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                                        Lost Haven.

                                            Sigil.

Lost Haven. A place, whose name should make people avoid it at all costs. But such is human nature, we forget to look at a books cover, and after a while, forget to read its title. For Lost Haven is just that, a haven for the lost. Every person who dwells there does not wish to reside in its grasp, does not wish to walk upon its streets which are always shrouded with steam issuing from somewhere below, and above all, not everyone that enters Lost Haven, leaves…

That morning started like any other, but soon grew darker as every passing moment flew past.
Vera Altman, dressed in casual clothing, strolled through the high classed district of Lost Haven; on her day off she enjoyed a walk in the cleaner streets of Lost Haven. Leaving the dark mess, the rest of the city, behind her she edged around a parked hummer, and continued walking. Around her, people passed, oblivious to what was going to happen within the next few moments. A couple briskly strolled past holding hands and laughing. An older woman dressed in furs walked her small dog, which stopped and yapped at her. Vera just continued walking, her thoughts were running wildly from one thing to the next, shopping…family…friends…. they all became a blur in her mind which froze that exact moment the person fell on her from above.

“From somewhere, roughly from the 13th floor of a hotel building, a young woman threw herself from the ledge, and into the crowd below, instantly killing herself. Many witnesses claim that it seemed as if she was somehow stopping her accent on the way down. But paramedics claim that to be from the shock. This is Cassandra Low, returning you to the studio”

Vera turned the old black and white television that someone had left on, off. And tried to remember where she was, she looked around and it seemed that she was in a hospital ward. Through the glass on the door, she could see doctors in lab coats running around outside the room, nurses following them. She could see a curtain on the right side of her bed, a partition to keep the other patient from disturbing her. She couldn’t see the other patient, but saw his clipboard, it read James Frank. For some reason the name seemed familiar to her, maybe she heard about him on the news.

“…Ex…excuse me. Mr. Frank?” was all she could force out of her lips, she didn’t remember much after the pain filled her body, so suddenly as she walked down the streets. Apart from that, all she could remember were bits and pieces, and a voice in her head saying ‘…Falling leaves…’

‘Whatever that meant.’  She thought to herself. Her eyes drifted toward the curtain and she spoke again, trying to attract the person on the other side of the curtain.

“Hello…?”

Still no answer, the room suddenly felt colder all of a sudden, and loneliness crept in to meet her. And a small version of fear came right behind loneliness, like a shy child hiding behind its mother.

The nurse call button shone green as she pushed it, a few moments later a pair of doctors in white lab coats followed by some nurses came running in.

“Ah, the patient has awoken!” The head doctor said with a smirk. He was a fairly middle aged man, of average height, with his only real discerning feature being a long, light scar that ran across the right side of his neck to his left, across his throat. Something not causing permanent damage to his throat.

“Ye...yes, I have, can you tell me what happened to me?” Vera asked.

“Well, basically a woman fell on you from about 13 floors up, your lucky to be alive.” The doctor said with a smug attitude.

“All roads lead to Lost Haven”. This is true, there are no roads that lead out of it, no freeways, no highways that could get to it, all the roads are one way. Inwards.

“We haven’t gotten a positive I.D on the body yet, inspector. But when we do, you’ll be the first to know.” The trio of men walked down the well-lit corridor towards the small examination room that lay at the end of it. Unshaded lamps hang from the ceiling, whilst the lights reflected of the tiles along the walls. Tommy Mathews, one of the best inspectors in the city. Walked briskly down the hallway, with two other men, he was a tall and dark character, with piercing eyes and an air of authority. He arrived in Lost Haven, not by mistake; it was a subconscious choice he had made many years ago. One day he just up and left, he sold his house, hopped in his car, and drove for many years, until he finally thought he had made peace with himself, he said “I’m going to stop at the next sign of civilization”. It so happened, that he had found himself at Lost Havens mercy.

Tommy was flanked to the left by Dr. Richards, a leading coronary practitioner who was brought up in the rich part of city, where the clean lines of the white high rise apartment buildings were only a cheap cover up of the blackness inside. Like all of Lost Haven, not all is, as it seems. To his right was Dr. Richards Assistant, just fresh faced from Med. School, Dr. Peabody was a member of the young and wealthy, someone who’s parents paid for his diplomas.

The thick, rusted metal door opened with a creak that seemed to echo out through the hallway, and the three men entered a fairly small, air conditioned room that was bare, save for a low metal table, on which the dead woman’s body lay, covered by a thin sheet.

“Inspector Tommy, I give you, your Mrs. Jane Doe.” The doctor said, and with a flourish removed the sheet from the body that lay within. In over 15 years of police work, Tommy was only once truly chilled by a crime scene, and that was his first, but what he saw next, made him about ready to shit ice cubes.

The body lay there, on the cold table, covered with ritual scarring, all over her body, except for her forearms and neck.
“What in the hell happened to her!” Tommy thought out loud. “When did this happen to her?” standing transfixed he asked the doctors, unable to take his eyes of what he saw before him.
“According to tissue samples, this would have occurred years ago, when she was about, oh…say 16 or 17.”
Tommy turned and fixed eyes with Dr. Richards, “Why In the hell would anyone do something like this to…anyone? Especially someone so young?” The two men stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, but lasted a second. “We have no idea, she died from a broken neck.” The room felt small to all the men sharing it at this moment, but also safe, they were in there, not outside where the madness lay.

Someone is always watching something in Lost Haven, the sense can be overwhelming at times, and this is what drives people to move out, or try to at least. If not physically, but mentally.

Lying in bed, Albert Richards AKA Dr. Richards, could not sleep; he lay there in the cool satin sheets, with the moonlight filtering through the window watching the rain patter down on the glass. The dreams returned, he didn’t normally have these dreams, but somehow they returned. In these dreams, he was a child, his parents were very wealthy, and as a side effect of this wealth were also prone to drunken rages after a few too many martinis. One day he came home from school to find out that his father had a little too much to drink, and had killed his mother over a suspicion that she may be cheating on him. He dreamt this every night since it happened for about five years, after that they slowed down to occurring once every so often, until finally, they stopped altogether, but now they have returned, after about 40 years, they came back.

He lay there, in the darkness, which was pierced only by a sliver of moonlight from the window, like a knife is lay there across his bed. After lying in the gray area between sleep and wake, he finally got the effort together to grab the bottle of pills lying there across from him, the lid popped open with a snap of his thumb and he took five sleeping tablets out, and sucked them all down with a gulp. And fell into the deep void that was eternal sleep….

Tommy was woken up from his sleep by the phone ringing. What time was it? Five? Six am? He didn’t know or care, all he wanted was to get that damn phone, before the phone got to his headache. He’d been drinking again last night, he had to get his mind of the case, and the idea, that someone could be so cruel to such a young girl was almost unbearable to him, both professionally and emotionally. He got up, stumbled a bit, and then finally, after smacking his leg against a coffee table, remembered that the phone was, in fact, a mobile phone, which was, in another fact, in his pocket. “God hates me, doesn’t he?” he thought to himself as he pulled it free from his pocket.

The voice on the other side had an invitingly cold tone to it.

“Hope I didn’t wake you, is this Mr. Whiting?”
Tommy was shocked, his real name, before coming to Lost Haven, was Samuel Whiting, but like a chameleon changes color, he changed his name to Tommy Mathews.

“Yes...yes this is Tommy Mathews, how can I help you?” for the first time of his stay in Lost Haven, Tommy actually felt awkward, like he didn’t know what he was doing here. Which he subconsciously didn’t?
“I understand that you are investigating a case in which a young girl was found with ritual scarring upon her body, am I correct?”
Tommy didn’t understand how the stranger knew about this. He felt his emotions well up inside.

“Who are you?” he yelled into the mouthpiece.
The reply was something he wasn’t sure he completely understood.
“Someone who knows more than you do about what has happened here…” the voice seemed colder, but more knowledgeable at the same time. Fingers of cold ran a chill up Tommy’s back as he heard those words.
“Well then, if you know so much, what’s happened? Go on! Tell me!” Tommy was very angry at the moment, his words were flaming, but this ice-cold stranger was more crystal then ice. Cold, but heat only made crystal stronger.

“More than you can imagine, did you know that Dr. Richards was found dead this morning in his apartment? I can’t imagine that you did, but looks can be deceiving, especially when ones eyes are blinded by what they are shown.”

His words shockingly had a tinge of truth to them, and Tommy couldn’t believe he was hearing this. And believing it.
“O.K. then, what exactly are you talking about? I believe the fact that Dr. Richards killed himself; people do that all the time here. But can you answer me one question before we go on?”
The voice seemed colder, more distant. “I am Tobias Escariot, I’ve been sent from a special taskforce specializing in the Investigation of Ritual Murder and the Paranormal to investigate this crime, I have…talents, that may be useful to you in this situation.”
Tommy was shocked, all the answers to the question he was going to ask was answered in before he asked it, it was as if Tobias was standing between two mirrors, one leading to the past, the other to the future, and he could see both at the same time.

“…Surprised?” came the voice from the other end of the phone.

“…Very, how did you know so much about this?” Tommy asked, he had nothing to hide from this character; he already seemed to know everything.

“ hehehe, that, my new friend, is my talent…I’ll pick you up at around 8:30.”

With that, the line died.

“Well then Tobias lets see if your talents haven’t failed you this time.” Tommy thought to himself.

It is said, that if you think about it long enough, you have already visited Lost Haven, with its dirty, grimy streets, and highly polished rich areas, which are as, corrupt and destroyed as the rest of the city. The only difference is that in the high class areas, the dirt and grime of the residents hearts are covered with polished stainless steel whilst the rest of the city, the grime is left to face the sun.

At about 8:29 a polished black hummer parked in front of Tommy’s apartment. At 8:35, Tobias was climbing the stairs to Tommy’s room. At 8:37 Tommy heard a knock on his door, and there he got the shock of his life.

Tobias stood there, a good foot taller then Tommy. He looked like a walking skeleton, an extremely thin, taller, version of Tommy. He looked like he would break in two if he were pushed; he seemed, to Tommy, to be made out of paper.
Nearly bald, (except for the pure white pony tail) Tobias was dressed in a pure black suit, with a dark red tie that seemed to reflect the light whenever it moved, he commanded an air of enlightenment, and calmness. At his side, like a sword, he held a thin walking cane which looked to be made out of a bone of some sort, it was capped by a silver wolfs head, obsidian peered from the eye sockets of the wolf as its head snarled back at him, this head them merged with a smooth area about fifteen centimeters down the shaft of the cane. This was obviously an antique.
Across his back, he slung an old-fashioned canvas mailbag.
A pair of black, glass disks, joined by a piece of wire hid his eyes from the world.

“Good morning Mr. Whiting.”

Still cold as ice. Tommy thought to himself as he let Mr. Escariot pass him into his apartment. Tobias walked towards the couch that was in Tommy’s living room.

Walking toward the fridge, Tommy turned and found himself asking this stranger. “Would you like a drink, Mr. Escariot?”

“No.” The answer was clear and uninterrupted, like a shard of crystal. “What I would like to do, is discuss the matter of your Jane Doe, the one that was found recently in the city.” Tommy grabbed the beer and immediately sat opposite Tobias on other couch. Tobias reached inside his jacket, and took out a nondescript manila folder and placed it on the coffee table (the same one Tommy had hit his shin against earlier), Tommy opened it, inside there were photos of the body that Tobias had brought with him.

The icy cold hands had returned to Tommy’s back, his eyes scanned over the images of arcane symbols covering the body and shuddered. These symbols meant something to the primal side of him, and every other human. It seemed to draw him nearer; the primal feeling was taking a hold of him with every moment he stared at those carvings. Suddenly Tobias reached over and took the photograph from him.

“You understand what they mean, don’t you?” Tommy asked Tobias as he brought his eyes up to meet the ancient mans.

“I understand about as much as you do, perhaps a bit more, these symbols, are ancient, firstly drawn before time began, you understand them as well as I do, because they are a part of our very existence. They are runes in an ancient language that neither you, nor I speak or understand consciously. They are a part of everything.”

Tobias sat back and rested his hand on his cane, and began to run his hands over, almost petting the wolf’s head sitting on top, like it was a real wolf and could feel it.
It seemed to Tommy that what Tobias was saying made complete sense, but it didn’t. How could these…symbols draw him closer to them? It was like they had control over the reader, even though the reader wasn’t reading, merely looking at them.

Tommy looked at Tobias quizzically; this frail man must surely know something about the symbols.

“When you said, that you would know a bit more about these symbols, what did you mean?” Tommy asked.

“I meant exactly what I said, I know a little more than you would, I know who made these markings, and I know why, I also know what some of them mean, but I wont burden you with that yet. The markings hold some sort of power as you can tell, if these photos intrigued you, and disgusted you at the same time, remember what you felt when you first saw them, was it fear, or disgust? Anger or all the above feelings at the same time? Tell me Samuel, are you a religious man?”
Tommy remembered his childhood, a time when he was religious, when Samuel was religious, Tommy Mathews didn’t have a childhood, he had just sprung from adulthood, when Samuel Whiting died, and the phoenix of Tommy was born. Samuel’s parents were basically religious zealots, they would preach the bible at any chance they got, and if you ever wanted to see a bible-basher, look to them, because you will never see a better example. They literally beat him with the bible when he misbehaved.

“…I...I was at one time, why do you ask?” Tommy asked, as his throat became as cry as it ever was and he took a sip of beer to relax himself. It didn’t work.

“Ok, I’m going to cut right to the chase now Tommy, or Samuel, or whatever you would like to be called, the fact is, that these primal symbols, or runes, were adopted later to be used as sigils by the Hebrews, sigils, if you may remember were supposedly the writing of angels. The department I work for sent me over to examine the body, they think that another cult may be responsible. I think otherwise.”
Tommy took a long swig of beer, it felt cool down his throat but didn’t fix the lump he had there. After that he took his key to the door that should have remained locked, barred and covered with rubble.

“What do you think?”

Tobias stared back at him from behind the glasses, and pulled a large, old book, its covers of shiny black leather, and its only discerning feature apart from its size was the large sigil inlayed in gold on the front. The moment Tommy looked at it the icy hands across his back felt as if they were going to gab his spine.
“This, is one of the only remaining copies of the book the church had destroyed, and they had every right to. This tome, holds in its pages the sigils used to summon angels and demons. We recovered this copy from a cult that we were sent to investigate in Budapest, Hungary. It was the most horrific thing I had ever experienced, we had tracked them for months in the sewers and finally we dared enter the wolf’s den. I was only a young recruit to the organization, and this was one of my first missions, I was expecting to see a few people standing around in robes trying to chant up some incantation that would bring up the devil or something. What really happened…I can’t dare remember it now, but I cannot forget it either. We opened the door leading to their lair, inside the lair, I saw an altar, and on that altar lay the most beautiful girl I had ever laid eyes upon, and what they were doing to her…I cannot bear to think, they were carving these…sigils upon her body, they were carving them whilst she was still alive, she screamed and panicked, but they did nothing but laugh at her and continue, so I ordered my team to open fire upon them, I could not bear to watch this any longer, during the calamity, whilst our assault weapons rained fire down on the cultists, one of them managed to carve the final sigil upon her feeble body, it did no good for him though, as he was shot down in a few moments after…when we had finished culling them, we cautiously entered the room, and as I walked toward the girl laying there upon the altar, I noticed something different about her, she seemed less…I don’t know, human for some reason, more enlightened, she turned to face me, and smiled a feeble smile, then said the words that I will never forget till the day I die “falling leaves” and to this day, I will not forget that day, so much blood was spilt, for what? We took the girl with us, and returned to the headquarters of Noch. During her rehabilitation, I researched all I could on the sigils that were on her body, what I came up with…” he trailed off, Tommy thought that this was the only time his voice had lost that edge to it, that crystalline edge, he raised his eyes from the coffee table where they were affixed and looked at Tobias’s face. A single solitary tear rolled down his cheek and he wiped it off with his left hand.

“Could…could I get a drink from you, before I go on?” Tobias asked, the edge returning to his voice.
Tommy stood up and returned with a bottle of beer for Tobias, which he accepted gladly.

“These sigils, were used in summoning a lesser demon, one from the lower planes of hell, but the catch is, that they needed to summon its essence so it could possess a human, a virgin sacrifice if you will. What we had on our hands, not even Noch could keep under control, we were used to researching the paranormal, not dealing with it. We had a demon loose, she escaped one night through a window in the infirmary, after killing two doctors and a nurse. I have tracked her down to here, Lost Haven, and I hope to take it down before it kills again.”

Tommy was silent for the next few moments, until a jackal’s laugh sliced through the silence. It was the stupidest thing Tommy had ever heard! Angels! And demons! He couldn’t believe he was listening to all this, it was LUDICROUS at best; angels and demons only existed to scare little children, not to possess people! He had seen movies to deal with it, but he just thought that they were childish fantasies!

“You, seriously think, that I would believe all that? Tobias, I gotta hand it to ya! You really are one smooth fucker ain’t ya? You come in here, all dressed up, with your fancy cane, and your black suit and old book, trying to make me believe that what I have isn’t really a homicide, but uh…a demon-cide?”

Tobias didn’t move at this snide outburst, he just sat there, and raised his head up to look Tommy straight in the eye. Slowly, with purpose, he raised his right hand to his head and stood up, as he did so, he removed his glasses, slowly, and placed them in his front jacket pocket, and opened his closed eyes.
My God! They’re not human! Tommy thought, these eyes, were like a predators eyes, instead of a normal human iris, all Tommy saw were a pair of yellow eyes, wolves eyes. They shone with an inner light that Tommy could sense but not see.

“Tell me Samuel, do you believe me now?” Tobias asked slowly not wanting to scare Tommy away.
“How about now?” his hands opened his shirt and Tommy could see that the frail, man who looked that he could break in an instant, was actually quite strong, the muscles rippled over his lanky frame. And the room was filled with a red light emanating from the sigils carved into his chest.
The fear Tommy was feeling was overwhelming, he wasn’t sure whether to sink or swim. Hell he wasn’t sure whether Tobias was good or evil at this moment, he probably didn’t even know what that smell was, but that was a minor problem compared to what he saw before him.
Tobias’s thin lips managed a smile.
“Don’t worry Tommy, I am not what you think I am. I am an angel, not a demon, I told you once that looks can be deceiving, now I cam prove it. If I was a demon, would I have kept you alive and told you all this? I would have torn you from limb to limb by now.”

At this point, Tommy was against the wall staring at the pulsating sigils in complete fear.
“IF YOUR NOT A DEMON, THEN WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU? SANTA CLAUSE?” Tommy felt like screaming that at him, instead, all he managed was a feeble “what are you?”

“I am not angel, nor am I man, nor demon. I am simply Tobias Escariot. First cleric of Noch, I have been exposed to both sides of the coin, good and evil reside in me!”
His crystalline voice rose to an unimagined level of volume, the ground shook and Tommy hung to the wall in fear. Tobias finally buttoned his shirt up and replaced his glasses.

“Now do you believe me?”

Good and Evil are the same things, from a different perspective. Whilst one person sees an action as being evil, and unjust, another may see it in a different light.

The rain water splashed away from the bottom of Tobias’s hummer as they sped towards the city, the hummers name came from its low energy hum that existed as a by product of the engine’s movement. It took an immense amount of power to make a three-ton vehicle hover about a foot above ground. They sped off through the rich part of the city, the streetlights reflected of its shiny surface and bounced of the droplets of rainwater resting on its windscreen, they would soon be blown away by momentum and then sent spiraling with the other rushing rainwater into one of Lost Haven’s many drains.

During the car ride, Tobias explained to Samuel “the whole premise behind possession, demonology and basically anything else involving evil things that go bump in the night”. Well that was how he put it. Basically, the demon, or angel, would have to change bodies after a while when it got tired of its old body. So, like a hermit crab, it chooses a new body, or shell, to inhabit. It usually does this by transferring its power through sigils, but if no sigils were around, the closest thing would be an enormous amount of force impacted into the target to possess it, it needs to feel the sigils pounding into them. So this is why the girl fell on Vera Altman. He also explained, that this would be a vicious cycle, a demon, or angel could get sick of that body as soon as one day, maybe two.

The hummer pulled to a stop in front of the Silent Hill Asylum and General Hospital, its enormous façade, greeted them with the rainwater dripping down its sharp edges and corners, the art deco building should be a landmark. Originally a warehouse built during the 1920’s, it was later bought by a wealthy land owner and converted into the Silent Hill Asylum, which later became Lost Havens only general hospital that met national workplace health and safety regulations.

The tapping of Tobias’s cane on the tiled floor was a major irritation to the desk clerk who worked the night shift. She looked up from the computer at Tobias, then to Tommy, who flashed her his badge. No Luck.

“I’m sorry sirs, but visiting hours have passed already, you’ll have to come back in the morning,” she said to them with a tired smile.

“You don’t understand me, we need to see Vera Altman as soon as possible.”
Tommy stated, waving his badge at her again.

“No, sir. I don’t think you understand me, if you don’t leave this instant, I’ll be forced to call security!” The desk clerk had finally become frustrated.

“To Hell with this!” Tommy grabbed Tobias and they made a dash for the doors leading to the elevator. The doors slammed shut just as the security guards rounded past the front desk and came barreling toward the elevator.
Tommy punched the number 3 into the terminal, and the elevator started their accent to the third floor. The doors flew open, and they ran out into the hallway towards Vera’s room, nearly knocking over a nurse, and running into a doctor on the way there.

The doors flew open, and Tommy slid a chair in front of it. “That should hold ‘em,” he thought to himself. “Where is Tobias?”
He turned to look at Vera, and saw him, Tobias’s silhouette, behind the curtain standing over her. He walked to them, to see what they were doing, the constant knocking on the doors, and the demands made by the people outside to “open these goddamned doors!” were pushed out of his mind, all he could think about, was the girl, and Tobias.
As he reached the foot of the bed, he could see Tobias, stroking her gentle face with his gloved, right hand. He ran a hand through her hair and looked away for a moment. When he looked back, he had a pair of tears running down his gaunt face. He sighed. His gloved hand, gripped the wolf’s head on the cane, and with a slight tug, a long, thin blade emerged from the bone sheath. The light reflected coolly along its edge; as Tobias began incanting words in an arcane tongue, the same language, it seemed to Tommy, as the sigils were written. Tommy noticed a red glow emanating from beneath Vera’s bed sheets and clothing, in the shape of sigils.
“Open her shirt!” Tobias commanded. “What?” Tommy asked, astounded that someone would ask of him to do this. “Open her shirt, the sigils are there, we must attack the sigils!” “But-
Tommy was cut of by a freezing cold glance from Tobias, his blood nearly stopped when he saw those predatory eyes.
Tommy grabbed the light cotton shirt that was covering Vera’s chest, and without further thought tore it open, the light from the sigils bathed her small, perfectly round breasts in a red light, her small lips, and face was also bathed with this light, the entire room seemed to be washed in this eternal light.
Tobias continued the incantation, the sigils seemed to grow brighter, and it seemed as if the entire ward was going to be covered with this red light.
Tobias finished the incantation with an “…amen. And may God have mercy upon your soul”…
Outside the door security have broken the glass on the pane. Tobias raised his sword above Vera’s throat, a single gunshot ripped through the air and hit Tommy in the back of the leg, he dropped and grabbed his wound to stop the bleeding. Looking up to Tobias and all he saw was the sword come down, and the spray of blood, then the red glow disappeared.
The entire room was dark, except for the flashes of gunpowder; the police handguns threw around the room and into Tommy.

“Last night’s brutal slaying in ward 2-B of the Silent Hill Asylum and General Hospital, claimed two lives, one of the men, Tomas Mathews, was shot to death by police, the other, Vera Altman, was found with her shirt unbuttoned, and her throat cut. Her blood was found on the face and hands of Tomas Mathews. Police chief Hughman was unable to be reached for comments concerning last night’s blood bath. This is Cassandra Low, returning you on this sad occasion, to the studio.”

AUTHORS NOTE:

Not everything is final in Lost Haven…

This is a work of fiction, any resemblance to other characters, living or deceased, is purely coincidental unless I said otherwise.

A lot of time and coffee was spent in writing this story, so I hope you enjoyed reading it. There are a few loose ends that I should tie up now:

Tobias escaped by means of the window, after he killed Vera, he made his way out whilst the police were shooting Tommy. Rest assured dear reader, he is not dead, he survived the fall, and escaped, he was never seen since.

A hummer is a type of vehicle used within the city of Lost Haven, it is like a floating car, but it only floats about 30 cm’s of the ground. This story is set in the future, so flying cars do exist. Ok?

If there are any more that I have failed to address, please accept my apologies.

                                                                                                        SASHA CUHA.

Description
                                        Lost Haven.

                                            Sigil.

Lost Haven. A place, whose name should make people avoid it at all costs. But such is human nature, we forget to look at a books cover, and after a while, forget to read its title. For Lost Haven is just that, a haven for the lost. Every person who dwells there does not wish to reside in its grasp, does not wish to walk upon its streets which are always shrouded with steam issuing from somewhere below, and above all, not everyone that enters Lost Haven, leaves…

That morning started like any other, but soon grew darker as every passing moment flew past.
Vera Altman, dressed in casual clothing, strolled through the high classed district of Lost Haven; on her day off she enjoyed a walk in the cleaner streets of Lost Haven. Leaving the dark mess, the rest of the city, behind her she edged around a parked hummer, and continued walking. Around her, people passed, oblivious to what was going to happen within the next few moments. A couple briskly strolled past holding hands and laughing. An older woman dressed in furs walked her small dog, which stopped and yapped at her. Vera just continued walking, her thoughts were running wildly from one thing to the next, shopping…family…friends…. they all became a blur in her mind which froze that exact moment the person fell on her from above.

“From somewhere, roughly from the 13th floor of a hotel building, a young woman threw herself from the ledge, and into the crowd below, instantly killing herself. Many witnesses claim that it seemed as if she was somehow stopping her accent on the way down. But paramedics claim that to be from the shock. This is Cassandra Low, returning you to the studio”

Vera turned the old black and white television that someone had left on, off. And tried to remember where she was, she looked around and it seemed that she was in a hospital ward. Through the glass on the door, she could see doctors in lab coats running around outside the room, nurses following them. She could see a curtain on the right side of her bed, a partition to keep the other patient from disturbing her. She couldn’t see the other patient, but saw his clipboard, it read James Frank. For some reason the name seemed familiar to her, maybe she heard about him on the news.

“…Ex…excuse me. Mr. Frank?” was all she could force out of her lips, she didn’t remember much after the pain filled her body, so suddenly as she walked down the streets. Apart from that, all she could remember were bits and pieces, and a voice in her head saying ‘…Falling leaves…’

‘Whatever that meant.’  She thought to herself. Her eyes drifted toward the curtain and she spoke again, trying to attract the person on the other side of the curtain.

“Hello…?”

Still no answer, the room suddenly felt colder all of a sudden, and loneliness crept in to meet her. And a small version of fear came right behind loneliness, like a shy child hiding behind its mother.

The nurse call button shone green as she pushed it, a few moments later a pair of doctors in white lab coats followed by some nurses came running in.

“Ah, the patient has awoken!” The head doctor said with a smirk. He was a fairly middle aged man, of average height, with his only real discerning feature being a long, light scar that ran across the right side of his neck to his left, across his throat. Something not causing permanent damage to his throat.

“Ye...yes, I have, can you tell me what happened to me?” Vera asked.

“Well, basically a woman fell on you from about 13 floors up, your lucky to be alive.” The doctor said with a smug attitude.

“All roads lead to Lost Haven”. This is true, there are no roads that lead out of it, no freeways, no highways that could get to it, all the roads are one way. Inwards.

“We haven’t gotten a positive I.D on the body yet, inspector. But when we do, you’ll be the first to know.” The trio of men walked down the well-lit corridor towards the small examination room that lay at the end of it. Unshaded lamps hang from the ceiling, whilst the lights reflected of the tiles along the walls. Tommy Mathews, one of the best inspectors in the city. Walked briskly down the hallway, with two other men, he was a tall and dark character, with piercing eyes and an air of authority. He arrived in Lost Haven, not by mistake; it was a subconscious choice he had made many years ago. One day he just up and left, he sold his house, hopped in his car, and drove for many years, until he finally thought he had made peace with himself, he said “I’m going to stop at the next sign of civilization”. It so happened, that he had found himself at Lost Havens mercy.

Tommy was flanked to the left by Dr. Richards, a leading coronary practitioner who was brought up in the rich part of city, where the clean lines of the white high rise apartment buildings were only a cheap cover up of the blackness inside. Like all of Lost Haven, not all is, as it seems. To his right was Dr. Richards Assistant, just fresh faced from Med. School, Dr. Peabody was a member of the young and wealthy, someone who’s parents paid for his diplomas.

The thick, rusted metal door opened with a creak that seemed to echo out through the hallway, and the three men entered a fairly small, air conditioned room that was bare, save for a low metal table, on which the dead woman’s body lay, covered by a thin sheet.

“Inspector Tommy, I give you, your Mrs. Jane Doe.” The doctor said, and with a flourish removed the sheet from the body that lay within. In over 15 years of police work, Tommy was only once truly chilled by a crime scene, and that was his first, but what he saw next, made him about ready to shit ice cubes.

The body lay there, on the cold table, covered with ritual scarring, all over her body, except for her forearms and neck.
“What in the hell happened to her!” Tommy thought out loud. “When did this happen to her?” standing transfixed he asked the doctors, unable to take his eyes of what he saw before him.
“According to tissue samples, this would have occurred years ago, when she was about, oh…say 16 or 17.”
Tommy turned and fixed eyes with Dr. Richards, “Why In the hell would anyone do something like this to…anyone? Especially someone so young?” The two men stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, but lasted a second. “We have no idea, she died from a broken neck.” The room felt small to all the men sharing it at this moment, but also safe, they were in there, not outside where the madness lay.

Someone is always watching something in Lost Haven, the sense can be overwhelming at times, and this is what drives people to move out, or try to at least. If not physically, but mentally.

Lying in bed, Albert Richards AKA Dr. Richards, could not sleep; he lay there in the cool satin sheets, with the moonlight filtering through the window watching the rain patter down on the glass. The dreams returned, he didn’t normally have these dreams, but somehow they returned. In these dreams, he was a child, his parents were very wealthy, and as a side effect of this wealth were also prone to drunken rages after a few too many martinis. One day he came home from school to find out that his father had a little too much to drink, and had killed his mother over a suspicion that she may be cheating on him. He dreamt this every night since it happened for about five years, after that they slowed down to occurring once every so often, until finally, they stopped altogether, but now they have returned, after about 40 years, they came back.

He lay there, in the darkness, which was pierced only by a sliver of moonlight from the window, like a knife is lay there across his bed. After lying in the gray area between sleep and wake, he finally got the effort together to grab the bottle of pills lying there across from him, the lid popped open with a snap of his thumb and he took five sleeping tablets out, and sucked them all down with a gulp. And fell into the deep void that was eternal sleep….

Tommy was woken up from his sleep by the phone ringing. What time was it? Five? Six am? He didn’t know or care, all he wanted was to get that damn phone, before the phone got to his headache. He’d been drinking again last night, he had to get his mind of the case, and the idea, that someone could be so cruel to such a young girl was almost unbearable to him, both professionally and emotionally. He got up, stumbled a bit, and then finally, after smacking his leg against a coffee table, remembered that the phone was, in fact, a mobile phone, which was, in another fact, in his pocket. “God hates me, doesn’t he?” he thought to himself as he pulled it free from his pocket.

The voice on the other side had an invitingly cold tone to it.

“Hope I didn’t wake you, is this Mr. Whiting?”
Tommy was shocked, his real name, before coming to Lost Haven, was Samuel Whiting, but like a chameleon changes color, he changed his name to Tommy Mathews.

“Yes...yes this is Tommy Mathews, how can I help you?” for the first time of his stay in Lost Haven, Tommy actually felt awkward, like he didn’t know what he was doing here. Which he subconsciously didn’t?
“I understand that you are investigating a case in which a young girl was found with ritual scarring upon her body, am I correct?”
Tommy didn’t understand how the stranger knew about this. He felt his emotions well up inside.

“Who are you?” he yelled into the mouthpiece.
The reply was something he wasn’t sure he completely understood.
“Someone who knows more than you do about what has happened here…” the voice seemed colder, but more knowledgeable at the same time. Fingers of cold ran a chill up Tommy’s back as he heard those words.
“Well then, if you know so much, what’s happened? Go on! Tell me!” Tommy was very angry at the moment, his words were flaming, but this ice-cold stranger was more crystal then ice. Cold, but heat only made crystal stronger.

“More than you can imagine, did you know that Dr. Richards was found dead this morning in his apartment? I can’t imagine that you did, but looks can be deceiving, especially when ones eyes are blinded by what they are shown.”

His words shockingly had a tinge of truth to them, and Tommy couldn’t believe he was hearing this. And believing it.
“O.K. then, what exactly are you talking about? I believe the fact that Dr. Richards killed himself; people do that all the time here. But can you answer me one question before we go on?”
The voice seemed colder, more distant. “I am Tobias Escariot, I’ve been sent from a special taskforce specializing in the Investigation of Ritual Murder and the Paranormal to investigate this crime, I have…talents, that may be useful to you in this situation.”
Tommy was shocked, all the answers to the question he was going to ask was answered in before he asked it, it was as if Tobias was standing between two mirrors, one leading to the past, the other to the future, and he could see both at the same time.

“…Surprised?” came the voice from the other end of the phone.

“…Very, how did you know so much about this?” Tommy asked, he had nothing to hide from this character; he already seemed to know everything.

“ hehehe, that, my new friend, is my talent…I’ll pick you up at around 8:30.”

With that, the line died.

“Well then Tobias lets see if your talents haven’t failed you this time.” Tommy thought to himself.

It is said, that if you think about it long enough, you have already visited Lost Haven, with its dirty, grimy streets, and highly polished rich areas, which are as, corrupt and destroyed as the rest of the city. The only difference is that in the high class areas, the dirt and grime of the residents hearts are covered with polished stainless steel whilst the rest of the city, the grime is left to face the sun.

At about 8:29 a polished black hummer parked in front of Tommy’s apartment. At 8:35, Tobias was climbing the stairs to Tommy’s room. At 8:37 Tommy heard a knock on his door, and there he got the shock of his life.

Tobias stood there, a good foot taller then Tommy. He looked like a walking skeleton, an extremely thin, taller, version of Tommy. He looked like he would break in two if he were pushed; he seemed, to Tommy, to be made out of paper.
Nearly bald, (except for the pure white pony tail) Tobias was dressed in a pure black suit, with a dark red tie that seemed to reflect the light whenever it moved, he commanded an air of enlightenment, and calmness. At his side, like a sword, he held a thin walking cane which looked to be made out of a bone of some sort, it was capped by a silver wolfs head, obsidian peered from the eye sockets of the wolf as its head snarled back at him, this head them merged with a smooth area about fifteen centimeters down the shaft of the cane. This was obviously an antique.
Across his back, he slung an old-fashioned canvas mailbag.
A pair of black, glass disks, joined by a piece of wire hid his eyes from the world.

“Good morning Mr. Whiting.”

Still cold as ice. Tommy thought to himself as he let Mr. Escariot pass him into his apartment. Tobias walked towards the couch that was in Tommy’s living room.

Walking toward the fridge, Tommy turned and found himself asking this stranger. “Would you like a drink, Mr. Escariot?”

“No.” The answer was clear and uninterrupted, like a shard of crystal. “What I would like to do, is discuss the matter of your Jane Doe, the one that was found recently in the city.” Tommy grabbed the beer and immediately sat opposite Tobias on other couch. Tobias reached inside his jacket, and took out a nondescript manila folder and placed it on the coffee table (the same one Tommy had hit his shin against earlier), Tommy opened it, inside there were photos of the body that Tobias had brought with him.

The icy cold hands had returned to Tommy’s back, his eyes scanned over the images of arcane symbols covering the body and shuddered. These symbols meant something to the primal side of him, and every other human. It seemed to draw him nearer; the primal feeling was taking a hold of him with every moment he stared at those carvings. Suddenly Tobias reached over and took the photograph from him.

“You understand what they mean, don’t you?” Tommy asked Tobias as he brought his eyes up to meet the ancient mans.

“I understand about as much as you do, perhaps a bit more, these symbols, are ancient, firstly drawn before time began, you understand them as well as I do, because they are a part of our very existence. They are runes in an ancient language that neither you, nor I speak or understand consciously. They are a part of everything.”

Tobias sat back and rested his hand on his cane, and began to run his hands over, almost petting the wolf’s head sitting on top, like it was a real wolf and could feel it.
It seemed to Tommy that what Tobias was saying made complete sense, but it didn’t. How could these…symbols draw him closer to them? It was like they had control over the reader, even though the reader wasn’t reading, merely looking at them.

Tommy looked at Tobias quizzically; this frail man must surely know something about the symbols.

“When you said, that you would know a bit more about these symbols, what did you mean?” Tommy asked.

“I meant exactly what I said, I know a little more than you would, I know who made these markings, and I know why, I also know what some of them mean, but I wont burden you with that yet. The markings hold some sort of power as you can tell, if these photos intrigued you, and disgusted you at the same time, remember what you felt when you first saw them, was it fear, or disgust? Anger or all the above feelings at the same time? Tell me Samuel, are you a religious man?”
Tommy remembered his childhood, a time when he was religious, when Samuel was religious, Tommy Mathews didn’t have a childhood, he had just sprung from adulthood, when Samuel Whiting died, and the phoenix of Tommy was born. Samuel’s parents were basically religious zealots, they would preach the bible at any chance they got, and if you ever wanted to see a bible-basher, look to them, because you will never see a better example. They literally beat him with the bible when he misbehaved.

“…I...I was at one time, why do you ask?” Tommy asked, as his throat became as cry as it ever was and he took a sip of beer to relax himself. It didn’t work.

“Ok, I’m going to cut right to the chase now Tommy, or Samuel, or whatever you would like to be called, the fact is, that these primal symbols, or runes, were adopted later to be used as sigils by the Hebrews, sigils, if you may remember were supposedly the writing of angels. The department I work for sent me over to examine the body, they think that another cult may be responsible. I think otherwise.”
Tommy took a long swig of beer, it felt cool down his throat but didn’t fix the lump he had there. After that he took his key to the door that should have remained locked, barred and covered with rubble.

“What do you think?”

Tobias stared back at him from behind the glasses, and pulled a large, old book, its covers of shiny black leather, and its only discerning feature apart from its size was the large sigil inlayed in gold on the front. The moment Tommy looked at it the icy hands across his back felt as if they were going to gab his spine.
“This, is one of the only remaining copies of the book the church had destroyed, and they had every right to. This tome, holds in its pages the sigils used to summon angels and demons. We recovered this copy from a cult that we were sent to investigate in Budapest, Hungary. It was the most horrific thing I had ever experienced, we had tracked them for months in the sewers and finally we dared enter the wolf’s den. I was only a young recruit to the organization, and this was one of my first missions, I was expecting to see a few people standing around in robes trying to chant up some incantation that would bring up the devil or something. What really happened…I can’t dare remember it now, but I cannot forget it either. We opened the door leading to their lair, inside the lair, I saw an altar, and on that altar lay the most beautiful girl I had ever laid eyes upon, and what they were doing to her…I cannot bear to think, they were carving these…sigils upon her body, they were carving them whilst she was still alive, she screamed and panicked, but they did nothing but laugh at her and continue, so I ordered my team to open fire upon them, I could not bear to watch this any longer, during the calamity, whilst our assault weapons rained fire down on the cultists, one of them managed to carve the final sigil upon her feeble body, it did no good for him though, as he was shot down in a few moments after…when we had finished culling them, we cautiously entered the room, and as I walked toward the girl laying there upon the altar, I noticed something different about her, she seemed less…I don’t know, human for some reason, more enlightened, she turned to face me, and smiled a feeble smile, then said the words that I will never forget till the day I die “falling leaves” and to this day, I will not forget that day, so much blood was spilt, for what? We took the girl with us, and returned to the headquarters of Noch. During her rehabilitation, I researched all I could on the sigils that were on her body, what I came up with…” he trailed off, Tommy thought that this was the only time his voice had lost that edge to it, that crystalline edge, he raised his eyes from the coffee table where they were affixed and looked at Tobias’s face. A single solitary tear rolled down his cheek and he wiped it off with his left hand.

“Could…could I get a drink from you, before I go on?” Tobias asked, the edge returning to his voice.
Tommy stood up and returned with a bottle of beer for Tobias, which he accepted gladly.

“These sigils, were used in summoning a lesser demon, one from the lower planes of hell, but the catch is, that they needed to summon its essence so it could possess a human, a virgin sacrifice if you will. What we had on our hands, not even Noch could keep under control, we were used to researching the paranormal, not dealing with it. We had a demon loose, she escaped one night through a window in the infirmary, after killing two doctors and a nurse. I have tracked her down to here, Lost Haven, and I hope to take it down before it kills again.”

Tommy was silent for the next few moments, until a jackal’s laugh sliced through the silence. It was the stupidest thing Tommy had ever heard! Angels! And demons! He couldn’t believe he was listening to all this, it was LUDICROUS at best; angels and demons only existed to scare little children, not to possess people! He had seen movies to deal with it, but he just thought that they were childish fantasies!

“You, seriously think, that I would believe all that? Tobias, I gotta hand it to ya! You really are one smooth fucker ain’t ya? You come in here, all dressed up, with your fancy cane, and your black suit and old book, trying to make me believe that what I have isn’t really a homicide, but uh…a demon-cide?”

Tobias didn’t move at this snide outburst, he just sat there, and raised his head up to look Tommy straight in the eye. Slowly, with purpose, he raised his right hand to his head and stood up, as he did so, he removed his glasses, slowly, and placed them in his front jacket pocket, and opened his closed eyes.
My God! They’re not human! Tommy thought, these eyes, were like a predators eyes, instead of a normal human iris, all Tommy saw were a pair of yellow eyes, wolves eyes. They shone with an inner light that Tommy could sense but not see.

“Tell me Samuel, do you believe me now?” Tobias asked slowly not wanting to scare Tommy away.
“How about now?” his hands opened his shirt and Tommy could see that the frail, man who looked that he could break in an instant, was actually quite strong, the muscles rippled over his lanky frame. And the room was filled with a red light emanating from the sigils carved into his chest.
The fear Tommy was feeling was overwhelming, he wasn’t sure whether to sink or swim. Hell he wasn’t sure whether Tobias was good or evil at this moment, he probably didn’t even know what that smell was, but that was a minor problem compared to what he saw before him.
Tobias’s thin lips managed a smile.
“Don’t worry Tommy, I am not what you think I am. I am an angel, not a demon, I told you once that looks can be deceiving, now I cam prove it. If I was a demon, would I have kept you alive and told you all this? I would have torn you from limb to limb by now.”

At this point, Tommy was against the wall staring at the pulsating sigils in complete fear.
“IF YOUR NOT A DEMON, THEN WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU? SANTA CLAUSE?” Tommy felt like screaming that at him, instead, all he managed was a feeble “what are you?”

“I am not angel, nor am I man, nor demon. I am simply Tobias Escariot. First cleric of Noch, I have been exposed to both sides of the coin, good and evil reside in me!”
His crystalline voice rose to an unimagined level of volume, the ground shook and Tommy hung to the wall in fear. Tobias finally buttoned his shirt up and replaced his glasses.

“Now do you believe me?”

Good and Evil are the same things, from a different perspective. Whilst one person sees an action as being evil, and unjust, another may see it in a different light.

The rain water splashed away from the bottom of Tobias’s hummer as they sped towards the city, the hummers name came from its low energy hum that existed as a by product of the engine’s movement. It took an immense amount of power to make a three-ton vehicle hover about a foot above ground. They sped off through the rich part of the city, the streetlights reflected of its shiny surface and bounced of the droplets of rainwater resting on its windscreen, they would soon be blown away by momentum and then sent spiraling with the other rushing rainwater into one of Lost Haven’s many drains.

During the car ride, Tobias explained to Samuel “the whole premise behind possession, demonology and basically anything else involving evil things that go bump in the night”. Well that was how he put it. Basically, the demon, or angel, would have to change bodies after a while when it got tired of its old body. So, like a hermit crab, it chooses a new body, or shell, to inhabit. It usually does this by transferring its power through sigils, but if no sigils were around, the closest thing would be an enormous amount of force impacted into the target to possess it, it needs to feel the sigils pounding into them. So this is why the girl fell on Vera Altman. He also explained, that this would be a vicious cycle, a demon, or angel could get sick of that body as soon as one day, maybe two.

The hummer pulled to a stop in front of the Silent Hill Asylum and General Hospital, its enormous façade, greeted them with the rainwater dripping down its sharp edges and corners, the art deco building should be a landmark. Originally a warehouse built during the 1920’s, it was later bought by a wealthy land owner and converted into the Silent Hill Asylum, which later became Lost Havens only general hospital that met national workplace health and safety regulations.

The tapping of Tobias’s cane on the tiled floor was a major irritation to the desk clerk who worked the night shift. She looked up from the computer at Tobias, then to Tommy, who flashed her his badge. No Luck.

“I’m sorry sirs, but visiting hours have passed already, you’ll have to come back in the morning,” she said to them with a tired smile.

“You don’t understand me, we need to see Vera Altman as soon as possible.”
Tommy stated, waving his badge at her again.

“No, sir. I don’t think you understand me, if you don’t leave this instant, I’ll be forced to call security!” The desk clerk had finally become frustrated.

“To Hell with this!” Tommy grabbed Tobias and they made a dash for the doors leading to the elevator. The doors slammed shut just as the security guards rounded past the front desk and came barreling toward the elevator.
Tommy punched the number 3 into the terminal, and the elevator started their accent to the third floor. The doors flew open, and they ran out into the hallway towards Vera’s room, nearly knocking over a nurse, and running into a doctor on the way there.

The doors flew open, and Tommy slid a chair in front of it. “That should hold ‘em,” he thought to himself. “Where is Tobias?”
He turned to look at Vera, and saw him, Tobias’s silhouette, behind the curtain standing over her. He walked to them, to see what they were doing, the constant knocking on the doors, and the demands made by the people outside to “open these goddamned doors!” were pushed out of his mind, all he could think about, was the girl, and Tobias.
As he reached the foot of the bed, he could see Tobias, stroking her gentle face with his gloved, right hand. He ran a hand through her hair and looked away for a moment. When he looked back, he had a pair of tears running down his gaunt face. He sighed. His gloved hand, gripped the wolf’s head on the cane, and with a slight tug, a long, thin blade emerged from the bone sheath. The light reflected coolly along its edge; as Tobias began incanting words in an arcane tongue, the same language, it seemed to Tommy, as the sigils were written. Tommy noticed a red glow emanating from beneath Vera’s bed sheets and clothing, in the shape of sigils.
“Open her shirt!” Tobias commanded. “What?” Tommy asked, astounded that someone would ask of him to do this. “Open her shirt, the sigils are there, we must attack the sigils!” “But-
Tommy was cut of by a freezing cold glance from Tobias, his blood nearly stopped when he saw those predatory eyes.
Tommy grabbed the light cotton shirt that was covering Vera’s chest, and without further thought tore it open, the light from the sigils bathed her small, perfectly round breasts in a red light, her small lips, and face was also bathed with this light, the entire room seemed to be washed in this eternal light.
Tobias continued the incantation, the sigils seemed to grow brighter, and it seemed as if the entire ward was going to be covered with this red light.
Tobias finished the incantation with an “…amen. And may God have mercy upon your soul”…
Outside the door security have broken the glass on the pane. Tobias raised his sword above Vera’s throat, a single gunshot ripped through the air and hit Tommy in the back of the leg, he dropped and grabbed his wound to stop the bleeding. Looking up to Tobias and all he saw was the sword come down, and the spray of blood, then the red glow disappeared.
The entire room was dark, except for the flashes of gunpowder; the police handguns threw around the room and into Tommy.

“Last night’s brutal slaying in ward 2-B of the Silent Hill Asylum and General Hospital, claimed two lives, one of the men, Tomas Mathews, was shot to death by police, the other, Vera Altman, was found with her shirt unbuttoned, and her throat cut. Her blood was found on the face and hands of Tomas Mathews. Police chief Hughman was unable to be reached for comments concerning last night’s blood bath. This is Cassandra Low, returning you on this sad occasion, to the studio.”

AUTHORS NOTE:

Not everything is final in Lost Haven…

This is a work of fiction, any resemblance to other characters, living or deceased, is purely coincidental unless I said otherwise.

A lot of time and coffee was spent in writing this story, so I hope you enjoyed reading it. There are a few loose ends that I should tie up now:

Tobias escaped by means of the window, after he killed Vera, he made his way out whilst the police were shooting Tommy. Rest assured dear reader, he is not dead, he survived the fall, and escaped, he was never seen since.

A hummer is a type of vehicle used within the city of Lost Haven, it is like a floating car, but it only floats about 30 cm’s of the ground. This story is set in the future, so flying cars do exist. Ok?

If there are any more that I have failed to address, please accept my apologies.

                                                                                                        SASHA CUHA.