The Book
The rain started hours ago. Heavy, loud, and endless. Elsie hated being here. The old house smelled like dust, mold, and something worse that she couldn't even name.
She kicked a broken chair out of the way and pulled her jacket tighter. Her flashlight flickered as she climbed the stairs to the attic.
This was stupid. Really stupid.
But the letter her grandmother left had mentioned something. A box. Locked. Hidden. And one simple line scribbled at the bottom in shaky handwriting:
"If you find it… burn it."
Of course, Elsie wasn't going to burn anything. Curiosity won, as always.
The attic was cold, dark, and cluttered with old junk. Boxes. Crates. A cracked mirror leaning against the wall. Her flashlight scanned across the mess until it stopped.
There. In the corner.
A black box. Small. Plain. No lock. No key. Nothing fancy about it, but it felt… wrong. Something about it made her stomach twist.
She knelt down. Her hand hovered over the lid. For some reason, touching it made the air feel heavier, like something was pressing down on her chest.
"Okay," she whispered to herself. "It's just a box."
She opened it
Inside was a book.
It wasn't dusty. In fact, it looked almost new. Thick, heavy, with a dark leather cover and strange symbols pressed into it. Symbols she didn't understand. At the center was a circle with some weird design — maybe a snake eating its own tail. She wasn't sure.
Her fingers brushed the cover. The second she touched it, it felt… warm. Weird. Like it was alive.
Then something cold brushed past her ear. A whisper.
"Read it."
She jumped up, spinning around. Her flashlight shook in her hands. "Hello?" she called out. Nothing. Just the sound of rain hitting the roof.
Her heart thumped as she turned back to the box. She shouldn't be doing this. She knew it.
But her hands had already flipped open the book.
The pages were filled with symbols — but as she looked, her mind started understanding them. She couldn't explain how, but the words started to make sense, like they were being translated in her head.
"He who holds this script commands the boundary between fire and flesh."
"Speak, and it shall answer."
"What the hell…?" she mumbled.
A sound behind her.
A chill shot down her spine. She turned, but nothing was there. At least, nothing she could see.
The air shifted. Heavy. Thick. Her ears rang. The shadows in the corner started… moving. Not like wind. More like something was forming. Building itself.
Two glowing eyes appeared first.
Bright. Gold. Watching her.
Her breath caught. Her legs wanted to run, but her body refused to move.
A voice followed. Deep. Rough. Smooth. Everything at once.
"Who… dares… summon me?"
Elsie shook her head. "No. Nope. No. I didn't summon anything. I was just— I was just—"
A laugh. Low. Almost amused. "Oh… but you did."
The shape stepped forward. Tall. Solid now. A man — no, not a man. Something more. His skin was pale but marked with strange glowing lines. His hair was black, his eyes still burning gold. And behind him… wings. Black as night.
"Look what we have here," he said, smiling like someone who just found something fun to play with. "A little human… playing with things she doesn't understand."
"I didn't mean to—" Elsie backed away, bumping into an old table. "I didn't know—"
"No one opens that book by accident."
He stepped closer. Close enough that she could feel the heat rolling off him like fire. Close enough that her whole body screamed at her to run.
But she didn't.
"Tell me," the demon said, tilting his head, "do you believe in fate?"
Elsie opened her mouth, but no sound came out.
"Good," he said. His smile grew wider, sharp. Dangerous. "Because now… you belong to it."