"And you are sure that you can help us with our problem?" Sarah Mersen asked the old man. He sat across from her in the worn armchair and sipped the thin tea in the equally tasteless cup. His other hand first rested on his black slouched hat on his lap and now stroked his long, gray beard before rolling his eyes. He spoke in a slightly irritated voice: “Yes, Ms. Mersen, I can help you. I've said that several times now, and it won't change no matter how many times you ask me about it!".

"Excuse me, Mr. Born. But the whole situation is very demanding for me and my husband.” Sarah Mersen sank back in her chair, closed her eyes and sighed deeply.

Olaf Born would have preferred to take his hat and walking stick and leave. The unassuming Mrs. Mersen got on his nerves, and her husband, who bore a striking resemblance to a weasel, was no better. Luckily he had disappeared somewhere in the house at the moment, wanted to look for pastries or cake. Olaf didn't care, he would stay. The problem of the Mersens, or more precisely that of their house, was far too interesting not to pursue.

Olaf Born no longer remembered exactly how he had become aware of the problem, he had probably picked it up somewhere, when buying accessories for his "craft" or through a friend of a friend. Wherever it was, it had quickly sparked his interest, which wasn't often. The Mersens had been living for about a year in an old town house that they had inherited from an aunt or grandfather or whoever. Shortly after they moved in, unusual and also disturbing things began to happen.

The descriptions of the events, at least as they were told to him, were so diverse and sometimes so extremely unusual that after a moment's thought, Olaf decided to take a closer look at the situation.

And so he had arrived at the Mersen family's door on a sunny spring morning, in striking contrast to his mood and somber appearance. After briefly introducing himself to the couple and explaining the reason for his presence, all three found themselves in the living room of the old house.

After Mr. Mersen returned to the living room from his unsuccessful search for pastries, Olaf Born spoke up:

"Very well, as I have already explained to you, I will monitor things here in the house for the next two days and nights and remove the causes. You two won't be around at this time."

"But how are we supposed to know if you were successful?" Mr. Mersen asked in a trembling voice.

"You'll find out. And now pack your stuff and let me work”, Olaf replied angrily and heaved his suitcase onto the alarmingly cracking living room table.

Ms. Mersen started to say something, but Olaf ignored them, so she just shrugged, grabbed her husband and left.

After a short time, Olaf heard the front door slam shut, whereupon he relaxed a little and fell into the armchair. Finally he had peace, now that the annoying spouses were finally gone. There was still enough time before sunset, and Olaf Born wanted to think about everything the Mersens had told him about what was happening in the house.

It started with strange noises in the night shortly after the Mersens moved into the house. At first it just sounded like shuffling footsteps, but after a few nights there were soft moans and hisses, and sometimes an unintelligible murmur. In a short space of time new sounds were added: first it sounded like chunks of meat being pounded on a board, then a tearing and smacking noise that sounded disconcertingly organic.

But the noise wasn't all. After a few weeks in the house, the first visual phenomena appeared. Bloodstains of unknown origin, in places that are difficult or impossible to reach, such as the living room ceiling or the high bay windows. Unfamiliar symbols seemingly carved into furniture, walls or floors. Footprints in the hallways, which, however, could not be assigned to any known creature.

After a few months in the house, objects suddenly disappeared, some reappeared in completely different places, some not at all. Pieces of furniture shifted positions overnight. Then it got even weirder. The furniture began to change itself. A normal kitchen chair suddenly had three legs decorated with strange spiral patterns instead of four simple smooth ones. Doors suddenly looked strangely twisted. Symbols and spiral patterns appeared on almost every smooth surface. Some also disappeared again, some seemed to wander over the furniture.

During the night, the married couple also felt a kind of melancholy, an oppressive feeling on their souls, which increased more and more. It was a sense of impending doom, a feeling. that shook their will to live.

The ultimate trigger for getting help then only occurred a short time ago. The Mersens found remains of living beings in several places in the house, in hallways, rooms and at the entrance to the attic. At first they thought it was the remains of mice their cat had captured. But the animal remains were becoming more and more disturbing. Bloody innards stretched out like a string, gnawed bones, scraps of skin. The worst part was that even though they were only individual parts, it was obvious that they couldn't just come from small rodents. The remains were too large for that and clearly from several different beings. And her cat was suddenly gone too.

All this was too much for the Mersens, and they left the house in a panic. After contacting Olaf Born, they returned today in bright sunshine to show him everything. Apparently Mr. Mersen was more upset, otherwise he would hardly have been looking for biscuits after weeks of absence, thought Olaf, but quickly dropped this thought.

Now the occurring phenomena individually were nothing that Olaf hadn't seen before. Just not all together and in one place! Who or what was behind it? That was what he wanted to find out tonight.

Olaf opened his suitcase, took out his vacuum flask and poured himself a cup of decent tea. The suitcase contained mostly drinks, some snacks and some reading in case he got bored waiting for events. There were no tools for his "craft" in the suitcase, even if people often expected it. Everything he needed for this he carried with him or within himself.

It was slowly starting to get dark, Olaf was reading "About the Beings of the Other Spheres" to find an explanation for the oddities in the old house, when a noticeable change in the atmosphere of the large living room began. The temperature seemed to be dropping, the room was becoming more and more oppressive, and soft, incomprehensible sounds could be heard from an unknown direction. Olaf slowly sat up, put the book aside, focused his senses and listened to the sounds. Gradually he began to feel a different kind of power, but he couldn't place it at all. The source of the power lay in another part of the house, here in the living room he felt only weaker effects of this unknown force.

He got up from the chair, grabbed his cane and headed towards the hallway, searching for the source of the signals he had sensed.

He followed the hallway towards the basement stairs, since many beings had a penchant for dark and damp basements. To his surprise, however, he felt the strange force ebbing away the closer he got to the basement. The noticeable lines of force tended to point upwards. As he slowly climbed the stairs, more and more signs of unfamiliar power began to manifest. Strange symbols appeared on banisters and walls, and the closer he got to the attic, the more often he saw a spiral symbol. Ignoring the twisting furniture and the increasing number of mortal remains of various beings, he headed purposefully for the door to the attic. The door was covered with bloody spirals and frost was forming on its edges. Olaf had already experienced a lot in his long life, but even in him a bad feeling was beginning to spread. He paused, collecting his thoughts and fighting back the rising fear. He pointed his walking stick, which had now assumed its true form, at the door and murmured words of power, causing the door to slowly open. Then he entered the attic.

The large attic of the old house was shrouded in an eerie twilight. Wafts of mist rolled across the floor, the beams were covered with ice, the air was unnaturally cold. Spiral patterns were everywhere, but now they were moving, glowing with a faint light. Body parts lay all over the floor, some animal, some impossible to describe. Olaf slowly ventured forward, becoming more and more cautious, because now he felt an aura that emanated nothing but death and ruin. And then, at the other end of the attic, he saw the source of that aura, the cause of all the phenomena in the old house.

A good two meters tall, arms and legs like old branches from a tree, hands and feet like roots, skin torn and rotting. Internal organs and bones were partially exposed, scraps of skin stretched, unnatural liquids spilled over the creature. The head spherical and with a huge, tooth-filled maw, instead of eyes a pulsating spiral, like those seen all over the body. Olaf Born had heard a lot about such a creature, but in all the centuries of his existence he had never seen it himself or personally known anyone who had met it. Before him stood one of the most mysterious and dangerous entities in the magical world.

Before him stood a Spiral Queen!

She was the cause of the strange phenomena in the house, Olaf was convinced of that, even if the exact connections remained unclear to him. But what he had heard and read about the Spiral Queen's powers certainly fitted into the events. No one knew exactly what motivated a Spiral Queen, but it was known that she fed on the negative emotions of other beings and actively reinforced them. At least for a while, because once the Spiral Queen had saturated life in her sphere of influence with negativity and despair, people and animals themselves were on the menu. The Spiral Queen's hunger could reach such proportions that legend has it that entire cities or even entire cultures were wiped out by a single one. The Spiral Queen thus represented a hazard not only for this house, but was a concrete danger for the entire city and beyond.

Olaf Born was thus facing the danger directly. But even if the occupants of the house and most of the people basically meant nothing to him, even he could not allow this being to attack the city undisturbed.

As he pondered all this, the Spiral Queen suddenly turned her attention to him. He felt a paralyzing chill, despair flooding his mind. Only with extreme effort was he able to mentally shield himself from the creature. Rarely had he experienced such powers. He raised his staff and attempted to cast a spell to grab the creature, but it simply dismissed this attempt by lighting up the spirals on its body. Olaf tried other spells and incantations, but the creature deflected them with little effort.

Olaf, on the other hand, felt the Spiral Queen pushing herself further and further into his mind, feeding off his strength, increasing his fear. He wouldn't be able to hold out much longer against the rising desperation. He thought hard about what else he could do, seldom before had he been in such distress. The creature slowly came closer to him, the accompanying spirals were now everywhere, on all surfaces of the attic and slowly encircled Olaf. But suddenly an idea came to him, born out of desperation. If successful, it could mean great trouble for him, but the alternative was certain death.

He closed his eyes, concentrated again, which he found extremely difficult in view of the impending danger. He mobilized the last of his strength and opened a portal just below the Spiral Queen. She uttered a bloodcurdling scream and finally wanted to throw herself at Olaf when she understood what he was up to. But it was already too late. The magical winds of the portal tugged at the Spiral Queen, and though she struggled desperately, she was eventually drawn inside. Once she was gone, Olaf closed the portal and collapsed in a sweat.

The twilight, mist, ice, and symbols were gone, as was their creator. The house was saved, as were its occupants and the city in which it stood. Olaf Born lay on the floor, breathing heavily. He was slowly regaining his strength, and he realized he had been closer to death than he had been in hundreds of years.

As his thoughts cleared, he realized that he had no idea where the portal had sent the Spiral Queen, and that her appearance there might have tragic consequences.

But then came a fatal realization!He had made himself an enemy of a Spiral Queen! She had tasted his soul and now she would want the rest too! She would seek him restlessly, and if the Spiral Queen should find Olaf Born, she would devour his mortal body and his immortal soul!

Olaf stayed in the attic for a long time, worrying about the near future. About the Return of the Spiral Queen.