Nefastus Formido {Ateez FF}

2

Two weeks passed and Seonghwa still did not open the book. He threw himself into so much work, that he was at home only to have three or four hours of sleep.

Workaholism was a result of the harsh break up with Yeosang. It was the only way to forget about the loneliness he had to suffer from since last year.

Seonghwa's lack of empathy was always making him add fuel to the fire during every single quarrel. Yeosang couldn't stand it anymore and one night just left. Not saying a single thing prior. Without any farewell. He wasn't keen on improving the relationship and fighting for it till the very end. Giving up was the only thing Yeosang could do. At least that was Hwa's opinion after he was left alone without being given a single chance for improvement.

Work was an escape from torturing guilt. While he could focus on helping his patients and relieve their physical pain, he felt like if he was also getting rid of his own baggage. It wasn't temporary, but at least he had to cope with the inner distress only for few hours per day. However, such spate of work was extremely unhealthy. He was getting step by step to the point, where it was no longer possible to torture his body with so much tasks and deadly schedule.

"Dear God, I have enough." He sighed once he closed the front door behind his back. He should finally get over Yeo and start living a normal life. Relentless going back to these memories was poisoning him, making him sick and fed up. He shook his head for a few times to get the burden out of his head and pushed his body off the door.

Dragged by the daily routine, he left the documents and a laptop in the living room, then shambled to the kitchen. While making a strong black coffee to get at least a bit of energy, mind finally decided to stop focusing on Yeosang and reminded him about the book lying on the desk in the office. Grabbing the hot mug and taking a huge sip of the beverage, he went to get the mysterious finding.

After getting home two weeks ago, it was too dirty to just leave it on any of the perfectly cleaned surfaces in the apartment. With Hwa's love for keeping everything in a great, shiny condition, he polished the metal ornaments and the obsidian settled in the middle of the cover.

That black stone was the most tempting thing in the whole book. Looking at how old that volume had to be, obsidian was impossibly well preserved. Seonghwa could bet that it had a weird depth, like if he was able to put his fingers under the surface of the stone. Not deliberating any further, he quickly finished the coffee and placed the cup on the desk. Going back to the living room, he opened the book and sat down on the floor, in front of the panoramic windows.

On the first page there was only a single quote written with the cursive letters.

The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear. Are you able to resist?
                                       ~13.05.1927

Seonghwa wasn't the one to overthink and make philosophical assumptions about quotes and poetry, so he just turned the page.

There was only more quotes and dates, as he continuously proceeded with investigating the following pages. After slowly getting bored and deciding to give up, luckily a series of delineations caught his attention.

"What the fuck are these—" Content of that odd book was getting more and more questionable. Bizarre images of humanoid creatures, their heads resembling the ones of goats with long twisted horns. Scenes of dismembering people and torturing them in various ways. All that shown step by step, like some kind of tutorial for adepts at murdering techniques, who want to have some more fun with their macabre passion. Every next drawing turned out to be more disturbing than the previous ones. Despite that fact, Seonghwa still wanted to see more. Curiosity inside of him was too strong to close the book and forget about everything he has just seen. 

"Why is it so hot in here, the heck?" Seonghwa exhaled loudly and looked up into the night scenery of Seoul, enlightened by thousands of neon and colorful lights. He seriously spent so much time investigating that strange shit, that it already got dark outside?

The longer he was staring at these disturbing things inside the book, the more it was fascinating him. That's why he felt the temperature suddenly rise inside his body and time started flowing so fast. He wanted to start the illustrated rituals and torture techniques. The desire for it suddenly became so overwhelming, that he couldn't help but look at the next page of the book, seeking for more of the cruel content.

"Worship the Fallen, stay awake and don't allow them to let you down. Be faster, drag them, pin them down first and suck their soul out of them. You will feel how alluring it is, slowly making you addicted to the inhuman screams that are escaping their numb lips. The cracking of their bones will turn you on, drive your mental state crazy. The sudden need for getting off on their massacred bodies will be so strong, that you will do it without any hesitation. Your heavy groan being a pleasure for the Devil's ears, making him attracted to your actions and how hot you look while taking care of yourself. Once you'll end your appalling play, he is going to make you feel accomplished and proud of what you have done. Gonna make you seek for the next prey of your fucked up mind." Seonghwa closed the book rapidly, feeling how heavy his breath started to be after saying all that aloud. He didn't even realize he got up during reading.

He let the book fall down onto the ground with a loud noise. His knees became soft, forcing him to kneel down right in front of the still opened book. Hands automatically covered his face while trembling fingers impaled hardly into the skin, imagination completely took over.

One of the last things he saw before passing out due to the huge overwhelm and dizziness, was a short scribble written on the last page of the book.

You came too far. You did not resist you damn, naive fool.

Seonghwa could clearly tell it echoed in his mind, like if someone said it to him from behind his back. Using a tempting whisper full of false mercy, joy and irony at the same time.

"You became a requiem for a dream, Park Seonghwa. Now, only nightmares exist." The voice was freezing cold and dark, making him feel agonal on the inside. An instant later, he hit the ground and everything turned into pure nihility.