Everyone rushed upstairs toward Rudra's room. Reyand and the others burst inside, finding Rudra in his bed, eyes closed, screaming in sheer terror. They saw nothing else.
Alice immediately ran to the bed and tried to wake him, calling his name, but he remained trapped in his nightmare. Then, Rudra began frantically scratching at his face and hands until blood appeared, all while he was screaming, "It's hurting, Mom, Dad, anyone, protect me!"
Seeing the blood, Alice panicked. Reyand quickly moved, grabbing Rudra's wrists to prevent him from hurting himself further. Anjela grabbed the jug of water from the bedside table and poured it over Rudra's face, but he still wouldn't wake.
The screaming grew louder and louder, a horrifying sound that threatened to burst his vocal cords. Neighbors were starting to wake up, seeing the light from the lantern glow through the window. Jasmine quickly ran to the window and slammed it shut.
The moment the window closed, the screaming began to subside. Rudra stopped struggling. Anjela poured more water, and slowly, Rudra's eyes fluttered open.
"Mama? Papa? Where have you gone?" he cried, his voice hoarse.
Before anyone could speak, he began describing his ordeal, fear heavy in his eyes and his breathing ragged. "It's too dark. Someone is hurting me," he wept. "He was cutting my fingers and pulling my hair. He was going to break every bone in my hand, and then he started on my legs. I was tied to a chair. I tried to move, but I couldn't. I screamed, but no one came. And now he just... stopped."
Rudra was sweating and shaking while he described the horror. Everyone in the room was stunned, their hands trembling with disbelief and terror.
Everyone worked to calm the boy down, but his throat was raw from screaming. Jasmine brought a glass of water, but Rudra's hand was shaking too badly to hold it. He managed to drink half, spilling the rest onto his blanket and clothes.
It was in this quiet moment that a drop of Rudra's blood fell from his scratched face onto Reyand's hand. Reyand looked closely at the wounds. Rudra's fingernails were short; it seemed almost impossible for a child to inflict such deep cuts with them.
Seeing the extent of the injury, Alice quickly used her healing magic on Rudra. Strangely, the healing took much longer than it should have.
After a difficult time, they finally managed to calm Rudra down. He eventually fell asleep in his mother's lap.
Everyone left the room, except for Alice who stay with rudra and the baby, who was still asleep in his own room. As Helena left, she glanced at the small flower hairpin Rudra had worn that day. She quickly plucked it from the blanket, placing it in her pocket.
They all gathered in the main hall, settling into chairs. A heavy silence filled the room.
Finally, Adam broke the silence. "What happened? I can't even begin to understand it."
"Yes," Anjela agreed, her voice soft.
Durden shook his head. "If that was just a dream, it was beyond anything I've ever heard. How could a child have a nightmare like that?"
"It was far from a simple scary dream," Jasmine interrupted, her voice tense. "The poor boy was hurting himself."
Helena then spoke, her gaze distant. "I think he was possessed for a time."
"Possessed? What does that mean?" Reyand demanded desperately.
Helena pulled the flower from her pocket. Everyone gasped. The small, white flower Rudra had been wearing was now completely black.
"This is a flower Alice usually puts on Rudra to protect him from minor curses," Helena explained. "The fact that it is now blackened means someone tried to put a curse on him. I believe this is proof that someone intends to harm the boy."
Reyand's eyes widened in fury. "What do we do now?"
"First, we need to find out who put this curse on him," Jasmine said.
"But how do we find them?" Adam asked, frustration creeping into his tone.
Silence descended again.
"We will try to find the person responsible," Helena promised, looking at Reyand. "Don't worry, Rey. For now, we need to isolate Rudra for a while to make sure he's safe. If the attacks continue, we'll move on to other measures."
Reyand was silent for a moment, processing everything. "Yes, you are right," he finally agreed. "And one more thing: we don't speak a word of this to Alice. If she knows about a curse, it will shatter her."
Everyone nodded in agreement. The search for a hidden enemy had begun.