Ven Degrad: The Prophecy

Chapter 2: The Orphanage

"So, what's your name then son?" The man asked, while he made tea.

"Ven, Ven Rowle. Yours sir?"

"Cassian Taylor."

"It's good to meet you Mr. Taylor."

"Now tell me Ven what is it you wanted to ask," Cassian said while he brought tea tray and biscuits, "Help yourself."

"Thank you."

"Your quite welcome. Now the questions."

"Oh right. First off how did you come to own this cottage?"

"Well after my uncle died, we had a funeral for him. Right in that graveyard over there," Cassian said pointing out the kitchen window, "And since I didn't really have anything I wanted to do with my life, I decided I would take on the job."

"Hmm interesting."

"Not to mention I liked a girl who had just moved into the Riddle's house."

"Is that the name of the family who died?"

"Yes, my uncle at the time was the family's gardener. He claimed that the last person he saw near the Riddle House was the dark-haired boy. Sense nobody else had seen him they were sure that my uncle invented him."

"Wow."

"Yeah, but I knew he hadn't done it. I just knew it."

"Right so was your uncle taken to prison?"

"No, it's quite strange actually. The report on the bodies were unable to determine the cause of their death, and my uncle was released due to lack of evidence."

"So how did your uncle die?"

"Well, how he died was unknown. There were no marks of any kind. Kind of like..."

"Like what?"

"How the Riddle's died."

"So your saying that the same person who killed your uncle likely killed the Riddles?"

"Yes, I-I guess I am."

"Show me the graveyard."

"Alright then."

Cassian stood up quickly and grabbed his coat. Ven also did the same. Cassian opened the door.

"A slight rain is coming down."

"Then we better get going."

Cassian and Ven went to the gates of the Little Hangleton Graveyard. Cassian pulled out a key from his coat pocket, unlocked the gate, and pushed it open.

"This way." Cassian said.

The graveyard was unlike anything Ven had seen. It was grand, but also unsettling. Apart from the normal graves, the graveyard also had mausoleums. There were mostly simple headstones to mark the dead's graves, but also several were grander. These were marked with stone obelisks and angels.

When they got to the Riddles family's grave, it was marked by a towering marble headstone. The names of the family members are stated in descending order. Starting with Thomas Riddle, Mary Riddle, then Tom Riddle Snr. They all died in 1943, but the most disturbing thing of all was the statue next to the grave. It was a large imposing winged Angel of Death which stood beside the headstone holding a scythe in its right hand.

Ven drew closer to the angel and could feel a dark presence growing. Hypnotized by the inescapable darkness, Ven couldn't hear anyone or anything around him. Noticing every stony edge of the symmetrical face, the fine point of the scythe in the skeletal hand and the beautiful representation of an angel of death. For a moment Ven blinked and the statue's figure was instilled within Ven's soul.