The inquisition

The Devil that Speaks to Me

Chapter 2

Here we see that Robert chose some of the men from the village. He picked Daniel, a tall and broad-shouldered man with signs of seriousness and sternness on his face, who worked as a butcher in the village. Robert also selected four young men who took with them the necessary violent equipment for such situations and headed towards the valley to investigate the cause and source of the scream, as the situation had become unbearable, and the villagers remained in a state of anxious anticipation.

Robert and the men reached the tree that separates the village from the valley; it is a giant tree and one of the oldest in the village. But strangely, when they approached the valley, they found—nothing! The source of the sound seemed to move away every time they got closer to it, so they advanced in order to reach it and covered a long distance from the village. Until now, they had not found the source or discovered what was happening. Here the men stopped, and each looked at the other in complete silence; there was no sound other than the scream that had become very tiresome. Their gazes at one another seemed to say that they were chasing a mirage. Daniel suggested seriously that this was nonsense, gentlemen, and we should return to the village, reasoning that they were chasing an illusion, especially given the fatigue that had overcome them from the long distance they had walked. Robert and the rest of the men did not object to accepting this suggestion, as it was true and logical. They turned back toward the village, and on their way back, it was as if the sound was following them from behind, returning with them. Concern and tension were evident on the men’s faces, despite their bravery, but they were indeed facing something beyond nature, reason, and familiarity, and they found themselves looking back from time to time, hoping that this devilish sound would cease its screaming or that they would reach the village safely.

On the other side, at the same moment, some villagers in the farthest part of the village grew bored of waiting, deciding to return to their beds, while others remained standing, eaten away inside by anxiety because the group that had gone on the mission was taking too long, especially since the valley distance was not far compared to the time they had taken so far. The clock showed three in the morning, and they had still not returned, and the screaming inside the village had become somewhat intermittent. Here, Raymond exclaimed complaining, "This is nonsense, gentlemen! I shall go to sleep and do not care about this damn thing. If the owner of this scream comes to you, tell him that I will not waste my bodily rest on his silly yelling, and that his screaming will not prevent me from sleeping." He left the people, entered his house, and slammed the door behind him, repeating, "This village is about to drive me mad." For he was a sharp, nasty person, always complaining about the simplest things and dismissive of any topic or event. He never paid attention to any occasions, celebrations, or the villagers, viewing them as worthless, pretentious rogues. One day he found some young locals celebrating the marriage of one of the neighborhood s sons, and when he walked past them, they called out to him, "Raymond, we are celebrating our friend Lory, as he is finally getting married and saying goodbye to bachelorhood. Come and join us!" Raymond responded,what! Join you?why, you scoundrels, would I join a group of failures like you? And what does it mean that Lori is getting married? I see nothing in Lori but a fool who wants to bring more fools to this village with his ridiculous marriage. He started muttering dirty words and went on his straight path until he disappeared into the darkness. Raymond was a model of indifference and an eternal icon of complaint in the village, and yet the villagers exchanged some affection with him because he was a straightforward, candid man who didn’t interfere in others affairs. In fact, they started laughing at his quick and indifferent responses to those who deliberately annoyed him.

The number of people was rapidly decreasing as Raymond’s words made everyone, despite their fear, return to their homes and close their doors. Only Anna, her grandfather, two other young men from the village, Mrs. Molly, and her husband remained. The rest of the wealthy families, who considered themselves the leaders of the village, did not even leave their homes to see what was happening, and they were a main reason many people hated the village, especially Raymond.In the middle of the fields, Robert and the men hurried their steps as the sound behind them grew louder and more savage. They could not control themselves and began to run. What increased their fear was that the noise shifted from shouting to speaking, telling them in a savage, hoarse voice like thunder, “Tell them I will make their lives a hell.” At that moment, Robert fell to the ground, and the voice repeated the same phrase to him. Robert, trembling and weak, asked, “Who are you? What are you?” The voice only told him, “Just tell them! Tell them I am coming back, coming back,” and the voice disappeared while Robert lay on the ground, his breaths nearly tearing his rib cage apart.

The five men reached the village without Robert, their state miserable, dripping with sweat, and their eyes bulging as if they wanted to pop out. Despite their bravery, there are situations that can make your heart tremble and shake, like the situation that just occurred to them, as it was something they had never encountered before. For Daniel, had the one chasing them been a raging bull, he could have handled it, which would be natural and normal for him, but this was something that happens only in the supernatural realm. Upon their arrival, the rest of the villagers received them, Anna s grandfather anxiously asking them what was wrong and what was happening. Here, Mrs. Molly added a question, “Where is Mr. Robert? Did something happen to him?” All those questions had no answers. Anna s grandfather asked her to bring water for the men who sat on the ground motionless and in complete distraction, here the people present understood that the matter was serious. Anna brought the water and began to serve the men one by one. Here, Mr. Kin, Anna’s grandfather, began to speak in complete calmness, saying, “Gentlemen, I know you have gone through some bad and harsh situations there, and if you do not wish to tell us what happened, we understand that very well, but we hope you will tell us so we can warn the villagers to take care as we are very afraid, especially since we do not know what happened to you there or what happened to Mr. Robert." Here, Daniel started to shake his head slowly and said, with his eyes fixed on the ground, "What happened there just now is madness itself, Mr. Kin. I bet we were chased by the devil himself. That screaming voice spoke to us! And said, Tell them I am coming back and I will make their lives a hell! ” The attendees were stunned, and everyone swallowed hard, their limbs trembling. One of the young men said, “But who is it coming for? Is it coming for the whole village?” Daniel replied, “I don’t know, I don’t know, but that thing seemed serious in its threat, and when the voice intensified, we hurried away, but Mr. Robert fell to the ground and we know nothing about him, whether he is alive or dead.” This session ended with discussions, the most important of which was about this matter in the Dimitri Hall.