What did I do to deserve this?

Is what I was thinking the whole time as I lied on a bed of spikes with a glowing inverted pentagram on the roof above me.

I was dying and yes, I was aware, maybe not fully functional but completely aware. Fully. And if someone asks me how death felt like to me, I would say that the feeling was … peachy.

But wait, let's not jump, shall we.

…

I'm a, or was, a young student, aged 19 and just admitted into a pretty nice technical college to study computer. I was not a super intelligent guy, maybe a little bit on the bookworm side but not intelligent. Yes, curious and witty but not intelligent. And the only reason why I was able to get into this college is because of my luck which happened to be super high at that time.

So, everything was super good for me except one, friends. I don't know why, maybe because I saw too much lolicon porn or because I fapped while daydreaming about someone else's babe or maybe I cursed someone to death, anyhoo, my luck dried up and as it happens to be, my apparent 'friends' and dorm roomies were The Devil's minions. Metaphorically.

These guys, my #friends, were the most dastardous people I've ever seen in my lifetime of 19. They dealt in drugs, weeds, marijuana, cocaine, alcohol and almost anything in between. Sounds cool, doesn't it? Hell no!!!

The first thing my #friends did to me was lose my virginity to a slut. I know, this sounds like a bliss to many, for there are a greater number of virgin males in this Earth than leaves in a whole forest but believe me, actually having your virginity lose without your consent is seriously humiliating. All these anti-rape campaigns are really not just for popularity.

As for the process how I lost it, that is even more humiliating. These guys, my #friends,stuffed my mouth with every narcotic drug they could think of and threw me at a random slut in a random brothel. The next morning, I wake up to find myself sleeping beside the most ugliest slut of the world and believe me,even though I'm not a discriminator based on looks or color, but that face … it is beyond description. My soul passed out right that instant. After that moment, I've become an ardent believer in Gods, Demons and Devils.

Anyhoo, that is one of the many things that happened to me which I'm not really proud of and there are other instances too but I will spare you the details.

The event of my death is a bit parodical. It happened on my birthday, 13th of December on a cold and damp night.

Since, it was Friday and just like many other Fridays, we decided to have a nightout, get drunk, smoke weeds and then drop in a brothel. Usual routine but for some godforsaken reason, they all decided to cancel it.

They thought that the night was 'spooky' (don't know why) and the best way to spend it, wasn't by doing something 'usual' but instead doing something 'daring' like … taking an excursion to an abandoned haunted house.

Apparently, they had completely forgotten that today was my birthday. Whatever.

So, with a plan in our head we left our dorm early and drove to the nearest haunted place, which happened to be at least 40 km away from the City by the highway, a complete one-hour trip to god-knows-where. It was an abandoned mansion of a long forgotten zamindar.

The mansion was situated in a500 acres property, most of which has grown into a forest and under the Forest Department and had been inhabited for around 200 years. The entire property was deep inside a forest and the only path to the mansion was by a rotten, muddy road which somehow has resisted merging to the forest.

We followed that muddy path to the mansion property which was walled on all side by rugged, broken and nearly destroyed limestone walls and a large rusted iron gate. We marked our grand entry by busting right through the iron gates, destroying it in the process. But our grand entry wasn't un-applauded. The moment we busted, a large howl of wild dog sounded from afar following which came a burst of barking from the nearby patch.

BANG!!

"Snap it!" muttered one of my #friends as he brandished his Magnum 50.cal pistol. My ears buzzed for a moment but I was accustomed to it. He had fired that beauty of his many times, in the public, in the bathroom and even at the police, nah! Just kidding.

The barking stopped momentarily and changed into a low growl but we were fearless. A few dogs couldn't do anything to us, considering that all of us was armed with a gun. Yes! I too was armed with a gun, only it was a flare gun and not an actual gun, but I never fired it at someone so none of my #friends know it is a flare gun. Anyhoo.

We drove through and stopped infront of the mansion, a British-styled 18th century mansion with great white pillars, a tiled, slanting roof with three large chimneys jutting out.

Pit! Pat! Pit-pat! Pit-pat!

"Jolly great!!" snapped another #friends of mine as he brandished his hand outside. "Raining." He muttered.

"So much for spooky," I joked but none of them laughed. They all rummaged through their bags and brought out their gears, which included a Kevlar vest, a military jacked with the pouches filled with 9mm magazine, a night-vision goggles and their respective guns. Damn! I think I saw one take out anuzi! What the hell! We aren't going to assault a ghost mansion!

"Guys, we aren't assaulting the ghost mansion, okay! Tone down a little!" I suggested but I was only met with sneer and a scoff.

"You better be careful! Ghosts become extremely aggressive against ghostbusters!" he said.

Ha! Ghostbusters!! C'mon!!! Can you believe this sh*t!! These #friends of mine, who are not afraid to march into the police station in broad daylight and bribe the superintendent, these guys who dare to rape the minister's daughter, these guys who smoke weed in a police checkpost believe in ghostbusters!! By the way, didn't ghostbusters use a vacuum cleaner to suck in ghosts?! Bruh! Anyway, who was I to question their overly stupidity!

Anyway, before entering the house, it's better to explain the story behind the house. Rumors and bedtime story dictates that the mansion belonged to some dash-dash Choudhury, a zamindar. He was good and nice but he was a pet lover. Good, right. Unfortunately, the man was a hopeless romantic, as I think of him as, and in desperation, I suppose, (or for any goddamn reason) he married a witch and like all other stories, bad fortune happened to him. His business went down and one by one, all of his subjects and pets died.

Now, the end is a bit varied. Bedtime stories say that he was wrecked but his love for his wife surpassed his depression and thus, he left everything to the forest and moved away to the cities to live happily with his wife. Nice, classic ending with a tinge of propaganda.

The other variant says that, the zamindar was filled with murder and hatred and in wrath he killed his wife, the witch. But that obviously didn't go well and before dying the witch cursed him and made the house haunted. The circumstances of death are unknown and are of great debate but it is often said, in rumors, that the place of death was the bed where the zamindar slept. Now, I don't know whether he killed her by excessive, rough s*x or whether he choked her while they were doing 69 but seriously, I couldn't care less. Though, I wish he killed her while having s*x, because most of the time 69 is only the prelude to s*x.

We opened the door of the mansion and found it very similar to our expectation. Dark, gloomy, furniture covered in white cloth, large iron chandeliers, spiky torch-holders and so many others.

Chinck!

Clank!

Pa-tang!

We entered the mansion with our gun ready and formulated a plan.

"Tammy, you will go left. Formic, you will go right. Jed, you go up and I will check the basement. Meet here at dot 30mins, get it!"

"Yessir!"

"Yessir!"

But I raised my hand and objected.

"Buddy, do tell me what I'm searching for?"

"Ghosts!" he gnarled, "pay attention when I'm briefing, soldier!!" he snapped.

I sighed and replied, sluggishly, "Yes… Sir… got it…"

He frowned and said, "Jed, be careful!! These ghosts can be dangerous! Bust their asses before they bust yours!"

I rolled my eyes and scoffed at him, "I'll be grateful if you guys don't bust my a*s. Keep your eyes on the trigger, check the safety and don't shoot at air."

"Ghosts are air!!"

"Whatever…" I rolled my eyes again and went upstairs, bypassing them and ignoring their angry glares. Now that I think about it, I really feel bad that I haven't listened to them. Because, ghosts CAN BUST A*SES!!

…

I was naïve, I agree.

I went upstairs and checked one room after another for anything good. Gold rings, Silver candlesticks, anything and everything shiny went into my pockets.Simultaneously, my mindwas rotating its gears quickly and calculating the immense amount of wealth that I could get and ho! While thinking, I, by mistake, entered the master bedroom. Haha!!

I was overjoyed at the extra jeweled bedroom of the zamindar and was licking my lips at the huge prospects of wealth that I could generate when it came to me that for some reason, this room was colder than others.

'Must be the windows.' I thought, then but it was not for there were no windows of sort in the room. Strange.

I frowned deeply because the coldness increased by the seconds. I know, I know, its winter and with a light rain outside,it's bound to be cold, but this cold was the freezing type of cold and the latitude I stay in, there never has been any instances of snow!!

"Ha…. Ha…." Two misty breaths left my mouth and spread around infront of my face. I gulped in cold but I wasn't afraid by this much. Nah!

Holding the torchlight perpendicular to me, I entered the room. I walked carefully, afraid of any booby trap that might lie around and also tried to pocket everything that could fit in a pocket but then an odd picture came into my view.

It was a picture of a cold landscape, of a snow forest, so vividly described that I couldn't even begin to describe it. It showed long pine trees, exceptionally long pine trees dotting the background and a snow-covered ruin at the front. The picture also facilitated two mountains which could be viewed together also in the background. The picture for some reason, seemed Chinese or at least eastern.

The picture was situated just above the bed and I was so engrossed in the details of it that I didn't even notice frost forming over my jacket. Objects were practically freezing in the room. So, beautiful and magical the picture was.

But my attention was finally grabbed by a hoarse, old voice sounded behind me, like two metals scrapping together, "Leave…"

Turning back at once, I was a little shocked to see what everyone would call a ghost, a semi-transparent body with a disfigured, bald face, two hollow, green sockets for eyes and a broken jaw with a row of mismatching teeth.

The body wore a white, old and tattered gown, an extremely noticeable pointy noble shoes and a square cap, usually wore by people of the past. The skin of the 'ghost' was light brownish in color and small, green veins snaked its way around.

"Leave…" he repeated but I stood motionless. I was too spooked to even peep.

"Leave…" he repeated again and I gulped tensely but, in my head, more than being afraid of ghost, I was mocking at it'sidiocy for it was the ghost that was blocking the door, the only way outside.

Rolling my eyes inwardly, I sighing a thousand times, I muttered to myself, "God bless me…" and pointed my flare gun at him.

"… You dare…" the ghost muttered but I only smiled, evilly and replied, "Go to hell!" and bang!

Sssssppppiiiiii!!!!

"Kyaaaaaaaaa!!!"

A long screech accompanied the bright flare that shot out of my gun, as the ghost, apparently on fire, darted across the room in panic before dashing towards me in a pillar of flame.

"Ahhh!!" I screamed in terror and shock at the unexpected change of scenario. I tried to dodge the ghost but it severely ended in failure for I was swept up by it and thrown directly across the room, at the picture above the bed.

I tumbled down like a broken puppet on the bed and the moment I thought that I was in the safe, I was proved wrong. The bed was a booby trap.

Creak!

Flap!

Pach!!

In half-a-second, the bed was overturned and I fell without resistance onto a bed of spikes with a dozen or more spikes skewering me mercilessly. The bed, though, like many other booby traps overturned back into it's original position, masking my death ever so simply.

But I wasn't dead. Yet.

No, my consciousness was quite intact for a good minute or true. I felt my heartbeat weaken, my blood bubble out through the gaps like magma out of a fissure and my muscles exerting a tremendous amount of strength to counter gravity and stop the body from pierced deeper.

But alas, it was all for naught.

My body inevitably relaxed and the breath of death neared me. My mind relaxed and within a few milliseconds of time, I caught everything in that tiny closet room. I saw above me, on the roof of the trap closet, a large runic symbol, a satanic sigil of an inverted pentagram with various Latin words and symbols adorning its edges and a pair of skeletons a little away from me.

Apparently, the rumors were true.It seems that both the zamindar and the witch died here, by this booby trap. Unfortunate that I have intruded on their privacy and will be intruding for eternity now that I died alongside them, truly unfortunate.

Slowly, my vision darkened and I knew that my time was coming but then, I felt the sigil glow for a moment and a sudden bout of extreme coldness, a coldness far greater than death wrap around me before passing into eternal darkness.

…

Author's Note:

Hello, friends. I'm the author of this book, my 2nd book after the book War, Honor and Vengeance. (My account shows 4 but I dropped the first one and the 'Paradis de Fou' is actually this book)

Anyway, even for my 2nd book, I'm a big newb and I would be happy to have any and all kind of help, in the form of constructive criticism on story-telling, pacing, sentence construction, basically anything.

As for this book, I can only tell you that it will entail the 1st phase of Jed Marelok's life and how he came to be known in the world of Audenia. It is a prequel to my other book, 'War, Honor and Vengeance' and I will try to spread out the world of Audenia more fully in this book.

I get the feeling that in my book WHV I've rushed things immensely, filled it with fillers and the result came out to be disastrous and I will try to avoid committing the same mistake again over here and for that, I need your help to get me and this book to a position it deserves as I'm a firm believer of the quote, 'Readers are the best editors.'

Once again, thank you very much for reading this book and I will appreciate and honor any and all suggestion given to me.

By the way, tags for this story are

Cold Protagonist, Cunning Protagonist, Mages and Magus, Lords, Cultivators, Witches, Wizards, Army-Building (Not Kingdom-Building), Weird Cultivation Techniques, STRONG TO STRONGER, Evil Protagonist, Animal Friends (who will NOT change into some beautiful Demi-humans EVER), Business, Illusion, Ice Mage, Hungry for Knowledge(rather than Power).

There will be more but these are the main ones. I know, I put some heavy-weight tags on there and I will try my level best to fulfill all of them. All kinds of help is appreciated! Thank you!