Vision by: Hoshigaki.

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  "What does that mean? ” I question myself

  “How cold…” I feel cold even though I can’t feel my own body

  A beam of white light suddenly appears.

  And nothing else happens...

  “Wait, I shouldn’t be here. ”

  This looks like... DEATH

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  “We’re here! “ I say this while looking towards an abandoned house.

  The house itself would already be scary, having an ancient appearance that, thanks to the darkness of the night, became even more terrifying and mysterious.

  “Are you sure we’re in the right place? ” Asks Alex Marlowe, with a clear expression of fear on his face.

  "Yes, I'm sure! ” I reaffirm with conviction, even at night, in front of an extremely large abandoned house.

  “Are you sure we’re not in the wrong house? ” Says Marlowe, still in disbelief.

  “Yes, I wouldn’t be confused by that. ” I take my cell phone out of my pocket and show Marlowe an image. “See? It's exactly the same as the picture. ”

  “I still can’t believe we have to inspect this house. ”

  Even though we are doing the field work, we are the heads of a search company called 'Apex Exploration', well, we are also the only employees.

  “If you’re scared, you can go back to your mommy’s lap. ”

  “I-I’m not scared! ”

  "Are you sure? It doesn't seem true when you say it like that. ” Cutting off my speech, Marlowe says, “I’ll go first! ” While walking towards the door.

  “There’s no need to rush, we won’t get paid more for this. ” Marlowe continues walking as if he hadn't heard me. “Well, I think I better go too. ”

  We entered the house, I noticed how abandoned it was. It was common to see places like this since the arrival of the 'explosion'. This was the moment when countries went into total madness and just started bombing each other.

  At that moment, the world was marked by destruction and chaos. We later discovered that the humans who dropped the bombs were under the control of the 'Neurothrax' virus, which had spread through human minds, animals and plants.

  Our agency combs the areas hit by the bombs, a really dangerous job, as the virus is still at large. This also makes the pay high, I don't consider it a good job, but it's enough for me to survive.

  After entering the house and passing through a dusty hallway covered in cobwebs, a sound echoes from inside the room we just opened: “rók-rók.”

  "What was this? ” Marlowe asks, stepping in front of me in an apparent attempt to protect me.

  “From the sound of it, it sounds like a pig. But it's not possible for there to be an animal around here. ”

  “Rók-Rók.” The noise repeats, seeming to get closer.

  "Is coming! ” I speak while getting into a 'defensive' position.

"Below! ” When Marlowe says this, I immediately look down.

  “Um… Toy pig? ” I was surprised to realize this. Simply a toy pig, a little too big to be a child's toy and small compared to a real pig.

  “Isn’t that strange, Hoshi? ”

  “How could it not be? I don't think even our contractor knew that. ”

  The 'pig' starts butting our legs as if he were trying to throw us out of that house.

  “This is a sign to get out of here. ”

  “You’re just scared. ” Even saying that, we can’t stay here much longer.

  As we enter the room where the 'pig' came from, we come across what looks like the living room of a small family. There are also three paintings on the wall, but they are too dusty to identify.

  When we approached the painting, the pig started to run wildly and simply lay down at the door we came to, as if the pile was exhausted.

  We spent some time searching the room, we did this very carefully as we didn't want to break the fragile balance of the dusty furniture.

  “It’s our time, let’s go back. ” I say, breaking the extreme silence in the room. Marlowe agrees, and we head out of the house with a strange feeling that I can't quite put my finger on.

  “I think it will take us a while to find this photo. ”

  “We should charge more for this work. ”

  Our car finally arrived, we were relieved to leave this house behind, even if we had to return another day.

  The journey to 'Esperanto' was relatively peaceful, we were both lost in thought and had a silent journey.

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   'Esperanto'. This is one of the few cities that are currently 'safe'. After the explosions, society came together to create a new civilization. Worldwide communication has been cut off, so we have no way of knowing if there really is another 'living' city in the world, but this is a really safe place.

  This is a city specifically designed to be safe and self-sufficient, surrounded by high walls containing barbed wire. I consider it a bit exaggerated, considering we have no human enemies.

  The city itself is focused on the center, where all the residential part is located. Circling this area, there is a separation: to the south, there is a huge mountain where an agriculture station was created; to the north, a leisure area was created. Initially, this was not the intention of the leaders here, but after a small protest, they decided to create it.

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  “Here we are again. ” The house was even more sinister in daylight. Strangely we were brought by the same driver as last time. Well, maybe only he is willing to come here.

  The haunting memory of the house was still etched in my mind.

  “I think we can be faster this time. ” says Marlowe, apparently braver than last time.

  “Come on, before your courage goes away. ” I hear Marlowe mumble something, but I just ignore it.

  Entering the house, we didn't come across the 'pig' again. “Could it be that he was a ghost this whole time, and we were cursed by him? ”

  “Don’t travel, Marlowe. ”

  Heading in the same direction, we pass again through the door where the 'pig' came from last time.

  “This place is cleaner than last time. ” I look at the three paintings I noticed the first time I came.

  I found it strange that the paintings were clean. It's almost as if someone cleaned them.

  You could almost clearly see what was on them, different from last time.

  In the first, you can see a family made up of a lady and her two children; in the second, a couple can be seen, apparently the same man from the first image together with a red-haired woman; in the third, you can see three toys, one of them was the 'pig' from the first time, the other two looked like humanoids, but it was not possible to identify them properly because the image was very old.

  “I don’t think this is good. ” Says Marlowe in a tense voice. He was inside another room. Previously we noticed a door that was previously closed and covered in cobwebs, but now it was open, and that's where Marlowe was.

  I look in his direction and notice a puppet with golden coloring. His appearance resembles that of the man in the painting: a man of average height, robust build, somewhat pale skin, at least in the painting, opaque blue eyes, wearing a suit that once saw better days.

  “They are certainly the same person. ”

  "What do you mean by that? ”

  “On the board there. They are the same, except for the skin color. I've never seen a person with golden skin. ”

  “It’s just what was missing. ” “Is she moving? SHE IS MOVING! ” Marlowe shouts in fright. The possibility passed that it wasn't hostile, just like the 'pig', but he didn't want to test that hypothesis.

  The puppet starts to move as if it is waking up.

  "Let's get out of here! ” I tried not to make too much noise when speaking even though I was nervous, I wanted to express what was necessary so that he understood that we should remain silent.

  Marlowe apparently understands the reason for my tone and, together with me, begins to leave the room, trying not to attract attention. When we were about to leave the door, another puppet appears, this time a woman, long red hair, red eyes that are clearly not real, exactly the same as the man's wife in the painting, her only characteristic being her skin color and her eyes.

  “I think it’s better to run. ” Well, this time I agree with him. With the path to the door blocked, we run towards an unlit fireplace, the fuel for which has long since burned out.

The female puppet enters the room, but apparently does not notice our presence.

  "What are we going to do now? ”

  “As if I knew,” I replied. “Why don’t we wait for them to come and devour us? ”

  'D-D-Devour us? Do you think they would do that? '

  "How will I know? I'm not a puppet! ”

  Noticing the other puppet moving, the female puppet went towards him and threw him up, as if wanting to look at what was underneath him.

  “I don't know what she's doing, but we'd better get out of here,” I suggested quickly, noticing the opportunity.

  We were already close to the door when the puppets started screaming and they came towards us.

  "Run! ” We both screamed as we started running.

The puppets ran at superhuman speed, but when they reached the exit door, they suddenly stopped.

  Breathless, we realized that the sound had stopped, and along with it, the puppets. It was almost as if they were disconnected.

  “I think we'd better give up on this contract,” I commented, even though I knew Marlowe already thought the same. “You don’t even need to talk. ”

Time passed so quickly that we barely realized it was time to go back, at least until our driver arrived.

  After we get into the car, I notice the presence of another passenger.

  “I didn’t think anyone would want to come to these areas. ” I commented.

  “This is my niece, her name is Aria Blackwood. ” Said the driver.

  “Blackwood? ” I ask.

  “That surname seems familiar to me... Do you know anyone called that, Hoshi? ” says Marlowe.

  Ignoring Marlowe's question, I turn back and watch her. Her appearance is that of a young girl around 17 years old, her long red hair covering her face reveals the answer to my question.

  “Aria Blackwood, daughter of Marcus Blackwood and Vivian Candel? ”

  “Did you know my parents? Her voice sounds low and excited, almost as if she doesn't know her own parents.

  “No, I saw a painting with their name on it recently. And if I'm right, you must be Ethan Blackwood, right? ”

  "Right in the bull's-eye. Did you also see a painting with my name on it? ” He didn't seem to mind having his identity revealed.

  "Wait. Ethan Blackwood? ” Marlowe chimes in with a tone of surprise. “Ethan Blackwood, the great founder of Esperanto? ”

  At that moment, I felt ashamed for not knowing who founded the city in which I have lived since the 'explosion' (Name given to the end of the crisis and the beginning of the new era).

  "Myself. I'm happy to be recognized, even though I'm not the only one who started this project. Together we created Esperanto to bring all types of people together in one place, and that's what I hope for from this project. ”

  “You’re the one who hired us, aren’t you? ” I ask, noticing a change in his expression.

“I thought I could change the subject by talking about the city, but it doesn't seem to work. “ Ethan laughs forcefully. "Yes, it was me. ”

  "You? Why would you ask teenagers like us to investigate an abandoned house in the area of the explosion? Why didn't you use the city guard for this? ”

  “I can't reveal my reasons for wanting to investigate that house, but as for your choice, there is no specific reason. I just chose someone who could do the job,” he replied, which increased my curiosity even more.

  "What happened? I mean, in your house, why are those puppets 'alive'? ” As I finish my question, I notice some uneasiness on Aria’s part.

  “I see... So you saw them. Are they still active? ”

I was about to tell him not to change the subject when Marlowe interrupted me, speaking as if he were with a close friend. “They are scary. When they started screaming, I felt a shiver run down my spine. I almost had a heart attack when they started running after me. ”

  “Can you answer my question now? ” I say as if I'm ignoring Marlowe.

  “I'm sorry, I don't have the answers you want. But I can take you to someone who does. ”

The trip was relatively short, but every minute seemed to drag by. We finally arrived at a place not too far away.

  “We have arrived. said Ethan as he looked around.

  “Why would anyone live here? ” I asked, observing the tall gray walls that surrounded the place. The place looked like a fortress, a stark contrast to the surrounding environment.

  “She doesn't want to be far from where she lived before the 'explosion'. ”

  “Who exactly would she be? ”

  “Evelyn Blackwood. My mom. ”

  We entered through a large wooden gate and headed towards an outdoor table. The surroundings were full of flowers, the only exception was a door to a bunker that was on one side of the wall. I was wondering why someone would choose to live there, I don't think that's the real reason.

  We sat around a small table with four chairs. Aria, however, remained standing next to her uncle. A short time later, a lady came out through the door that led to the basement.

His presence was imposing, almost intimidating. She had an aura that radiated authority and wisdom. Her penetrating gaze made me feel like she knew everything I'd been through in my life, to the point that she couldn't say anything that was remotely relevant.

  "You guys came back. And I see they brought guests. ” She looked at Marlowe and then at me, I felt like her blue eyes were burning my soul.

  “These are Marlowe and Hoshigaki. I promised you would tell them what happened to the 'puppets'. ”

  “So that was it... Since it's like that, then I'll tell you. ”

  At this moment, the walls that were gray began to turn green. But it wasn't like they were changing color; leaves were growing. It was a magical thing to see. And then she started talking.

  “The Blackwood family was not always known by that name. We were famous puppeteers, but our family suffered from a curse. My son Marcus and his wife were cursed and turned into puppets. ” After a brief moment she continued to speak. “Whoever cursed you said: until your entire family dies, you will never have peace and you will roam this house hunting anyone who dares to pass through that hatch. “

  Hatch? I thought. I don't remember seeing one.

  Evelyn continued; “Obviously referring to the house you were in. After this curse was placed on them, we fled to this lower 'celestial'. We saw the potential of this world and reinvented ourselves as Neurothrax. ”

  After the end of that sentence there was simply a blackout in my mind, and the world simply went dark.

  "What does that mean? ” I question myself

  “How cold…” I feel cold even though I can’t feel my own body

  A beam of white light suddenly appears.

  And nothing else happens...

  “Wait, I shouldn’t be here. ”

  This feels like... DEATH.