October the 12th, 1844
Present day

TACK...

"Ha... I'm... I'm still alive," Kosie said...

"It's empty... here... hold it for a second..." Merny said, then threw the gun to the boy, who somehow managed to catch it...

A few seconds passed as the man put the shark he had on the ground and then searched his pockets... until...

"Huh... let's see good..." Merny said as he brought out six bullets and showed them to Kosie...

"Now, where were we..." Merny said, then added...

"Oh right... give it back..."
The man moved his hand as a gesture for the boy...

"Is he serious...?" Kosie thinks...

"Never mind..." Merny said, then snatched the gun from the boy's hands...

"What...?" Kosie yelled to stop him, but too late...

"Don't say I haven't given you a chance to survive..." Merny said, then laughed a bit.
. . .
At that moment, Kosie took a step back and...

"Stupid me," he thinks while the man filled the gun with bullets, then pointed its end at Kosie.

"No, please," Kosie shouted.

"Okay, here," Merny said, then closed his eyes and threw the loaded gun again to the boy...

"Ha...!"

"Shoot me," Merny said...

"What?"

"You've heard me."

"You're insane!" Kosie said...

"Said by someone who was in the nuthouse," Merny said...

A small moment of silence passed before the two said a word...

Kosie held the gun with shaking hands... it was the first, no the second time he had ever touched a weapon... he never thought it would be this heavy.

"It's so cold... and..." Kosie thinks...

"Blood, a smell of blood," he thinks...

The picture became clear for him; the man in front of him is a murderer.

"Shoot me," Merny repeated as he put his hand inside his silver vest...

His eyes hadn't left Kosie since he entered the room.

"No... now leave," Kosie yelled as he slowly raised the gun...

"Listen, kid," Merny shushed...
A cold expression covered his face as he continued...

"I have another gun inside my vest."

Kosie looked at the trigger for a second; he had used his last drops of courage to release the previous threat, but...

"Why did I open the door? Why, door! Cursed that word?" Kosie thinks.

Regret is not an option now; Kosie knew he would never take the shot, but the young gentleman in front of him was capable of...

"You're lying..." Kosie yelled...

"Lies... lies... lies," Merny yelled; the calm man had changed his mood...

"I'll tell you what, I'll count to three. After that, we both shall know the truth," Merny said, then added,

"The second I finish the count, I'll grab my weapon and shoot; understood?"

"This is your last chance to survive, kid. Shoot me..." Merny yelled at Kosie...

His heart beat fast; the room started to get darker. Merny was the one thing Kosie could see at that moment... his thoughts... his hopes... all mattered for him now...
The young gentleman yelled...

"ONE..."

"TWO..."

"THREE..."

. . .

April 23rd, 1838
Back in the past
Six years earlier, Merny and his grandfather were sitting in a room, and as the boy heard his grandfather asking him if he was ready for the truth, all he could think about was the man he shot earlier in this room. It all started as Merny was asleep, and the next thing he heard was a sound. Being a Rockefeller had taught Merny that being prepared is much better than being regretful, so he grabbed his grandfather's gun from the closet and started searching the house. Slowly, room after room, he found a trace of steps; he followed the trail until it reached a dead end, a wall. Soon enough, little Merny, although he was just thirteen years old, knew that a man like his grandfather would have secret rooms hiding in his house, so he searched the wall closely, and after ten minutes, he found a secret rock under the wall that worked as a trigger to a secret path. He moved the rock a bit, and the wall in front of him opened, revealing stairs.
Full of suspicions, he aimed the gun and entered the dark place, and after five minutes, a shadow faced him. The little boy shot the man who ran upstairs, then fell on the ground. After that, Merny sat on the stairs, and the rest of the story is well known.
"Are you ready for the truth?" Frederick asked, folding his hands, and although they were family, Merny never knew his grandfather well, except for the fact that he was rich. There were too many questions, so out of curiosity, Merny answered, "Yes, I'm ready for whatever it is," an answer he'll regret for the rest of his life.
"Okay then," Frederick said, then added,
"Just like I was saying, Hemingway threatened Phelps, but for nothing. My grandfather didn't take it seriously, and after that, our family got richer than ever, and Phelps became one of the most powerful icons in Europe. But as he got old, my grandfather started to develop sleeping phobia, amnesia, and other mental problems. One night, he barely went to sleep when a shadow appeared beside him. Not knowing what it was, he went back to his bed. Soon enough, this unknown shadow reappeared on several occasions every time he went to sleep until one day a man took the place of the shadow, a reflection."
"A reflection?" Merny wondered.
"Yes, a reflection. Let me make it simpler for you: the diamond of hope is some sort of cursed object that infects humans, making their ideas come to reality, or more specifically, making their ideas turn into objects or even persons, just like the guy you shot moments earlier."
"You mean I just shot an idea? Something that my mind made?" Merny wondered.
"Well, not your mind. I mean, it was your mind, but it was only a tool. The real cause of the reflection is definitely the infection from the diamond of hope," Frederick responded, then continued.
"Anyway, just like I said earlier, Phelps's reflection took the form of a young poor man. At first, the reflection could stay for a few minutes in our world, but this new magical creation started to become real day after day, consuming Phelps's soul and mind capabilities.

One night, the reflection thought he was a real person, and while he moved around the house, he encountered Phelps's wife, Madeleine. The moment she saw the intruder, she thought he was a thief. Trying to alarm the guards, Madeleine was killed by the reflection, who tried to run away but got shot the second he walked out and disappeared. You can tell that Phelps woke up from a nightmare only to find out that his wife was murdered by an unknown man.
"Poor man, no wonder he had a nightmare. And then what happened?" Merny asked while Frederick replied,
"Soon enough, Hemingway visited my grandfather at the funeral, telling him that he had information about the man who killed his wife. Interested, Phelps invited Hemingway to his house, only to hear that the man who killed his wife was his own reflection.

This time, in order to convince Phelps, Hemingway brought a half-African sleeping man, Mesaka, with him and slapped him, causing the old African man to wake up. The second he did, Hemingway vanished from the room.

After seeing this extraordinary event, Phelps stood for a few seconds in shock before Mesaka closed his eyes and went to sleep again. The second this happened, Hemingway's body reappeared at the exact place it was.

Taking a few minutes to digest the news, Phelps stood up, excused himself, and went to his desk. After a few seconds, he came back holding the blue diamond. Paranoid and scared, Phelps threatened Frederick with a gun.
"Huh, a gun!" Merny interrupted as the story continued.
"The two men struggled, and in the process, Phelps shot Mesaka and the diamond of hope.

Thinking that by destroying the diamond, this witchcraft would end, Phelps felt relieved, but seeing that Hemingway hadn't vanished like he did before, he stepped back, holding the gun again.

Hemingway informed Phelps that now the power of the diamond would spread around this world, and new reflections, such as himself, would start appearing until one day all the humans would be asleep while their reflections lived on and on until there would be no more real people on the planet."
"No more real people! Is that even possible?" Merny said while Frederick kept talking.

"Before he left, Hemingway threatened Phelps that his family would be cursed for eternity until one of its successors found another diamond of hope and replaced it with the original diamond.

After that, Hemingway disappeared, leaving dead Mesaka behind him.

After these events, Phelps started the search for another diamond and discovered other dark secrets. Before his death, infected by the diamond, Phelps started an organization named 'the Flame Holders.' This organization has one purpose: finding the magical diamond.
And although he started all of this, I took the title of the founder for myself, and generation after generation, the curse of our family carried on until it reached you."
"Me?" Merny wondered in shock.
"Yes, you, my child. You're infected with the diamond just like any other member of our family, and the reflection you killed earlier is the proof," Frederick said.
The two grandsons and their grandfather kept silent for a moment, then
"Now what?" Merny said, then added,
"You don't expect me to believe that this is the truth, right?"
"You'll discover for yourself that when you kill a reflection, you gain an ability," Frederick said, then rose from his chair, turned around, put both his hands behind his back, and formed fists.
"Is that all? Is this all you have to say?" Merny wondered for a second as his grandfather said what would stick in his mind for the rest of his life.
"You still have a few years before the infection spreads and reaches your mind; after that, you'll be lost, just like your mother."
"Mother! It can't be. She was a crazy woman! Stop saying nonsense, old man," Merny said, then hit the table.
. . .
October the 12th, 1844
Present day

"Trust can be so powerful when it's attached to blood... a real blood sacrifice would make anyone trust you, even your worst enemies," Merny said to himself as he showed an empty hand to Kosie, who was still scared from the worst.
"Coward, you're lucky I didn't have a gun with me, or you would be dead. It was a matter of life and death, and you just sat waiting to die. Poor kid," Merny said while Kosie took a deep breath and lowered the gun he had in his hands.
"What do you want? Speak up," Kosie asked as he was shaking a bit; the tension of the situation made him lose it a bit before he got hold of himself in a few seconds.
"Just like I said, I want you to be my assistant in exchange for showing you the path through the door's maze behind this door," Merny said, pointing at the door behind him.
At this moment, Kosie knew that the man in front of him didn't seem to be interested in Kosie being the son of an alchemist.
"Why is he so interested in me? Is it because of that clock?" Kosie wondered, and although all his fears, he looked at the writing on the wall, then replied,
"Okay, I'll do it."
"Finally!" Merny thought to himself, then said,
"There is only one rule to follow, and it's this: you do whatever I say, no questions asked. Are we clear on that?"
"Hope I don't regret this," Kosie thought.
"Okay, as you wish. Now, how about you show me the way through those doors?" Kosie said, and as he watched Merny bringing the chalk from his pocket, a grim feeling spread through his spinal cord.
Merny smiled for a second, then said, "I said I'll show you the way and not take you through it. You can do that after I'm done with you."
"Now do we have a deal?" Merny asked.
"Yes," Kosie replied.
"Yes what?" Merny said in a cold tone.
"Yes, we have a deal," Kosie said in a heavy tone.
"Hope it's not a bad decision," Kosie thought, and as he watched Merny getting closer to the numbered door, Kosie hoped for the best.
"Pay attention, kid. I'm going to write the solution for the path behind this door," Merny said while Kosie's eyes glowed like they never had before.
............................................................
. . .
{ chapter eight ends }