1 Chapter 1

"So what it will be the young men?" the salesman asked as he started to get impatient. He looked to be in his late thirties, had light black hair, and his eyes were brown with a long beard marked by heavy smoking.

Bael couldn't take his eyes off the metal box in front of him. Bael seldom went to markets, but sometimes he could find interesting objects or trinkets that catches his eye.

But for the first time, he felt something more than a slight interest. When Bael looked at the rusty box, he felt as if his mind was screaming to take it. To open it.

"How much would you like for that box?" Bael said pointing at the box. When the salesman heard him his eyes lit up and said, "Ah... I see you have a good eye, young sir. This rare treasure has a truly wonderful history and has been in my family for generations. Originally didn't want to say goodbye to it but when I look at you. A young man with eyes full of wonder, I could sell it to you for a hundred euros."

Bael stopped to take him seriously and waited for him to finish. But when he heard how much he wanted for the rusted metal box his mouth almost opened wide open. Bael looked him in the eye and said, "I'll give 50 for that box."

The seller smiled and said, "You know what? I'll sell it to you for the 50 eur. This thing is valuable to me, but it will be better in your hands..." Bael rolled his eyes as the seller continued telling his fictional story, and took the box into his hands.

After paying he turned to leave, and he noticed a passerby stopping and looking at the box. When Bael saw the light in the man's eyes, he stepped back and hurriedly left. Once he was more than 20 meters away, the passerby shook his head left and right.

As Bael passed stalls with various goods, he sometimes received strange looks from people around him. When Bael left the market, he stepped into the first store he saw, where he bought lunch and an opaque cloth bag. Bael put the box in the bag as he thought people would stop giving him that weird look.

But to his disappointment, nothing has changed. Bael felt more and more paranoid, so he sped up to the bus stop. When two people turned to him Bael turned toward the parked taxis and hurriedly walked toward them. Bael addressed the first one, who did not begin to behave strangely. "Hello, I need to get to Posmrtna 15," Bael told the taxi driver as he got into the car. "All right, it'll be 5 euros."

Bael paid the taxi driver and they set off. In the few moments when the car stod at a traffic light he saw some people staring at the area where he had the box. When Bael noticed this, he instinctively intensified the grip on the bag with the box. Thoughts came to his mind that they wanted to take it from him.

'That box is mine!' he thought. When the car passed the traffic lights and the car with people staring behind them he calmed down. Then the driver said, "We're here, Posmrtna 15.". When Bael did not answer him driver turned around.

"Come on young sir, you are not my only customer. I would like to make at least two more rides." When Bael heard this, he smirked and sighed as he got out and heard the taxi take off behind him.

When Bael looked around and saw his house, he came to it and entered. When Bael entered the hall, he shouted "I AM HOME." Then he walked towards the stairs to the second floor.

To his right was the kitchen where he saw his mother preparing dinner. She replied, "You're back so we can all have dinner together. It'll be ready in a minute." According to the smell, Bael felt, it was something with chicken.

At the end of the hall on the left, he saw a living room where his older sister was watching TV and talking to someone on a cell phone. Bael sighed as he never was a social type in comparison to his sister.

When Bael got to his room and put the box on a table which he pulled out of his bag, he couldn't stand it anymore and tried to open it. "What could it be?" Bael said as you looked down at it. After unsuccessfully attempting to open it he looked for a screwdriver to open it. Bael tried to open it with a flat screwdriver, but nothing helped. "Open up now!" Bael said while pulling at the top when a box opened on its own.

When Bael looked at the contents of the box, he saw one bottle full of red liquid. At first, he thought there was blood inside but when he looked at it closer there were bubbles as if it was boiling.

Bael's eyes were drawn into the liquid. Without him noticing, he grabbed it and opened the bottle. Everything darkened before his eyes. When the Bael senses returned he was just holding an empty bottle. Bael looked around the room but saw nothing abnormal until he felt a sting on his back and chest.

He felt a strange sensation in his body and started to inspect himself but saw no changes. So he stood up and went to the mirror to have closer look.

Bael looked in the mirror he see the 175cm male figure. Black hair, on the side, cut short and the top combed to the right towards the back. Brown eyes and white skin. Bael did not notice anything new, only when he takes off his T-shirt he jumped back, for he had noticed something was wrong. He had markings on his body. His finger traced along the lines.

Two lines went under his ribs each occupying about one-third of his overall length of sides. Others go from the sides of the pelvis to the level of the first lines. When he used a mirror so he can see his back, he saw the other two lines which go from the lower sides of the shoulder blades down and ended at the level of the first lines.

In the beginning, he was surprised. However, after a little nervous breakdown, Bael calmed down and looked closer. When he was scratching the lines he noticed that it was not a line but his skin was cracked. More precisely it was like something slashed his body with a knife.

Then he heard his mother shout, "Children, dinner is ready so prepare the table please." When Bael heard he quickly changed and goes down to where he saw his sister. "Where were you? Go take plates, I'll get cutlery." To which Bael replied, "Fine, fine. I'm going."

When the table was ready and his mother has brought dinner. Bael chose to keep quiet about bottles and the cracks on her body.

After dinner, Bael locked himself in his room and looked at the box again. Upon careful inspection, he noticed the patterns in which the box was adorned. There were engravings.

First was big hearts in comparison to others it was big as a man. In front of it was a kneeling person. While the horned being was holding the goblet.

While Bael was looking at the engraving he didn't notice his shadow, which was morphing into something much different.