Darkwood: Circus Inferno

Wyvern's Return

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Ren, Rex, and Ryuji sat around the dimly lit room in the mortuary, the usual chatter between them replaced by a somber silence. The events of the past few weeks weighed heavily on them all, but today, something else lingered in the air—a shared memory that they hadn’t spoken about in years. Their father.

Ryuji broke the silence first, his voice low as he stared at the flickering candle on the table. “I’ve been thinking about him a lot lately.”

Ren nodded, his fingers absentmindedly tracing the edge of the wooden chair he sat in. “So have I. It feels like he’s been around… more than usual.”

Rex leaned back against the wall, his arms crossed over his chest. His expression was harder to read, as usual, but there was a tension there, a subtle flicker of emotion behind his steely exterior. “He’d know what to do. He’d have answers to all this insanity.”

Ren chuckled softly, but it was tinged with a sense of bitterness. “He always had answers. Even when we didn’t want to hear them.”

There was a quiet moment of shared understanding between the brothers. Their father had been a powerful figure in their lives, guiding them with a strong, sometimes harsh hand. He had always been there to set things right, to lead them with his unshakable resolve. But he had also left them with scars, both seen and unseen.

“I wonder what he’d think of us now,” Ryuji said, his voice softer. “After everything.”

Ren looked at his brothers, sensing the weight of the unspoken words between them. Before he could respond, a chill swept through the room, sudden and biting, as if the temperature had dropped in an instant. The flickering candlelight dimmed, casting long shadows across the walls.

Rex straightened, his eyes narrowing as he glanced around the room. “You feel that?”

Ren nodded slowly, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on end. Something was wrong. The air felt thick, oppressive, as though the walls themselves were closing in on them.

Suddenly, a low, guttural whisper echoed through the room, faint but unmistakable. The sound seemed to come from all directions at once, sending a shiver down Ren’s spine. He turned to Ryuji, his eyes wide.

“Did you hear that?”

Before Ryuji could respond, the flickering candle was snuffed out, plunging the room into darkness. A heavy silence followed, and then, in the faint glow from the hallway beyond, a figure began to take shape.

Their father.

His ghostly form materialized slowly, shimmering faintly as he stood before them. But something was different. His once calm and commanding presence was now twisted, his features contorted in anger and bitterness. His eyes, once filled with wisdom, burned with an unsettling fury.

The brothers froze, unable to speak as they stared at the apparition of the man who had shaped so much of their lives. But this was no simple reunion.

The spirit’s voice, when it spoke, was low and venomous. “You’ve failed me.”

Ren felt a lump form in his throat, his heart pounding against his ribcage. “Father…”