113. Funeral
The first light of dawn barely pierced through the blinds.
The Brooks Mansion felt… different.
Quiet. Heavy. Dead.
The family slowly emerged from their rooms.
The dining hall smelled faintly of last night's chaos, but more than that—
an invisible weight hung over the entire house.
Aunt Liana entered first.
She froze at the empty servant wing.
The horror of what had happened last night finally sank in.
Her hands trembled.
"Ten… ten are gone…?" she whispered.
Uncle Adrian's face was pale.
"Last night… what happened…? I don't even understand. It's… unreal."
Maximilian didn't speak.
He walked silently through the halls, eyes narrowing at every shadow.
He felt something.
A subtle shift in the air.
A presence.
Kyron stood at the center of the main hall, scanning the perimeter.
"Everyone stay alert. Nothing is… over."
Aiden was still in his room.
He hadn't slept.
He hadn't eaten.
His mind replayed every second of the terror.
Chloe gently approached him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Aiden… it's over. You're safe… for now."
Aiden shook his head violently.
"No… no it's not. I could have—should have—done something!!!
Later...
The sun was a pale, sorrowful disk in the sky.
Its light fell weakly over the Brooks estate, as if even the heavens mourned the loss of the ten innocent souls who had been dragged into a nightmare not their own.
The family and surviving staff gathered in the mansion's small garden.
White lilies and candles lined the makeshift graves, but the serenity of the setting could not mask the horror that had occurred.
Aunt Liana's hands shook as she placed a single white rose on each grave.
Her voice trembled, barely audible.
"May you all find peace… you didn't deserve this."
Uncle Adrian knelt before one grave, fist hitting the soft earth.
"No! Why… why did this happen? You were innocent! All of you!"
His voice cracked with rage, echoing across the garden.
Chloe stood silently, tears rolling down her cheeks.
Her hands clutched Aiden's arm as he leaned heavily on her shoulder.
Aiden's face was pale, eyes hollow, guilt etched into every line of his face.
"I couldn't protect them…" he whispered, voice breaking.
"I… I should have done something. ANYTHING."
Maximilian stood apart from the crowd, arms crossed, jaw tight.
The rage in him simmered just beneath the surface.
His normally controlled demeanor was gone—
replaced with the kind of fury that could tear mountains apart.
He looked at the graves.
Ten names. Ten innocent lives.
Taken by a creature born from nothing but darkness and malice.
Max clenched his fists so hard the knuckles turned white.
This is unacceptable.
This will not happen again.
Kyron silently surveyed the grieving family.
Some of the servants' relatives were here—tears streaked faces of men and women, clutching photographs, mourning siblings, parents, husbands, wives, children.
The air was thick with sorrow, grief, and helplessness.
Aunt Liana's voice trembled again.
"They were dragged into this… into our lives, and it cost them everything. Every single one of them…"
A distant wind blew, shaking the lilies.
It seemed to whisper the echoes of the lost: faint, silent cries that only the living could hear.
Chloe knelt by one grave, hands pressed to the soil.
"I'm so sorry…" she whispered. "I… I couldn't save you."
Aiden's knees buckled.
He fell face-first to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably.
"I couldn't protect anyone. It's all my fault. All of it. I failed them… I failed them all…"
Maximilian's eyes narrowed to slits, his lips pressed into a thin line.
The rage inside him was volcanic.
Not a single drop of forgiveness or mercy remained in him for the shadow that had caused this.
He silently swore: the creature that dared enter his family's life, that killed the innocent to hurt him and Aiden… would pay. And it would pay in a way unimaginable.
Kyron placed a hand on Max's shoulder.
"Sir… we'll make it pay. All of it. The thing that did this—"
Max's hand shot out, gripping Kyron's wrist with terrifying force.
"Don't speak yet. Not until I know the full extent of what it wants.
But know this—when I strike… there will be no mercy."
A moment of silence fell over the garden.
The family, the survivors, and even the servants' grieving relatives—all caught between grief and the raw, violent energy emanating from the man standing there.
Chloe whispered to Aiden, still trembling:
"We'll… we'll make it right. Somehow… we'll make it right."
Aiden looked up through his tears, nodding faintly.
"But how… how can I even face tomorrow knowing ten innocent lives ended because of me… because of us?"
Maximilian's gaze swept across the group, finally resting on Aiden.
"Survive. Learn. Prepare. That's all you can do right now. And when the time comes…
We will make them pay. All of them. Every last shadow that dares touch this family again."
The wind blew again.
The cries of the lost seemed to echo faintly with it.
The dark energy of rage and sorrow mingled, as if the world itself felt the injustice of what had happened.
And somewhere, unseen, the shadow—the entity—felt the surge of that fury.
It would not escape the wrath that was now being silently forged.
The funeral ended quietly, the candles flickering like fragile souls against the night.
But in the hearts of the living, the anger had only begun.
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