Nightmare Game
Copyright© 2025 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 92
“Holy crap...” Oliver groaned, rubbing his temples as the truth sank in. “We’ve been collecting the three treasures meant to protect Weaver’s Hollow for the Ceremony.”
“It’s like we’ve stripped a turtle of its shell, leaving the village wide open to danger.”
“We fell right into Madam Arachne’s trap.”
Ethan didn’t bother commenting on the colorful metaphor, shaking his head. “Don’t forget, we have to join the Ceremony. You’ve seen what happens if we don’t. Death’s certain.”
“To survive, we’ve got to prep for it. No use dwelling on that.”
“The real question is, how do we get through this?”
He rummaged through the clutter again, finding notes on the Ceremony left by past Priests.
He scanned them carefully. Most described outsiders helping villagers craft small items, mundane and repetitive.
The first dozen pages held nothing special, but then, deep red ink smeared out entire sections.
Ethan’s pulse quickened. He was closing in on something.
He flipped faster, but the pages grew chaotic, scrawled with frantic red ink, the strokes wild, unhinged.
Whoever did this was unraveling, their madness bleeding through the pages, vivid even without seeing them.
The scribbles started shapeless but gradually formed the outline of a spider-like creature.
Ethan reached the final page. A blood-red handprint stared back, not ink but real blood.
Beside it, scrawled in crimson, were the words: The Ceremony must be performed correctly!
Ethan paused, dissecting the phrase.
The early records were normal, but halfway through, they were erased.
Two possibilities.
One: someone wanted to hide the truth, blotting it out.
Two: the recorded Ceremony was wrong, triggering horrors, so it was struck out to prevent repeats.
Ethan leaned toward the second. The frantic scrawler didn’t seem like someone hiding secrets with a clear mind.
A botched Ceremony brought disaster, likely how Madam Arachne overtook Arachnis.
So, a correct Ceremony might summon Arachnis back.
A spark lit in Ethan’s eyes. He saw the path to survival.
Following the current Ceremony would call Madam Arachne, dooming them all.
Could they refuse?
No. They had to embrace it. Only Arachnis’s return could save them.
But what made a Ceremony “correct”?
The Blackgold Tree statue, floral crown, and Black Pearl Necklace were the core props.
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