Author's Preface
The chair was comfortable, touched by an additional warmth, which seeped into the table where the book had now been placed. It was almost as if these three objects contained a distinct temperature compared to the rest of the AC-wrapped room. Despite the warmth, Noir felt none of it. His head was turned to the ceiling, with his eyes closed, as he inhaled and exhaled. There was not a sound, not even that of a page rustling; it was almost as if he were in an isolated chamber designed for a criminal under solitary confinement.
In this space he thought,
Urkan... sure had it tough. Hmm... the gang wars are, rather, quite important for our nation. Why aren't they spoken as much as the other events? Well, the general public won't really talk about history as they sip coffee, but was it discussed when I was younger? After a pause he came to an answer: Not really, but maybe I am wrong.
To confirm his suspicions, Noir turned to a simple solution. His hands traveled to his pant pocket and slipped out his phone, and then his fingers danced on the screen. And just like before, there were various articles about it; some spoke about the tensions, others spoke exaggeratedly about the government's involvement, and there were a few that criticized the government. This time he could separate the chaff from the grain, assuming that he took a certain author's words as the grain. None of them were comprehensive with just bits and pieces; as a matter of fact, most of them contained sentences that would be considered hearsay by Urkan.
Noir sighed as he then had another thought. It isn't as if everything were hidden, or perhaps nothing is. Our history is shrouded in mystery, to be fair. Everybody was trying to live, and every side has their own version of the story. This book itself can be purchased online. Perhaps the government is trying to... muffle it slightly? History graduates must surely know better. Then again, the current government is in a different party from that one.
His right foot tapped the floor. Then, what about the gangs themselves? There is definitely quite a bit of additional information, but the gangs seemed like a group of people that had coalesced into a single entity for their survival. Okay. They did turn into something more cinema-like later. Perhaps... they were... from those times? But then again it was all abolished long ago, and most of all, what would that even mean? The Bennetts are a group of Elenorian people who have come together to form a gang, huh? Why would that even be necessary? Claire is a rather fine, educated womanβnormal in the way she is allowed to study. Why would ruffians need their young miss... Noir chuckled. To study? Also, her family at least works under the pretext of business. Fashion is their stronghold. Could it be that she doesn't want to declare that she is filthy rich and her family is tinged with a sense of elitism that can never be overcome by a peasant like me? That would possibly be the most likely case... indeed...
Noir sighed, his breath melding with the air outside. As his eyelids shot open, he observed the ceiling above; it was clean and white with not a speck of dust visible.
It doesn't matter. No matter the problem, I will find a solution. Then he folded his arms and placed them on the table; the smooth, cold, wooden texture of it seeped into his body before he lowered his head upon the most cushioned part of his hands. Her smile appeared in his mind again, causing a deep constriction inside, which caused him to sigh. He realized once again the terrible sickness in his heart and the fact that it didn't want to be cured.
As his face rested on his left elbow, his right traveled to another book. This one was named Bizarre & Unsolved: Crimes that remain a mystery βa title was written between the edges of a huge magnifying glass, which was surrounded by a sand-like texture and color. It was written by Igor Chapman & a few others. It was a book into which new material was added as the ages passed by, a new writer when the previous one passed away. Noir opened it, as if he felt not a grain of the texture. It was smooth and plain just like every ordinary book.
The first page revealed itself, white with the title page. Noir cast not more than a single glance and flipped to the contents page, revealing 15 pages' worth of murders divided into 4 parts:
1900-1950
1951-1975
1976-2000
2001-2025
With a yawn, he quickly brushed through the first part, glancing at different murders. It seemed that there were too many, and they were too varied; it in a way reaffirmed what he read earlier. After skimming through 58 pages, he then reached the second part, revealing a slightly sober history, with the most bizarre, as the book intended to be, being a case about a family.
{
The Ukan Mystery
Location: [Yutal Ukilas, Borkun, Shikinda]
Individuals Involved: A family of 5
Date: 05/05/1955
The Shidera family was a normal family consisting of five members: two daughters aged 15 and 17; their father aged 45, whose wife was aged 42; and her mother aged 87, who had been in a comatose state for the previous three years due to a head injury. This woman lay on a cot under the supervision of her daughter, who was a homemaker. Suddenly on the 15th of March, the aged woman woke up from her comatose state while her daughter was washing her body with a cloth, which was one of the duties she undertook. The daughter was frightened for a reason she hadn't explained, and therefore, she called her family doctor, who arrived at their place an hour later. He did a basic checkup, and the woman was bizarrely in perfect condition, but the woman had an uncanny smile on her face. According to the doctor's testimony, the woman was staring at him between something he called "scandalous" and a "cannabilistic" gaze. In his own words, "I dislike onions, and I will to my last breath. But I was ready to suffer from the pain than ever look at that accursed woman's face. I will tell you, she was out for my blood and her daughters."
After the woman woke up, the next two weeks passed by normally. Residents nearby were overjoyed as the woman was held in high regard, and none of them found anything suspicious in the woman other than the fact that she had recovered; in fact, they observed the members of the family turning more and more amicable as the days passed. One such witness, who had witnessed it, revealed something occultic, though; in his observation, they were indeed amicable as the days passed, but their behavior seemed to mirror each other in expressions, mannerisms, words, and cadence they spoke with. He also revealed another observation, which he wasn't quite sure about back then: The woman used to stare at him, with an uncanny smile, whenever he noticed the abnormality in their behavior. He avoided them after the first week. We will call this man Mr. X.
On the 15th of March, 1955, the husband gifted everyone in the locality, and we mean everyone, a garland of Orjanu, a flower that symbolizes success. He did so while saying that there was success, and he didn't elaborate further. When asked about it, he only smiled and said that it would be revealed later. Gifting Orjanu isn't quite uncommon in Irstian culture even in this modern age, and the locals too thought that maybe he was extremely happy as everything was heading in the right direction for him and his family.
On the 25th of March, 1955, another such scenario was repeated, with the two daughters gifting the entire locality a box of sweets, which contained white circular balls made up of milk solids with a few nuts and dried seeds addedβthis dish is called Suki Uttaracha. This is another aspect that is quite common in Irstian culture, and it is expected that if anything positive happens, there are gifts. Suki Uttaracha is one of the most common dishes to gift. A few witnesses did notice something odd in the dish, though: it tasted a bit too sour, and usually there is nothing sour added to the dish. Coming back to the girls, they were smiling as they told every single person in the locality, which would be around a hundred households, that there was success again, and when asked, they replied with the same words as their father: that they would know later. This time some of them found it odd, and therefore these people asked them about it. The girls replied with a sweet smile, chuckling as they said that they would know when the party comes. They would further explain that their grandmother had called all of them to the party and that she would reveal the details then. Now remember that some of this has happened in open streets.
On the 5th of May was the party, and the whole locality wasn't invited. Only those who had questioned the girls again were invited. The Shidera family was extremely wealthy, and they lived in a mansion with a garden. [Yutal Ukilas] was an area for the rich, and those that were invited held a similar amount of wealth.
Coming back to the topic, a watchman led the guests to the door, and he told them to directly head to the first floor. Now, Mr. X was invited as well, and he was not sure till the last minute if he should visit them or not, as it would be extremely disrespectful not to do so. He decided to do so in the end, but he arrived around 20 minutes later than the party time. It was nearly 8:50 PM when he reached the mansion. He too was guided by the watchmen, and then he was left alone at the doorway with the door wide open.
According to his testimony, the entire mansion looked desolate and empty, and he found it very odd, as he had visited their home twice, once before the woman had gone into a comatose state and once when she had just fallen into the state; both of those times, the mansion had given a completely different feeling. Nevertheless, he walked ahead, albeit slightly confused.
The ground floor had everything clean and proper, and there were no sounds, such that he could clearly hear his own footsteps. As he walked towards the second floor, the confusion he had felt turned into uneasiness. He has stated that it felt like he was walking in an abandoned household that, through some magic, had stayed spotless over the years. As he climbed up the staircase, the woman's uncanny smile, the observations, and everything ran through his mind, and he was in a frame of mind in which he just wanted to leave, but he remembered that the others could be on the first floor, inside a room, and he was overthinking for no reason. When he reached the first floor, there were 3 rooms equally spaced from each other in front of him, and then there were the ones on the other sides and behind him.
At that moment, Mr. X had expected there to be some kind of sound of partying and chatting, but there was none. He had been at their place before, so he knew that the middle room was the largest and the most suitable for a party, and therefore he walked towards it and then knocked. There was no reply for a few seconds, and he instantly thought of leaving the mansion, but exactly at the same time he heard the voice of the grandmother saying, "Goodness, Mr. X, you surely are late. Please come in; we were all waiting for you." It was her usual sweet way of speaking.
Mr. X asked, "Where are the others?"
There was a pause, and Mr. X was ready to bolt, but then again he heard, "Ey... X come on in. What you wasting our time for?" Then another said, "We were preparing a surprise for you; normally, you would just rush in like a monkey. What's wrong with you?" and then a few voices chipped in, with the final one sighing and saying, "Fine. We will start the party without you."
And then he suddenly started hearing music. As the voices were familiar and one of them was a person he frequently interacted with, he walked forward and pushed the door open. Instantly the music stopped, and the light he had seen seeping out of the door vanished. The room had turned dark, but it was bright enough for him to see. First he saw a chair with the grandmother sitting on it, and then below around her, he saw the others bowing to her. All of them were headless.
He wanted to bolt, but suddenly, in his own words, he smelled something in the air, and then he felt lightheaded, and his body wouldn't move. The grandmother told him to come in, and his body moved on its own. He was told to kneel, and he did so, behind all the other bodies. Then he heard footsteps inching towards him, and we are not sure how to take this, but he told us that it felt like an hour had passed as they did so. Somewhere in this period, the women shrieked, "He is there! He is there!" She said it multiple times with a break in between each time she said these words.
Then, the woman's footsteps stopped, and again it felt like an hour had passed, and he could see her shoes drenched in blood all along. Suddenly, the woman started speaking incomprehensible words, saying something and then, out of nowhere, saying, "Believe! Believe! Why don't you believe?"
She repeated this pattern multiple times, and then she said, "You don't believe? Then you die."
Mr. X knew what was coming next, but all of a sudden he felt as if another hour had passed by, and then the door behind him opened again. The woman shrieked louder than ever, saying, "No! No... why... why... real? Why don't you all believe?" and then the man heard a metallic object or something hitting the floor. And then an hour later, he saw the woman on the ground at the edge of his vision along with a random cuss from behind from the faintly familiar voice of the watchman whom he had talked to before.
Initially, he couldn't move at all; that was until the watchmen told him to move, asking him to get up. He was then led to the hallway, where he was questioned by the watchmen and then felt he had to answer no matter what his thoughts were. The police came in soon, and he was questioned for a single day, and he answered as if he didn't have his own will. The effects of whatever chemical or drug he had inhaled finally ended a day later. The police investigation was thorough, but they never found out what the smell was, as it had disappeared by the time they had started the checkup. Only after the guard agreed that there was indeed a funny scent and that he too had felt a bit fuzzy for a few hours did they agree to their statements. The police found a magnetic-tape recorder as well, along with the testimony of a few other witnesses.
Various angles were checked. The watchmen's and Mr. X's histories were searched through as well, but the police found nothing. All that was known was the woman had killed her own family and a few other people. Another thing that was found was that the watchman had received a call on the rotary-dial phone coming in around the time Mr. X was conversing behind the door. There was no dial phone in that room. After a few months of investigation, all they found was that the woman had targeted those who had doubted her, but this too, to a certain extent, was flawed, as Mr. X had never doubted her and neither had the doctor who had dared to visit. The next conclusion was perhaps that the woman was extremely good at reading facial expressions and that she had sensed some doubt about her character on their faces. She had repeated the word "believe," but "believe in what?" is the most important question that remains to be answered. The answer to this is pivotal to fully understand her intentions.
We do not know about how the aged women spoke just when Mr. X was about to take a decision or whenever he noticed something odd. We do not know what had come over the woman. We also do not know how the recording produced such a clear, lifelike sound enough to convince Mr. X to enter the room. The way she had suddenly woken up from a comatose state was a mystery. The chemical or drug she had produced remains a mystery as well.
This is indeed one of the most bizarre of cases we have heard or seen.
Written by Burkin Castle }
Noir sighed deeply as he finished reading what he had read. The table now felt colder than before. This was the first case that he had taken an interest in and read, as he skimmed through the contents in the other ones without getting to the heavier parts. It was because it started with describing the family that he had thought it could be a lead to some insight. Perhaps the daughter would offend some man, and then the family would disappear; this is what he had envisioned.
As his face shuffled on his forearm, he questioned himself. Is it worth it? Perhaps I can do it tomorrow.
Noir took a deep breath as he turned the page. His reading spree continued, and so did the coldness that he felt on the table. Exhaustion crept in as he had to read some of their goriest descriptions, and the authors of this book were all unhinged; therefore, Noir trusted it to a greater extent. Obviously there were reviews and a bit of cross-checking that he had done before. The consequences of it were his ever-growing yawns.
The patterns that he was looking for were missing, but instead he found another pattern: the 1900s had a lot of brutality, with people disappearing in the forests with terrible things done to them and the culprit remaining unknown; in the 1950s the brutality decreased and the cases were more occultic and extremely strange in nature, with the occult mainly occurring around aged people. He had a hypothesis for it. The 1970s contained a bit less of the occult, and the nature changed to serial killers, many of whom did it for reasons unknown, and these killers weren't ready to share a speck of dust from a room full of it. Initially Noir thought that it could be a lead, but as he read, he realized that most of them had something loose in their heads. One person in particular targeted elderly women only and bashed their skulls with bricks. His reasoning was that as everybody dies, insects die, animals die, and humans die, elderly women could die as well. These words were actually spoken on the radio.
Sighs couldn't explain what he felt currently as he was skimming through the last section of the bookβthe 2000s. Noir's face was still on his arms, his eyes growing heavy, threatening to shut themselves, and that is when he suddenly shot up as he read a single word.
{Location: Lusiana Forest, Lusiana, Jabrock}
His heartbeat rose a beat. Then he realized that it was talking about something other than what he had envisioned. A smile appeared on his face; it was much different than anything he had given in these past few days. Accompanying the smile was a face that sizzled through his memory, smiling at him.
"So we are brothers..." he heard a voice in his head.
Leaning forward, he placed the palms of his hands on his eyelids, his elbows on the table in front of him. Memories flowed with time, and he allowed it to do so in a solemn darkness. The darkness disappeared along with a supple moisture, but what didn't disappear was the lingering ache.
Noir grit his teeth and then read the book, page by page, not missing a word. And as he did, he thought of her face, something that he couldn't afford to lose even if hell were to break loose. When he was done, the deepest sigh he could muster escaped his lips.
This book was closed, lying nonchalantly on the table. And then there was another book, closed, by its side, which looked a similar 400-page size to the previous one. He read the titleβ Mysterious Disappearances in Svardia by someone whose name he didn't glance at. Noir leaned forward, and he opened the book this time, skipping page to page, till he reached the first case. Noir ignored the ever-growing heaviness on the inside, persevering in reading with a colder look in his eyes. Before he knew it, he had leaned forward a bit too muchβ
Noir had fallen asleep.