(A/N):
Drop a meme here that you find funny. Or reflects your mood.
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Joshi and Lizzie froze at the bottom of the stairs,
Their gazes caught by the strange ritual unfolding in the dim glow.
"____"
"____"
Candles flickered across the floor,
Their light bending and stretching against chalk symbols that seemed alive, almost breathing.
The air smelled of herbs and smoke, sharp enough to sting their noses.
Inadu's voice flowed in low, steady chants, her hands weaving with practiced precision,
While Freya moved beside her—
Careful, deliberate, as if even she were treading on unfamiliar ground.
Joshi's breath caught in her chest.
Their father had always forbidden them from dabbling in anything dangerous.
Their magical education had been clipped, trimmed, shaped into something safe and tame.
But this—
This was nothing like the rehearsed charms and controlled spells they'd been allowed to practice.
It was something new which got her curiosity.
Her felt his lips twitch into the faintest smirk, not mocking, but hungry.
Smrik~
"____"
Finally, she was seeing the kind of magic she'd only dared to imagine.
Beside her, Lizzie's face softened in awe.
"____"
Her wide eyes followed every motion of Inadu's hands,
Every symbol that seemed to spark faintly under candlelight.
She knew Freya was powerful—
An Original witch—
But to hear Freya admit earlier that even she didn't fully know this ritual?
That shook her.
If Freya was learning… then this was something ancient, something extraordinary.
Lizzie's heart raced as she thought of Hope, blissfully unaware of how close she had always been to such greatness.
A pang of jealousy flickered through her chest—
But more than that, there was wonder, longing.
Freya glanced at them once, offering a calm explanation.
"Inadu is preparing a ritual to uncover the voodoo mediums controlling this settlement. I am assisting her."
That was all.
No further words.
And Joshi and Lizzie didn't press.
They shared a look, a silent agreement.
"____"
"____"
"____"
Speaking now might break the fragile, mesmerizing spell of the moment.
Instead, they lingered in the shadows, content to watch.
The chants deepened, the fire crackled, and the air seemed to hum around them.
Every nerve in their bodies told them this was dangerous, forbidden,
Perhaps even something they shouldn't see—
Yet neither could look away.
For Joshi, it was rebellion, the thrill of finally tasting what had been denied.
For Lizzie, it was revelation, the awe of witnessing real magic in its truest form.
And for both, it lit a hunger that would not be easily extinguished.
As the last sigil was sealed and the circle's glow steadied,
Inadu finally straightened, wiping a smear of chalk dust from her palm.
Her eyes, sharp and unblinking, shifted toward the couch.
"Jojo,"
She said evenly,
"I need you to bring me a cock. Not just any bird—a cock from this village. Be careful when you pick it."
For a beat,
Jojo didn't move.
"____"
His head was still resting on Hope's lap, her fingers brushing idly through his hair.
The warmth of her thigh and the crisp sweetness of the apple slice in his mouth made the thought of standing up feel like a punishment.
Groan~
He groaned aloud, dragging out the sound as if she had just asked him to carry the world itself.
"A cock? Not a chicken? You're being oddly specific, Ina…"
He muttered, pushing himself up slowly, deliberately, like a man sentenced to hard labor.
Inadu's stare hardened.
"I said what I meant."
That's when his lips tugged into a lazy grin.
Grin~
"You're asking me—the Ghost Rider, the one who judges the wicked, the punisher of sinners… to sneak into someone's coop and steal their cock? Sounds like a downgrade."
He stood, stretching his arms with exaggerated slowness.
"If word gets out, my reputation's ruined."
Hope stifled a giggle at his theatrics,
Giggle~
While Freya hid a faint smile behind her composed demeanor.
Even Lizzie, still wide-eyed from the ritual, pressed her lips together to keep from laughing.
Joshi smirked openly, shaking her head.
Smirk~
Inadu rolled her eyes so hard it was a miracle they didn't get stuck.
"Just go, Jojo."
"Fine, fine…"
He sighed dramatically, slipping his boots on with all the grace of a man heading to war.
Sigh~
"An hour ago I was serious—your big dependable hero, the one who saved the day. Now, back to being the lazy errand boy. Life's cruel."
He tossed a wink over his shoulder as he headed for the door.
"If I get pecked, you're healing me."
"Go,"
Inadu repeated, sharper this time, though her lips threatened to twitch.
If some one saw Jojo's antic's for the first time they would believe his acting he was really a lazy goof.
"My girl finally started showing emotions openly."
And with that, Jojo finally left, grumbling under his breath,
Yet moving with the casual swagger of someone who thrived on playing both the fool and the savior.
The night air was cold, sharp enough to bite at his face as Jojo stepped out of the house.
"____"
The street stretched quiet and empty before him—
Only the hollow whistle of the wind filling the silence.
Whoosh~
"____"
"____"
"____"
A plastic bag danced across the cobblestones, carried by a stray gust,
Fluttering like some ghostly spirit mocking him.
"Great,"
Jojo muttered.
"The mighty Ghost Rider, out here chasing chickens... no cocks while the world sleeps. What's next—milk runs?"
He cracked his neck and set off, boots crunching on the gravel.
Crack~
Inadu's words echoed in his head.
'She can track it… she's sure.'
He relaxed a little.
At least this whole ritual wasn't a wild goose chase—
Or in this case, a cock chase.
After a few minutes of wandering...
He spotted it—
A slanted, weathered farmhouse sitting crooked at the end of a dirt path.
The smell of straw and feathers hung thick in the air.
Jojo grinned faintly.
"Bingo."
He crouched low, slipping past the broken fence with all the grace of a burglar.
The faint clucking of hens greeted him.
A dozen fat chickens were waddling about lazily,
Pecking at feed scattered across the ground.
Their eyes glinted suspiciously at the intruder,
But Jojo ignored them.
"Not you lot,"
He whispered.
"I need your king."
And then he found him.
The cock stood in the middle of the pen like it owned the damn place—
Strutting with arrogant superiority, its comb bright red under the moonlight.
At the moment, however, it was… busy.
Jojo froze, blinking.
"____"
The rooster was enjoying himself with a hen, wings flapping,
While a small circle of plump chickens gathered nearby like ladies-in-waiting,
Waiting for their turn at food.
The cock's chest puffed out,
Its beady eyes gleaming with smug dominance.
Jojo rubbed his face.
"Seriously? Out of all the chickens in the world, I get the reincarnated playboy overlord probably."
For a brief, absurd moment,
Jojo swore he could almost hear the cock's thoughts.
'Ah yes, my harem is complete. Bow before me, peasant. I am the Dragon King of Poultry.'
"MTL novels are melting my brain…"
{A/N: Its just a reference... So its not a MTL to those who questions about it.}
Jojo muttered, shaking his head.
Steeling himself, he crept closer, then lunged forward in one swift motion.
The rooster squawked furiously, flapping its wings like a demon possessed.
The hens scattered in panic, feathers flying everywhere.
Jojo wrestled with the bird, pinning it under his arm like a football.
"Gotcha, Your Majesty!"
He hissed, hurriedly tying a strip of cloth over its beak to silence the angry squawks.
"You can crow about your lost kingdom later."
With no time to waste,
Jojo bolted out of the farmhouse, the rooster thrashing violently under his arm.
Behind him, the chorus of hens erupted in chaotic clucks,
As though protesting the kidnapping of their king.
Jojo ran through the empty street, rooster under his arm, muttering to himself between breaths.
"Judge sinners by day… poultry thief by night. If the devil's watching, he's laughing his ass off right now."
Jojo trudged back into the house, rooster in hand, feathers still sticking to his jacket like battle scars from his ridiculous mission.
He set the bird down into Inadu's waiting arms with a sigh of relief, brushing himself off.
Sigh~
"____"
The rooster, freed from his grip, immediately puffed up indignantly and let out a series of sharp, muffled clucks.
Cluck~ Clucck~
It turned its beady eyes at Jojo,
Glaring as though lodging a formal complaint.
Jojo raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, yeah. Sue me. Not like you were gonna get out alive anyway, pal."
But the bird's mood shifted entirely when it nestled into Inadu's hands.
It cooed softly, almost tenderly,
As if pouring its woes into the lap of a beautiful woman who might understand.
Its head tilted, feathers ruffled, giving off the impression it was saying.
'See what this brute did to me?'
Jojo smirked, leaning on the wall.
Smirk~
"Ungrateful tasty little bastard…"
The rooster's adoration didn't last long.
Inadu's eyes went cold, her hand steady as she lifted a gleaming ritual knife.
The bird froze, too late to comprehend.
"____"
In a clean, practiced motion—
shhk!
—the blade severed its head.
The sound of spurting blood filled the silence.
Warm crimson poured into the waiting ritual cup, steam rising faintly in the candlelit air.
The headless body convulsed once, twice, and few more times.
Before Inadu laid it with eerie calm outside the circle, as if returning it to the earth.
Without a word, she began plucking the feathers—
Tufts of white and gold drifting like ashes—
Then scattered them with precision around the circle's edge.
Every movement was deliberate, every placement exact,
As though unseen lines were being drawn.
Hope and the twins, Josie and Lizzie, watched with wide eyes.
Awe and unease wrestled in their expressions.
When the last feather settled,
Inadu turned to the small woolen doll waiting on the altar.
Its crude figure looked harmless—
Until she raised the blood-filled cup.
With slow intent, she poured it over the doll's stitched body.
The crimson seeped into the wool, saturating it completely until no thread remained untouched.
The little effigy glistened wet, grotesque, like a tiny corpse.
Inadu's voice was low, rhythmic, almost like a hum.
She picked up several long ritual pins and drove them one by one into the doll's form.
Thk. Thk. Thk.
Each puncture echoed louder than it should have, as if the very walls acknowledged the strike.
The doll sat in the center of the circle now—
Head bowed under its bloody veil, pins jutting from its body like cursed thorns.
The air grew heavier.
"____"
"____"
"____"
Shadows lengthened.
Even Jojo, felt his spine prick as he muttered,
"Guess we're past the point of return now…"
As the final pin was pressed into the doll's woolen chest, the ritual circle pulsed with a faint red glow.
The blood coating the effigy began to darken, clumping into a tar-like black.
A mist hissed from its tiny form, rising and swirling into a cloud that gathered above the altar.
The air cracked with an otherworldly voice, layered and broken,
As if a thousand whispers were speaking at once.
"Where stones stand like teeth,
And names are carved but never answer…
Where roots clutch the sleeping,
And silence is deeper than night…
There lies the chain you seek,
Buried beneath the weeping earth."
The black mist twisted violently, the sound fading with a last shriek before collapsing downward.
It slammed onto the rooster's lifeless body.
Instantly, the flesh shriveled.
The carcass mummified before their eyes, collapsing into a husk.
Silence pressed against the walls.
"____"
"____"
"____"
Then, suddenly—
Snap!
Freya's fingers cut through the heavy air.
Her green eyes glimmered, sharp as if a puzzle had just fallen into place.
"The stones like teeth… carved names that never answer… roots clutching the sleeping—"
She muttered quickly, piecing the lines together.
"It all points to one thing. The cemetery."
Inadu, who had been staring thoughtfully at the mummified rooster, finally nodded, her voice low and steady.
Nod~
"She's right. The riddle is written in death's language. Stones like teeth are the gravestones. Names carved but silent—that's the epitaphs. Roots clutching the sleeping… corpses bound by the earth. Silence deeper than night? That's the stillness of the graveyard."
She placed the now-brittle doll aside and brushed her hands clean.
"The chain it speaks of… it must be the tether—the voodoo medium binding the villagers. Whoever hid it chose the cemetery because it is already drenched in death's energy. Strong enough to anchor a curse over an entire settlement."
Joshi, still perched on the stairs, swallowed hard.
Gulp~
"So that's where we have to go?"
The once-solemn ritual chamber now smelled of ash and old graves.
Jojo, hands in his pockets, tilted his head at the sight.
"Well… I don't need a map to know that reeks of a cemetery."
Freya's eyes narrowed, her expression sharp.
Inadu, however, stayed silent, gaze fixed on the mummified rooster, as if already calculating their next move.
Josie and Lizzie exchanged uneasy glances—
Fascinated but unnerved.
The riddle hung heavy in the air, gnawing at their thoughts.
Jojo leaned back into the couch, chewing slowly on a fresh slice of apple Hope slipped into his mouth.
He shrugged.
"Figures. Creepy caves, devil statues, now graveyards… Guess the world just wants to keep showing me its best vacation spots."
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(Author's POV)
(A/N):
Thanks for reading the chapter!
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