“Damn, am I lost?” Cursed the doctor to himself as he looked at the map and the address.
There was no one around to ask for direction and no phone signal. He did not even know where he was now. He kept turning the map up and down, left to right, just to make sure he was in the right place.
“Aishh. . . Just go whatever it is,” he cursed again as he threw the map at the backseat of his car.
He decided to gamble and just drove his car along the road. The road was long and narrow. It was surrounded by tall trees and there was no sign of living things, let alone houses or hotels.
The doctor continued to drive along the road until he reached a tall big gate which both sides of the gate had myth animal statues, the Cerberus – a giant hound with three-headed. Behind the gate stood tall a big old-style mansion. Or perhaps, it was a castle.
On the right side of the gate, right below the statues of Cerberus, there was an old carved name of the mansion. It was read as the House of Malach HaMavet.
“House of Malach HaMavet? House of Angel of Dark and Light. . .” Said the doctor as he looked at the sign. He looked outside the window to see a clear view of the area and searched for someone or anyone. “This is the place. . .”
“Honnnk! Honnnk! Honnnk!” he honked the car furiously but there was no response from the other side. It was like there was no one here at all.
He decided to open the gate by himself, but when he got out of the car and came closer, he realized that there were lots of chains on the gate.
“Hello! Helllooooooooo!” He called a few times as he shook the gate. He waited a few second and called again, “Hellloooo!”
“What do you want?!” Suddenly a guy with sharp scary eyes and hollow cheek appeared, shouting at the doctor. “A-are. . . A-are you Sean Sutcliffe? The caretaker here?” The doctor asked, stuttering.
“Yes. I’m Sean, but not the caretaker,” answered the guy. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”
“I’m Dr. Kaien Kaughan. Just call me Kaien. I had booked a room here,” said the doctor, trying to be friendly. “I am supposed to see Dominique Drancezci. Is he here?”
“What do you think?” Asked Sean as he unlocked the gate’s chains' locks.
“Why do you need so many chains and locks?” Asked Kaien. “The gate was already tall and big.”
“That’s a good question,” Sean responded with a smug look on his face.
“What about the fences?” Asked Kaien again. He was curious to hear different reasons, theories or interpretations. “It's not enough?”
You're curious, aren't you?” Sean asked. He studied Kaien, curious about the reaction. Kaien looked back at Sean and nodded a few times. Sean chuckled and said, “Some people on either side of the fence, when they see the locked chain, they feel a little more comfortable and safe.”
“What’s that mean?”
“You can get in now,” said Sean, ignoring Kaien’s question. He opened the gate wide to let Kaien drive his car in. “Welcome to the House of Malach HaMavet.”
Kaien wanted to ask more questions, but he decided it was best to just follow what he had been told without any more questions.
Kaien admired the surroundings as he drove slowly inside. Nestled in the woodland, as humble as any rock face in these parts, was the mansion. The mansion stood there as if the surrounding nature had embraced it, that the trees flowed within it as much as around it.
It had many windows that looked like old shy eyes, but large enough to welcome any ray of sun. The rock walls belonged right where it was, as if perchance it had grown up right from that hallowed ground. It was as if it had been called into existence to protect those who came to dwell within, to quell the elements and allow a heat to build from hearths into the inhaled woodland air.
From the mansion to the gate quite far, around 170 yards. In between, there was a large yellow front yard that was split by the driveway. For the architect had loved the trees so much that there were so many pine trees along the driveway and there was a mighty oak in the centre, centuries old, and the great house had been built around it.
Even though there were so many pine trees along the way, they all were dead and looked as though they could not leave this land even after dying. The gate, the trees, the grasses, everything here was dead, and even the air felt dead, thought Kaien. Even Sean looked as though as he just came from the grave.
Kaien drove slowly and he was really in deep thought before he realized that he had reached the big main door of the mansion.
“Hello!” He shouted at the big door, but no one answered him. He looked back to Sean but he could not see Sean properly. Just the shadow at the gate. He was not even sure if Sean was still at the gate.
He sighed and tried to knock on the door. But the door suddenly opened as he was about to knock it. The sound of the door creaking echoed through the hall.
“Mr. Dominique Drancezci? Drancezci?” Kaien called as he peeked inside. “Hello!” He greeted again but no answer.
Slowly, he came inside the mansion and looked around. He was shocked with what greeted him and almost accidently knocked his head against the door.

Right after the main door was a small round hall with in the middle of it lie four of myth creature statues, Griffin – a creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle. Each of the Griffin faced the different direction, to be precise, different doors. It was like the statues used to watch anyone who came and went through the main door and another three doors that connected to the hall.
He came closer and stared at the Griffin. Suddenly a slow and soft pounding’s sound could be heard through the hall which made him jump again.
‘Tumb. . . Tumb. . . Tumb. . .’
“Mr. Drancezci?” He called again as he looked around trying to find out where the sound came from.
‘Tumb. . . Tumb. . . Tumb. . .’
The sound could be heard again. He gathered his courage and slowly he walked to the right door which he thought the sound came from. He called the name again as he walked through the passage which had lots of doors on both sides.
‘Tumb! Tumb! Tumb!’
The sound was getting louder and suddenly it stopped.