Skobex's Return

Chapter 2

Christopher didn't realise how long he slept when he awoke to a silent house. After getting ready he headed to the table where they had dinner last night where a note was located. The cursive handwriting was beautiful to look at and read.

'We have gone to run errands and will be back in a few hours.' It read. 'Make yourself feel at home.'

Christopher decided that he would grab a few of his belongings before heading out to explore Cinderash. Since he's stuck here for the time being, he might as well do what he came here to do; explore.

Whilst putting on his tool belt, which held the main things he needed such as his flashlight and knife, he heard a noise coming from outside his room. It sounded as though someone was trying to open a locked door by running into it, using their body weight to push it down. It also sounded somewhat distant. He opened his door to see if anyone was there. After finding no one he brushed it off and continued packing.

He heard the same sound again.

He knew this wasn't a coincidence so he decided to locate the source of the sound. He had a quick look around the house and realised that there was still no one here that could be causing that sound. As he reached his temporary room he heard another thump and then a loud crash. He realised it came from behind a door that he hasn't looked in.

He slowly approached it, his small knife in hand. He reached for the handle and swung it open. He saw nothing but a narrow set of stairs, the bottom fading into darkness. Christopher pulled out his flashlight and descended into the room.

To him all he saw was a place for storage. Various sized boxes littered around the edge perimeter of the room, with one pile that had fallen over in the centre. He began to clean up the fallen boxes, even though it wasn't his fault. The last box he picked up was a small metal one with various symbols engraved in it. He was about to set it down but it was like something was telling him to keep holding onto it. The back of his mind tugged to get his attention, like it knew something. Christopher racked his brain for anything that could resemble the four symbols but found nothing.

He moved his finger over the four symbols, tracing each one individually. He wondered what each of the symbols meant.

Anastasia wasn't far from her house when she heard a loud crash from inside. She instantly dropped the bucket she was holding and ran inside to make sure everything was alright with Christopher.

As she approached the room he was staying in she realised that the basement door was open. She ran down the stairs to see Christopher picking up boxes and stacking them back into a tower. The tower, like most of the others, stood precariously threatening to topple over again.

'What do you think you're doing?' Anastasia asked, startling him.

He quickly moved the box he was holding behind his back. 'I heard a bang and came to investigate.'

She averted her gaze to something seeping out from the box behind him. Christopher's light source presented to her what looked like purple smoke. The smoke slowly billowed around Christopher's feet as it slowly creeped its way out of the box.

'What are you doing with that box?' She questioned.

He pulled the box in front of him. 'Oh this one... I just found it.'

Within a matter of seconds the small amounts of purple that was seeping from the box burst out and began to fill the room rapidly. Anastasia turned around to head back out of the basement but the basement door slammed shut. She was going to climb back up to open it but she was struggling to breathe as more smoke filled the room.