe: “People cut themselves with these kinds of blades all the time, accidentally flipping the blade out when they\'re not ready. So, I\'m sure of that. What I don\'t get is why it’s in a safe like this.”

Mike: “It does look a little fancy. Maybe it is valuable.”

Joe: “Hmm, that might be the case. Could have some sort of sentimental value too. Anyways, it doesn\'t look like there is anything useful in that safe,” he said while pocketing the switchblade. “ Did you guys find anything interesting?”

Mike: “Not really, but we did find signs that it was likely not just Mark and his mother living here.”

Joe: “Yeah, there was a father. I found a family photo with him cut out of it.”

Mike: “OK, that\'s something. Find anything else interesting up there?”

Joe: “I found a noose.”

Dan: “W-w-what?!?”

Joe: “Yeah, I know. It’s strange. Come, I\'ll show you guys.”

Joe led the way and Mike followed behind with Dan hesitating a little bit, but quickly ran up behind them, too scared at the idea of being alone. Joe showed the team the noose that hit him in the face. The rest of the team was stunned by this, but assumed it was some sort of prank, despite Joe disagreeing.

When they found nothing else, they searched throughout the rest of the house with the constant sense of unease bearing down on them, but continued to find nothing. After another floorboard broke beneath Joe’s feet, Mike pushed them to leave the condemned home.

In the end, they would leave the house with nothing really interesting happening, or any clear clues on connecting Mark to Rob\'s murder. Joe in the coming days would spend his time trying to find more information about Mark\'s father and mother.

♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦

Outside Mark\'s old home, some distance away in an apartment overlooking the condemned house from a window, there was an old mutant man with an extra pair of arms beneath his normal arms. He wore a custom blue shirt with a plaid jacket on top and sported a long white beard. He observed three individuals in trench coats entering the home. After some time, he saw the same individuals leave the home and the area.

He stroked his beard and pondered what was going on in that old building. It was known to everyone in the neighborhood not to go anywhere near that building. The Nighthounds made it very clear to stay away. No one in their right mind would go against what the Nighthounds said, combined with how ominous and dangerous the place seemed. It left only one possibility in the mind of this individual.

Mutant Man: “They must not be from around here. Hmm, the Nightqueen will probably want to know about this.