34 Into The Depths Of Hell

Austria, January 4th 1792

5:24 PM

Lukas finally arrives to the mansion after his visit to the blacksmith. Since he already had the key, he could finally get in Karl's room and find out what those screams were all about.

The blonde boy calmly walked to the second floor and entered his room. After that, he sat on his bed. Then, he took the key that opened Karl's room out of his pocket.

Lukas sighed. 'I finally have it. Not gonna lie, I'm kinda nervous to see how things will turn out,' the blonde boy thought.

Lukas then stood back up and took the bag of coins he had taken to pay the blacksmith, but that turned out useless. 'Okay, I'll hide them back in my secret spot,' he thought.

Lukas then went to the wooden wall in his room and gently knocked on its surface as he paid close attention to the sound that came out.

Finally, Lukas heard a different sound coming from it. Then, he carefully grabbed the plank that he had knocked and pulled it.

Not long after, the plank opened partially. Lukas then smiled. 'Sometimes boredom can make us find out useful stuff,' he thought.

Then, the blonde boy put the bag with coins inside the wall and closed the plank back.

Lukas then sat on the bed and took a deep breath. 'Okay, everything's ready for tonight,' he thought.

-----

Austria, January 5th 1792

1:03 AM

Lukas was practically asleep in a weird position on his bed. He was turned to the nightstand with the clock in his hand and a candle in front of it.

Suddenly, Lukas felt like he was falling, so he abruptly woke up. "W-What?!" then, he realized what had happened.

Lukas sighed in relief. 'I'm glad I decided not to hold the candle this time. This was dangerous,' he thought.

Soon, Lukas heard the usual screams that often resounded in the mansion. 'I'm glad Uncle Karl hasn't been holding back lately,' he thought.

Lukas then took a deep breath and left the bed. The blonde boy opened one of his drawers and took the key for Karl's room.

'Okay, I have everything. Let's go, Lukas. Courage,' the blonde boy thought.

Lukas slowly walked to the door of his room and opened it. The creaking sound of the door opening already made him get goosebumps. 'Be quiet, you damn door!!!' he internally complained.

Lukas left his room and closed the door behind him. After that, he kept walking through the corridors. He wasn't using a candle or anything like that to illuminate the way. The blonde boy was only using his memory to guide him.

As Lukas got closer to the stairs, he took more careful steps. Finally, when he noticed that his foot was going too low, he carefully went down the set of stairs.

Each step made a creaking sound, which made Lukas freak out. 'As of now I hate wooden stuff! I never noticed it was so noisy!' he internally complained.

Finally, Lukas was standing in front of the door of Karl's room. The blonde boy took a deep breath. 'No need to worry, he's not inside this room. He must be in some secret spot that's connected to it,' he thought.

Lukas then slowly placed the key in the keyhole. 'Please, work,' the blonde boy internally pleaded.

Lukas slowly revolved the key, which made the door be unlocked. As soon as Lukas noticed the key had worked, he showed an anxious smile. He noticed his hands were already sweaty. 'Calm down, calm down...' the blonde boy thought.

Lukas slowly opened the door. Different from what he had thought, the room was not dark at all. It was all lit up with candles. 'Why does this only make it creepier?' the blonde boy thought.

When Lukas entered the room, the screams were now so loud that were almost deafening.

Lukas's first impulse was to plug his ears. 'These screams are not just loud! They are disturbing! They're making me feel kinda bad,' he thought.

Lukas took another deep breath. 'Calm down. Ignore it, pretend that you aren't hearing them.'

Lukas then checked each side of the room to find where the sound was the loudest. Luckily, it was very easy to notice where the secret passage was.

There was a huge bookshelf located where the sound came from.

'Okay, let's see if the physical training paid off. I'm small, so I won't have to push it all the way,' Lukas thought.

Lukas placed his hands on the bookshelf and slowly walked forward. After pushing it just a few inches, he was able to go through it if he leaned back against the wall.

Lukas now could hear that the sounds were extremely loud. He could even hear people speaking.

"This is my new tool. She's beautiful isn't she?"

"N-NO, PLEASE!!!" Then another loud scream could be heard.

Lukas could only feel bad after hearing the conversation between those people. 'Shit, my stomach doesn't feel so good.'

Lukas pulled the bookshelf back to its place and turned back to see what was in front of him. There was a stone corridor that led to a set of stairs, equally made of stone.

'Now I understand why his room is in the first floor. It gives direct passage to some kind of dungeon.

Didn't know this place had one,' Lukas thought.

The blonde boy walked slowly to the stairs and slowly went down to where the screams were coming from. 'I can't even fathom how dangerous what I'm doing right now is, but I gotta do it! I have to honor my mother's death! And this is just the first step!'

Lukas carefully went down the set of stairs until he finally arrived to the place where the sounds were truly coming from.

What Lukas saw at that moment, was something that could be considered even more shocking than his mother's corpse.

First, he saw two dead corpses laying on the floor. Lukas could tell that their deaths were completely ruthless, just by looking at the corpses, they were stabbed, smashed and triturated all over.

After looking around a bit more, he finally saw Karl standing in front of a chair where a man was sitting. The man was bleeding all over and was crying, completely in despair.

"P-Please, for God's sake! Forgive me! What did I do?!" the man asked.

Karl laughed out loud. He was holding a knife in his right hand. "Oh my... you didn't do anything. There's nothing wrong about you... you are perfect."

Soon, another scream coming from the man could be heard. Karl had cut his nail off. Lukas had to put his hand in front of his mouth so he wouldn't scream.

'I-I can't stay here any longer! This was a huge mistake! I-I gotta go back!' Lukas thought.

The blonde boy quickly turned to go back up, but due to his fear, he stumbled and fell down the few steps that were missing.

When Lukas fell in front of the corpses, he couldn't endure it any longer, he immediately puked all over the place. Despair was visible in his face and tears were starting to form in the corner of his eyes.

Even though Karl was focused in his task, even he could hear the noise that Lukas had made. He turned to his nephew and showed the scariest smirk Lukas had ever seen.

Lukas quickly stood up. His legs were shaking thoroughly.

Soon, Lukas somehow recovered part of his awareness for a short time, which made him shake his head, as if to wake up. 'N-No! I can't run away! This is the perfect opportunity!'

"Lukas..." Karl menacingly looked at him as he smirked.

'Get a hold of yourself, Lukas! Focus on your goal! Nothing else! They're just dead people. They won't do anything to you,' he thought.

Lukas then took a deep breath. Recovering part of his calm. "W-Wh-What a-are you doing?" he asked.

Karl laughed. Lukas couldn't see whether he was laughing at his question or at his stuttering. "I should be asking you that, boy. Nay, I should kill you right now," he said with an angry expression.

He immediately pointed the knife towards Lukas, but he quickly put it down and showed his smirk once again. "But I won't do it. Elias would be mad and probably wouldn't want to stay here any longer. Not that I care about him of course, but I don't wanna be the only member of the Hügel house left in this mansion," he said.

Lukas stayed silent, waiting for Karl to keep speaking. "Besides, I kinda like you, boy. I like idiots," he said.

Lukas frowned at Karl's statement, which made him laugh out loud. "What's that face for? What kind of person do you think would fly like this into the face of danger? An idiot, of course!"

Lukas didn't answer once again. "What's wrong boy? Did you forget how to speak?" Karl asked with a wide smirk.

Lukas took a few deep breaths before he could talk again. "Do you wanna know why I came here?! Fine, I'll tell you! I was curious about these screams! They can be heard on the second floor, you know," he said.

Karl chuckled. "I know, but nobody complains. Only Elias said something," he said.

Lukas raised his brow. "What did he say?" he asked.

Karl then clenched his fist. Lukas could feel Karl's pressure on his whole body. 'W-What's this?! This guy's been able to do it ever since I know him! Besides, it feels even stronger now!' the blonde boy thought.

Then, Karl calmed down and the pressure vanished, which made Lukas finally sigh in relief.

"It's none of your business, brat! You'd better go away before I replace this guy here by you!" Karl said.

Karl pointed his knife to the man behind him and thrusted it into his shoulder, making him scream in pain. Lukas could only gasp at that.

"H-How do you make these people come here without anybody seeing?" Lukas asked.

Karl smirked. "The darkness of the night may be of great advantage, you only need to know how to use it," Karl said. "These people are slaves who couldn't work anymore, so they were sold to me for a very cheap price," he said.

Lukas just gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. He couldn't control his anger in that moment. 'This coward...' he thought. '...I came here because I thought I could make him stop doing that, but... I can already see that it can't be helped...'

Karl looked amusingly at Lukas's expression. "I like your face, boy. You also inherited good things from the good part of the family," he said, pointing at himself.

Lukas snorted at him, which made Karl laugh once again. "Why... do you do this, Uncle Karl?" the blonde boy asked. "Is it simply out of pleasure?" he asked.

Karl smirked. "Oh, you really are very smart... yes, it is simply out of pleasure," he answered.

Lukas clenched his fists once again and then turned his back to go away. 'Please, work, work!' he internally pleaded.

"Wait, boy," Karl said. Lukas looked apprehensive with Karl's sentence.

When Lukas turned to Karl, he saw a huge grin on his face. "Show me what you are capable of..." he said, handing him his knife.

Lukas could feel disgusted by the dry blood that was in the hilt, but he hesitatingly took the knife. Karl widened his grin even more.

"I found out about your mother's death, Lukas. It must hurt, right? You must be full of anger and hatred. You want to vent it out, right?" he asked.

Lukas seemed to be puzzled. "N-No! I don't! I'm not angry anymore!" he said.

Karl then patted Lukas's head. "Do you see that guy over there? He's all mine. I bought him with my own money," then Karl started whispering in Lukas's ear. "I am offering him... to you."

Lukas widened his eyes at Karl's statement. "R-R-Really?" he asked, squeezing the hilt with his left hand.

Karl laughed in a low tone. "Yes, boy. He's all yours!"

'This bastard! He's using my mother's death to manipulate me! Do you really think you can make me do whatever you want? I am playing your game by now! But once I'm finished, you are dead! You are done for!' Lukas thought.

The blonde boy took advantage of his anger and used it to make his performance look more convincing. "Why did my mother have to die?! She didn't do anything!"

Karl laughed. "Vent out your frustrations on that man sitting on that chair! LET IT ALL OUT!!!"

Lukas gritted his teeth and the man sitting on the chair could feel the similarity between this boy and his previous torturer. "P-Please, boy, don't! I beg of you."

Lukas slowly walked closer to the man. 'I'm sorry, but I need to do this,' he thought.

When Lukas was finally in front of the man, he looked coldly at him. Finally, Lukas pierced the man's knee with the knife, making him scream in pain.

Karl could only laugh madly at the boy's act. "That's it, Lukas! Way to go! You understand me now, right?! Doesn't it feel good?!" he asked, ecstatic.

Lukas showed a slight smirk. "Yes... it actually does," he said in a low tone.

Finally, he abruptly took the knife out of the man's knee, making him scream even more and making blood splash on Lukas's face.