“To hold a book is like holding the world in the palm of your hands.
To read the book, however, is like exploring multiple worlds and dimensions; like meeting great minds and passionate people through your imagination.”
-empressnico
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All the Blacksmith children hated that very day.
It was supposed to be the day the family will have a week-long vacation planned at their grandmother’s big ancient manor that she fondly called home. It was, but something was also bound to happen that day—something big…life-changing.
As her father drove the car towards their impending doom, Hurricane let out a big heavy sigh before turning the volume on her phone higher, a slow sleepy song was playing-somewhat jiving with her mood. Her eyes were glued to the window beside her, she noticed the weather was pretty ominous—it was as if the weather was telling her something bad was going to happen.
What a sinister thought… she smiled bitterly while drowning her inner musings with the music playing through her ears.
Cyclone who was sitting just half a meter beside his sister in the car was already bored with the game he was playing on his phone. It was a war simulation game that proves to be very tedious than entertaining as time passes by. The game was entitled Saga Wars, a game he recently bought through his phone’s store app for a pricey amount. Had he used his savings into buying that game, he would’ve been very furious and proceeded to trash talk the company who owned the game—but fortunately, since the money used in buying the said game was a profit from the items, he sold last week from another game he was playing, he just shrugged off his disappointment while plotting on a way to trash talk the said game’s creator anyway.
It’s not that he was being a self-absorbed jerk who only wanted to praise himself for trumping such a game but—the game was too darned predictable! Every battle tactic that he applied ensues sure wins, and he’s sure as hell war battles in real life do not guaranty easy victories. Oh, how he wished he’s standing on a battlefield fighting a real war right now…

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On another car, where another batch of Blacksmith family was riding, four girls sat snuggly at the back of their car, all chatting while happily munching a bunch of junk food their parents supplied them on this trip. All was contented until…Yellow Blacksmith, the youngest of the four, decided to ask yet again. “Are we near there yet?” where all just replied with either a groan or a rolling of eyes. For the whole duration of the trip so far, Yellow has annoyed all of them by incessantly asking the same question after every hour or so—that is if she’s not either singing her heart out or annoying the hell out of her sisters, Jade, Mint & Aquamarine.
“Come on Yellow, snap out of it! If you’d only stop being a brat for a moment and actually look outside of the car, you’d notice that we’re already here.” Aquamarine said in a matter-of-fact tone.
Out of the four—although all four of them are pretty tight-knit, Yellow and Aquamarine, with the closer age gap and similar hobbies are closer with each other. Though not all the time.
Yellow, upon hearing her sister’s snarky remark-only replied with a wink and a sheepish smile.
“Hey, it seems like everybody’s here already! Hey Ced!” Their father said while walking towards his brother.
Immediately, all the grownups huddled together--obviously engaging in a serious conversation, asking how life’s faring for the other but mainly talks about business mainly forgetting about the fact that they are not even inside the estate yet. While their kids, on the other hand, seem to be having qualms about greeting each other.
Emmanuel, a boy of 10, and the second to the youngest of the cousins decided to tread near the haunted-looking manor with his little sister, Lucy in tow.
“Emman? What are we doing here?” Lucy asked in a small voice. She suddenly felt a chill as they approached the ghastly big gates of the house.
“Shh…Don’t be a scaredy-cat, Lucy, we’re just exploring,” Emmanuel replied while attempting to loosen Lucy’s grip on his arm. His knees were already shaking with fear, but he covered it by smiling at his sister. He was about to push the gates open when…
“BOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” Jullian and Jethro shouted out of nowhere. Emmanuel was about to cry out of fear but stopped himself. No, I am not going to do that I’m a big boy already! He thought. With a renewed courage, Emmanuel held Lucy’s hands gripping it tightly as if saying ‘I got this’ and turned to face their bullies.
“Why’d you do that for?” Emmanuel all but shouted. This seemed to amuse the twins for they flashed a grin that mirrors that of the other. Uh-oh, that didn’t feel good…
“Did you hear that Jet? Nerd here says he wants to explore granny’s spooky house.” Jullian said haughtily.
“Oh really? It seems like our little nerd here is growing a backbone already.” Jethro replied tauntingly slow while beckoning him over. He was a bit hesitant at first—torn between running away from there and wanting a chance to wipe the twins’ smirk off their faces. But he was better than that, he thought. As much as he wanted to give these two a piece of his mind, it can’t be done because they’re still the older kids and he has to respect that-respect them.

Jethro and Jullian were twins of nineteen which could only be described as a couple of menaces. With their devious, reckless nature, they love to taunt and prank everyone around them. And that is the main reason the cousins rarely interact with each other and only choose to keep with themselves or talk with their own siblings. They are wary about the twins playing a trick on them—well Emmanuel understands them for he too would always watch his steps around these two.
Playing brave, Emman asked Lucy to go to their cousin Yellow in a clipped tone. Lucy was reluctant to leave her brother be with the twins and was already bristling as if preparing for a loud cry to alert the parents. But in the end, she decided to submit when she noticed the determination etched on his face. Well, we’d be in bigger trouble if I snitch on em… she thought glumly. With a defeated sigh, she left the place. Emmanuel stared after his sister—feeling a bit relieved that his little sister will not see him being pummeled to the ground or maybe threatened to do something horrible.

Though he hasn’t seen his cousins for almost four years, (Perks of living in another state) he couldn’t afford to be too comfortable around these two. You might never know what they could be planning inside their heads. With this two around, the infamous tagline, Double trouble could be put to shame.
“W-why?” Emmanuel asked-his voice faltering with raw fear.
Jullian chuckled upon hearing his stuttering self. It seemed to be going down the drain for Jethro followed suit after his sister.
“Why are you so scared nerd? Are you afraid of us that much?” Jullian asked him in which he only replied with a glare directed at both twins.
“Enough of that will you? Sorry Emman, we were only just playing with you.” Jethro said, throwing a fleeting glare at his twin and an apologetic smile at him. Emman, feeling a bit confused at Jethro’s actions only raised his brow as if in question.
“Ok, whoa… easy monkey! Honestly! We were just wondering why granny’s house seemed to be dead silent it’s as if it’s almost…vacant.” Jethro held up his hands defensively. Emmanuel threw them a skeptical look before following them as they entered the manor.
As they arrived at the big doorway, Jethro peeked at the windows. With its blinds open, it was easy to see inside—and what they saw solidified their theory.
“No one seems to be around,” Jethro stated.
“Excellent observation.” Jullian quipped sarcastically.
The twins were about to engage in a verbal fight when Emmanuel decided to knock on the door.
He was about to tap it when it creakingly opened. All three of them took a step back.
“Jul… what now? Do we go in?” Jethro asked his twin. Jullian nodded.
Jullian suddenly went inside the house with fast strides. Jethro and Emmanuel though confused with Jullian’s actions chose to follow her.
“Granny Isadora? Where are you?” Jullian shouted repeatedly as she treaded the stairs-scouring every room for her grandmother’s presence.
Jethro and Emmanuel also did the same downstairs—from the living room, dining area, kitchen, lounge, and even the small greenhouse attached to the house. But no soul was present.
‘Now where was everybody? Even the servants went out?’ Jethro thought but immediately erased the thoughts. It made no sense. Where would their 70-year-old grandmother go? She cannot even walk! —and she even brought the servants? How confusing.
“Did you find anything?” Jullian asked both him and Emmanuel.
Both shook their heads.
“It’s a dead-end Jul, that and a bunch of questions. Tbh, this doesn’t feel good at all.” Jethro said.
“I know,” Jullian replied.
“What do we do now?” Emman voiced out.
“We tell the parents,” Jullian replied with a grim expression.
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Author's Corner
Hello there, empressnico here!
I hope everything is going well with you.
I'm a newbie author and I wrote Prophecy like 6 or so years ago as a gift for my cousin's birthday so if you find some errors and plot holes or anything, just know I'm accepting constructive criticisms as long as they don't come across as rude and insulting!!!
I hope you have a great day. Enjoy!!!