The Game Part II
1001 Cosmic Horror Writing Prompts by Edgar Hem
The family home of the Aldisen clan was elegant, refined, and in severe disrepair. Vanessa noted the crumbling plaster hidden neatly behind tapestries and the fraying of Oriental rugs. On the outside it was lavish and luxurious, the decay only visible just beneath the surface. It was foreboding, and made her shiver.
The sisters moved in the direction of the lower portions of the manse, their assignment to find the family crypt and follow the instructions therein. As expected, a narrow flight of stone stairs lay behind one of the doors off the butler’s pantry, leading them into the expansive area beneath the house proper. Vanessa shivered, even in her thick green velvet, and held her sister’s arm tightly. At the bottom of the stairs they found a candelabra waiting, and they lit the candles before moving farther into the main under-stairs.
“It’s quite clean,” Violetta murmured, moving the candles around. Indeed there were no cobwebs here, and the room was clean save for some dust on the floor. “This way.”
They moved forward, down a long corridor that opened off the south side of the room, and the walls were tight. Vanessa felt enclosed, too tight, too big for the small space. She moved quickly, rushing her sister to hurry, the air too little, too suffocating.
She did not breathe normally again until the corridor gave way to another large room, this one round in shape. The walls were carved with elaborate depictions of angels and cherubs, the family caskets fit into the walls.
“I believe we’ve found the crypt,” Violetta said with a smile, though there was no merriment in her gaze. “What do you suppose it says this time?”
“Something slightly unhinged and terribly unpleasant,” Vanessa guessed. “The few memories I have tell me that whatever it is, we won’t like it.”
“I don’t remember much either,” Violetta admitted, placing the candelabra on the central dais. “How many times do you think it’s been?”
“Five? Possibly six.” Vanessa thought of the box under her bed back at home. Filled with photographs, some older, some far too advanced to be from this time. “Maybe more.”
“However many times, we’ve never gotten it right,” Violetta said with a huff, moving around the room as she searched for their clue. “We keep coming back here again and again, doing everything over again and still we’ve never gotten it right.”
“Perhaps there is no right answer,” Vanessa theorized. “We’re doomed to repeat this loop for some reason or another that we might never know.” She shrugged. “I’d like to live through the night, though. Just once.”
“Ah-ha!” Violetta held up the white envelope with a shake. “I’ve got it! They didn’t bother hiding it too well this time.”
“What does it say?”
She opened the envelope and removed the elegantly penned noted. “Congratulations, player. You have found your clue. Complete the following taks and then return to the library to await the others.
Stand in the center of the room under the light of the moon. Hold hands across the central dais.
Repeat the following phrase to the best of your ability: Gretheriminum ult majorim liche herbarias vict. Selvis dothas ment sava.
Prick your finger and allow a drop of blood to fall upon the dais.”
She closed the letter with a sigh.
“I do feel a bit of a sense of de ja vu,” Vanessa said, joining her sister across the dais. She held out her hand as Violetta spread the paper between them. They followed the instructions, using a pin from Violetta’s bag to prick their fingers and dropping a bit of blood on the paper before sucking their finger to ease the bleeding.
Suddenly the room began to shake, and they held on to the stone dais as a rumbling echoed all around them. Violetta grabbed the candelabra before it toppled, shouting, “Get back to the library!”
They ran, skirts up as the rock ceiling rained down upon them. They raced up the stairs and burst through the door into the pantry as the house continued to groan and shake.
“The others have completed their portions of the spell!” Violetta said loudly over the sounds of the house. “Now what should we do?”
“I wish I could remember!” Vanessa took the photograph from her bag, staring at a face that was hers in a time she could not recall. “What should we do?” she begged the other her.
“Girls!” El Aldisen appeared, face pale. He waved at them to follow. “Come with me! It’s happening! It’s happening!”
“Is this it?” Vanessa whispered to her sister as they followed their host toward the library. The others were already gathered, hugging each other tightly, faces pale and eyes wide. The rumbling continued, parts of the house that were not tied down were falling from their perches, dishes and portraits and such falling to the ground with a clamor.
Vanessa and Violetta huddled on the small sofa as El Aldisen and the younger Valescu congratulated each other and the guests with wide smiles.
“What’s happening?” Lyle Darling demanded, holding his weeping fiancee. “Tell us now, man!”
“He’s coming!” Aldisen held up his hands to the sky, beaming. “He’s coming!”
“What manner of devil have we called up from the bowels of hell this night?” Dame Lydia asked. “What have we done?”
“A god,” Valescu assured her. “A god!”
Violetta turned to her sister, and they held hands as the house shook, the floors buckled under their feet and it all began to come down around them. The others screamed, tried to run. They sat still and quiet. Observing.
“Next time, Ness!” Violetta hugged her sister tightly. “Next time!”
The invitation came by courier at four pm on a Thursday. Violetta Larouche was the first to see it sitting upon the silver tray by the door, and she rushed to share it with her sister.
Vanessa stared at the fine linen envelope and then at the photograph in her hand. So much the same. So much different. How, she wondered, would they ever break this damnable curse?
