Speaker 1: Calarogu Shark Media, Hello and welcome to Ghost Scary Stories.
This episode is titled Halloween Inheritance, Part three, The Price
of Power.
Speaker 2: Emily awoke with a start, her heart pounding. The Grimoire
lay open on her chest, its pages faintly glowing in
the dim light of dawn. For a moment, she couldn't
remember where she was. Then it all came rushing back,
the mansion, the inheritance, the magic, the monsters. She sat up,
wincing at the soreness in her muscles. Using magic had
taken a toll on her body, leaving her feeling drained
and aching. But there was something else too, a tingling
sensation just beneath her skin, as if electricity she was
coursing through her veins. Emily stumbled to the bathroom, Flicking
on the light. She gasped at her reflection. Dark circles
wringed her eyes, which now shimmered with flecks of gold.
But it was the faint weblike pattern of black lines
spreading across her collar bones that truly horrified her. They
pulsed in time with her heartbeat, a visible reminder of
the power growing within her. What's happening to me, She whispered,
tracing the lines with trembling fingers. As if in response,
a whisper echoed through the room, The price of power, Child,
Every spell leaves its mark. Emily whirled around, but she
was alone. The voice had come from everywhere and nowhere
at once. She shuddered, realizing that in this house she
was never truly alone. Determined to find answers, Emily returned
to the study where she'd found aunt Agatha's letter. There
had to be more journals, records, anything that could help
her understand her family's dark legacy. As she rifled through
drawers and shelves, a loud thud from above made her jump.
It came again and again, rhythmic like footsteps, but these
were no ordinary footsteps. Each impact shook dust from the ceiling,
and Emily could have sworn she saw the floorboards ripple,
as if whatever was up there had impossible weight. Heart racing,
Emily grabbed the grimoire and crept up the stairs. The
thuds grew louder, emanating from behind a door she hadn't
noticed before. Unlike the other doors in the hallway, this
one was made of dark, knotted wood with strange symbols
carved into its surface. Emily reached for the handle, then hesitated.
Every instinct screamed at her to run, to flee this
cursed house and never look back. But she knew she couldn't.
Whatever was behind this door was part of her inheritance,
part of the burden she had to bear. Taking a
deep breath, she turned the handle and pushed the door open.
The room beyond was vast, far larger than should have
been possible given the dimensions of the house. Bookshelves stretched
up into darkness, their tops lost in shadow. In the
center of the room stood a large, circular stone table
covered in arcane symbols that made Emily's eyes hurt to
look at directly. But it was the figure standing at
the table that made Emily's blood run cold. It was tall,
inhumanly so, its limbs too long and jointed in all
the wrong places. Its skin was a patchwork of textures, scales, fur,
and something that looked disturbingly like exposed muscle. When it
turned to face her, Emily saw that it had no
face at all, just a smooth, blank, expanse of skin.
At last, it said, its voice, a cacophony of whispers
the air arrives, Emily stumbled backward, clutching the grimoire to
her chest. What are you? The creature tilted its head
at an impossible angle. I am the Librarian, keeper of
the Blackwood Family's darkest secrets, and you, Emily, are long
overdue for your first lesson. Before Emily could react, tendrils
of shadows shot out from the creature's body, wrapping around
her arms and legs. She cried out as they lifted
her off the ground, carrying her towards the stone table.
Let me go, she shouted, struggling against the shadowy bonds.
The Librarian's voice was cold. Knowledge has a price, child,
are you willing to pay it? As Emily was laid
upon the table, the symbols began to glow with an eerie,
pulsing light. She felt a tugging sensation in her mind,
as if something was trying to pull her thoughts out
through her eyes. Panicking, Emily began to recite the first
spell that came to mind, the protection incantation she'd used earlier,
but the word came out wrong, twisted and distorted. Instead
of creating a barrier. She felt the magic surge through
her body. Like a tidal wave. The black lines on
her skin spread rapidly, covering her arms and creeping up
her neck. Emily screamed as knowledge flooded her mind, generations
of Blackwood's secrets pouring into her consciousness all at once.
She saw Thaddeus Blackwood making deals with entities from beyond
the veil, trading pieces of his humanity for power. She
witnessed Amelia's desperate attempts to contain the damage, binding malevolent
spirits to the house to keep them from escaping into
the world, and she felt aunt Agatha's anguish as she
realized the true cost of their family's legacy. Through it all,
the Librarian's voice echoed in her mind. To control the power,
you must understand it. To understand it, you must become it.
Emily didn't know how long she lay there, lost in
the torrent of ancestral memories. When she finally came back
to herself, she was alone in the room. The librarian
was gone, and the symbols on the table had faded
to dull etchings in the stone. Shakily, Emily got to
her feet, her entire body ached, and when she looked down,
she saw that the black lines now covered most of
her visible skin. But it wasn't just her appearance that
had changed her mind felt expanded. Fragments of spells and
rituals flitted through her thoughts, knowledge she had never learned,
but somehow now possessed. As she stumbled out of the room,
a glint of metal caught her eye. A mirror hung
on the wall, and Emily approached it with trepidation. The
face that looked back at her was both familiar and foreign.
Her eyes now gli load with an inner light, and
shadowy patterns swirled beneath her skin. Oh God, she whispered,
what am I becoming? A cold laugh echoed through the hallway. Thaddeus,
you're becoming what you were always meant to be, my dear,
a true blackwood. Emily spun around, but the spectral form
of her great great grandfather was already fading away. His
final words lingered in the air. Embrace it, Emily, the
power is in your blood. Use it or it will
consume you. Clutching the grimoire like a lifeline, Emily fled
down the stairs. She kneaded air, needed to clear her
head and figure out what to do next. But as
she reached for the front door, she found it wouldn't budge.
I'm afraid I can't let you leave, dear aunt, Agatha's
voice came from behind her. Emily turned to see her
great aunt's ghost looking sorrowful. It's not safe, not for
you and not for the world outside. The power within
you is awakening, and until you learn to control it,
you're a danger to everyone. Emily sank to the floor,
tears streaming down her face. I never asked for this,
she sobbed. I don't want this power. I just want
to be normal again. Agatha's form flickered, her expression a
mixture of pity and resolve. I'm sorry, Emily, but there's
no going back now. You have a choice to make
master the power or let it master you. As Agatha
faded away, Emily was left alone with the weight of
her inheritance pressing down on her. She looked at her
reflection in a nearby mirror, at the stranger she was becoming,
and made a decision. If she couldn't escape this power,
she would learn to control it, not for herself, but
to protect the world from the horrors her family had unleashed.
With trembling hands, she opened the grimoire, The pages seemed
to turn of their own accord, stopping on a spell
she somehow knew would begin her true training. The words
glowed on the page, calling to her. Emily took a
deep breath and began to read aloud, her voice growing
stronger with each word. The mansion trembled around her, shadows
danced on the walls, and somewhere in the distance, a
clock began to toll. Twenty seven days until Halloween, twenty
seven days to master the power coursing through her veins.
Twenty seven days to save herself and perhaps the world,
from the darkness that threatened to consume everything. As the
spell reached its crescendo, Emily felt something fundamental shift within her.
For better or worse, her journey into the heart of
her family's dark legacy had truly begun, and the creatures
lurking in the shadows watched and waited for the moment
when the last Blackwood would either rise as their master
or fall as their prey.
Speaker 1: Ghost is a Calorogus Shark Media production written and hosted
by Alexander Ian MacIntyre, produced by Mark Francis Executive Producers,
Mark Francis and John McDermott. Portions of this podcast may
have been created with the assistance of AI.
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