Rain poured relentlessly outside, washing over the old tiles and echoing off the wooden beams. The scent of damp earth mixed with old incense clung heavily in the air. Inside the ancestral chamber, Ethan sat cross-legged, his pale fingers nervously clutching a string of dark wooden beads. Across from him, Liam knelt in silence, his hands carefully folding a fresh seal talisman.
The red paper fluttered in Liam's hand as a breeze slipped through the slightly ajar window.
"Don't open that door again," Ethan said, his voice low, almost swallowed by the wind.
"I didn't," Liam replied, eyes narrowing. "It moved by itself."
Ethan's jaw tightened. He didn't say more, but his thumb pressed harder against the bead, blood rushing beneath his nail.
A low creak came from the ceiling above.
Liam shot up, snatching the lantern. "Stay here," he said, voice clipped. "I'll check the attic."
"No!" Ethan shouted. "That seal… the one Grandfather placed above… it's broken. I saw it in my dream."
"You dreamed it," Liam said, halting at the foot of the attic stairs. "Dreams don't break seals."
Ethan didn't respond. His gaze was distant, pupils dilated, lips trembling. "He was up there, Liam. He was whispering."
The rain intensified, hammering the roof. Thunder rolled like distant drums. Liam turned slowly and approached Ethan again. "Tell me exactly what you saw."
Ethan's voice dropped to a whisper. "A shadow with no face. It stood right above my bed. Then it walked toward the altar. Its hands… it reached into the drawer and pulled out the old talisman Grandfather warned us never to touch."
"The one locked inside the red lacquer box?" Liam asked.
Ethan nodded. "It broke it."
Liam looked up at the ancestral tablets. A faint crack ran through the seal paper nailed above the central name plaque. It hadn't been there yesterday.
"We need to reinforce the seals," Liam said. "All of them."
He fetched a small jar of cinnabar ink and opened the family scroll. "This one was used only when spirits crossed over and refused to leave. It binds wandering souls. But it requires… blood."
Ethan turned to him. "Mine?"
"No. Mine. You're too weak right now."
Before Ethan could object, Liam sliced a thin line across his palm. He let the blood drip into the cinnabar, the ink turning a deep, ominous red.
They worked quickly. Liam recited ancient incantations while Ethan followed with the drum, its soft, rhythmic sound vibrating through the floorboards.
When Liam pasted the fresh talisman onto the broken seal above the altar, a sudden gust of wind swept through the chamber, extinguishing the lantern.
Everything went still.
Then, from behind the altar, a breath — low, deep, ragged — like something awakening.
"Ethan," Liam whispered, not daring to turn his head. "Don't move."
In the flickering shadows cast by the lightning outside, a silhouette formed slowly at the edge of the room. Not quite human. Not quite gone.
And it spoke in Ethan's voice, but deeper, twisted.
"You sealed me once… but now I remember…"
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—End Ep 5