Chapter 10 Chapter 4 Winter

In 1999, I went to the Swiss canton of Schwyz.In front of the twin towers of Einsiedeln monastery, horned, white-haired demons stuck out their long blood-red tongues, wore leather aprons worn by butchers on their chests, and held pitchforks in their hands-they Laughing presumptuously and loudly in front of me, while swinging the snake-like black pointed horns above its head, it raised the fork in its hand like a beast's claw. It was like a demonic orgy at the end of the world: I watched them pass me by in droves and felt like a total alien.It was snowing heavily that day, and several demons held up torches in the snow. The flaming rose-colored flames turned the snowflakes that had not yet landed into water, and the snow water gathered on their long horns like the morning dew—— Especially at the tip of the corner, there is a small section of red with the rainwater adhering to it, against the background of the fire, it looks like the shiny and clear human blood that has just been sprayed from the neck.I watched snowflakes fluttering, demons parading, and there were things shaking in every corner of my vision; gradually, the expressions of those demons in their eyes became more and more ferocious, and the tips of the long horns on their heads seemed to swell and give birth to Two bloody human heads—all with their mouths gaping, laughing, making the sound of a wolf howling.Their faces were all facing forward, but they all looked at me sideways. Such a procession of squinting eyes kept moving forward, making people feel that the gates of hell have opened somewhere in this city. The icon of Mary in the monastery is weeping.

I was only in Esidren for one day, and that day happened to be Carnival: so, many years later, this city still belongs to the city of demons in my impression.Now I am sitting in front of the cedar desk in the wooden house, the kerosene lamp is flickering, and the cold wind that is unique to the November forest and seems to be mixed with fine ice slag is blowing in through the hole in the lattice window.I glanced at the floor at my right foot, where the demon-made crossbow with an ornately carved fixed base stood there—although it was beyond recognition, it could still be seen that the material it was made of was The unloaded mulberry and fir trees under the bed: After half a year, the devil finally remembered to return them to the cabin.

The only crossbow arrow has been shot, and I followed the gaze of the long-horned demon carved on the head of the crossbow, and moved my gaze to the left side of the door: the raven that was still struggling and howling on the floor just now has been crucified to death on that wall.The trigger was pulled by the devil, no doubt, just like the crossbow was also transported from the devil world. The blood-stained notice letter at hand reads: That's it.Four teaser letters, the paper in the sketchbook was finally torn into the shape of a cross, which happened to match the cemetery mentioned on this one.

Miss France is fourth: Paris, Katowice, London, Philadelphia, only Budapest is missing - and that's to be expected.I remembered that I also went to that cemetery with that lady: I ​​sat in front of Balzac's tomb, leaning against the black fence surrounding the tombstone; while she left her red lips on Wilde's huge tombstone print.I thought about the look of that tombstone, that image of the winged sun-god Amon depicted in the long poem "The Sphinx"—the body in a posture like a crossbow bolt.Thinking about it this way, the image gradually became one with the short arrow that pierced the crow and pierced deep into the wall.

It was an arrow identical to the seven darts that impaled the Ouroboros.I looked through my diary half a year ago: the straight handle of the three-fold shovel was thought to be short due to manufacturing loss.But now I know the actual situation is that the witch, or the devil, made a total of eight short arrows, but kept one for use today.When I was picking up the notice letter, I would squeeze the battered raven carcass to the end of the flattened arrow shaft: so I could see the letters engraved on the arrow shaft—they were "Old British" letters "B" is also the initial letter of the name of the demon "Baphomet".

At this time, I thought of the demon carnival in Esidron again, and thought of the pagans who paraded through the streets wearing wooden goat-headed demon masks-or were they also followers of Baphomet?Then rose-colored flames came to my mind again, and snowflakes fluttered around in the end-of-the-century sky.I looked out the window, and it was snowing outside, and it was a vast expanse of whiteness.Because of the hole in the lattice window, snowflakes also poured in from there, but quickly melted due to the heat of the kerosene lamp, and spread out on the locker in a wet piece, which reminded people of the snow water attached to those black corners.By the way, there are also the coats of arms held by the pagans, the coat of arms of that city—that is two ravens with wings spread on the bottom of the red shield—doesn’t it just coincide with the sacrifice nailed to the wall in front of you what?

Is there any connection between the experience at that time and the current scene?Did Miss Hungary, or Madame Bathory, or Mr. Bavemeet lead me there?What is the meaning of the connection between all these symbols? I think about all kinds of things that have happened to me in the past few decades-the distant picture is blurred, and every fragment that flashes seems to overlap with many different versions; All are heart-wrenching, and some of them are as eccentric as the four Miss Suicides who are never to be found again. Now that I think of this, let’s write them out one by one: Memories give me a headache, and it may be better to empty all these troubles with words.

That beautiful lady doesn't talk to me anymore.After returning to the big city from the wooden house, I went to her palace three times, and each time she only asked the maid to tell me that she did not want to see me.I asked the maid what was going on, and she said she didn't know, but she told me again: Miss hasn't gone out for almost a month, and she seems very angry this time. Of course I knew what was going on—I was so engrossed in the ceremony that I barely saw her a few times throughout the year. For her birthday in June, the lady was already very unhappy because of the gift that came late and she didn't like it - I didn't apologize, except for the call at the gas station that no one answered Besides the phone, I didn't call her any more: any woman would be angry with such behavior.Women care about their age, so they pay much more attention to their birthdays than men - this kind of resentment accumulated throughout the summer, and when the weather turned cold, I woke up from the nightmare of stuffed foxes and magic world illusions , It was too late when he wanted to reconcile with her again.

Although since the last time I went to the Demon Realm, I have completely given up on the search for the truth, and I have begun to face up to the fact that "this ceremony cannot be reversed by personal power", and plan to make good use of the little time left to do some really want to do.But the people, things, and things around me ignored my changes. They didn't develop in a good direction because of my negative facts and became positive attitudes. On the contrary, they got worse and worse. The patience of the publishers and newspaper columns had reached their limits, and they took me directly to court in the same way I had used them—the various contracts I signed with my own hand, and my responsibilities were limited in great detail. , Clear, and I was unwilling to announce anything to the judge and the media, and I was absent-minded in answering all questions in court, which aroused everyone's disgust.The joint accusers were unwilling to reach an out-of-court settlement, and my lawsuit was judged quickly-I lost the case and had to pay a huge fine to the prosecution to offset their credit, reputation, and money caused by my breach of contract. loss.

I wasn't worried at first, because I still had a stack of downtown apartment properties, and the corresponding title deeds: those were bought by the old housekeeper with money from the sale of his grandfather's estate.I thought at the time that by reselling these real estates at a lower price, I would be able to weather this crisis safely. But I can't find the original house deed and land deed - I remember that I put them in an iron box before, but this box in my memory, no matter how much I searched the house, I couldn't find it. Can actually appear in front of my eyes.Looking at all the messy rooms, I began to feel restless: fortunately, it occurred to me at this time that all the properties in the city center are registered with the management department of the city hall.The houses would still work if the court enforced the forfeiture.

So, I called the department in charge of property registration, hoping that they could issue me a list of all real properties under my name. But as soon as I hung up the phone, they called back: because the information registered on the computer shows that I only have two properties in this city-the house I live in now and the villa of the pouting lady. I asked them to check again.But in fact, I know very well that the chance of such a query being wrong is almost negligible.In other words, not only the ladies who committed suicide disappeared from reality, but even the immovable real estate slipped away from my nose. I comforted myself, explaining these strange occurrences to the impromptu amnesiac curse played by the devil.But no matter how many days and how many calls they made, their answer remained the same: I really only have two properties, and, apart from these two, I have never transferred any other properties—in other words, the downtown Those apartments were never in my name at all. I no longer want to look for that old housekeeper, that grandfather’s former official secretary—don’t bother, I will definitely not find him: since my every move is closely monitored by the devil, given his consistent, With unimaginable and miraculous magic power, it is simply easy to give such a small surprise. Until this departure, the lady did not speak to me.When she finds out that the place she lives is about to be repossessed by the court, she will ignore me even more... oh, please forgive me.I just stopped writing and wiped away the tears that flowed down my cheeks with the back of my hand.Please don't be surprised, don't say any comforting words, and don't pay attention to me——the emotional boundary, although it is gradually numb with age, is not a layer of cocoon with the same thickness everywhere, which is occasionally If something pokes into a weak spot, wet, salty liquid will still be squeezed out from the bottom of the eyes. I'm still crazy, I even started talking to myself in the diary; however, it seems that it's better to be crazy, these unreasonable troubles, as long as the spirit falls into madness, they will naturally disappear - unfortunately, I It doesn't seem to have even that power.My body and soul already belong to that demon, property, tears, memory...everything is protected and managed by him, and I don't even have the right to drive myself crazy. Even the inspiration when writing is controlled by him.During those few months in the city, I was depressed and unconscious, and I didn’t even write a single word in such a long time of leisure; with the idea of ​​dealing with the contract, I once forced myself to sit at the desk—but I just sat there with the pen in my hand and my mind was so confused that I didn't even want to move the tip of the pen even a little bit.But look now, once I arrive at the wooden house, I can hardly stop my pen: this is obviously the magic power of suggestion that only the devil can have, because he intends to use my diary to record the things that happened completely and completely as a The proof and reference of his followers when they worship and worship. That's right, and today's impossible miracle.The wonderful incident that happened in the wooden house just now was the motivation that ordered me to get up from the bed and pick up the pen again to write records-this time I finally saw the whole process of the ceremony with my own eyes this time, and finally understood what happened in the wooden house last time. The reason why the wizard cannot be found: the great demon, he lent his power to his ritual agent, or he was directly possessed by the wizard, allowing him to travel between the world and the devil world at will, distorting time and space.With such an ability, there is not much difficulty in accomplishing impossible miracles that have no chance of performance under common sense and violate the logic of thinking. Around eleven o'clock this morning, I arrived at the wooden house on time.The acquaintances in the village, especially the five people who held the exorcism ceremony for me last time, they all advised me not to go there today, but to stay in the warm dormitory honestly.They had a good point, because the forest had been snowing for three days, and the road to the cabin was very difficult: there was no guarantee that going to the cabin at such a time would be without danger. But I must go.I didn't listen to anyone's advice, just after six o'clock in the morning, when the temperature outside was still cold enough to freeze the cotton-padded clothes into pieces, I went out early. It is very difficult to walk in the woods in snowy days.Relying on a compass and thick, warm snow boots, it took me a full five hours to reach the hut, and I nearly got into trouble several times on the way. The glass that I shot with the shotgun last time has been repaired by the carpenter, and the floor has been cleaned.As for whether the fox blood stains upstairs have been removed, I didn't even bother to go up and check to see - my cotton coat, cotton pants and shoes were almost soaked due to the long-term trek in the snow and the snowflakes in the sky , As soon as I entered the wooden house, I immediately lit the fire. The stored dry wood gradually began to burn in the simple fireplace, and the fire became more and more intense, gradually warming up the whole house.I took off my wet clothes, hung them to dry on the armchair in front of the desk, and then moved the chair closer to the stove; I only wore my underwear, wrapped my body in the new quilt that the carpenter replaced last time, and lay on the bed that had been mended. On a good bed, the crackling sound of firewood burning in the fireplace came to my ears, which made me listen to it. The warmth brings extreme sleepiness.Not long after, my eyelids started to fight, and my consciousness gradually blurred: I turned my head to look out of the window and the door of the house that was completely silent—it seemed that maybe it was because of the snow that the wizard was not at all. Come here in a hurry. Take a nap, just take a nap! In order to prevent someone from sneaking in, I fought against the strong drowsiness, checked the two locked windows, and then locked the door from the inside, keeping the key in my underwear pocket.Just to be on the safe side, I went up to the attic, took out the logging ax and octagonal hammer from the felt bag full of tools, took them downstairs, and leaned against the locked door.In this way, as long as someone pries it open, or directly opens the lock with a key, and pulls the door open to come in-the two tools lose their support, and they will quickly slide to the ground: the sound of the hammer and the ax falling to the ground, I thought at the time, would be loud There is definitely no problem in waking up the self who was not in a deep sleep and just took a nap. I just convinced myself that.After completing these preparations to ensure safety, I was so sleepy that I almost fell on my back on the wooden bed... When I fell down, I seemed to fall into a dream immediately (or maybe these dreams were just my imagination after waking up)-I remember those dreams with demons parading around, and strange birds with human heads and crows flying all over the sky like dark clouds. shouted: "Verflucht! Verflucht! (Note: German, meaning "cursed!")..." The cry was heavy and hoarse, piercing my eardrums from all directions.The voice kept repeating and getting louder, and there were more and more strange crows.The dream world is gradually swallowed up by them, leaving nothing but cries and darkness: "Verflucht! Verflucht!  …" The monotonous repetition continued to grow until it became deafening and unbearable.In my dream, I was driven crazy by the noise, and screamed hoarsely along with them, clutching my ears with both hands, almost tearing them off—gradually, the voice began to go out of tune, and all six syllables were mixed together Together, it changes into a rhythmic, heavy percussion sound. Then I woke up, but in the first few seconds of returning to reality, I still wondered if I had fallen from one dream to another—because the two different scenes were connected very smoothly: in this In the warm and dark strange place, the rhythmic and heavy knocking sound still rang somewhere under his feet, as if it was the terrible dream just now that was going away behind him. When my eyes got used to it and my consciousness became clearer, I jumped up from the bed: I had slept for such a long time, I don’t know what time it is now—even the sky outside the window was completely dark! The knocking sound came from the pane, and in the dim light, I seemed to see a black shadow beating the glass: that black shadow that flashed with the sound, every time it appeared on the window pane, All twisted and twisted in different poses, making harsh scratches on the glass and the wooden beams of the latticed windows.I seemed to see a giant black claw with five deformed fingers, slapping the window vigorously; at the same time, there was a shrill cry from outside the window that was very similar to the sound of the strange crow in the dream, as if threatening me, I quickly open the door. I felt trembling all over my body, and my body couldn't be controlled by myself.That devil's giant claw, he slapped the lattice faster and faster, and heavier.The windows are getting unbearable, and I can even hear the sound of glass shattering. The instinct of self-rescue took hold of me, and I temporarily put aside the promise I made to surrender to the power of the demon, and picked up the felling ax leaning against the door of the house. At this moment, the defense line of the lattice window finally collapsed, and with the sound of glass shattering, the mass of black rushed in. Only then did I realize that the giant black claw didn't have an arm that matched his size—it was just a claw stretched in from the air. It is of course now clear that the "big black claw" I spoke of was really the raven nailed to the wall: but at the time I could only see that it seemed to be a strange black bird.In fact, I didn't see it very clearly, and I didn't even have time to swing the ax - I saw the black bird that broke through the glass fluttering its wings, screaming with its mouth wide open, and fell due to the inertia of the dive. to the floor of the cabin.Where it landed, a large cloud of smoke suddenly rose. It's like the familiar scene of "transfiguring demons" in countless popular novels about wizarding magic: they change from one form to another, and they must surround themselves with smoke so that no one can see them. to the middle process. In the middle of the 19th century, because of the rise of chemistry, some newly rising scholars who opposed the rapidly declining alchemy deliberately misinterpreted Shelley's poem "The Daemon of the World" to borrow this A wonderful sentence from a pioneer of aestheticism to explain this phenomenon of change that belongs to the devil, and then criticize the ugly, ridiculous and illogical of alchemy itself.The general idea of ​​this point of view is: all unstable states that do not exist in the mortal world—such as the process of changing from a goat to a black dog, and all the forms between these two images—are Ugly, should not be seen.Even demons know this taboo of creation, so they will use thick smoke to cover up when changing. I was thinking of these things I had read while researching the grimoire.Although I can't see anything, I guess that the demon should be changing into a prototype in this fog, or transforming into a monster that can devour people in one bite.The fog dissipated quickly—in the cabin on a snowy night, only the faint light from the almost burnt wood in the crack of the fireplace door, and a little reflection from the snow outside the window could help me to see clearly What happened, the smoke seemed to cover everything: the light outlined by the window quickly became blurred as the smoke spread. The fog filled the whole room in a blink of an eye, and I was already blind at that time.I breathed the air mixed with magic mist, and the smell was like the smell of smoked vinegar mixed with blood when I cut up bears outside the house this spring, it was unpleasant and pungent.And the raven's ear-piercing cry constantly stimulated my nerves. I went berserk and couldn't take it anymore.I threw away the ax in my hand, and I pushed down the chair for drying clothes in front of the fireplace.I fumbled for the key to the wooden house in my underwear pocket, and reached for the keyhole with my right hand, intending to open the locked door. The strange bird was still screaming, the smoke was getting more and more pungent, I almost couldn't even breathe out—the situation was so chaotic, I was so panicked that I even tilted the octagonal hammer on the door heavily. I fell on my feet without realizing it.At the moment when the key was turned, the firing pin clicked lightly, and the door was about to open, a strange and sharp howl suddenly came from my left ear, accompanied by the sound of the wood being crushed by force. This is already the limit of human endurance: I didn't think about anything, I screamed instinctively in my throat, only wearing thin underwear, barefoot, and rushed towards the wild forest with heavy snow. What else can result from thoughtless folly?I stopped writing again, raised my feet, and looked over the sore soles of my feet: it was red and purple, and the skin was scratched by broken branches in some places. After only a few dozen steps, I couldn't take it anymore.The cold wind on a winter night made my hair stand on end, because the temperature changed too much in a short period of time, and I actually felt like I was burned by boiling water, and the pain was unbearable.Looking back at the wooden house, I felt that the room where the fog was coming out of the door was the place to stay. I breathe the icy air that enters my body, cooling down my overworked, near-failing heart and brain.It was clear to me that the only result of staying in the snow was to freeze to death very quickly.In desperation, I ran back to the wooden house along the footprints I just stepped on. The fog in the room has cleared.I closed the door and lit the kerosene lamp—and the scene I saw was already as described. I am grateful at this moment, this is the will of the devil: he just came to inform me when this ignorant and incompetent servant will come next time, and he has no intention of taking my life. My life is his gift - thinking so, I take a sip of Polish vodka in an enamel cup with great comfort, and the spicy taste brings me back to life. I bent down and picked up another gift from the devil—the crossbow handmade by this esteemed gentleman, and placed it next to the kerosene lamp like a sacrificial artifact, intending to take a closer look at it by the light it.Maybe, some ways of worshiping demons can be found in those carvings. It was a perfect handicraft: on the front end of the mulberry wood bow, from left to right, twenty-two faces of Medusa were engraved, eleven on each side.Every expression is vivid, from left to right, showing the pride, surprise, annoyance, sadness, anger, arrogance, timidity, despair of this tragic Gorgon, until finally Perseus Perseus The whole process of Si beheading.The position of the crossbow head is carved with a hateful long-horned demon, and the head of the horn is bent inward: this delicate head should be used for aiming. The wooden panel of the plinth is a self-portrait of the devil.In fact, it was Baphomet's relief: wings, snake staff, horns... The most wonderful thing is that the flames of Baphomet's head shoot out from the plane and bend into the shape of a hook - and the It is the rope groove used to fix the crossbow rope. On the relief, the right hand of Baphomet writing "SOLVE" is also different from the usual portraits of Baphomet. Instead of pointing at the sky with two fingers, it is carved into a grasping posture.He held his snake staff tightly in his hand—it was actually a thick beam nail beaten into a snake shape, which was probably removed from some inconspicuous structure of the wooden house.And the slanted front end of the snake rod just rests on the flame, which should be the place where the crossbow rope should be tightly stretched: the flame and the snake rod in the right hand together form the trigger of this exquisite crossbow, as long as the snake is pulled If the rod is cut so that it fits the sloped angle cut in the groove hidden under the devil's right hand in the base, the rope will be released, the arrow seat will slide, and the bolt will be ejected. There is also a shuttle-shaped groove carved on the reverse side of the base, which leads to the lower edge of the board: that direction is completely parallel to the left hand of Bavemit on the front, pointing down to the right.This groove gradually bends, passes the woman's breast on the devil's chest, turns upward again, reaches his right hand holding the staff, and ends there.From the place where the groove ends, you can see the tail end of the snake staff - that position is connected to the front, there is a long opening as big as a coin hole, and there is also a wooden activity at the lower inclined position. buckle.If you want to wind it up again, you only need to pull the buckle hard and pull the snake stick out from below, so that you don't interfere with the flame-shaped rope groove: this buckle is like a special insurance for crossbow guns. I hold one end of the bow body with one hand and let it rotate slowly like a work of art in a museum collection: all the blank spaces on the crossbow body and bottom plate are filled with complex and gorgeous patterns; as for The crossbow rope should be nylon fishing line from the attic—the devil ordered several fishing lines to be twisted together to increase the strength of the crossbow rope.Such an exquisite and beautiful structure, and all the materials are mostly taken from wooden houses, this is really only a devil can design it-it is much more beautiful and practical than a rough slingshot trigger. As I write this, I take another sip of vodka.Then, while writing this sentence, I made a decision. I will record it now: From this day until the next appointed day, I shall remain in my house until Miss Hungary, Madame Bathory, or any other noble servant of yours, or you—my master—come to visit. In the hut, not going anywhere again. It is not intended to set any trap for you, dear Mr. Baphomet.Although I also know very well that you already knew that I didn't mean that, I dare not even think that way!You can easily check my thoughts at any time, and of course you can understand that I just want to spend the few remaining time you have given me in this wooden house that holds the most important memories of my life. At this moment, I seem to be able to understand your grandiose idea of ​​​​invoking hell and causing human suffering.Those modern people who have no faith have been educated since childhood to unreservedly accept the "correct ideas" instilled in them by books and others.By the time they realize the true importance of the spirit of doubt, broadening horizons and imagination, a lot of time that should have given them a patient understanding of the world has been ruthlessly wasted by themselves. Such people are not complete people. They claim to be at the pinnacle of civilization, but they do things that are much cruder than primitive people. Incomplete people and the inertia of a crippled society should be overcome by a strong spirit. correct.Religious fanaticism can improve people's morality; if it is not true fanaticism, it is not considered true belief in this religion.Therefore, the choice of belief is important: if a person can believe in the existence of devils, elves, dead souls, and wizards, they will respect their own existence more. Get to know the world. Just like my remaining life, it is your gift. However, I still want to ask your forgiveness and confess to you: I will never be able to truly say goodbye to the past world.Because I still have something I can’t let go of, someone I can’t forget, at least for now, I can’t go to hell with you without any worries: I will write her a letter, and the letter will be filled with my guilt and longing for her. I am determined not to return to the city to see her again: that letter, until that time comes, I will place on this desk—here I implore you, please cast a little of your great magic, enough to control all The power of the impossible, deliver this letter to her for me.And, if you do, you also show that you will spare her. No!There is no need to keep the letter—if she reads the letter, she will know immediately that I am no longer in this world.No, sir!And please don't be impatient with my capricious thoughts - allow me to repeat: I have only one wish, please don't hurt her! I beseech you, I hope you will not refuse the only request of this hell-going man: I am willing to be your servant.My body, my soul, my everything, everything belongs to you!Just please don't hurt her. Look, as I write, tears well up in my eyes—you must have heard the words that are repeatedly shouted in my heart.Now, you can know that what I have written above is the voice of my soul: the soul can't lie, and that's what you really want, isn't it? It's yours now.You can take it anytime you want.I have only one request: Please don't hurt her! In the interval between stopping writing, I opened the door. Only the cold wind can cool my mind down again. I stand in the icy night wind, the snow has not stopped.I saw my footprint outside the house extending from the door to an invisible distance, slowly disappearing in the wind and snow... The above content has given enough hints, please use it to decipher the three impossible tricks of "the suicide crow manipulated by the devil", "the crossbow manipulated by the devil" and "the devil who leaves no footprints".