The Tale Of The Midnight Sun

The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window.

Standing some 50 feet from the building, Nathan carefully scrutinized its surroundings. Even though the moon was hiding and the night sky was pitch black, the area bathed in bright light. How could such a small candle produce so much light?

The cabin stood in the perfect middle of a small clearing. The ground surrounding it was barren soil, on which nothing grew. The appearance of most trees found closest to the center of the clearing was to the image of the decrepit cabin: they were gray, sad, and seemed dead.

The candle served as a beacon as a lighthouse one would.

Since the first time he heard stories and rumors about it, Nathan has found himself attracted to the cabin. No matter how hard he tried not to think of it, it was one of those unhealthy attractions where he needed to know what was inside, no matter what.

There was no movement.

From his vantage point hidden in the bushes, he spent a few minutes observing the cabin’s broken windows, waiting to see a figure, someone, anything, move inside the building. He picked up a handful of small rocks on the ground and threw them towards the cabin. The rocks made a slight crashing sound as they hit the cabin’s window and hit the ground.

Again, there was no movement.

No one seemed to be inside. Nathan focused on the broken windows, attempting to see inside the cabin. It was pitch black. Perhaps curtains were blocking the view. Still, it made no sense to pull the curtains over a candle. Why would anyone risk a fire by pulling them if it were the case?

Was the candle used as a night light for someone outside?

While thrill-seeking tourists started flocking to the village, hoping to see and tour the cabin, Nathan was not surprised he was alone. The village council was unhappy with this recent tourist influx and increased surveillance in the area. Park rangers began doing more patrols and removed unwanted visitors from the premises.

Nathan waited until it was way past midnight to approach the cabin.

It was near 3 AM, and this was the time of the day when everything was dead to the world. His chances of encountering someone else were near zero. Despite this, he was still being careful not to draw attention.

As Nathan slowly moved toward the cabin, he saw some areas with dried blood puddles, oil leaks, and charred remains on the ground. There was some random, scattered debris, including bullet casings. Some of the debris could as well be human bone pieces.

No corpse was in sight.

So far, the rumors and stories he heard through the vines were true.

* * *

No one knew for sure how long the cabin had been abandoned, nor who its last owner was. When asked, the village’s inhabitants could not tell who lived there or what the cabin looked like. Everyone had a different representation of the cabin in their mind.

When locals combed through the public records, no traces of the decaying structure having ever been erected were found.

Yet, it stood in the middle of a small meadow in the woods on the outskirts of the village. The village of fewer than 2000 souls, and the whole area, was surrounded by mountains. While the locality was very peaceful, a certain uneasiness surrounded the lone cabin.

Attempts were made to locate someone, or something, related to the unusual cabin, to no avail. Eventually, the village council ordered the destruction of the building. The structure was in such bad condition, and since no one manifested themselves to claim ownership, the building became a liability.

The village awarded contractors from a nearby larger city the contract to remove the decrepit cabin. When they began their task, a series of strange events happened.

Part of the machinery fleet caught fire while unattended. It baffled the workers as they scrambled to douse it. As they approached the blaze, the workers became sick. Vertigo and nausea caught hold, twisting their stomachs and making them vomit. They only felt better as they moved away from the area.

They never managed to extinguish the fire; instead, it died on its own.

Several days later, the workers returned to the eerie cabin’s site, aware they might be sick once more. A company supervisor suggested everyone became ill due to the fumes emanating from the burning machinery. Some workers were skeptical about this possible explanation and instead spoke of an evil presence lurking nearby.

After all, the cabin seemingly came into existence out of thin air.

As the workers cautiously approached the building, this time, they became overwhelmed by pounding headaches, and confusion ensued. Some workers collapsed to their knees, while others fell to their side, holding their heads in their hands.

A few more fortunate workers managed to make it closer to the cabin, but their reward for their approach was a sudden and unexplainable mass vomiting triggered by overwhelming nausea.

The supervisor was horrified as he saw his employees suffer from an invisible cause. He began becoming sick as he saw them vomiting their meal and blood.

One of the workers stubbornly pushed through the pain to reach the cabin’s entrance. Victorious, they touched the door and let out a cry of victory. However, their celebration was short-lived, as they soon began to lose their shit.

Their eyes became filled with blood, resulting in bloody tears running down their cheeks as their mouth foamed with saliva. The look in their eyes became dull and empty, the iris turned black, and their breathing slowed down to a halt for a few seconds. They shook for a moment as if they were given an electric discharge. They were no longer human.

It went berserk.

It screeched as it turned around and attacked the nearest humans, its former colleagues, flailing its arms and feet at the defenseless workers lying on the ground. The berserker kicked their guts and slashed their faces with its nails, poking mouths, noses, and eyes.

Several workers became blind that day.

The supervisor witnessed the scene, unable to move. He was taken out of his paralysis when he heard someone scream. The berserker was digging into someone’s chest with his bare hands. It destroyed its victim’s ribcage and went for the organs, taking them out one after the other.

The supervisor went to his ankle, grabbed the Glock he was carrying, and shot the berserker in the back. The bullet went through it and hit the employee, who died from the shot.

The berserker angrily rose, and the supervisor shot it several times in the chest. The bullets passed through its body and hit the ground behind it. The berserker only grew angrier at the shots and ran toward the supervisor.

The supervisor went for the head and pulled his trigger. The bullet hit the berserker’s forehead, cracking the skull and sending blood, skull chips, and brain matter flying back. The berserker collapsed on the ground, dead.

Following all the chaos and their inability to complete their task, the workers abandoned the site. The healthiest ones fell back as the others crawled out of the cabin’s immediate radius.

The cabin appeared to mockingly stare back at them as they fled.

Emergency services were called and arrived later during the day. Because the cabin was deep in the woods, it was difficult for them to approach it with their vehicles. Using a helicopter was also impossible as there was no place to land it. The clearing was not big enough to fit a house and the helicopter.

When emergency services inspected the site, the blood and other fluids were entirely soaked into the ground, and bullet casings littered where the supervisor stood. The two bodies were nowhere to be seen. They had vanished.

After much debate, the village council concluded that there was no logical explanation possible, and this was caused by nothing but an evil presence. How else could anyone explain this havoc?

They unanimously voted to restrict access to the area until the community knew what they faced and how to eradicate the problem.

Villagers avoided the structure like the plague. Animals made sure to go out of their way to remain far from it. The very few tourists who would come into the area, most of whom were hikers, were warned never to approach the building and its surroundings.

This generalized fear created a particular hype amongst thrill-seekers and ghost hunters alike. Word got passed around, and soon enough, the village started seeing increased tourism. People wanted to see and investigate the cabin.

They wanted the thrill of their life.

They wanted to feel evil emanations.

* * *

Nathan glanced around and wondered how long it would take until he became sick as he began approaching the cabin.

He knew he had to keep his guard up. While he barely evaded the park rangers’ patrols earlier during the evening, getting to this point had been a feat: the others who attempted to approach the cabin were picked up by law enforcement and were not so gently told to return home.

He also did not check in to the local hotel but at one located two towns remote, so as not to attract attention. He hung out at the nearby taverns and restaurants for the past few days, sipping beer and coffee while attempting to subtly obtain more information about the area by eavesdropping on conversations.

Aside from the standard and typical two eggs, sausage, bacon, toast, and potatoes breakfasts, the food was suboptimal in those restaurants. Nathan did not understand how locals enjoyed it so much. The meatloaf was dry and lacked flavors, while the side of mashed potatoes was thick. One could have used it to plaster a wall. The fried chicken felt like a white woman had cooked it. The ham was fat, and someone thought serving it with a side of boiled vegetables was acceptable.

When served with the plat du jour, he mostly played with what was on his plates, moved the food around, and ate very little. The rations he ate during his time in the army were more exciting than this. He mostly survived on energy drinks and protein bars for the past two days.

Some of the stories he heard spoke of the devil and a demonic presence, which explained why machinery spontaneously combusted. He specifically listened to stories about workers becoming increasingly sick as they approached the cabin.

While on downtime, he studied maps and satellite images of the region, evaluating roads and hiking trails to determine the best route for him.

Here he was, walking towards the cabin. He was lost in his thoughts and did not even realize he had begun walking.

After barely walking for 10 feet, Nathan started having a headache. His head heavily pounded. It reminded him of the times he was hungover. The constant pounding made him feel his brain wanted out of his skull. The intense and non-stop pressure made him believe his skull was about to crack.

Summoning all of his strength, he pushed forth on his way, knowing this was a mere trick by the cabin, and he had to overcome the pain to reach his goal.

About halfway there, he began feeling dizzy and was caught by intense vertigo. Stumbling while walking, losing his sense of direction, he stopped for a moment and crouched, hoping to regain his senses. After several minutes, he still was unable to stand. He raised his head to see where the cabin was and began crawling towards it.

The crawl appeared to last forever, every step forward making it look like he was taking a step backward. He knew he was getting closer, though. The more he approached, the more his health was failing him.

Nathan’s stomach was the latest casualty to suffer from a sudden and unexplained illness; it twisted as it became gripped with massive pain. Nathan could hear the unceasing rumbling and gurgling sounds coming from his innards, sounds caused by an unknown activity in his digestive system. He felt nausea envelop him as he began hyper-salivating and knew this was a precursor to vomiting.

As he crouched on all four, he did not have the time or the reflexes to move his head to the side. He expedited his half-digested lunch on the ground—the fermented semiliquid combined with the ground’s dirt, resulting in a sour paste-like mixture.

Exhausted, Nathan left himself fall to the ground, his face crashing into his lunch. Feeling defeated on his quest, he sighed and remained motionless for what seemed to be an eternity. He closed his eyes and fell asleep.

He jerked awake as his whole body stiffened and was filled with an electric jolt. The pain reminded him of when he was three and stuck a metal fork in a power plug. He was convinced a park ranger was tasing him.

Eventually, the pain ceased, and he was free to move again.

He looked around and noticed he was still alone. There were no traces of anyone else being near him. He looked at his chest and saw no taser needles or projectiles required to conduct electric current.

Nathan got up, cleaned up his face with the back of his hand, and finally made it to the cabin’s entrance. While he was exhausted from the pain and knew what the others had endured, he was glad he could rely on their stories and past experiences to get through this challenge.

He was also thankful no one else was around to shoot him down as he lost his mind.

He leaned against the door, took a deep breath, and peeked through the broken windows. Despite his best efforts, Nathan still could not see anything inside. He carefully walked around the building and confirmed it only had one entrance.

The cabin was made of log walls, which were mossy and rotting. The roof partially gave in, and it appeared it was leaking. A small metal chimney was in the center of the roof, and vines were crawling out of it. The windows were broken, and mushrooms populated the door and window frames. The area profoundly exhumed an acrid and musty air.

Nathan put his hand on the knob and hesitated momentarily, peeking at the window and its candle one last time. As he did, the flame went out, and the whole area plunged into complete darkness. As a shiver ran down his spine, his breathing became heavier. He could not see any further than 3 feet ahead of him.

Turning on the flashlight strapped to his forehead and taking a deep breath, Nathan opened the door and went inside.

* * *

Saying the inside of the cabin left Nathan disappointed was an understatement.

After going through so much trouble to finally make his way inside, he expected to find a lot more. The interior had four walls, a floor, and a ceiling. Every surface was made of wood.

As he stood still, adjusting his vision to the low light his flashlight emitted took him a moment.

On a second look, he realized the cabin’s interior was not decrepit like its outside was. The floor was perfectly sanded and varnished, and the walls were whole, without traces of moss. The windows were intact, and their frames were whole. without mushroom colonies. Even the ceiling was perfectly flat, as the roof did not appear to have caved in, nor was it leaking.

The room contained no furniture whatsoever. Nathan expected to see a table and chairs kit, one or two beds, and an armchair near the stove… He blinked in disbelief when he realized there was no wood stove or fireplace inside the room. It was a single-room cabin, and it was empty.

He wondered where that chimney he saw outside was connected to.

It took him a moment to realize what was happening, and Nathan realized this place was a trap when he did. He had fallen for it. Turning back to run away from this place, he froze in his tracks. A wall stood in front of him where the door used to be. Quickly looking around, Nathan noticed every window was gone, too.

He no longer had any way out.

At that moment, Nathan heard a strong and mocking voice. The voice was on par with the description construction workers gave when they recounted fleeing away from the cabin.

An ethereal being materialized in front of Nathan, who could not believe what he saw. It wore dark robes and had its head covered by a hood. Aside from two fiery orange orbs where the eyes should be, no facial feature could be seen. A blueish hue emanated from the being as it floated in mid-air.

It emitted a sadistic laugh, showing rows of sharpened white teeth.

“The candle and its blood-red flame, this midnight sun. It attracted all of you like sugar attracts flies,” said the being as it pointed a long, bony finger at the black candle. As he did, the candle lit up again.

Only then did Nathan realize the candle's and flame’s colors.

“Long have I waited for someone to cross into my realm,” lamented the being. “Many came, but none conquered. Then, you came along. It took great effort, but it was worth it. By far, you were the most resilient one, Nathan.”

Nathan was voiceless over what he saw. He was about to ask the being how he knew his name, but he knew better than that. Instead, he asked, “Who are you, and what do you want?”

The being stared at him, with its orange eyes scrutinizing every detail of his appearance. “I know your name because I have access to your memories.” Nathan’s jaw dropped. How did the being know he had that question? As the being floated around Nathan, it continued evaluating him.

It went on, “Who I am is not something you need to worry about. What I am, however, is a more interesting story. I am the cabin. Or at least, the cabin, and its candle, were mere avatars of me. I am a lich, a lost soul seeking a new host where I can insert myself into and gain control of to go out and live my new life.”

The lich, floating back in front of Nathan, added, “You, Nathan, offered yourself as tribute.”

Nathan protested, “I never offered myself! Had I known there was this ugly and evil… thing.” He waved his hand at the lich and swore he saw it raise an eyebrow. Nathan went on, “I would have never come inside. No. I would have never come inside. At all. I am leaving, do not try to stop me, and thank you for making me lose my time.”

The lich quietly laughed. “You… think you are the one that came inside the cabin, inside me? That’s laughable. I thought you were better than that, Nathan.”

Nathan appeared uneasy.

Still keeping its gaze locked on Nathan, the lich added, “you are still standing in the middle of the clearing. You never entered the cabin because it does not exist. Instead, I am the one who came inside you. I took over your body, and your mind will forever remain in this mental cabin.”

Nathan began feeling dizzy as panic overcame him. Lightheaded, he looked around as everything was swirling fast. His breath accelerated, unable to catch up with his heartbeat. He could feel his heart beating through his chest and feared it would come out at any moment. Heavily sweating, dropping to his knees, Nathan screamed until his lungs gave up.

It was a scream no one but him would ever hear.