Hal woke up in a fright. He looked around and discovered he was in a strange room; he quickly got up and bolted out the door, only to be caught by Mr Vandinel.
"Hey, you fainted from soul flame exhaustion, and you're already up and about. What if you fragment your soul?"
Hal didn't care for Mr Vandinel's words; that dream felt too real to just be a dream.
"I have to go to the city prison; she might still be alive. I have to go before the cultists kill her"
The detective held him tightly before finally grabbing his face and making Hal face him directly. Hal continued to struggle, but the detective had a firm grip on him.
"Hal, Hal! Calm down and tell me what's going on so that I can help you"
Hal finally allowed himself to calm down as he then narrated the entire dream to the detective, his voice was shaky, and his eyes had sprung open
Even his lips had grown dry, and he could not get the fear Helen felt during that moment, it made him scratch his face from time to time, and fear his own shadow
"According to your story, it seems you have been possessed"
Hal's heart skipped a beat. Does he mean the possession of a ghost entering your body and twisting his bones in weird directions
Hal heard something whisper into his ear as he turned to his shadow, which rippled as something crawled out of the shadow and grabbed him
"Oh dear scholar, may knowledge be your guide and may madness be your solace, for I of the blue moon summon you to me and bind our souls so that he may perform my last rites and get me my vengeance"
Hal was close to panicking when he felt Mr Vandinel's hand touch his shoulder
"Don't worry, we just have to get to the prison to perform her last rites right then let us not waste a moment, they will let you in as long as you are with me"
Hal nodded as he heard his shadow whisper to him again, but then another whisper blew into his mind, its word unrecognisable but understandable
"Stay calm, for knowledge will be your guide, trust in the detective, and freedom won't be far away"
The whisper calmed Hal down enough for him to ask a question that was on his mind
"What did you mean by possession, Mr Vandinel?"
The detective looked at him as if wondering where he got the confidence to ask such a question.
"Once a creature dies, its soul is given a chance to remain upon the earth before passing on for seventy-eight hours. In these hours, they can say goodbye or possess a being to extend their stay and become malevolent, which the soul of this Helen, or at least a fragment, has chosen to do so"
Hal nodded as the detective helped him to his feet, but then the whisper appeared again, this time manifesting from the shadows forming in the corner of the room.
"Hurry, Hal, before the king fully devours all that is left of me"
Hal turned to the detective and, in a shaky voice, said
"Hurry, we do not have much time left"
The two of them bolted out of the detective's house and quickly found a carriage that would transport them to the city prison.
The rain began to bathe the entire city as raindrops collided with the carriage's windows, and the carriage driver struggled to keep control of a carriage that rushed out of the city door after the detective showed them his documents.
The carriage raced up a hill as the prison finally came into view. The prison was a decaying building, but by the looks of it, it seemed more sturdy than some buildings he had in his home world.
The carriage left them at the entrance of the prison, which was a big black steel gate that towered over any of them.
A man peeped from above the building and screamed down at them
"Hey, Mr Vandinel, is that you? What are you doing here in this weather?"
"My good sir, I have to check on the prisoner known as Helen, she is a mad woman who was arrested from the city market some sometime back, she is very vital to this investigation"
The man hesitated for a while before finally answering
"Okay, detective, we'll let you in in just a minute"
The man left the balcony of the gate, and in a few minutes, the gates opened for them to pass as a myriad of buildings came into sight
A guard came running towards them as white mist left their mouth
"Please, detective, follow me, I'll lead you to the prisoner you have come to see"
The guard rushed into one of the buildings that was illuminated by yellow crystals in the hallway that they were walking through
They reached the place with all the cells as different prisoners turned to them with scornful eyes. Hal tried his best to avoid their eyes, making contact as he saw all of them appearing as Helen
A crowd of guards had gathered around Helen's prison cell with worried looks on their faces. Among them, Hal saw the one who delivered food to Helen in his dream
He stood in the middle of the crowd with a spear shaking in his hands. Hal reached as he saw the man walk into the prison cell, only to let out a loud shriek as the black substance on the cell floor flowed up his body and absorbed him, frightening the guards more
Hal looked into the cell, which was pitch black with nothing visible inside it. The whispers returned to him, telling him one thing over and over
"Come to me, scholar, perform my last rites"
Hal felt his body disobey his order as his legs began to walk. Mr Vandinel tried to stop him, but he somehow overpowered the detective.
"Hey, didn't you see what happened to that guy? How, no, it must be the soul of that Helen lady"
He turned to the guards and asked them in a shaky voice
"Tell me what's happening to this cell"
The prison guard almost jumped when he felt the detective's touch
"A prison guard found her dead in there and tried to get her body out, only to be taken by the malevolent spirit, and with each person it took, the darker the place became"
"What is the cause of death?
The guard's voice shook as he finally spoke the cause
"Suicide"
The detective ran after him, but Hal had already stepped into the cell. The black substance welcomed him as worm-like extensions rose up to greet him.
He reached the body of Helen, who was hanging from the rope with a black rope around her neck; her eyes were open and lifeless, a look of desperation on her pale face.
But then they moved and stared at Hal, who backed up in fear, and then her chest began to bleed as shadow rose from within it.
The worm-like extensions lashed onto it, attempting to drag it back in, but it persisted until it grabbed onto Hal, who heard the people gasp behind him.
The black fluid-like entity spoke with Helen's voice as he was only helpless to watch and listen.
"Hal, I want to tell you something, the people who have been disappearing are still alive, but they are trapped waiting helplessly to be sacrificed for the king's descent. They have been waiting, cultivating the nobles with the purest flame and leaving the last to deal with the curse"
The black figure opened its eyes, which were a brown void that made Hal freeze as he saw a man with a top hat and a room filled with weird runes.
"But their ritual cannot commence without the blue moon, hence one of the nobles in this year's selection will be sacrificed to bring about his arrival, that noble is the duke of Harleyclover save your lord for I failed to save mine and take this it will keep my soul at bay until my vengeance is sought and I have gained my last rites"
"But how can I stop them from taking him? Don't they just disappear?"
The entity shook its inky black head and pulled Hal closer to itself, and whispered.
"They do not just disappear; there is a catalyst at play, one that extends the king's domain to the victim's location. Take this: it keeps my soul at bay and allows you access to the king's domain when the time comes"
The entity reached into its dark, liquid-like body and extracted a golden heart-shaped locket that it placed around his neck before smiling at him.
"May you burn the throne of that blasphemous king who calls himself supreme"
The black worm-like extensions exploded from the water and lashed onto the entity, which let out a scream as it was pulled back into Helen's chest, with the black fluid following soon after
The darkness disappeared, and Helen's eyes finally closed as the entire room returned to normal. The detective ran to Hal, who was breathing heavily.
"Hal, what did it tell you we couldn't hear a thing it said?"
Hal's eyes moved to the duke as only a few words made it out of his lips
"The Duke of Harley Clover is the next victim, and unlike the others, he will die just like how she did"