Later when Zubie was done cleaning the laboratory, she decided it was time to have a frank talk with Aurelius.
But the said man was nowhere to be found. She concluded he liked disappearing when she needed his assistance and appearing out of thin air at the most inconvenient of times.
The only place she haven't looked for him was the room beside the laboratory, the one she never went in or even peeked through the keyhole.
"Huh, maybe he is in that room?" she went down to the cellar level in hunt of the white-haired ghost.
With an oil lantern in hand, She knocked on the door, no answer. She twisted the doorknob, and it clicked open. The door was never locked, to begin with. With a little push, it creaked open. "hello, Aurelius---"
The room is dark, but the oil lantern helped with the darkness a bit. Yet Aurelius was not in the room. Zubie lets out a sigh of defeat, "I wonder if he even came back from the lake,"
She further surveyed the room, it must be a storage room at some point in time. There were all types of wooden end metal trunks at the side of the room, smelling as if something crawled into the spaces and died. "Aurelius was right, this has nothing of significance,"
Shaking her head, she decided to leave the room with a pungent smell. Something squeaked beneath her and lifted their foot, a rodent bolted somewhere in the dark room. Surprised, Zubie tumbled back. The oil lantern makes a loud clanking sound as it hit the ground spilling the oil on the ground and immediately catching blaze.
"Fire---" her words are caught in her throat, the room was at the moment well illuminated for her to see what she missed before. A large pentagram was drawn on the floor but most of it had faded with time. Not a few feet away on the wall was an identical pentagram, but this one was burned on the wall. She has completely forgotten about you the fire, wondering what might have transpired in the room.
"Zubie! Get out of here!? Do wish to be roasted alive?" Aurelius shouted, he pushed her out of the door, "are you crazy?!"
She started, "We need to out the fire---"
"Who gave you the right to enter that room?! Did I not tell you not to go in there?!"
"I'm sorry---"
"No sorry can pay for the damage now, in a few hours the whole building will catch the fire, you have to move,"
Zubie halted on the stairs, "the journal!" she ran into the lab, searching for the journal. "Zubie, you need to leave!"
"But the journal---"
"Alright, get the damned journal,"
The pair ran upstairs after she found the journal, "do tell me what caused the fire?"
"A rat,"
Aurelius rubbed his face, trying to get reigns of his emotions. He seethed, "a rat you say?"
"Look I'm sorry it was kind of my fault---"
"Kind of?! You have no idea what you've done, or what circumstances it'll entail," he spoke, "let's hope the fire will remain in that room and not spread out,"
"Shouldn't we try to stop the fire or call the firefighters?"
"you can't, and for the second suggestion it'll alert the authorities, and mind I remind you you've been residing here without permission from the owner," he embellished, shaking his head.
"What?! You said you owned this place---"
"---And I'm also dead my brother is the rightful owner after me,"
"So, I'm homeless now,"
"Precisely,"
Aurelius was about to walk away, but Zubie stopped him, "I want to tell you something,"
"What?"
"I'm done with all of this, I've failed so many times and I don't think I can do this anymore. I only came here because I didn't have any alternative,"
"And now you do?"
"No, but I can't do this! You don't get it, I'm not a sorceress or whatever. If only you'd reached Isabelle on time,"
Aurelius opened his mouth and closed it again as no words seemed to be suitable for the crisis. He finally uttered, "I see, I hope you are well from here."
"you understand where I'm coming from right?" she gently grasped his wrist, the flesh if you can call it that--- was just as cold as she imagined.
"I do, I apologize for the inconvenience you might've been through because of me,"
"What are you planning on doing now?"
He freed his wrist, giving a smile, "Venture around, see if I can find anyone else who can put an end to Silvas or perhaps hope to be sucked into the afterlife if there is any,"
"Aurelius, can I ask something?"
"Is it about the room?"
"How did---"
"I saw you observing the marks, I was wondering when you'll inquire about them," he leads them to the gardens, sitting on a worn-out bench. "those marks were used to summon someone from the other worlds,"
"Who was that someone?"
"Don't know,"
"...why was that someone summoned?"
"It was summoned when the hunger for power of Silvas became too much. He hoped to gain otherworldly powers, for our family was surrounded by misfortune after misfortune..."