Alice, barely awake, opened her eyes to a crumbling concrete wall next to her and the smell of damp decay beneath her. Weeds and mud coated its surface, creating a camouflage that obscured her from view. The rough texture scraped against her skin as she shifted, a small whimper of pain escaping her lips.
"Alice, you are safe here," Mother Turtle spoke up with a comforting air, her aged hands steady and warm as they gripped Alice's. "At least for now. The dangers you faced this past week were real. The homeless man was no ordinary vagrant – he practiced an arcane form of magic called Lolly. Its adherents had nothing left to lose and so gained immeasurable power in return. I can hardly believe I managed to reach you in time."
Alice struggled to stay conscious, processing the gravity of the situation. "What did he want from me?" Her voice was weak, her throat parched and raw.
"I'm not certain. He is part of a group of dark merchants who traffic in souls…infants and young lovers being particularly prized for their purity of spirit. This sick practice is known as feeding the baby ghosts – pure souls were used as vessels for malevolent spirits which bound to serve the master that feeds them." Mother Turtle's voice took on a somber note. "If a master fails to provide fresh souls…the consequences would be dire indeed."
Alice's breath quickened as the old woman spoke in hushed tones, recounting a centuries-old secret. She told of powerful rituals originating from Northern Thailand—spells that could kill and bring fortune. Some of the most talented sorcerer legends could even manipulate time and weather while remaining undetected by outsiders. But too many had succumbed to their own greed, using their power for evil and becoming slaves to money and privilege. Little did Alice know, her friend Fung was no ordinary person; she was the daughter of a wealthy man who had denied her existence and her mother taught her dark magic from the Phoenix Clan as her own avenge.
"You and Lady Fung are in danger," warned the old woman.
"But why? Who is trying to do us harm?" Alice asked frantically.
"Your friend is much more than meets the eye," she replied mysteriously. "She and her mother lead a clan devoted to luring men of wealth with their dark powers. She has enemies of her own."
Alice's heart sank; Fung had warned her that dark forces were after her, but Alice hadn't truly believed it until now. She turned to Mother Turtle in desperation, gripping the old prophet's withered arms as if for strength.
"We must help her! What can we do?"
The old lady looked away and shook her head. "I am no match for the powerful entities chasing you and your friend."
Alice pulled out her cell phone with trembling hands, dialing Fung's number a hundred times without repones—they were too late. The shadows seemed to close in around her, and the cold embrace of fear was trying ways to settle deep within her. Alice realized the terrifying implications that she had become an unwitting pawn in a deadly game, and now she was racing against the clock to save her friend and herself from something sinister, she couldn't see them but she felt them in every bones of her body.
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Alice had been held up in Mother Turtle's run-down apartment for days, with no hint of what the old lady was doing outside these walls. But on the day, she was not on her duty, Mother Turtle shared tales of a spirit world and a great curse. Sunlight filtered through the cracks in the worn curtains, casting an eerie glow over the dust-covered furniture and the chipped paint of the walls, giving the room a ghostly air.
"An evil, powerful being cast a spell over the land," Mother Turtle said, her voice barely sounded, as though she feared her own words that she spoke. Alice shuddered at the thought of something more horrific than her friend Fung's disappearance. "Men and women are divided like day and night; no children can be born without price." The old woman's lips quivered when she spoke of the affliction, and Alice could hardly believe that anyone could have such cruelty in their hearts.
"Legend states that a man betrayed by one he loved created this blight," continued Mother Turtle as she sipped her tea, her gnarled fingers wrapped tightly around the chipped porcelain cup. The steam rose like tendrils of smoke, drifting lazily toward the high ceiling. "The darkness lingered for centuries; souls were possessed by demons and all sorts of deformed creatures."
"Before balance was disrupted," the elderly lady went on, her voice heavy with the weight of her words, "there were those who stood guard at the gateway between heaven and hell—elite warriors, gods in armored form." She sighed, her breath a whisper of sorrow. "For generations they protected it, until the great betrayal."
Mother Turtle spoke in a hushed tone, pausing only to catch her breath. Her eyes, deep pools of past, hinted with regrets as she spoke. "Gatekeeper was once the emblem of courage and strength, revered by the divine for eons. But then came the Great Betrayal." The candlelight danced in her irises, painting a chilling picture. "The Buddhist teachings he held so dear were rooted in the conviction of the gods' wrath. But then, such power was used by the demon to free themselves from the walls of heaven."
Alice listened intently, her gaze locked on Mother Turtle's face, fascinated by this mysterious Gatekeeper that she spoke of. Though his reputation was divisive, her curiosity only grew with each passing day.