Call of the Abyss

chapter 1: The Journal

In the sweltering heat of a typical Muntinlupa afternoon, Louis found himself rummaging through the attic of his family home. The space was cluttered with boxes of forgotten memorabilia, dusty furniture, and the occasional photograph that captured moments of joy now lost to time. His mother had tasked him with clearing out some of the old junk, but Louis couldn't help but feel there was something more to this day an inexplicable pull towards the shadows of the past.

As he moved a box labeled "Christmas Decors," a small, leather bound book tumbled out, landing with a thud on the wooden floor. Louis picked it up, the leather worn and the pages yellowed. It was his father's journal, a man who had vanished without a trace when Louis was just a teenager. The police had found nothing, and the trails had gone cold years ago. His father had become a subject rarely discussed, a wound that never quite healed.

Curiosity and a sense of foreboding washed over Louis as he opened the journal. The pages were filled with frantic scribbles, sketches of symbols that seemed to dance before his eyes, and notes written in a code that was indecipherable at first glance. As he flipped through the pages, a photograph fell out. It was of his father, standing in front of an old house that Louis recognized as being in one of the more secluded parts of Muntinlupa. His father was not alone; beside him stood two other individuals, their faces obscured by the passage of time and the wear on the photograph.

Louis felt a chill run down his spine, despite the heat. The journal and the photograph were clues to a puzzle he hadn't known existed. Why had his father kept this hidden? What were those symbols? And who were the people with him in the photograph?

Determined to find answers, Louis decided it was time to visit the old house. He knew Kyle, his childhood friend with an affinity for the city's folklore and ghost stories, would be interested. And maybe, just maybe, this could lead to some clue about what happened to his father.

As the sun began to set, casting long shadows over the attic, Louis felt the weight of the journal in his hands. It was as if he was holding a key to a door that had long been sealed. Little did he know, the door would open to a world far beyond his understanding, a realm where the fabric of reality was thin, and eldritch horrors lurked, waiting.

Closing the journal, Louis took a deep breath. The search for his father, the truth behind the eldritch symbols, and the journey into the unknown would all begin with a step back into the past, to that old house in Muntinlupa. And so, with the journal as his guide, Louis was about to embark on a journey that would change his life forever.

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