"Dad, today is my seventeenth birthday. As promised, I picked out another good book for myself. If you're not ready to sleep yet, would you like me to read you a passage? Hmm… Yes? No? Dad, are you nodding or shaking your head?" Ivina pouted, complaining affectionately. Her face remained turned toward the sky, for she believed her father must be an angel living in heaven.
"Then wait here, don't fall asleep. I'll go get it." No matter how tired she was, the chance to read the article she had chosen to her father always perked her up instantly.
She flipped on the old lamp on the table and turned to search for the sky-blue handbag used exclusively for the bookstore.
"Where did I put it? … Ah, found it!" On the wooden floor, the bag glowed with a cool blue light under the lamp's glow. Ivina walked over lightly, but the floor still creaked.
Her long black hair hung loosely over her shoulders, and the creaking continued. The moment she grabbed the blue handbag, the dim light suddenly went out, and the atmosphere became eerily terrifying...
Ivina quickly returned to the desk. After a while, the faint light outside the window gradually calmed her frightened heart.
"Really, why am I so cowardly? There are no ghosts in this world. Dad must be laughing at me right now..."
Ivina composed herself, hurriedly opened the handbag, and carefully took out the ancient book. Even without the light shining on it, the ancient book did not lose any of its dazzling appearance. Or rather, the darker the place, the more it highlighted the "aura" of the book.
She had found it in the dimly lit basement earlier; now, under the pitch-black night sky, she would read it by the cold moonlight alone... What a book that loved the darkness.
"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
The earth was formless and empty, and darkness covered the deep waters. The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.
God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light.
God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.
God called the light 'day,' and the darkness He called 'night.' There was evening, and there was morning—the first day."
Could it be the Bible?
However, the red text printed on the black cardstock looked as real as blood about to flow.
Unable to resist, she flipped to the second page, then the third... This ancient book inexplicably drew her in.
Midnight, the sky was pitch black, swallowing up the beautiful starlight.
Ivina felt no sense of time passing, her thoughts immersed in the crimson pages.
Until the cold night wind gently woke her.
She pulled her sweater tighter around her body and hurriedly closed the window, but it was too late to stop the last gust of cold wind from blowing in.
"It's so cold..." Rubbing her frozen hands, Ivina shivered.
When she finally warmed her fingers, she noticed that the book on the table had been blown open by the wind.
The wind? Was the book blown open by the wind?
This heavy book was difficult for her to lift even with her hands, let alone the wind...
Before she had time to think about these questions, she was surprised to find that the page had turned to the end of the book.
Page 1204... There was a line of small black letters at the bottom of the page.
The rest was a sea of blood red.
Under the faint moonlight, Ivina wanted to see the words more clearly.
Finally, she saw them clearly, but couldn't help but blurt out.
"This is the end of the Bible.
I am willing to sell my soul for damnation."
Before she could fully regain consciousness, the intense pain in her throat caused Ivina's face to twitch uncontrollably. A strong smell of blood filled the air.
One drop, two drops...
The crimson pages seemed to have a life of their own, absorbing her blood. The black text on the final page was gradually swallowed by the red.
The ancient book's cover had lost its former dazzling appearance, replaced by an ugly symbol.
In her final moments of consciousness, Ivina closed the book tightly. Flames began to rise from the edges of the book. As she was about to lose consciousness, she saw that what she held in her hands was no longer the heavy book, but a nearly rotten white sheet of paper, burned to ashes.
Yet her name was suddenly written on it, stamped with her blood.
Was this a pact with the devil?