Verexa Family In Action 💝

The Verdanis estate is enormous. Big enough for me to make a couple of wrong turns. Yeeeaars ago too, when Euffie and I come to play with Aurelian, I used to get lost around this area.

Come to think of it… Euffie kinda liked Aurelian. Is that why she despises me now?

The mansion once studded with pretty lights and chandeliers now all flicker strangely. 

Kyaaa! No ghost please… How did I end up lost when I just literally bent down to pick up a talisman? The moment I look up, bang! I was alone…

‘ANYBODY!?’

Silence.

Huhu!

I eventually found dozens of talismans with penmanship I recognise on the walls. They all lead to the drawing room.

Ok let’s go. Time to save Aurelian.

‘Miss Melodette, you shouldn’t go in.’

‘KYAA!’ I punch the air behind me.

‘Sorry for scaring you. I was following you the entire time, making sure you weren’t alone.’ The helper explains as he comes out from the shadows. ‘Please don’t go in. Not when your own luck is low and you are emotionally vulnerable.’

‘Thank you. Stop avoiding me and finally tell me your name later.’ I pat him and push the door open. ‘And oh, I still owe you for my presentation. Tell me your wish later too.’

He looks defeated, but follows me anyways.

Inside, everyone is already starting. The countryside cousins fan out, hammering protective stakes into the ground and chanting low prayers. Even without rehearsal, the sound they make is beautiful, like bees in harmony.

In the middle, I see Aurelian. He’s sitting on a chaise, half-draped in a blanket, looking pale and sickly.

Oh no…

He smiles on my entry. This smile, I recognize. Not the fake version at school. His smile says “of course you are fashionably late”.

‘Melodette…’

I freeze. Do I say sorry?

‘You came,’ he whispers. ‘I wish you’d come to see me when I wasn’t like this.’

Words fail me. I had been an utter bitch to him… And he is still being nice.

I would have, if you’d asked me like a normal person. Instead you relied on your family’s cursed gem to become popular. 

That was what’s giving me the bad signal every time I spoke with Aurelian the entire time. I wish I had not pushed him away. I could have helped him choose better.

‘Sorry.’ Was all I could say.

He giggles at my pout, but pain quickly takes his smile away. He grips the chair arm with trembling fingers. The veins under his skin shimmer faintly violet.

I wasn’t ready for Saja Boys…

‘It’s hungry,’ he murmurs. ‘I can feel it gnawing at me.’

Grandmother lays a hand on his forehead. ‘Then we’ll starve it, boy. Hold tight.’

Dear readers, hold my hand, it gets serious from now on. 

The ritual begins with more than twenty of us. The Verdanis mansion becomes a battlefield of symbols and light. I stand near the incense lines, chanting under my breath.

Grandmother leads the circle. My mother and sister Arisa channel the core. Cousins weave protective threads along the edges. The entire clan hums together, our voices braiding into one long note that vibrates through the ground.

Aurelian kneels and weeps at the center. For a moment, the symbols around him glow warm and steady.

Maybe it’s working?

Then the ground quivers. A faint pulse beats beneath us. Not in time with the chant, but against it. Aurelian jerks forward, gasping. A sound tears from his throat. It wasn't a human sound.

‘Hold him!’ someone shouts.

Four cousins rush in, pressing talismans against his shoulders. Their paper seals hiss, smoking where they touch his skin. The violet veins blaze brighter.

‘More salt!’

‘Focus the energy!’

‘The chant, the chant! Don’t stop!’

I panic and hum faster and stronger. The marble floor begins to crack.

‘Grandma!’ Arisa screams. ‘It’s pushing back!’

Grandmother’s hair whips around her face as her energy amps up. ‘Then push harder!’

The entity screams. Not through Aurelian’s mouth this time, but through every surface. The walls, the floor, the ceiling.

The relatives from the countryside shout new verses, layering protection seals midair, but the darkness keeps spreading like a living fog crawling along the floor.

It slithers toward the incense line. Towards me. 

Kyaa!! That doesn’t look pretty at all! I don’t want it!

My heart beats out of my chest. I try to stay still and keep chanting.

Aurelian cries out in pain.

It’s my fault Aurelian is in this state... I wasn’t a good friend.

The moment I waver, even one breath, the protective line snaps. The spirit senses the gap and surges.

‘Aurelian!’ I cry. ‘Fight it!’

He turns to me, eyes glowing from within. ‘I tried,’ he whispers. ‘It’s… too late.’

He screams, and the entire world splits. Light erupts from the circle. Golden radiance from our protection colliding with black energy.

‘Everybody! Hold on!’ I say. I suddenly remember that I am the maiden of the temple. I should be strong enough to inspire others in the face of any disaster.

Grandmother staggers, blood running from her nose, her palms smoking from effort. She does not stop. She’s still standing, chanting through clenched teeth, holding the barrier by sheer will.

But the spirit still bursts free. It slowly tears itself out of Aurelian’s chest in a cyclone of smoke and faces. Everyone stumbles.

I see my grandmother’s knees buckle. Mother rushes to catch her. Arisa takes over, voice shaking, hands glowing blue with desperation. She’s not a sealer, but she is taking over as grandma finds her bearing.

Seeing this sight puts sadness in my heart. 

I could have avoided all this.

I look back to Aurelian.

Pretty little one. I can see why he likes you. You’re shiny. I want you too.

I can’t move. I can’t breathe. I can only stare as the entity leaves him and twist toward me at an alarming speed.

‘MELLIE!’ My sister screams as she tries her best to stop this from unfolding.

Before the fog reaches the talisman I am holding, someone appears in front of me in an instant. The force pushes me back so hard I fall and hit my head… on something soft. Someone catches me from the back as well.

I look ahead to see who pushed me out of the way. The helper!

The spirit hits him full force.

There’s a blinding surge of white and violet light intertwining. The drawing room collapses into chaos. The marble shatters, the windows implode, the whole mansion trembles.

And then, darkness and silence.

When the dust and fog settles, I look up to see if my family is ok. Mother is fine. Grandma is fine. Arisa is fine. And so are the rest. Aurelian is unconscious in the middle, but breathing. Behind me, Euffie looks embarrassed, as she releases me from her hug. 

So she’s the one hugging me from the back the entire day when I was crying… I kiss her cheek then I go to (my) our saviour. 

The helper lies motionless. The bad energy is nowhere to be seen.

‘You idiot,’ I whisper as I crawl to the helper. ‘Why did you do that?’

His eyes open. ‘Because… I don’t want to see you sad or hurt, Miss Melodette.’

‘What’s your name?’

He smiles. Then he giggles.

Hmmm? That’s familiar! Like a purr and a snort combined.

‘Cutie?’