September 14th, 1649
I was awakened by the stranger's hammering on the door, the
household being asleep. As it was already past the 11th hour, the fact that
Guiseppe let him in at all piqued my interest, and I stole down from my room
to see what the commotion was.
When I first saw him, he was dressed in a badly staining
travelling cloak, almost like a highwayman, with the hood pulled up so far that
I could not see his face. The fact that he carried a well-worn rapier did nothing
to dispel this impression… Ignoring Guiseppe's attempt to take his cloak, he
stayed swathed until Father came down, wrapped in his dressing gown. At this
point Father has still not really noticed me, and thus I was able to follow
them into the study.
Only after Father had handed him a glass and pressured him
to sit did the stranger push back his cloak, and I am ashamed to admit that
I could not restrain a gasp of shock. This immediately brought me to my Father's
attention, and I was sent out of the study, though I stayed at the door to listen.
What had so surprised me was that the stranger's face and arms had been wrapped
in stained bandages- evidently he has been in some sort of terrible battle,
the sort of which few survived. Alas, the rest of the conversation I was only
able to hear through the door.
"Forgive my son, Gabriel" murmured my Father, "while he fancies
himself grown, he has yet seen little of the world."
The stranger, Gabriel, coughed painfully. "It is nothing,
Lucien. I am a sight to shock anyone right now- your son is no exception."
"What happened?" asked my Father in a worried tone. "Last
I heard was months ago, when you left on that ill-fated expedition into India
on the behest of the king…"
"We found it," Gabriel replied. "the temple the merchant
had spoken of. It was there- but it was not what the expected. They wanted gold
for the king's coffers. Instead we found… Something else."
"I told them to stay away from it!" shrilled my Father "They
do not know what they are dealing with! But you, Gabriel, you and Armand knew
better- why did you open the seals?"
"We didn't, Lucien, we didn't…" Gabriel soothed "We found
scripts that were like nothing that we had ever seen before, ones we couldn't
understand. They were sealing something in, something…that should never be released."
"A Rakshasa…" breathed my Father, his voice terrified.
"Perhaps, we didn't know. Armand and I intended to copy the
inscriptions, and return to France, but…" Gabriel trailed off into silence.
"But?" prompted my Father, and then after a second "Where
is Armand?"
"He is dead, sir." Gabriel answered, his voice harsh. "Claude
DeMans opened the seals, and made some sort of pact with whatever was inside.
I should never have showed him the entrance. What a fool I am. Armand and I
tried to stop him, but…" I heard a rustling, as if Gabriel had gestured. "It
was so fast, and strong. We hurt it, but it killed Armand, and it has taken
me months to limp back to France. Then, in the outskirts of town, I met a Vetala."
"A Vetala?" I am ashamed to say my Father's voice was almost
a wimper. "Then this Rakshasa is no ordinary one… How do we stop it? It will
use DeMans to gain power, create something horrible…"
Gabriel barked a short laugh. "That is what I came here for.
I cannot do it alone, not now, and I cannot wait for these wounds to heal. We
must gather who we can and stop this thing, before it can do whatever it is
after."
At that point I crept back up to my room- A Rakshasa is a
demon, from ancient India, though I don't know what a Vetala is. I imagine that
I will have a busy day tomorrow, and may not have time to make an entry.