Strange noise from above

Lionel loved three people the most in his life: his mother, his grandfather, and himself. Now, among them, two were gone and he was the only one remaining.

Cancer was a bitch. It had claimed his mother first and now, he had lost his grandfather as well. At least, his old man had lived until he turned an adult. Although Lionel was displeased, he pacified himself with this truth.

Lionel stood outside his manor, the manor his grandfather had left for him. He still couldn't comprehend how his old man was so loaded. The man's bank balance was more than he could comprehend. And now, everything belonged to him.

'Did Grandpa stumble upon a gold mine in the past? How did he earn so much money?' Lionel wondered for the nth time as he entered the place that looked more depressing than it ever had been. Now that it was nighttime, it felt even more eerie and dismal.

Although it had been his home for years, Lionel felt strangely unsettled. A strong feeling of uneasiness haunted him and he couldn't brush it off even though he was in a familiar setting.

Frowning lightly, he strode past the kitchen after locking the doors, ditching his dinner for the night. He wasn't hungry even if he hadn't eaten much in the day.

The automatic lights lit up sensing his presence. Lionel wasn't worried about burglars or intruders. The manor was equipped with antiburglar alarms and it wasn't that easy to enter the place.

Moreover, the place was haunted, or that was what the town's people said. Nobody dared to linger around the manor premises, let alone think of breaking into it.

'Haunted?' Lionel scoffed at the mere thought. He hadn't seen any ghosts even once and it had been more than a decade since he started staying there. What a good joke!

'If this place is haunted, then I'll pluck my eyeballs out,' he thought, once again finding the notion ridiculous. 'Who even started this rumor? They must have lost their minds.'

Lionel pulled out his phone and scrolled through the messages, the ones he had ignored for the past few hours. The group chat consisting of his classmates had become active sometime at noon. Everybody was speaking about the town festival.

His university, the only one in the town was recruiting volunteers to help at the festival and Lionel didn't hesitate even for a moment before filling up the form.

'It might serve me as a distraction,' Lionel thought, trying hard not to focus on his grief.

Lionel sighed softly and looked at his splendid yet lonely place. The place was huge and could possibly fit more than a hundred people at a time. 

With he being the sole owner and occupant, Lionel felt the loneliness creeping in on him even more. However, he didn't have the heart leave the place and live elsewhere. It was his house, the place where he had lived all his life.

Running a hand through his hair, he glanced at the time on his phone.

12.17 a.m.

'Was I out for such a long time?' he wondered, not expecting it to be past midnight.

To stop himself from thinking about his grandfather, he had spent the entire day at his university's library. He only returned home when the kind librarian reminded him that it was night already.

"I need to sort my life out. Otherwise, I'll be hopeless," he mumbled as he made his way towards the stairs.

However, before he could take a step ahead, he heard a strange noise from above. It was as if something was being moved. In the absolute silent place, the sound was like a blaring horn, impossible to miss.

Frowning lightly, Lionel narrowed his eyes and focused again, pondering if he was imagining things.

But when he heard the strange sound again, this time louder than before, his heart skipped a beat as fear engulfed him and he broke into a cold sweat. The sound was coming from within the manor. To be precise, it was coming from somewhere above him.

Lionel's body turned cold while he stood paralyzed in fear. 'What is that sound? Don't tell me...' He stopped, the mere thought of the possibility making his head spin.

The manor was brightly lit. But he did not attempt to climb the stairs and seek the noise. It was as if the moment he climbed the stairs, he'd be plunged into darkness.

Lionel knew he couldn't stand at the foot of the staircase forever. Mustering all his courage, he climbed the stairs slowly, keeping his eyes and ears open.

Once again, the townspeople's words flashed in his mind. Haunted. Haunted. Haunted.

Lionel didn't want to believe it. But was the place actually haunted? The notion kept popping in his mind every few seconds.

Once he was at the top of the stairs, Lionel realized he had broken out into a cold sweat, his shirt clinging to him like a second skin.

Licking his lips nervously, he followed the sound which seemed to be coming from his grandfather's room. With every step he took, the noise grew louder and the air turned colder.

His body trembled. But he remained strong as he stood outside his grandfather's room. 

Lionel was damn certain that he heard someone take his name as if summoning him in. As if in a trance, he opened the door and entered the room and everything went silent at once. Even the chill around him vanished.

Lionel broke out of his stupor and looked around him in a daze. Everything felt weird, he felt weird. But he ignored the feeling and scanned his grandfather's room, the very room he hadn't stepped into since his grandfather had passed.

Letting out a sigh of defeat, he took a casual look around, holding himself from reminiscing the good times when he still had a family. Just when he was about to move past the table beside the bed, he saw a strange book, one he had never seen before.

The book, which looked more like a dairy was maroon and had golden borders. At the center was a symbol that looked more like a star, but not quite at the same time.

Intrigued, he opened the book, and the wording on the first page scared the shit out of him.

To the next Valkorin in line,

Since you are reading this diary, it means you are the next one to embrace the power. Prepare yourself for your life will change from now onward. The ones you might have assumed to be myths will start visiting you soon.

But worry not. Your power will aid you in dealing with them. Study the book well, and you will be good to go.

Important: Do not fear the unknown. They may be powerful. But you are more than capable of overpowering them.

~ Eryndor Valkorin.