The black ebony-colored door ornate with carvings of ravens in different postures was revealed to Phil as the bookcase opened due to him pushing the button under the table.
Inspecting the door, Phil noticed that it had no handles and a large bust of a raven with its beak open was the central piece of the door. Phil stared at the raven and noticed its eyes were blood-red crimson rubies.
Phil tried to push the door but it did not budge even a bit, he tried taping and listening and observed that the door was metallic but at the same time wooden in nature, and the deep bass feedback helped Phil deduce that the door was heavy and at least an inch thick.
Observing a little more, Phil had no choice but to try and stuck his hand inside the beak of the gaping raven.
Phil felt inside it until he pricks his finger in a sharp object at the back of the raven's head.
But before he yanked his finger out, a drop of his blood remained in the hollow needle inside the raven's head.
Looking at his bleeding finger, Phil heard gears turning and moments later the beak of the raven slammed shut.
The eyes of the raven which were rubies shined for a moment as the bust bowed its head and more sounds of gears turning were heard.
A clear sound of metal rubbing against metal was heard as the mechanism completed its cycle.
The metallic groan of the heavy door made Phil cover his ears as the door slowly opened revealing a tunnel.
Phil exhaled as the thrilling spectacle almost took his breath away; he was deep in thought and wanted to ask how his grandfather made such a contraption.
For you see he did not remember this kind of door when he was little.
Flashlight in hand Phil proceeded to head to the tunnel.
Phil thought that the tunnel might lead to somewhere far away but to his disappointment he end up at the end of the tunnel mere 5 steps from the entrance. Brushing away his disappointment he soon noticed 2 doors, one to his and another to his left.
Strangely enough, the door to his right was labeled as "Artifacts" while the door to his left had none.
Curiosity got hold of Phil as he did not proceed to enter the right door, but made his way to the left door and tried to pry it open. The left the same as the door ornate with raven carving do not have a handle but instead was a keyhole in the middle of the door.
Phil tried pushing and kicking the door but to no avail. Tired of his foolish actions he decided to leave the door for the next time he explores the house.
Walking towards the door labeled "Artifacts", Phil thought that it might be secured but to his surprise, it did not have any locks at all since when he tried to open it, it flung wide open.
As the door opened crystals adorning the walls of the room started to glow. Phil stared at one of them but did not recognize the material it was made, at first he thought it was simply quarts with L.E.D. in it, but upon closer inspection, the crystal itself was shining, its light was enough to compare to a burning candle.
Phil did not hurry to look for a suitable artifact to use on his journey in the miasma but rather marveled at his grandfather's collection.
Just as he remembered there were illustrations of different magical creatures laying on one of the tables. Looking at the different shelves, he found some historical relics from different periods.
Remembering the task in hand after indulging in his grandfather's collection for a few minutes, he proceeded to observe some relics that can be potentially used to ward off the miasma.
Hours went by and Phil fell into a dilemma, he did not know what kind of artifact to use and bring out for his future journey. For him, every artifact was the same since he can only feel that the artifact was old.
He decided to base it on luck and wanted to grab any artifact near him when suddenly a red light beamed towards him and moved to another shelf and shone a part of it in red light.
Phil was scared at first since he thought that it might be an anti-theft system his grandfather made so that no one can take his collection away. But minutes passed and nothing happened, the light was still shining on a particular spot on the shelf. Phil steeled himself and looked at where the light is pointing; he noticed that the light was shining on a water-damaged wooden box.
As soon as Phil touched the box the red light disappeared, he then took the box and looked for the source of the red light. Tracing where it was from, Phil saw a statue no more than a foot in height. The statue had a singular large eye with a gemstone so crimson that it might turn black, under its large eye was a huge gaping mouth as big as its presumed head, dotting all over the worm-like body were smaller mouths of different sizes.
Staring at the statue, Phil should have felt terror or disgust but he did not feel any of that, and instead, he felt a strange connection. Phil looked at the base of the statue and noticed a label his grandfather had put. "King-of-All, Abyssal Idiot" was written on a piece of paper.
Curious Phil picked up the statue and observed it more, at first he noticed that the statue do not have any wirings of sort and he found it odd how it could shine and light up. The next thing he noticed was a carving of a snake eating itself starting on its tail was carved on the bottom of the base of the statue. Phil knew what it was and guessed it was an ouroboros, the snake of the perpetual cycle.
Phil decided it's not best to take the statue with him since it was his grandfather's and returned it to where he took it before.
Remembering the water-damaged wooden he had set aside before he was distracted because of the statue. Phil observed the box and found it just a normal old water-damaged box, there were no locks or mechanism in it. Inside the box were filled with hay, Phil carefully took the hay and noticed an object buried in it.
Bringing the thing towards the light, Phil saw an old sextant. He remembered such apparatus were used during the old navigation era to deduce the bearing of a ship using the stars.
The sextant was made from silver while the lenses were made from quartz. Phil also noticed a compass installed in the sextant and found it unique since most sextants do not have such features.
Holding the sextant in his hand, Phil had the feeling that the artifact he was looking for was in his hands. Phil was happy since his hours of work were not in vain and finally, he has an artifact that can help him to travel the miasma surrounding the abyss and maybe find Eric's mother.
Phil returned the sextant inside its box and proceeded to put the box in the bag he had. The moment Phil exited the room he noticed the crystals started to dim as the light was snuffed out. Phil wanted to take one of the crystals out of curiosity but as he tried to take one, he observed that the crystal was growing in the wall itself, and no matter how he pulled it did not budge.
Sad he could not take the crystal, Phil decided to go home instead.
Walking past the raven door, as if detecting Phil's departure, the door moved and closed with a loud bang. The bust of the raven moved and look straight ahead and slowly opened its beak once again.
The bookshelf then closed and the office returned to normal.
Wide-eyed, Phil looked at the door closing and dreaded the possibility of him being trapped inside it never to go out again.
This situation sent shivers to Phil's spine as he tried to forget being in such a situation and prayed for it not to happen to him.
Phil did not forget to turn off the generator before locking the house once again, as he head home in the middle of the night.
Riding his bike, Phil felt refreshed on the quiet journey towards his house. The streets were empty since it was nearing midnight and most of the houses he passed had their lights turned off.
Phil pedaled for minutes enjoying the view; he passed a flickering lamp post and think nothing of it. But strangely minutes later he passed a flickering lamp post again. Phil swore that it was the same lamp post. Phil decided to quicken his pedaling when minutes later he passed the same lamp post.
Fear struck Phil as he felt that he was driving in circles. Phil drove in his bike full speed disregarding his well-being but no matter how he struggled he always passed the same flickering lamp post. Minutes turn to hours as Phil was panting gasping for air tired of pedaling his bike. He stopped at the flickering lamp post and tried to observe it, he proceeded to look ahead and strangely he saw another lamp post flickering not far from him, shivers crawl on Phil's spine as he saw a boy dressed like him riding a bike similar to his looking ahead. Phil turned around and looked at what was behind him and saw another boy dressed as him on a bike similar to his also looking back.
Phil's heart started to beat like crazy as he once again looked ahead but this time what he saw almost made him pee his pants.
Thin tentacles coming from the flickering lamp post held the boy on his neck, the boy struggled with all his life but moments later the tentacles broke the boy's neck. The boy's head is now upside down looking at the currently petrified Phil; Phil was in horror as he noticed the boy has the same face as him. The boy eerily smiled at Phil as the tentacles guided the boy towards the light and proceeded to devour the child. Phil looked behind him and the same thing was happening, the boy behind him was also twisted with his bones broken, slowly being devoured by the light of the flickering lamp post.
Phil fell on his bike as he looked up and saw tentacles slowly making their way towards him.