Curse of Yuvakaya Temple

I woke up with the sound of woods cracking, and animals making weird noises.

"Mice raid? Again?" I murmured silently.

I was sweating, the house had gotten pretty hot. On top of that, I had covered myself with a few layers of blankets, which obviously contributed a lot to the unpleasant situation I was in. I moved away the heavy covers on my body and got out of the bed.

It was still a bit hot though, despite the unforgiving cold of the inland winter nights.

"Am I getting sick? A fever?" I asked myself, putting my hand over my head to have a look at my own body temperature. I failed to come up with a certain judgement.

"I don't think so..." I said.

The sounds of cracking woods were oddly consistent, which could indicate something wrong with not the pests, but the house itself.

"Oh, for the love of the Guarding Spirit, what hour is it anyway?" I said before looking out of the window. The instant I lifted the curtain, I was met with a bright and shiny scene instead of the usual gloomy night view of Yuvakaya village.

Most lights in the houses were lit up. No... these weren't candles or lanterns; the houses were on fire! Most of the snow around those areas had melted already, creating a strong stream of water flowing downhill on the roads.

That was it. I was scared to look down, because I knew it. My house was burning too.

The glass downstairs, which couldn't stand the extreme heat, shattered and let me know that my mind wasn't betraying me. That was indeed the case.

I couldn't tell how much longer the wooden structure could stand the fire before collapsing altogether. The ground floor was completely on fire, so I couldn't use that way to get out. I could, however, jump out of the upper floor's window and try landing on a pile of soft snow.

And I decided to do so, as it was my best bet.

I broke my bedroom's window by kicking it a few times. It was hard to get through, but finally, I found myself holding on to the tiny gaps between the (luckily not burning) wooden planks, outside the house.

The flames were bursting out of all the openings, trying to catch me from below, so they could consume me with the rest of my belongings.

I moved a bit to the side, where I could jump safely onto the branches of a nearby tree.

Once I was in position, I didn't wait for long. Unfortunately, my feet slipped. I couldn't do the jump the way I wanted to. I ended up completely missing the branches, smashing into the ground. Maybe a child could have better chances, but for a man of my age, this kind of fall meant at least a few broken bones. Yet there was a bittersweet feeling, I could fall head-first and that would probably bring my life to an end. I was still alive...

I tried getting back on my feet, but it was impossible. My legs were hurting every time I tried moving them; an intense sharp pain I couldn't stand for a second. Instead, I tried moving my head to look up.

Apart from all the apocalyptic terror that fell upon the village, there was another interesting occurrence no one could possibly miss. The temple which was located north of the village, towards the mountain... It was shining with a bright yellow light.

The light was then slowly focused on one spot, somewhere on the village's southeastern edge. I couldn't see what was happening from there, bu after the light got out of focus again, I could see some smoke rising from that exact spot.

"What on Mother Earth does this mean?" I said loudly. There was no one around to hear me.

Some people had already abandoned their houses, but some, mostly the older ones... I didn't think about it for too long.

The light from the temple focused again, but this time, on a target much closer to me. The Old Man's house caught fire very quickly.

"Oh, it can't be!.." I said. "This is a curse!"

Moments later, I saw The Old Man crawling out of his house in fear and panic. He then got up after making it out of the door. He began running away, as fast as his old and weak body allowed him.

As he was passing in front of my house, I called him out.

"Help! Help me! I can't move!" I cried.

He heard me and stopped to look.

"Help me!" I repeated.

He looked at my burning house, and back at me again a few times without saying anything. Then he turned to point towards the temple.

"The Spirit is raging."

"Can't you stop it?" I asked.

"No. What has been done, is done." he said.

"What did we do to displease the Spirit?" I asked. "You are the most knowledgeable, surely you know what we must do!"

It was the moment I noticed that he was at least as surprised and confused as me.

"I... I-I-I... I don't..." he tried speaking, but he couldn't say anything intelligible.

"You don't know!?" I shouted.

He just turned around to walk away, leaving me there by myself.

"Hey! Hey, don't leave me here!" I yelled.

He was in such a rush that he didn't even hear me. Or perhaps he ignored me on purpose.

Just then, a large chunk of debris broke apart from one of the walls of my house, and landed on top of me. That probably broke a few extra bones, making me moan and cry loudly.

I looked at the temple, and back at The Old Man.

"I believe in your wisdom!" I shouted. This time, he turned around.

"The spirit left us all. The temple won't save you." he said.

"What will you do?" I asked.

"I am but a weak, old man, Ulvi." he said. "I have no power above those of a fellow villager."

"It was all a lie!?" I said. "The doctor, the crazy demon, he was right!?"

My clothes suddenly caught fire from the burning debris above me. I let out a scream.

The Old Man just turned around and kept walking away. I made desperate attempts to get away from the falling debris, but my broken legs wouldn't let me. I was stuck.

"Don't leave me here!"

All the respect I had for that man was lost in those few seconds he kept walking away.

The area of incredible sharp pain was enlarging slowly in a circle. As my skin was turning black, I was losing all the sensations in those parts.

A terrific sound echoed from the mountain.

"Curse! Be cursed! Your village shall burn to ashes!"

Was The Old Man actually right, and the voice was that of an evil spirit? I would never know. Because in the final moments, I passed out on the vision of my very own ribs out in the open, visible through the damaged skin and thin, crimson-black flesh.

"Doctor!" - that word, ironically, would be my last.