Chapter 153 — What Henry Remembers
The tunnel had no end.
Brook had stopped asking where it led.
Henry had stopped pretending he wasn't afraid.
Neither of them said it.
But both knew the truth.
They were lost.
The darkness around them was different from ordinary darkness. Brook could see stone beneath his feet and walls stretching ahead, but the shadows seemed deeper than they should have been.
Like the tunnel was swallowing the light.
Henry walked behind him.
"How long?"
Brook didn't turn.
"What?"
"Have we been walking?"
Brook looked ahead.
"I don't know."
Henry sighed.
"That wasn't helpful."
"You asked."
Henry rubbed his arms.
"Usually people try to estimate."
"I'm not usually people."
Henry almost smiled.
Almost.
Then the black fluid beneath his skin moved.
He stopped.
Brook immediately turned.
Henry's face had gone pale.
"Again?"
Henry looked at his arm.
The Ectoplasm was moving beneath his skin.
Slowly.
Like something swimming.
"It's remembering."
Brook stepped toward him.
"Elias?"
Henry nodded.
Brook's grip tightened around his weapon.
Henry closed his eyes.
The tunnel disappeared.
He was standing somewhere else.
A room.
White walls.
Too clean.
Henry immediately smelled blood.
He looked down.
His hands were small.
Not his hands.
A child's.
Henry tried to move.
He couldn't.
He was watching through someone else's memory.
A voice spoke from the other side of the room.
"Again."
Henry turned.
Elias.
Younger.
His face looked almost normal.
That was the worst part.
He wasn't smiling.
He wasn't angry.
He was simply watching.
A woman was tied to a chair.
Her body was covered in cuts.
Black fluid moved around her feet.
Ectoplasm.
Henry tried to look away.
The body he was inside couldn't.
The woman cried.
"Please."
Elias wrote something down.
"Do you remember your name?"
The woman shook her head.
Elias looked disappointed.
"Again."
The Ectoplasm climbed her legs.
The woman screamed.
Henry felt the child's body trembling.
The child wasn't being forced to watch.
That was what made Henry's stomach turn.
The child had been placed there deliberately.
Elias noticed the fear.
He looked directly at the child.
"Pay attention."
Henry tried to scream.
The memory continued.
The Ectoplasm entered the woman's mouth.
Her body convulsed.
She screamed until her voice disappeared.
Then—
silence.
The woman slowly lifted her head.
Her eyes were black.
Elias stepped closer.
"Do you remember your name?"
The woman stared at him.
Then smiled.
Elias waited.
She whispered:
"No."
Elias smiled.
Henry felt sick.
The woman suddenly began crying.
Not normal crying.
Her body shook.
The Ectoplasm began leaving her.
Elias watched.
Interested.
The woman collapsed.
Henry expected Elias to help her.
He didn't.
Instead, Elias knelt beside her.
"Pain is difficult to preserve."
Henry returned to the tunnel.
He fell to his knees.
Brook grabbed him.
"Henry!"
Henry pushed himself away.
"Don't."
Brook stopped.
Henry vomited onto the stone.
Brook waited.
Henry wiped his mouth.
His hands were shaking.
Brook finally spoke.
"What did you see?"
Henry looked up.
"He enjoyed it."
Brook's expression changed.
Henry laughed weakly.
"That's the thing."
Brook crouched beside him.
Henry looked directly at him.
"I thought there would be a reason."
Brook said nothing.
Henry continued.
"A purpose."
The black fluid moved beneath his skin.
"A mistake."
Brook's jaw tightened.
Henry whispered:
"But he liked it."
Silence.
Henry looked away.
"He knew they were afraid."
Brook's voice lowered.
"Who?"
"Everyone."
Henry looked toward the darkness.
"The people."
"The children."
"The ones he used."
Brook stood slowly.
Henry continued.
"He would talk to them."
His breathing became uneven.
"He would ask them questions."
Brook looked back.
Henry's eyes were wet.
"And when they answered wrong…"
Henry stopped.
Brook didn't push him.
Henry whispered:
"He would do it again."
They started walking.
Neither of them spoke for several minutes.
Then Brook stopped.
Henry nearly walked into him.
"What?"
Brook was staring at the wall.
A symbol had been carved into it.
Henry immediately recognized it.
Elias's symbol.
The same shape that appeared in his memories.
Henry stepped closer.
The Ectoplasm beneath his skin reacted.
The symbol began moving.
Brook grabbed Henry.
"Back."
The stone split.
Henry stared.
Behind the wall was another chamber.
Brook stepped inside first.
Henry followed reluctantly.
The room was empty.
Except for a table.
And a chair.
Henry stopped.
Brook looked around.
"Don't touch anything."
Henry laughed nervously.
"Wasn't planning to."
Then the chair moved.
Brook turned.
Henry froze.
The chair was empty.
But black fluid had begun spreading across the floor.
Brook raised his weapon.
Henry backed away.
The Ectoplasm answered.
Black fluid left Henry's arm.
Not much.
A thin strand.
It moved toward the pool.
Henry stared.
"Brook."
Brook didn't move.
The black fluid touched.
The chamber disappeared.
Henry stood in darkness.
Elias was there.
Older now.
Standing beside hundreds of glass containers.
Inside every one—
Ectoplasm.
Different colors.
Different densities.
Different forms.
Henry stared.
"How many?"
Elias turned.
He looked directly at him.
Henry knew this was a memory.
But Elias's eyes seemed to see him.
Elias smiled.
"Enough."
Henry tried to move.
He couldn't.
Elias walked between the containers.
"I thought memory was the answer."
He placed his hand against one.
The creature inside moved.
"But memory fades."
Henry remembered Crowley.
Entire centuries disappearing.
Elias continued.
"Even monsters forget."
Henry's body went cold.
"So I changed the memory."
Elias turned.
"I gave it hunger."
The containers began moving.
Black fluid struck the glass.
Henry couldn't breathe.
Elias smiled.
"Pain doesn't disappear."
The glass cracked.
"Fear doesn't disappear."
Another cracked.
"Neither does suffering."
The chamber filled with the sound of breaking glass.
Henry whispered:
"What did you make?"
Elias looked at him.
"Something honest."
Henry returned to the real chamber screaming.
Brook grabbed him.
Henry fought him.
"GET OFF!"
"Henry!"
The Ectoplasm was moving across Henry's chest.
Brook grabbed his shoulders.
"Look at me!"
Henry's eyes opened.
Black.
Brook froze.
For one second—
Henry smiled.
Then Henry began crying.
The blackness disappeared.
Brook slowly released him.
Henry collapsed.
Brook looked at the black fluid spreading across the floor.
Henry whispered:
"He didn't make it to remember."
Brook looked down.
Henry was staring into nothing.
"He made it so nobody could forget."
Brook understood.
Ectoplasm didn't preserve simple memories.
It preserved pain.
The victims carried their suffering.
The creature carried their memories.
And every new host added more.
Elias had created something that could survive generations.
Henry whispered:
"He made suffering immortal."
The words remained between them.
Brook looked around the chamber again.
Everything suddenly made sense.
The buried memories.
The Ectoplasm.
The people Elias had experimented on.
Elias didn't need to personally remember everything.
His creation did.
Henry slowly stood.
Brook helped him.
Henry looked at him.
"There are thousands."
Brook frowned.
"What?"
Henry pointed to his head.
"Memories."
Brook's expression hardened.
Henry continued.
"Thousands of people."
The black fluid moved beneath his skin.
"And they all remember him."
Brook looked toward the darkness beyond the chamber.
Henry's voice became quieter.
"Brook."
"What?"
"I know what Elias is afraid of."
Brook waited.
Henry swallowed.
"Me."
Brook stared.
Henry laughed nervously.
"That feels like a problem."
Before Brook could answer—
something moved in the darkness.
Brook immediately stepped in front of Henry.
A voice came from the tunnel.
Slow.
Heavy.
Footsteps.
Henry whispered:
"Is that Elias?"
Brook closed his eyes.
Death reached outward.
The lifeline appeared.
Massive.
Violent.
Familiar.
Brook opened his eyes.
"No."
Henry's face fell.
Brook's expression hardened.
"Azael."
The footsteps stopped.
The tunnel went silent.
Then Azael's voice came from the darkness.
"Brook."
Henry stepped back.
Brook didn't.
Azael emerged.
His body was covered in old wounds.
Some from their previous encounters.
His eyes immediately found Brook.
Then Henry.
Then Brook again.
A smile slowly formed.
"I was hoping you survived."
Brook raised his weapon.
"Sorry to disappoint you."
Azael laughed.
"No."
He stepped forward.
The tunnel seemed smaller around him.
"You surviving is exactly what I wanted."
Brook's eyes narrowed.
"Why?"
Azael looked toward Henry.
Then back at Brook.
"Because now I get to finish it properly."
Brook stepped forward.
Henry grabbed his arm.
"Brook."
Brook looked at him.
Henry's voice was quiet.
"Not angry."
Brook stared at him.
Henry continued.
"Don't let him make you angry."
Brook looked back at Azael.
Azael smiled.
Then spoke.
Softly.
Deliberately.
"Sera screamed beautifully."
Everything stopped.
Henry's grip tightened around Brook's arm.
Brook's face changed.
Azael watched.
Waiting.
Brook's hand slowly closed around his weapon.
Henry whispered:
"Brook."
Azael smiled wider.
"That's it."
Brook took one step forward.
Then another.
Henry released him.
Not because he wanted to.
Because Brook's eyes no longer looked at him.
They only looked at Azael.
Azael opened his arms.
"Come."
Brook moved.
The tunnel exploded.
End of Chapter 153