Rise of an fallen knight and the old man's death

When I entered the mansion, Ms.Charlotte saw my forehead wounded and quickly took me away to an isolated place which was actually the roof attic. After checking the trapdoor of the attic is closed and locked properly, she asked me to sit near the circle glass window which I did.

Sitting near the window and watching the view outside gave me a mix vibe of disney cartoons&movies, Harry potter and twilight although it was a bright lovely morning. Ms.Charlotte came and sat beside me, also observing the beautiful scenario outside. "Isn't it lovely and peaceful,Ali? I see you're enjoying the view" she said to which I replied "it is indeed peaceful and lovely. The green forest, the mansion, gardens & flowers. Heyyy, do you like musics and songs?" "Yeah, mostly piano and violin covers. But there's one music band I like, sabaton" she said which surprised me but made me eager to know more but tried to controlled it, saying "really!? me too. let's play one, your pick." Hahahahaaaaaa.....yeah, I couldn't control myself but to ask it. "The ballad of the bull" Ms.Charlotte replied with a cheerful smile. I played the song on my phone and we both enjoyed listening it while seeing the view outside.

Sometime later as the song ended, I asked her that why she brought me here. When I asked her this question, her cheerful expression faded away and was replaced with a worried one. "Please forgive me if I asked something wrong and hurtful, byee...." I said and got up to leave. As I was about to walk away, she grabbed my hand and held it tightly. "Sit down....please" she said to me quitely. Seeing the situation upside-down and darken with sadden shadows, I sat down beside her. "I brought you here because.....there's something you should know about this Albrecht family, Jasper, his mom-dad but promise me you will not reveal it to anyone at any cost, Ali" she said and I agreed to keep it as a secret.

Ms.Charlotte continued "Jasper, his mom-dad aren't a merry, helpful and jolly family you think they are. When I saw bandages on your forehead....I knew that Jasper tried to kill you but failed eventually, making it seem like an accident. I am warning you, please get out of this hell house as soon as possible with the rest of your group or else they won't let you leave out alive. please, I am pleading you. I can't bear seeing innocent people getting killed and executed by this devilish-beast like family."

I was shocked on hearing this. "Thus that means this coded message holds Albrecht's family big dark secret?" I thought to myself. before leaving, I told Ms.Charlotte "don't worry, Ms.Charlotte. You have me and my friends on your side. We will resist and bite them until our last dying breath, together. You just have to wait for that day to come when you will finally get your long wanting peace. See ya at breakfast, byeee."

As I was walking towards my room, my mind was restless after the meeting. So restless that I didn't noticed Mr.Arthur infront of me and accidentally crashed into him. "Woah woah, young man! watch where you are going and....try keeping your mind at rest" he said. "I am so.....so sorry sir and yeah, I will try to calm down my mind" I sweatingly said. "That's more likely. Get everyone down, breakfast is almost ready. No one likes a cold food on a lovely morning, don't you think? see you at the table, Ta ta" Mr.Arthur said and went down.

I quickly ran into my room and locked the door. Seeing me panicked, Muhammad asked me to sit on the couch and calm down. On calming down, I told him everything what Ms.Charlotte said. "I knew there's something wrong about this family. For now, let it be kept as a secret. We will reveal it when the time comes. Btw, what happened to your forehead?" Muhammad said to which I replied "Mr.Jasper accidentally hitted me very hard with his shield during sword fight spar." "I hope your damaged brain didn't sustained more damage, hahahahaha" he amusingly said and I said to myself quitely "Look who's talking, smart guy." "Did you said something, prick?" he asked. "no it's nothing, nothing. Here, I took a pic of the coded message which Ms.Grace gave me to handed it over to Mr.Arthur" I said and showed him the pic.

"Aren't those Morse code?" Muhammad asked me and I answered "I suppose yes, it is. Should we try decoding it?" Muhammad thought for some min and agreed. We started decoding it. with the help of our brain and lord googlindum (google), we were finally able to decode it. It read something like this,

• -••- • -•-• ••- - • (execute) - •••• • (the)

-•- • • •--• • •-• (keeper) --- ••-• (of)

- •••• • (the) ••• •••• --- •--• (shop)

- ---- -• •• --• •••• - (tonight) •- (at)

- •••• •• •-• - -•-- (thirty)

-- •• -• ••- - • (minute) •--• •- ••• ••• (pass)

- • -• (ten)

••-• •-• ---- -- (from) -- •- •-• -•-- (Mary)

"Are they talking about that elderly shopkeeper you and hitesh mentioned before?" Muhammad asked. I replied " I think so cuz Mr.Jasper asked me that who gave us the information about them, the mansion annnnddd...." "And what? what did you Said to him, Ali?" He sternly asked me with seriousness in his tone. "I.....told him everything" I answered in a low voice. "WHAT!? are you stupid!? why did you do that!?" he furiously asked me. "I am sorry, okay? how would I know that this will be happening. Calm down, dude" I said to which Muhammad who was already fuming with furry, replied "you mind numbingly brain dead ding-dong buffon, they are planning to kill that old man and all thanks to your loud mouth, Let it be for now. We must stop them at any cost from accomplishing their murderous plan before it's too late." I agreed and went out of the room.

I felt disappointed at myself after realizing what I have done. I just traded an innocent man's life to the devil himself. The day went normally well after that event....I suppose.

At 1:30 pm, we all got ready to go and visit the famous beach of Goa. I asked Ms.Charlotte to come with us. She hesitated first but eventually agreed. After bidding 'goodbye' to the family, we all went out and reported at the bus stop where our bus was already waiting for us. One by one, we entered the bus and sat on our respective seats. Ms.Charlotte sat with us at the back seats.

As the bus driver was driving, we all were having fun at the back. Playing musics, singing, dancing on hindi songs which Ms.Charlotte was enjoying it very much. She even danced with hitesh,Harsh, Piyush,me, Saniya and others on songs like 'Jhingaat', 'ashique', 'dil badtameez' and so on (some famous Indian songs).

At 2:30 pm, we finally reached the beautiful beach of goa. As I was walking on the white sand of the beach, I saw Hitesh, Piyush, kunal and Saurabh grabbing Aayush,lifting him up and then dropping him in the cold sea water. Everyone including me were laughing at Aayush as he kept chasing them. Oh boy! I really love those guys.

I was enjoying floating on the sea water and the cool breeze. But there are some people who like to disturb the peaceful moments and ruin happy mood of their friends. I have some friends who have such unique talents. they pushed me inside the water which woke me up and I was like "help! I am drowninggg...." As I got out of the water, I found out that it was none other than my friends Muhammad, prathamesh and Babur. There was a meme which I saw on Instagram. It reads "why need peace disturbers and mood ruiner if you have them among your friends." It's true afterall.

I noticed Ms.Charlotte was missing and saw her sitting on the white sand near the waves, away from us. I went and sat beside her. "I hope you are enjoying, Ms.Charlotte" I said to her. "I am, feeling the long wanting peace for the first time. Thanks to you & your good friends for making it happen and stop calling me miss. Just call me Charlotte, I am just 4yrs older than you" she replied. "Your welcome and alright, Charlotte" I answered back. There was silent for a moment.

"Hey, I have something liquid for you, wanna see it?" she amusingly said and I asked "really? and what is that?" As I turned my head to look, she splashed some sea water at me and let out a some cheerful laughter. "Oh my oh my, look like we got a water fight going on here" I said back and we started splashing water at each other. Sometime later, we heard someone shouting. It was Hitesh and Saurabh, shouting "don't you dare to have all the fun alone! we are also present here dude!" "Sure! it's incomplete without you, come on boys!" I shouted back as they joined the fun, soon followed by others. We had fun and it was truly amazing. We finally got out of the water after some time, took some pics & selfies, took shower and changed our clothes.

At 8:30 pm, we went to an Indo-chinese restaurant for dinner. Kunal and I looked at each other and let out some laughter. Aayush saw us laughing and asked "what? is there something funny?" to which we both replied "is this your restaurant?ohhhhh.....that's why you brought us here. hahahaha, our cheap Aayushwang dong." Everyone burst out laughing on hearing this annnd.....Aayush being Aayush just gave a warning which sounded more like a.....stupid reply "shut up or I'll....slap you I suppose." Kunal & I sighed and asked him to shut the hell up. We enjoyed the food and joked while eating. We left the restaurant at 9:10 pm and waited at the it's exit for the bus. Shortly after, our bus arrived. One by one, we got into the bus and sat on our respective seats. The bus driver drove and dropped us at the stop where it picked us earlier.

We finally made it to the mansion at 10 pm. When I came in, there was no one inside. I thought they were sleeping and kept the door open for us as we were outside. As we climbed the stairs and were on the first floor, I notice something different in the portrait of the nobleman's portrait. It felt like a soul was replaced by an another soul. I quickly took a pic of it and went straight towards my room.

As soon as I entered my room, I showed the pic to my friend, Muhammad. "I have a bad feeling about this, my friend" I said. "Me too. There's really something odd going on, in this mansion. Some danger had been brewed and casted on this mansion which we can't see nor notice it" he replied. We both decided to investigate it and explore the hidden secrets of the mansion tonight, bit by bit and then went to sleep.

The hour finally came. At 12 am, Muhammad & I woke up from our sleep and quickly exited our room. It was pitch dark in the corridor but the infernous fire of the iron torches and the light of the bright white moon made our path visible for us. We took one iron torch with us and walked out of the corridor, entering first floor where the nobleman's portrait was hunged.

When we went infront of it to see, the eyes of the nobleman in the portrait were gone and it was completely black. Much to our horror, the black eyes of the nobleman were crying out tears of blood. The cold breeze was already freezing us but now seeing blood tears chilled our bones even more.

As we tried to run down stairs, the strong cold air extinguished the fire in the iron torch in a second. Luckily, I was carrying a lighter at that time which I took out from my pocket and lighted the iron torch.

When Muhammad saw me putting the lighter back in my pocket, he asked me in a amusing way "from where did you get the lighter? wait a min, did you started smoking?" "Seriously, now? come on dude, did you forget we were suppose to investigate and explore this mansion? and I don't smoke,alright? you know what, can we pleaseee talk about it later after everything is settled?" I replied back to which he said "yeaaah...for sure." "Much much appreciated, thank you" I said back and continued walking down, entering the dining table area.

On entering the zone, we noticed a big chest on the left side of the table. On opening it, we found some ritual daggers, ceremonial swords&robes and manuscripts-books. Upon examining the manuscripts and books, we discovered that the texts were written during the reign of king Edmund, ruler of east anglia when vikings led by Halfdan ragnarsson invaded England. plus, it was spacious inside the chest, enough to fit an average height person in it.

someone touched Muhammad's shoulder when we were examining the chest which frightened him and he accidentally punched that person very hardly, So hard that it fell unconscious on the spot. We went near the body of the unknown person to see who was it. Turned out, it was none other than our vision's prince Basheer. "Is he dead? did you just killed him with one blow of your fist?" I asked him. He replied "hmmmm....nope, only 2-3 broken teeths but he lives. Just unconscious for now."

I looked around and found a door on the stairwall. I opened the door and we went inside, dragging unconscious Basheer with us. Once we were inside, Muhammad quickly closed the door but didn't locked it cuz to avoid suspicions or alerting anyone if they come in the zone. I kept the iron torch at a corner so we can get minimum light cuzzz....I already told you readers why, so no need to explain it again. The room we were in was like a storage room or a small attic. We decided to wait until Basheer regains his consciousness and then continue our exploration.

Hours passed, nothing happened nor Basheer showed any sign of conscious. "Brrrrr....why is it so cold during such hot summer especially in goa? I feeel like I am in Russia or in Kashmirrrr.." I said as the temperature was suddenly dropping. "Trueeee...but we have to bear it, can't do anythingggg.." Muhammad replied.

Suddenly, we heard sounds of heavy footsteps, metallic armors clanking and someone breathing heavily. I extinguished the fire in the iron torch quickly. Then, we tried to see who was there through the linear gaps on the upper side of the door which was sufficient for us to peak. It was dark but thanks to the bright white moon light coming through the big window, we were able to see what was going on. But what we saw was horrifying.

We saw a tall man in a 15th century german black plate-mail armour, also wearing a British tricorn hat over a 'black medieval Alexander helmet with red cross' and was carrying a gray steel spear type Halberd. What scarred us the most was when we saw him dragging someone's body. he dragged it, leaving behind a bloody trail.

The 'fallen knight of the cross' which I named him, kept the body in the same chest which we examined before and covered it with a blanket. At the same time, Basheer regained his consciousness who asked us "what is going on, guys? why are we here and brrrr.....why is it so colddd?" and then walked towards us but stepped on a wooden walking cane and it twitched, alerting the fallen knight who turned around to see from where it was coming.

"What? why you two are so frighte-" before basheer could complete his sentence, Muhammad quickly grabbed him in a corner and asked him to be quite for the time being as I kept a watch on the knight's movement. Basheer nodded yes, asking him to be released from his grip which Muhammad did.

As I saw the fallen knight coming towards the attic room where we were hiding, I quickly whisper to them "he is coming here. Come on fast, hide yourself." Muhammad suggested that we all hide in the corner situated on the other side of the door cuz when he opens the door, he won't be able to see us as the door will be facing our side, giving us a cover from him. We agreed and quickly hided ourselves in the corner on the other side at one safe spot.

Sometime later, the door opened. My heartbeat rate started increasing as he started taking his heavy steps inside, one by one. "Is my death written today? Will my life journey end before even it was started?" I thought to myself. We stared at each other and was convinced that there's only one way now, asking god for help. If it works, good. If not, welllll.....not so good. We then started praying for our life silently as the fallen knight walked in.

But before he could turn around and see the other side where we were hiding, we heard a voice of an elderly woman calling him. I don't know what was the name it called out but I do know that it ended with ".....per.." The knight turned and walked out of the door, going back to his master....I suppose.

We waited for some minutes and then peaked out to see if he is gone or not. After confirming it, we came out of the room and started following the bloody trail which led us to the same chest we saw before.

We all hesitated first but regained our courage and opened it. To our horror, it was actually the elderly shopkeeper's body. When I tried coming near him, the oldman suddenly rose up and grabbed my collar. He tried his best to speak as blood started to flow from his mouth and many big wounds&cuts inflicted on his body. "RUN AWAY BOY! THEY GONNA KILL YOU,YOUR FRIENDS AND YOUR TEACHERS! escap...cape thi...is he...elll..before it's...too la...aateeeee.." he said and collapsed inside, died with eyes open. "WHO ARE THOSE PEOPLE!? WHY THEY WANT TO KILL US? WHO ARE THEY? SIR? SIRR!!" as I tried asking him but all in vain as he layed dead. Muhammad calmed me down, saying "there's no use, he is dead. let us atleast give our respect to him as he gave his life for us" and closed the old man's eyes as a sign of repect and honour.

We planned to save him but couldn't, it was too late.

Why Ms.Charlotte and the dying old man were asking me to leave with my friends & my teachers as soon as possible or the Albrecht family will kill us as it have killed many before?Who was this 'fallen knight of the cross'? Why did he killed the old shopkeeper? Is there a link connecting the dots between the old man's murder, Albrecht family, the fallen knight and the coded message? I must find a way towards their darken secrets and must find it fast before the devilish old lady Ms.Grace give out the order of executing us too