SCARLET

It's been two weeks later since the last meeting.

Wilfrid stood near the large rectangular glass window in his office. The wind was blowing violently against the windowpane. It was a stormy night; lighting shone in the distant sky. That day, thunder was loud enough to shake the glass of the windows. The old glass windows rattled to the sound of thunder, breaking the silence of the room where the man stood.

Soon, heavy rain followed the storm. The office was dark, but light from the thunder occasionally lit it.

*knock knock*

'Come in'

A seventeen-year-old boy walked into the room. Wilfrid uttered some ancient words, filled with yellow light from the light orbs hanging from the ceiling.

The walls of the room had wooden shelves reaching the ceiling. The room was full of ancient to modern books arranged according to different categories in the collection: the hand-carved rosewood and teak wood furniture set decorated the room. At first glance, the room appeared to look like an ordinary study, but on a closer look, one could see the unusual antiques blending in with the background. The desk table was in front of the main window where Wilfrid stood. The tabletop was a mess, with a pile of unorganized papers on the side, and the other had a black ink bottle and an ink-stained sheet below it. Some of the half-crushed documents were on the floor.

Wilfrid was still anxiously looking outside the window. He didn't bother to look at the boy who walked closer to the table.

'What are you doing here so late?'

'I want you to look at something for me,' the boy replied calmly. Wilfrid was irritated at his presence, which pulled him out of his deep thoughts.

He turned around to look at the young boy.

'Alec, I have told you not to disturb me with your petty matters for a month.'

Alexander Motley was seventeen years old and standing in front of Wilfrid. He was Wilfrid's firstborn, with short platinum blonde hair and aqua-blue eyes. Water was dripping from his black robe wrapped around his body, wet from the heavy rain.

'I rushed from the tower to give you these documents. I can't figure out the strange things happening to me.'

Alec looked serious; the dark circles around his eyes were proof of it. He took the tightly gripped documents from under the robe and hesitated to hand them over. Sighing again, he handed them over to his father. Wilfrid was puzzled at first. Slowly, his expression changed to one of shock.

'Is this true?' Wilfrid inquired.

Alec nodded in response.

'Since when did you start experiencing it?'

'Since December of the last year. I thought I was hallucinating due to overwork.' Alec was nervous and anxious now.

'Then why did you come to me?' Wilfrid tried to be calm.

'I first wanted to look at it independently and find the reason. I stayed in the tower for three months to review the records. At first, I didn't believe it. Still, it continued every night.'

Alec was rushing through the explanation.

'I found this from those records. You were the last to write a similar record,' Alec pointed out the documents in his father's hand.

At first, Wilfrid thought it was some joke his son was pulling to get his attention. As his son continued the explanation, his body started to tense. He was so engrossed in his thoughts that he forgot his son had stopped speaking. Everything was still for a long moment. The storm also had quieted down.

'Do you know the reason for it?' asked Alec, breaking the long silence between them. Wilfrid was pulled back from his thoughts, remained still for a second and finally nodded.

'Are you wearing the Ruby pendant, Alec?'

'Is there any relation between the two?' his son responded.

He rubbed his head and sat on the chair near the table.

'Give it to me. I will explain it to you after a few days. I will look into it.'

He stretched his left hand toward the boy.

Alec was reluctant. Nevertheless, he removed the silver pendant and handed it over. He wanted to ask many things but knew how stressed his father was.

'I will come to you in a few days. Please give me the answers at that time.

With this, he bowed and left the room. Wilfrid's thoughts were disoriented. He looked at the magically alluring oval-shaped ruby embedded in silver, attached to a thin silver chain. It was a darkly red oval halo cluster silver pendant. The gemstone had an enormous magical essence. In a playscript font, Scarlet was engraved at its back, along with its first owner's name, C. Motley.

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