Chapter 11: The Promise in Ashcrof"Nyx is missing," Selene said again.
She unlocked her phone and held it out to me.
On the screen was a livestreamer who explored abandoned places—old hospitals, closed funeral homes, half-demolished buildings. The kind of channel built around shadows, rumors, and things people couldn't quite explain.
Her latest video was filmed in a village called Ashcroft.
Selene scrolled down the page.
"She hasn't posted anything in three days. That's unusual for her. Her viewers are already starting to worry."
I watched the last stream.
At first it followed the familiar pattern: shaky flashlight beams, laughter, the exaggerated excitement that came with exploring empty buildings.
Then something changed.
Nyx stopped talking mid-sentence.
The camera drifted slowly across the dark village street before settling on something in the distance.
Beyond the broken rooftops stood a massive structure—stone walls, tall arches, and the unmistakable outline of a palace..
Even through the poor resolution, the scale of it was unmistakable.
Nyx's voice came back, breathless with excitement.
"Do you see that?" she whispered. "That wasn't here earlier. I swear it wasn't."
The camera zoomed in clumsily.
The palace seemed to rise out of the darkness itself.
"I think it only appears at night," she said.
For a moment the image held steady on the distant structure.
Then the camera suddenly jerked, followed by a dull thud somewhere off-screen.
The image shook violently, the frame tilting sideways as if the camera had been struck.
Then the screen went black.
The stream ended.
Selene looked at me.
"Why would there be a palace in the middle of an abandoned village?"
Online, the comments were asking the same thing.
I was about to answer when something else caught my attention.
The previous video.
Its title read:
The Violin That Wouldn't Stay Gone
"Open that one," I said.
Selene tapped the screen.
A young woman appeared on the display, standing beneath a flickering porch light. The camera angle suggested a handheld setup—probably a small tripod or a phone mounted against a railing.
"Alright," she said, lowering her voice slightly as if the quiet surroundings demanded it. "Tonight we're visiting a family who contacted me directly about something... strange happening in their home."
She stepped slightly aside, the camera shifting with her movement.
"The family asked me not to share their exact address," Nyx continued. "But they told me they've already tried pretty much everything—doctors, specialists, even people from the church. Nothing has helped."
She gave a small, uneasy shrug.
"At this point they're hoping that documenting what's happening might bring them some answers... or at least get someone's attention."
Her expression shifted slightly, curiosity mixing with unease.
"And honestly? I'm not sure what we're about to find."
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
The camera moved as she turned toward the gate.
"Let's go talk to them."
---
The next cut showed a modest living room.
A middle-aged man sat across from Nyx. The camera avoided showing his face clearly, but his hands were visible, clasped so tightly that the knuckles had gone pale.
Nyx spoke gently.
"Would you mind introducing yourself? You don't have to share anything you're uncomfortable with."
The man hesitated for a moment before answering.
"Edward is fine," he said quietly. His voice sounded tired, like someone who hadn't slept much lately.
Nyx nodded.
"Edward, you mentioned in your message that something strange has been happening to your son."
Edward took a slow breath before continuing.
"It started just after dusk a few nights ago," he said. "My son Adrian suddenly came downstairs and told us he could hear music outside the house."
He paused briefly, as if still unsure how to explain it.
"Mendelssohn's Wedding March," he added.
The name sounded oddly formal in the quiet room. Nyx blinked in surprise.
"The wedding march?"
Edward nodded.
"He said it sounded very clear, like an actual ceremony was happening nearby." His gaze drifted toward the hallway as he spoke. "But there were several people in the house that evening. My wife, my sister... none of us heard anything at all."
Nyx frowned slightly but let him continue.
"The music stopped after a few minutes," Edward said. "Then Adrian told us something else. He said a woman was calling his name from outside."
His fingers tightened together again.
"She kept telling him to come with her."
Nyx glanced briefly toward the hallway.
"What did Adrian do?"
"He locked himself in his room," Edward answered quietly. "He was terrified. We tried to calm him down, but it took hours before he finally managed to fall asleep. I think it was close to eleven."
The room fell silent for a moment.
"Then, sometime after one in the morning, we heard a violin."
Nyx leaned forward slightly.
"From Adrian's room?"
"Yes."
"Does he play?"
Edward shook his head almost immediately, anticipating the next question.
"And no, he doesn't play. In fact, he hates violins. If one appears on television, he changes the channel."
He exhaled slowly.
"That's what made it so disturbing. The door was locked from the inside and the windows were latched. We couldn't get in. All we could do was stand in the hallway and listen."
The camera shifted slightly as Nyx adjusted her grip.
"At first the music sounded normal," Edward continued. "A simple melody. But after a while it began to change. The notes grew heavier... strained, like someone was forcing the instrument to keep playing."
He rubbed his face tiredly.
"By the end it didn't even sound like music anymore."
Nyx's voice was softer now.
"How long did it last?"
"Until dawn."
"And Adrian?"
"He slept the entire time."
Edward leaned back slightly, as though remembering the next part still unsettled him.
"When morning came, we broke the door open. The room was empty except for one thing."
Nyx waited.
"A violin," he said. "It was lying in the middle of the floor."
For a moment neither of them spoke.
"Adrian didn't remember anything," Edward continued. "He insisted he had never touched it."
"So we got rid of it. Drove it miles away and dumped it in a landfill."
He gave a brief, humorless smile.
"But the next night... it was back."
Nyx's eyebrows lifted.
"In his room?"
Edward nodded.
"We installed cameras after that, hoping to catch whatever was happening. But every recording cuts to black shortly after midnight. By morning the violin is always there again, exactly where it shouldn't be."
He rubbed his hands together slowly.
"No matter what we tried... it kept coming back."
Nyx glanced once more toward the hallway.
"Would it be possible for me to speak with Adrian?"
Edward hesitated for several seconds before nodding.
---
The next segment cut to a bedroom.
The camera had been positioned low, pointed toward the far wall rather than the people inside the room. A narrow bed stood against the wall, its blankets slightly rumpled. Beside it was a small desk crowded with schoolbooks and a dim bedside lamp that cast a soft pool of light across the floor.
Neither Nyx nor Adrian appeared on camera.
Only their voices could be heard.
"Hi, Adrian," Nyx said gently. "Your father told me about the music you've been hearing."
For a moment there was only the quiet hum of the lamp.
Then the boy's voice answered softly.
"I still hear it sometimes. The wedding march."
A brief pause followed before Nyx spoke again.
"Your father also mentioned a woman calling your name. Did you ever actually see her?"
"Yes," Adrian said after a moment.
Nyx waited.
"What did she look like?"
"Beautiful," he replied quietly. "Like someone from a painting."
The camera remained fixed on the room: the bed, the desk, the faint shadows along the walls.
"And what did she say to you?" Nyx asked.
"She said I promised to marry her."
There was a short silence before Nyx continued.
"When did that happen?"
"When I was nine."
The room grew still.
Adrian's voice came again, slower this time.
"That year I killed a nest of small snakes in the woods behind our old house. After that I got lost for a while. That's when I met her."
Nyx did not interrupt.
"She asked me if she was beautiful," Adrian said. "Then she asked if I would marry her when I grew up."
A faint creak came from somewhere in the house.
"I thought she was joking," he continued quietly. "So I said yes."
Nyx spoke again after a moment.
"And now she's come back?"
"She says the promise still stands."
Another pause.
"What does she want from you now?" Nyx asked.
"To become one with me," Adrian said. "She says we can only truly be together if we're husband and wife."
The camera remained fixed on the empty room.
"And how does that happen?" Nyx asked.
"We have to find her bones."
"Where?"
"In a village."
Nyx's voice lowered slightly.
"What village?"
The boy's reply was barely audible.
"Ashcroft."
Somewhere in the house, a floorboard creaked.
The video ended.
Selene slowly lowered the phone.
"That's the village where she filmed the palace," she said.
I nodded. The pieces were starting to fit together now.
Nyx hadn't gone to that village out of curiosity.
She had gone looking for the girl whose bones were buried there.
Selene studied my face for a moment.
"You're thinking about going there, aren't you?"
I didn't answer right away.
Because before I stepped anywhere near Ashcroft, there was one thing I needed to understand.
I looked back at the dark screen of the phone.
"First," I said, "I need to meet the boy."
