I thought I should go and visit the abandoned warehouse again and look for more clues. I also thought I would need Debbie’s book to understand everything more clearly and devise a plan before it was too late.
— For complete chapter wise listing of this story go to The Unknown —
I went back to the basement to get the book. Her body was still hanging there. I picked the book up and sprinted towards the basement before anyone could see me. Unfortunately Ronald did but he did not do anything. He just smiled. I’m sure he had an evil plan for me so I had to do something quickly.
I followed the exact same path and reached the warehouse. I knew the totem magic was still there. I had to quickly go in and throw the totem out so that I don’t lose my memory again. As soon as I entered I could feel the memories leaving me. I found the totem and threw it out of the building.
Slowly everything started becoming normal. The place where we found our photos had a stand for a book. I placed Debbie’s book there and to my surprise the stand went inside the table and a secret passage opened right beside me.
I went in. There were staircases leading down. I decided to follow them. It started getting darker and darker but I kept on going. After a while I saw a light emerging in the end.
I ran towards the light. It was a doorway to a study of some sort. There were books all around and a central seating arrangement with one big wooden desk. There was another book opened on the desk.
I went closer to the book and the same Latin inscription was on the page that was opened. Fortunately the rest was in English. It was a spiritual cleansing ritual of some sort. I read it carefully. It was a spell to overcome acute memory loss. It also told me the real name of Ronald.
Ronald was some sort of soul collecting demon named Azazel. His way of collecting souls was making a few good friends forget about themselves then turn them against each other until the moment they realise that the only way to survive is killing the others.
This way everyone dies and the souls go to hell. I clicked snaps of all this. Then I read the most crucial unreal part of the spell. I had to jump into fire created by holy oil. Then and only then I would get my memories back.
Purification can give wisdom. That’s what she meant. I trusted Debby. I decided to do it and that too before the clock hits again. I had less time. Now where would I get holy oil? I looked around. By luck I saw a compartment full of bottles labelled holy oil.
I had to do the ritual in open air. I went out and created the fire mumbling the spell words in my mouth. Taking a leap of faith I jumped into the fire. The sharp burning sensation went through my body. I fought the urge of jumping out until I was rendered unconscious due to the unbearable pain.
