Free Web NovelChapter 16: A Sign
’’Guys, you might want to see this.’’
Berry and Stylie turned in their seats, giving Lin a questioning look. He said nothing but urged them both to come with him.
Berry and Stylie turned to each other, wondering what had made Lin so pale that he couldn’t explain it and instead wanted to show them what he had seen.
’’Let’s go see what has him so scared,’’ Stylie teased and Berry rose to her feet and they both followed after Lin to see.
He led them down a different hallway that had cool grey walls and they felt like they were being led to the entrance of some spacecraft. There were mirrors, lots of them and Berry tried not to think too much of it.
Suddenly, Lin paused to raise his phone light towards a painting on the left side of the wall.
No, it felt like a mural because the painting seemed to have been done in a way that gave the illusion of a reflective surface.
Both Stylie and Berry stood on both sides of Lin as they stared at the work in deep awe.
’’Wow,’’ Stylie breathed, the light from the torch giving the painting a dark blue glow. ’’This must have cost so much to make. How did they even make such a thing?’’
Berry inched closer to touch it, but it didn’t feel like glass, which only made it stranger. She pulled back to cross her arms before turning to Lin who looked at the painting as if he was staring right into the face of God.
’’Hey, hardworking bean, were you spooked by some rich medieval painting?’’
Stylie tried not to laugh and Lin rolled his eyes at their stupidity. Then he noticed the light from his phone wasn’t letting them see what he saw. So, he switched to a lens that was bright enough and pointed.
’’Sassy fruit,’’ Berry stifled a laugh. ’’Does this look like a regular Michelangelo painting to you?’’
Berry’s eyes returned to the painting, and the smile faded from her face.
There was a being at least eight feet tall with ram-like horns standing beside a naked human with red, almost wine–colored hair holding a deformed baby around the neck.
Both beings stared down at the baby with a cold, unbothered look as the baby cried. The baby had large, monstrous arms that flailed about and resembled burning flames. The beast beside the human seemed to shift just enough to reveal eyes they could not describe. No matter how hard they tried to.
Berry and Lin gulped before moving their light downward, toward the bottom right of the strange painting and they read what was signed there in beautiful handwriting.
Parents.
Evil.
’’What the...’’ Berry stepped closer to examine the words and tried not to think that was blood.
’’It–it could be painted. You know, there are really good red paints these days that look like blood,’’ Stylie said as Berry drew back.
’’Over here, there’s another,’’ Lin called and they all moved to gather beneath the next disturbing art, made in the same shiny, reflective material.
Somehow, the child survived being strangled to death by the evil parents. The next painting showed a large grotesque painting of a golden snake that circled around a tree in what looked like a garden. The face of the huge, yet terrifyingly beautiful snake was concealed and it seemed as though it was one with the tree.
Surprisingly, something had been scribbled at the bottom left of the painting again in that weird blood red paint.
Tree.
Mine.
Good.
Evil.
Both Berry, Lin, and Stylie exchanged confused looks. None of it made any sense. Then they moved as if expecting this creepy story to continue and it did.
This time, there was a male and a female making love in a river not too far from the tree. They were so tall and naked, and the male seemed determined to dominate over the female as he claimed her, his mouth hard against her breast. The female with the gorgeous kind of snow white hair had her head thrown back in pain, pleasure and sin.
Behind them, golden eyes that burned like the sun watched with a frown.
At the bottom right,
Sinful.
Disobedient.
There was a fourth painting, similar to the others, but telling a different story. The female with the snow, almost pale long hair that covered her breast and flowed behind her curves grabbed the serpent and pulled it down from the tree like a savage. frёewebηovel.cѳm
The next painting showed worse eerie depictions of the female being strong enough to pin the serpent down, having her way with it, taking its innocence forcefully and in a way that was only cruel. It made Stylie a bit nauseous as she turned away.
The following showed the male arriving at the scene, raging and looking mad at what the female had done. Only to end up doing worse.
Thankfully, there was the last painting. The end of what seemed to have been a sad and nauseating tale of the deformed golden snake.
Only the female remained in the painting. The once beautiful garden looked dark and grim as the female opened her mouth to devour the snake. It lay limp in her hold, the face and upper body of the snake now visible.
All employees of Winfield Entertainment drew close to see who was getting devoured and time stilled.
’’No way,’’ Berry said as she squinted her eyes just to be sure. The drawings weren’t perfect, but the figure resembled someone they knew.
’’Is that...’’
’’Is that Grim?’’ Berry asked, none of what she saw made any sense to her. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
Stylie saw how goosebumps rose on her arms and couldn’t believe this.
’’The artist thought of one thing that had the right face card and ended up drawing our soon-to-be intern. Great.’’ Berry shook her head and Stylie pointed out to the words inscribed at the bottom left.
Cursed.
Were the words inscribed beneath it.
Lin and Berry turned to each other and frowned at such nonsense.
Berry sighed and stood straight, turning to catch the words that reflected in the mirror opposite where they stood.
’’Guys, Look. There’s more.’’ Berry tapped Lin and they all rose from the painting to stare at a smaller mirror, cone-shaped. Like an eye.
’’Where...a–are...my...limbs?’’ Berry made sense of the words written backwards.
Stylie gasped and backed away. Her eyes widened.
’’Oh, read this one at the corner here,’’ Lin directed and Berry squinted her eyes impossibly to read the tiny words that blurred and appeared in response to Lin’s phone light.
It looked like a name.
A word crowded with so many consonants it was impossible to pronounce without losing a few teeth.
’’I..chor...aissss...’’
’’Ichoraisis.’’
They all jumped and screamed as light flooded the hallway. They turned to see Grim standing at the end of the hallway. Their faces were red, and they looked shaken like criminals being caught red handed in an act.
’’As in, the forbidden fruit.’’
Berry and Lin stood straight, their hearts racing in their chests and struggled to make eye contact with him.
’’Not a name I am proud of. But what can I do?’’ He shrugged with his arms apart.
Berry stared at Lin.
Lin turned to Stylie.
They were speechless.
☆☆☆
Grim stood at the end of the hallway in a stylish black chinese robe with gold freckless. A dragon spitting out fire was the design of the long sleeves. His hair loose around him and a beautiful jade dragon pin hooked proudly at the top.
Their mouths fell in shock.
How did his hair suddenly grow that long in just two weeks?!
Was it a wig or...
His sudden long hair was supposed to be the least of their concerns but the three humans before him were so blinded by how good he looked in just casuals.
He looked like a prince. A shiny prince from their daydreams and they all just wanted to...
They all shook their heads at that nasty thought they were tempted with.
Grim was their friend. And they visited him because they were on a dedicated mission to save their boss from whatever was wrong with her.
For some weird reasons, they believed this god before them was the solution and they were willing to try.
Grim’s gaze flickered to the painting on the wall before they lowered in what resembled pain and sadness.
This was not what he had in mind when he thought of inviting them over to his place for the first time.
Now, they were probably afraid of him or worse...
Repulsed.
The light in those eyes dimmed and hollowed. His hands clenching and loosening from their tight grip.
Berry and Lin couldn’t shake off the aching guilt feeling in their throat and they thought he would be mad at them for wandering into a place that now felt restricted.
’’It was Lin that brought us in here,’’ Berry said quickly, pointing at Lin. Lin’s gaze widened in shock at the betrayal. His neck moved towards Berry to show how visibly hurt he was.
Blaming each other wasn’t an option in getting them out of this mess. He wanted to say through his clenched teeth and Berry could only give him an apologetic look.
’’Didn’t you guys...see the sign..?’’ Grim said softly, feeling ashamed to look at them as he kept his eyes glued to the ground. They had just seen and known a part of him he could only keep trying to deny but never erase.
Berry blinked, ’’What...sign?’’
