Chapter 23

In the middle of the night in the depths of the forest, the path visible to the human eye was far too narrow for anyone to see. The left and right side of the pathway was not visible as the darkness of the night had taken over all remnants of daylight that was left in the dusk. However, the moonlight still did penetrate the forest even though it was dim. Tiara kept walking and followed the path that was illuminated by the moonlight, as she used it as a guide. She watched her steps carefully and she also used all of her senses to keep alert of her surroundings.

The wolves kept howling in a synchronized tune from somewhere nearby, which interrupted Tiara's sense of focus. Tiara felt that the situation was peculiar which made her uneasy. From afar, Tiara saw the big old house standing on its own without any houses nearby. When she looked up to the sky and observed, she saw that it was clear and that the moon and stars shone brightly that night, but somehow, the forest began to fog. The fog started to appear when Tiara got closer to the old house. The closer she got, the more the fog started to thicken which caused it to cloud Tiara's vision.

Tiara started to worry. Her hands gripped her sword very tightly and her eyes very desperately tried to look at her surroundings even though her sight was blocked by the thick fog. There was an unknown smell that emerged beneath all the fog. The unknown smell grew stronger as the fog grew thicker. However, despite the weird smell, she went further down the right side of the path.

Suddenly Tiara sensed a movement from the right side. She quickly swung her sword across as she thought there was an enemy that was about to approach her. Unfortunately, there was no enemy there but a murder of crows. The crows then cawed and flew away which indirectly exposed Tiara's presence in the surrounding area of the old house. At this point, Tiara was not able to do anything and she kept moving forward in the direction of the house.

Finally, she saw the old house. She looked at that old house and its surrounding area and noticed the eeriness of it. This house looked like it was left for a long time. The cracked window and broken door made the house looked even eerier. Tiara made some inspections around the house and made sure there was no hiding enemy that guarded the house or any trap that was set up for her.

After that, she noticed there was a half-broken window from the left side of the door. Tiara slowly positioned herself in a suitable spot and observed her surrounding before she entered the old house through that window. On the outside, she saw nothing except for complete darkness that surrounded the house. She watched her steps and slowly got inside the house. Unluckily for Tiara, the wooden plank floor announced her arrival as it made a cracking noise with every step she took.

Tiara began to sweat and her heart began to beat faster than usual. She was worried that there was an enemy waiting to ambush her at any time. She was also worried that there may be traps set up inside the house to capture her. But ultimately, the most worrying issue for Tiara was if she failed in her mission to save her son. Her hands trembled at the thought of losing her son but at the same time, she was also scared to lose her own life.

She leaned against the wall on her right side and took a deep breath in an effort to keep herself sane. She continued to inspect the house by scanning room to room. She realized that there was nobody in this house except for herself. This house was ruined and left abandoned a long time ago. There were no clues in this old house in regards to her son's whereabouts. This left Tiara very unsatisfied. Nevertheless, Tiara's instinct told her that her son was in here and that he was kept hidden by someone inside this house.

Step by step she walked slowly. Suddenly, one of her steps felt and sounded a little weird as it hit the ground. She then stopped at that particular plank of wood. She moved backward and walked on the area again to reconfirm her suspicion and indeed, there was a spot on the floor that felt hollow. Eventually, she realized that there were a few planks of the wooden floor that felt hollow. After she inspected her surrounding, she found something that looked like a crowbar that she then used to open up those hollow planks of the floor. As she opened it, an area that looked like the basement of the house was revealed before her eyes. She thought perhaps if she went down to the basement of this old house, it will lead her to her son.

She slowly lowered herself and took the flight of stairs beneath the wooden planks to get to the underground area of the old house. When she got to the underground area, she found an unused lamp that was hung on the wall and decided it was useful for her to explore the area. When she lighted it up, the light from it revealed her surrounding area in a clearer manner. She saw that there were many doors around her. This made it even harder for Tiara to locate her son. She randomly picked a door and opened it. To her horror, there was a dead body that was left uncovered and unattended. This corpse smelled like rotting flesh and had attracted mice and maggots to satisfy their voracious appetites. Tiara was full of sorrow as she had to witness people who were possibly the local villagers or traders fall victim to such cruel acts. Tiara was not able to imagine if the same thing happened to her son. The guilt of what she had done to her son was too much of a burden for Tiara to carry. But, alas, she still believed that her son was alive. Hence, she kept on searching for him by opening each and every door.

Even when each room was examined, Tiara's son was nowhere to be found. Some rooms were empty and some were just storerooms that were used to keep big mystery boxes. Tiara did not realize that time flew by as she searched for her son in the basement area of the house. But unfortunately, her search was an unfruitful one. Later on, as she twisted the knob of one of the doors in order to open it. As she opened the door, a brisk wind blew on her face and proceeded to swirl to a different direction as if it persuaded her to follow it.

Tiara believed the wind wanted to lead her somewhere and followed in the direction of it. The wind brought her to the edge of another door. She felt it was rather strange that there was wind in the underground area of an old home but brushed that feeling off. Although she was doubtful, she still followed the wind. Tiara opened the door of the room the wind led her to and inside she saw many ingredients that were kept in jars and neatly displayed on the shelves. In addition, some other ingredients were hung on a hanger-like rod on the table. Besides those ingredients, there were some peculiar liquid substances displayed which she suspected were drugs. Each of them had a different colour and they were arranged neatly on the table. From the way was this room was set up, it seemed like it was once used as a lab for a physician.

Tiara was not comfortable with the smell that came from inside this room that was made up of a combination of all the ingredients in the jars with what seemed like drugs. Tiara slowly inspected every inch of the room and finally, she found another door inside the room. Tiara then draws her sword, pushed open the door and quickly positioned herself to attack any possible enemies. Luckily for her, there were no enemies inside this room.

"Please, no more at least not for my daughter." Suddenly she heard a woman's voice who begged for mercy while she held her child tightly in her arms in front of Tiara. Tiara shone her lamp towards them and saw a woman lying down who protected her daughter in her arms. Both of them were hostages. Tiara crouched in front of them and tried to calm them down. "Shhh, you must calm down." Tiara looked at the woman and her daughter and checked their condition.

"Emma Morrison?" Tiara seemed to recognize this woman hostage. Tiara was surprised that she saw someone she knew. The woman looked at Tiara and answered, "Indeed." Emma's voice got a little weak. She gathered her strength and tried to lift her body to properly acknowledge the person who spoke to her. "Tiara?" Emma's eyes tried to focus on Tiara to identify her identity. Tiara touched Emma's left shoulder and answered. "Yes, I am."

"Do you know where my son is?" Tiara questioned Emma to investigate her son's whereabouts. "I am not sure but I think he is still here." Emma pointed to Tiara's right side. When Tiara shined her lamp towards the direction Emma pointed at, she was surprised. "Oh, my lord." The room was wider than she thought and she saw more hostages besides them and her son. There were an innumerable amount of hostages in the same room. Sadly, their physical and mental condition were severely damaged and defeated. When Tiara started to move around the room to search for her son, her hand was suddenly pulled by Emma.

"We should leave before the devil comes back." Emma warned Tiara as her body shook frighteningly. Tiara grabbed Emma's face and wiped her tears that started to fall on her cheeks. "Hey, hey… look at me, you are safe with me." Tiara calmed Emma and promised her that she would come back to rescue her after she located and saved her son. Then, she looked at Emma's daughter who silently hid behind her mother. She looked traumatized after what they had endured. Tiara hugged Emma and rubbed her back to comfort her. "What happened?" Tiara wanted to know more about the situation here. "That devil used us as lab rats." Now Tiara understood what had happened to them and the use of the substances that she saw earlier.

"Right now, you just stay here and I promise you that I will come back." Tiara made her a promise and wanted to continue her search for her son. But yet again, Emma pulled Tiara's hand again to stop her. "But…" Emma seemed doubtful about Tiara's promise. Tiara searched for something inside her bag. "Take this." Tiara gave her two green potions but both Emma and her daughter refused to take them because they were far too traumatized by what had happened to them. "You need to take this for your recovery and trust me I won't be long." Tiara forced them to take it and then she quickly left them behind.

In his unconsciousness, Alan felt something pulled his body forward. He did not know what had pulled him but he felt frightened. He tried to fight it but unfortunately, his body was very weak. He just kept grunting to show his resistance. "Get up." A female voice was heard whispering to Alan. She tried to force him to walk. Alan thought that that woman tried to harm him but in reality, she had good intentions and tried to help him stand up on his two feet to get him out of that place.

Alan slowly walked with the help and support of the unknown woman. "Are we safe right now?" Another woman spoke. She seemed frightened too. Perhaps she was one of the hostages. "Just shut up and keep moving." A woman beside Alan warned the hostage woman. As he listened to the voice beside him, he seemed to recognize that woman. He tried to open his eyes but the darkness had already engulfed the night which made it hard for him to see who she was.

Tiara and the hostages had a hard time finding their way out of the house compound as she could not remember the exact way she entered from. Suddenly, a dim light appeared before their eyes and caught their attention. This indirectly made clear an escape route they should take to exit this place. Tiara was convinced that the path that they saw was the only way out of the old house's enclose. When they reached the area in which the dim light came from, they very clearly heard the sound of dried leaves blown away by a blustery wind. To the hostages, the light from the moon and stars was akin to a spotlight that shone on them; a light they had thirsted for so long after they were locked up in a dark secluded area for a long period of time.

Alan slowly turned his head because he wanted to know who she is; whether she was a friend or a foe. At that moment, Alan was very surprised when he saw that woman. "Mother." Alan's mind was kind of foggy thus he was not able to differentiate his reality from his imagination. This was due to too much drugs that were given to him forcibly by his kidnapper. However, at this point, Alan was convinced that he was not in a state of hallucination and that woman was, indeed, his mother who came to save him.

The condition of Alan's body worsened. His legs were not able to support him and his sight turned very blurry. "Come on, we are almost there." Tiara forced him to walk. Alan wanted to go home, he tried very hard to move but his body did not cooperate with him. Tiara tried her best to support Alan.

"Where do you think you are going with my toys?" Another woman's voice was suddenly heard in that area. When they searched for the direction the voice came from, they saw a woman in a black cloak who sat cross-legged on a branch of an old big tree above them. That woman was seen very clearly as there were no leaves on that old tree. Perhaps, she did this intentionally to show herself.