Occult Studies, Volume I

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## Abyss Callin'

### Stories

* And Then There Were None
* The World Is Going Up (In Flames)
* The Cursed Marauder
* A Written Testimony
* For Whom The Bell Tolls
* Midnight Mass

### Next Volume

Occult Studies Volume II

> The situation we are in at this time! Neither a good one nor is it so unblessed! It can change! It can stay the same! I can say! I can- make my claim! **Hell!** **Hell!!** **HELL!!**
>
> **Laenthn'Mon (The Choir of Ancient Silence)**

This is the first volume of Occult Studies and the first story in this series. While events happened before this (Occult Studies Volume IV), this is the beginning. This volume introduces many of the primary characters that are featured the most and introduces mythology. It is arguably the most significant volume thus far. Mind you, these stories are shown in chronological order.

## **Synopsis**

### Antagonists

Cthulhu
Zo-Kalar

Edward Nalence finds himself embroiled in a book that leads him to a dark discovery.

### Antagonists

Vorvadross

Tobe Nwigwe is forced to reckon with powers beyond both Heaven & Hell.

### Antagonists

Leonardo Wolfe

By 13, Damon Wolfe had travelled to every continent. He, along with his father and Leonardo, discovered many lesser-known artifacts and relics. This included The Nazis' Lost Gold of Lake Toplitz, as well as Love's Labou's Won, which is the most important Lost Play of Shakespeare. Damon's greatest discovery, at the time, was one he made by himself. According to an old folklore legend passed down through generations, an Apache tribe leader in Oklahoma, Aiyana, told the story of outlaw Jesse James' real death. The legend states that Robert Ford, the man who killed Jesse James, returned to the tribe’s leader Geronimo who was, at the time, passing through Missouri. Robert asked for something that would ensure Jesse James’ death so the tribe shaman placed a curse on his No. 3 Single Action 44. Caliber Smith and Wesson Revolver. The shaman stated that the revolver would kill Jesse James but the curse was a double-edged sword. Those who were shot by any gun were cursed to die, but there was a darker twist to it. “Those who are unworthy or unclean in heart will suffer a fate more dire than that of the defender.” Robert Ford later died from a shotgun shot by Edward O’Kelly. The only person who knew this story outside of the Apache tribe was Ford’s brother, Charles. He committed suicide in 1884 after suffering from morphine addiction, deep depression after participating in James’ death, and a terminal tuberculosis illness. However, Charles was a writer. He documented everything that happened to him and most importantly, the last location of what Charles called, The Memento Mori.

Although this would stand down in the ARC’s records as Damon’s first hunt at 13, it wasn’t that at the beginning. Mark grew tired of Damon and Leonardo’s brotherly rivalry. He posed a challenge. The person who found The Memento Mori would win and they would have to cease their arguments. Damon had a head start because he was smart. He searched through every lore book, internet website, and ARC connection his family had to find the journal. His brother on the other hand used his trust fund to hire a private army called Cornerstone along with a dig crew to turn a section of the Sonoran Desert into an archaeological dig. The irony was that Leonardo dug in the wrong place. Damon found the grave fifteen miles outside Phoenix. He and the youngest member of the ARC, who would become one of his best friends in life, Kobayashi Sato found the grave. It was unmarked and after ten minutes of digging, they discovered Charles Ford's journal. Sato suggested that they should move forward after reading the journal but Damon made a shocking discovery. In the journal, Charles Ford moved to Phoenix before suicide and met Dr. Jacob Waltz. Sato immediately grabbed the journal and began reading, stating that this challenge became much more than either of them bargained for.

The two trekked through the Sonoran Desert, recounting the story of Dr. Jacob Waltz as a refresher. Sato explained that there were two German men, Dr. Jacob Waltz and Jacob Weiser. Damon cut in, stating that the two had found a gold mine that rivaled anything anyone had seen. According to lore, the walls were lined with gold and there was something in the center of the mine. This was something neither of them could get to. Sato agreed but continued, stating that before the two couldn’t even get to the gold because they were attacked by Apache. This attack killed Jacob Weiser and mortally wounded Dr. Waltz. Though before Dr. Waltz died, he met a mysterious Mr. Walker and told him the mine location. As the two walked, Damon flipped through the journal until he found the last page. It was a double-page fold-out that revealed a crude map of the Lost Dutchman’s Mine, drawn by Charles Ford posing as Mr. Walker. The two stood in awe at the map but slowly looked up to see a figure in the distance. Alone on a mountain with their hands over their heads, staring down at them. Damon and Sato stared at the figure and it motioned for them to come to them. Alone in the desert, Damon and Sato shrugged and decided to take off. They were kids after all.

Unbeknownst to them, they were being tailed by Cornerstone member. A spy that Leonardo put on the two of them in case they were ahead of him. The spy reported their location as night fell. Back with Damon and Sato, they met the mysterious figure. He introduced himself as Nantan Lupin but then gave his American name whenever he entered the city which was Nathan. The three set up camp for the night and Nathan asked what they were doing in the Sonoran Desert. Sato explained that they were looking for The Memento Mori but Damon simply handed him the journal. Nathan’s eyes lit up whenever he read about the mine. Damon assured him that they were not looters, not looking for gold but for the weapon inside. Nathan stated that he could lead them to the mine but it was not him they needed to convince. He explained that there is a tribe a mile from where they were and it is led by an old Apache tribal leader, Taza. Damon became nervous but Sato was excited as Nathan got to his feet and told them to follow him to the reservation. They arrived shortly thereafter and Nathan introduced the two boys to Taza who asked Nathan to leave them to talk. The conversation proceeded as expected. Taza explained that the mine was not to be used for personal gain, that gold was cursed. Sato asked about the curse and Taza simply stated that whoever took gold from the mine would lose the thing that made them happy.

Finally, Taza asked why they sought the mine, and Damon explained everything. Taza was speechless, then asked if The Memento Mori was actually down there and Damon said it was. Taza, believing them to be pure of heart, allowed them to know the mine location. Though, he did not let them leave without a warning. In his statement, he specifically requested that he take only the foreign object from the mine, not anything else. Referring to The Memento Mori. He explained that there would be a puzzle for them when they reached the entrance. Telling them that they would understand if they opened their ears to nature. Taza then drew them an accurate route after Sato gave him a map of the area and the two set off. Nathan returned to Taza after they left and Taza expressed fear over their journey, that they didn’t know they were not alone in the desert.

Sato and Damon set off, following the route given. As they approached the halfway mark, a problem occurred. A boomslang snake slithered up behind Damon and bit him in the leg. The two were in a state of panic, but Sato handled it by thinking quickly on his feet. Upon further investigation, he told Damon that the boomslang snake’s venom was slow-acting. Meaning he had four to five hours to find help. However, the weirdest thing to Sato was that boomslang snakes were only native to South Africa. Which made Damon wonder why it was in the Sonoran Desert. The two continued their trek to the mine as Damon routinely checked his digital watch. This was to ensure he had enough time to get what they needed and out. As they approached the mine entrance, they saw the puzzle. In German, it stated “Silence is the key” and had three symbols.

Sato began to search for things on Google without success. He tried to talk to Damon but shushed Sato, telling him not to listen. Sato was confused but silent, and Damon chuckled, shaking his head after realizing the answer. He explained that he heard rattlesnakes and wind. Which were two of the symbols and Damon then asked Sato what they didn’t hear and that’s when it dawned on him. There were no birds. Damon slowly reached out and pressed the bird symbol which activated a mechanism. This caused the door to slowly open and reveal itself just as the lore stated. Gold lined the mine walls. Unrefined and unmined. They ventured into the mine but unbeknownst to them, Leonardo had watched the whole situation from a sand dune nearby with two Cornerstone mercenaries. He called in the rest of Cornerstone and ventured in after them.

Damon and Sato had already begun to break ground, finding the center of the mine. Just as Damon hoped, it was on a golden table in the middle of the room. He was willing to let Sato grab it but he told Damon that it was his diligent work that brought them out there. So, with a heavy heart and a nervous hand, Damon slowly reached for the Memento Mori. However, just as he did, an explosion erupted in the mine. It caved in the way they came and Leonardo dropped down from another way. Cornerstone immediately started shooting which caused Damon and Sato to duck into cover. As gunfire and dust filled the area, Leonardo tried to get the Memento Mori. However, whilst that was happening, Damon found an old revolver on the ground. Sato asked if he knew how to use that but Damon stated that he didn’t and hoped it still worked after all this time. He shot a Cornerstone mercenary. Ducking back into cover after seeing the body drop, he freaked out. He stated that he had never fired at anyone before, let alone killed anyone. Sato told him he did it for survival and then found his own revolver. Damon agreed and pushed those feelings aside as he opened fire on the Cornerstone mercenaries. Sato kept them distracted, even killing some while Damon shot at the gold table to get Leonardo to back up.

He jumped out of cover but a bullet grazed his left arm. Fully injured now, Damon still managed to get to the Memento Mori and stash it in his messenger bag. It was here that his brother picked up a rusty rapier from the ground. He charged Damon to kill him but he rolled out of the way at the last second. Damon grabbed his own sword, a similar rapier, and the two brothers fought. As the two fought, Damon told Sato to run outside and signal his father but Sato asked about Damon. Seeing an opportunity, Leonardo stabbed Damon in the thigh and backed up, waiting for an attack. Damon screamed at Sato to leave, and he did, going out the way Leonardo came in. Damon and Leonardo kept fighting but Leonardo revealed his hatred for Damon. He stated that he never liked Damon and always wanted to kill him. He monologued about how all of Damon’s findings should’ve been his and how he was always Dad’s favorite son. Damon stabbed Leonardo in the shoulder during this monologue and told him to stop, begging him to yield. However, Leonardo was blinded by rage, hatred, and greed. Telling him he would stop once Damon was dead and all the gold was his. Damon finally looked up to see an unused explosive on the ceiling. With no way to escape this, Damon told Leonardo that if he wanted gold so much, he could have it. He lifted his revolver into the air and shot the explosive.

This caused a cave-in because it activated a chain reaction between all explosives. Rocks fell between the brothers, causing a physical and metaphorical rift between them. They stared at each other as it all crashed down. Leonardo smiled sadistically, saying he would see him soon and calling him his little brother. As the cave collapsed around them, Damon climbed out the same way Sato did, albeit painfully. It was haunting. Leonardo repeated his statement and it rang throughout the underground, louder than cave-ins and explosions. As he saw the light, Damon noticed something else. A gold coin rested on the ground next to his foot. For a brief moment, he succumbed to his brother’s greed and took the gold coin. He finally exited the mine as the exit collapsed behind him. He fell to his knees as the desert wind hit him and saw Sato pointing at him and his digital watch beeping. The four hours were up and he fell out after checking his watch. Passing out because of relentless combat, unwavering sleeplessness, snake venom, and blood loss.

He woke up four days later in an Arizona hospital, surrounded by everyone he ever knew and met along the way. Taza, Nathan, Aiyana, Sato, Mark, and Sarah. He cracked a joke about how it felt like he was in the principal’s office which made everyone sigh in relief. His mother, Sarah, immediately hugged him and apologized for killing people. However, Damon replied that it was fine, that he did it to survive. He said this while looking at Sato and the two smiled. Damon immediately shot up, freaking out about Leonardo, praying he didn’t die but Mark told him to calm down and breathe. There was apparently another exit from the mine and Cornerstone picked him up a couple of hours after the cave-in. This made Damon sigh in relief but he was still thinking about what Leonardo had said to him. It was here that Mark told him that the man Leonardo was when Damon was a kid was gone and then assured him that he loved him. His apology was sincere for the entire challenge. He stated that if he knew it was going to be like this over a gun, he would’ve searched for it himself instead of giving it to his kids. Damon smiled and reached for his messenger bag, saying it wasn’t all terrible. Everyone looked at Damon confused as he pulled the Memento Mori out of his bag. The entire room gasped and Nathan asked how he got it.

Damon explained that he stash it in his bag during the fight but Leonardo didn’t know. Mark examined it and stated that it was the gun that killed Jesse James. This made Sato fistbump Damon but Taza finally spoke. He stated that Damon fought like a warrior, showing remarkable courage. It was here that the family got their namesakes. Through an old Native American naming process, based on personality, Taza assigned everyone names. He gifted his father, Mark, a wildly smart man. He gave his brother the name Leonardo based on Leonardo Da Vinci. Lastly, he gave Damon his name. Based on Damon of Athens, a teacher and advisor to Pericles. Damon questioned why “Damon” and Taza explained that he hoped one day he would be an advisor to someone. As everyone left the room one by one over time, only Aiyana and Damon remained. He asked her if she knew about the mine and she stated that she did. However, she didn’t tell him because she didn’t want to ruin the surprise. This made Damon laugh and then asked her about the mine curse, that people shouldn’t take things from it. Aiyana stated that it was true and then told him to be wary in life now that he has that coin. He was confused about how she knew but she simply left before he could inquire. Damon looked out of his hospital room window as the sun set over Phoenix. He smiled and took out the coin, flipping it and happy to be alive.

### Antagonists

Pazuzu

In 2009, Cade Graves decided he was prepared to handle an occult case by himself. He has handled cases before, possessions on Bourbon Street, an angry Loa during Mardis Gras. However, each time, he helped Antoinette Roudanez solve those cases. However, this time, Cade believed he was ready to go it alone. Which is why that morning at breakfast, he brought it up to Antoinette. After raising Cade on her own some time after his parents' death, she became a mother to him and a mother's worry. Nevertheless, Antoinette trained Cade in the occult and so when he brought it up to her, she agreed and thought it was an excellent idea. Her rationale was that this would give Cade the experience of handling a case on his own without a handicap. It will force him to realize that things don't happen like in the books. Plus, Antoinette does a divination reading every morning and knew he was about to ask which is why she already had his first solo case picked out for him.

It was a routine case of demonic omens. A local priest in New Orleans, Father John Michaels, recently acquired an unusual Bible from a witch-doctor in Plum Orchard who allegedly had the book blessed by several priests overseas. Sadly, Father Michaels was sold a bill of goods as the Bible began to display omens relating to demons and his church, St. Patrick's Church, began to smell strongly of sulfur. Cade asked if anyone had shown signs of possession. Antoniette told him that the only person who had been acting weird was the janitor. However, he was found hanging near the communion storage room. To which they both said aloud the word demon. Confronted by this new information, Cade finished his breakfast and headed out to investigate St. Patrick's Cathedral after calling ahead to Father Michaels.

### Antagonists

Alukah

A now 22-year-old Damon Wolfe and his family discover Blackbeard's lost treasure in the Chinese Devil Sea.

### Antagonists

Nyarlathotep

A now 25-year-old Cade Graves learns that life doesn't get easier.