Malefic Society

9. A Night not Like Others

The sense of danger was apparently not only felt by Crane. The malice was so strong that even his siblings could feel it. Everyone looked up a second after Crane did.

"What is this...!" Chris said, terrified. He was usually nonchalant about everything, but the feeling he experienced at that time was enough to send shivers down his spine. "Cough! Cough!" he started panic coughing. He felt like he was being suffocated by the sudden heavy atmosphere.

Crane was also unable to think calmly. The danger they felt was so strong that they could only feel desperation. It was as if death was before them, and no matter what they did, they could only accept it.

Images of their gruesome death started pouring into the siblings' minds, causing even more distress and terror. They heard terrifying wailing that shouldn't be there. The sound was like countless people were being tortured at the same time.

The feeling of great peril didn't last long. It only lasted for a few seconds, like a strong earthquake coming and going suddenly. However, it was enough to make the siblings feel fatigued; they felt the energy had been sucked out of them and it left them breathless.

The siblings fell flat on the wooden floor, panting. Cold pearls of sweat had formed on their forehead and the colors had been drained out of them.

"What the hell was that..." asked Chris, his breathing still heavy.

"I don't bloody now, but whatever it was, I'm glad it's gone now," replied Catherine as she got up and sat on the floor. She had the most spirituality now, so she could recover the fastest.

"Let's check outside. I hope everything is alright," suggested Crane, "but we need to be careful, so I'll have Thompson look first.

The siblings exited the ritual room and rest on the sofa while Crane approached the door carefully.

He controlled Thompson the puppet to open the door while he himself hid in a spot that would protect him in case something were to suddenly attack. It still allowed his vision of the puppet, so he could control it.

Creak...

The door was slowly opened, and with each second passing, Crane's heart beat faster and faster.

As the gap got bigger and bigger, something that shouldn't be there made its appearance known. The night, that was supposed to be pitch black, was different.

Moonlight!

The silver beam from the moon penetrated through the gap in the door and surprised the siblings. The moon, which had only existed in history books, suddenly appeared!

"How?!" Catherine was dumbfounded. She unknowingly got up from the sofa and walked to the door as if attracted by the unfamiliar light. The urge to come and bathe in the silver beam was so great that she could feel it at a spiritual level.

Crane also felt the same attraction, but his cautiousness prevented him from approaching unknown objects.

"Cath, be careful!" he warned.

Chris also got up and was drawn by the light as well, but he held on because the urge to watch what would happen first was bigger.

Catherine looked up and saw the moon for the first time. It was a silver moon with pits and craters on its surface. The size was bigger than what was described in history books. The moon was looming up high and far, but it was as big as the Townsquare.

The moon in the sky gave off a mysterious feeling like it hid a profound secret behind its rough surface. It also made the onlookers feel the urge to approach it and worship it.

"Catherine!" Chris suddenly shouted and leaped forward.

A few seconds after the moonlight shone upon Catherine, her body started disintegrating into ashes! It didn't look like she was burned, but more like she was a pile of ash in the first place and whatever was supporting her gave in, causing her body to crumble.

Chris, seeing his sister in danger, didn't think twice and jumped on to try to save her. However, the moment the moonlight touched him, his fate was sealed. A few seconds later, his body began turning into ashes before collapsing.

"No!!"

Crane was struck with terror. His siblings were all he had, so seeing them disappearing like that caused him great distress.

...

Why is the moon calling me? This light... it's my first time bathing in it, but why does it feel so familiar? It feels warm and... comforting? I didn't know the moon felt this pleasant.

Catherine's thought was filled with comfort and bliss that she didn't realize what was happening around her.

The world around her slowed down before it came to a full stop. A moment later, the whole world came crashing down, along with Catherine, until they 'landed'. Before long, time resumed and everything became normal again.

"!!" Catherine regained her senses and was struck by great horror.

It was the sun!

She instinctively tried to avoid the sunlight, but when she came to her senses, her surrounding was unfamiliar! She was no longer in her house, let alone the town she was born in. It was a completely strange place with different building styles.

Without thinking too much, she hid in the shadow of the walls closest to her location.

Catherine's heart was beating really fast as she was terrified of transforming into a monster. The fact that she was in an unfamiliar place was of secondary importance to her. The monsters people became when exposed to the sun directly were much more violent and dangerous than usual.

Thump thump... Thump thump...

With each second passing, her heart beat faster and her nausea grew.

"..."

However, contrary to her expectation, the feared transformation didn't occur. She watched her body parts carefully, but all of them remained human. Despite that, she couldn't calm down.

"Argh!"

Suddenly, Chris appeared near the spot where Catherine originally was. She didn't see how he appeared, but he was suddenly there.

Her identical sibling seemed to have noticed the sun as well and instinctively covered his face with his hand while scanning his surroundings to find a hiding spot.

"Chris! Here!"

The man didn't waste time and quickly darted to a location that was not too close to his sister but was still in the shadow of the walls behind them.

Catherine was also on guard.

"Why have you not turned into a monster yet?" asked Chris cautiously. His eyes scanned his sister, his own body, and his surroundings.

"I don't know, but it's been a few seconds now and I'm still human. But we cannot let our guard down," she replied.

Seeing her brother, Catherine's mind began calming down. The monster transformation also didn't seem to happen, so she could start to register the fact they were in an unfamiliar place.

"We seem to have been transported here. This is not our town. Do you know what happened?"

"I'm not sure, Cath. I just saw your body crumble like burnt charcoal. I tried to save you, but then all I saw was the moon. When I came to, I was here and the sun was shining on my face," Chris explained.

"My body what?" Catherine was surprised and pinched her skin, "I hope what you saw wasn't real. My body is still intact."

"Don't ask me. That's what I saw. I bet Crane also saw that happen to my body. I think it's the moon that did it."

Knowing that she couldn't explain or get an explanation of what had happened, she let it go.

"So where is Crane?"

"No idea. But you know him. He saw his siblings turn into ashes because of the moonlight. Do you think he will just jump in without knowing that it didn't actually kill us?"

"You have a point there..." she said, "We don't know where we are now, but..."

With the feeling of confusion and horror gradually disappearing, Chris and Catherine finally were able to process their situation.

"But the sun doesn't turn us into monsters. That's what you want to say, right?" Chris continued his sister's words.

"Yes..." she replied, tears began forming in her eyes.

It was the first time in their lives that they had experienced the sun without having to fear it. They had only read and heard stories from history books where people in the past didn't have to hide from the sun. They had only been able to dream of feeling what people felt back then.

People back then could go and play in the warmth of the day. They could hang their clothes to dry in the sun, and sunbathe to allow their bodies to produce vitamin D. They didn't need to take supplements and their skin was not pale. They didn't need to lock themselves up in cages at dawn and watch their loved ones turn into gruesome creatures.

All those feelings were now surfacing in the siblings' hearts, and they couldn't hold back their emotions. If not for the fact that they were in a strange place, they would have celebrated.

"Does it mean the curse is over? Do we not have to get locked up again every daybreak?" Catherine said emotionally. Tears were running down her cheeks.

"I think..." replied Chris as he approached his sister. He also couldn't contain his emotions, so his eyes began swelling as well.

"But, where are we?" asked Catherine, wiping her tears with her fingers.

"I don't know, but it doesn't matter. Now, we are free from the curse!"

The two of them began talking about what they wanted to do now that they were no longer constrained by the curse. Chris wanted to walk around the strange place while feeling the warmth of the sun on his skin. He wanted to find a place called the beach, which he had read about in history books, and sunbathe there. He wanted to feel sunburn because he was curious about what it would feel like.

Meanwhile, Catherine wanted to walk around shopping centers in the sun, looking at unfamiliar people in the daylight. She wanted to see people when the sun was shining on their faces, not in the dark night like she was used to. She also wanted to see the world lit up by the sunlight, not the dark world that she always saw back home.

They went on and on, letting out all the frustration and suppressed emotions that they had been feeling all these years. It was the first time they truly felt alive.

"I wonder if the curse has really been lifted..." Catherine said. Although she felt really happy, she couldn't shake the feeling that everything was too good to be true.

"Way to ruin the mood, Crane," protested Chris, "At least, we are not turning into monsters so far,"

"True..." she paused, "I hope Crane would stop thinking too much and jump into the moonlight. He needs to be here with us and experience this too,"

Several minutes had passed since they were transported to the strange place, and despite the sun hanging up high in the sky, they hadn't turned into monsters yet, so their confidence grew.

As they were discussing their situation, suddenly a familiar figure appeared near the spot where they had first appeared. It looked as if ashes gathered and formed a human figure, before finally, a whole human was there. The process only took a few seconds.

"Crane!" shouted Chris.

The young man who had just appeared showed terror on his face as he noticed the sunlight, but his thought quickly processed everything, and terror gradually disappeared and was replaced by relief.

"Cath, Chris! You're safe!" he said emotionally. He ran towards his siblings, who were still instinctively hiding from the sun.

"Yes, the moonlight didn't kill us. It just transported us to this strange place... city?" Chris explained.

"It seems to be the case, and I believe the sun here doesn't turn us into monsters?" he asked.

"Yes, that should be the case too. We've been here for several minutes now and we're still humans," Catherine replied happily, "So what made you decide to follow us in the end?"

"It involved a lot of thinking. So the fact that the moon suddenly appeared just when you became a Tier 2 Votary must mean it's related to dad's clue about the path appearing. It can't just be a random coincidence. So I decided to just follow you guys and see what happened. Turned out I was right," he explained. Crane didn't mention the distress and desperation he had felt when his siblings disappeared.

The siblings then began talking about how the curse might have been gone and that they were now able to freely roam outside when the sun was up.

"Anyway, do you have any of your great theories as to why we've been transported here of all places?" asked Chris. He looked at his brother expectantly.

"In fact I do. Father wrote in his journal that the path would appear once the three of us became Tier 2, and the moon appeared just when that happened. It took us here, so this place must have something to do with breaking the curse,"

"But isn't the curse basically not happening here?" asked Chris.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean that we won't be sent back to our town suddenly. The moon or whatever it was could take us here, so it must be able to take us back. Also, we don't know what happened to the other townsfolk," he took a deep breath, "It's good if they're also transported here. But if not, I don't want to leave them there with the curse. We still need to find a way to break the curse for good, now that we've been given the chance. This place must have the clue we need."

"That's true. I also don't believe in coincidence, so the fact that we were transported here means there must be something for us to find here," Catherine added.

"Alright, so what's our plan then?" asked Chris, "I'm up for anything,"

"Why don't we explore this place first? It's always good to know our surroundings," Catherine proposed.

"Good idea," her brothers nodded at the same time.