The Ninth Hour of Malachi : SEASON 4

A Romanian Exorcism of an Ancient, Hungry Presence | SEASON 4: When a Demon Knows Your Mother's Name

By Tales That Breathe at NightPublished about 9 hours ago • 5 min read

A young priest gently wraps clean white sheets around the wounded wrists and ankles of an unconscious woman in a sparse monastery room

Chapter 12 (Climax and Immediate Aftermath)

CHRONICLE LOG: Final entry in the retrieved portion of Father Pavel’s journal. The entry consists of only two words, written in a shaky, almost illegible hand, before the page is consumed by a jagged tear: "She awoke." The whereabouts of Father Pavel remain officially undisclosed.

The petrified heart anchor explodes in a blinding flash of white light, dark oily vapor instantly evaporating around it in a Romanian monastery catacomb

The petrified heart shattered with a sound like grinding stone and splitting earth. The chamber exploded with a deafening, sonic boom, and the oily black substance evaporated instantly, leaving behind dry, sterile dust. The rhythmic thrumming ceased. The entire monastery groaned, the sound of stone cracking and beams snapping echoing from above.

Above the catacombs, the ancient monastery groans as massive cracks spiderweb across stone ceilings and wooden beams snap

The crystalline body of Ana Popescu fell to the stone floor, her human form restored but utterly lifeless. The entity, Malachi, was gone, banished from its physical anchor. Sorin rushed to Pavel, who lay prone, his body whole, but his eyes glazed over, staring blankly at the ceiling. The psychic siege had been too much. Pavel’s soul was present, but his mind had been consumed, leaving him an empty vessel.

Ana Popescu's human form, fully restored, collapses lifelessly onto the stone floor after the entity's banishment

Sorin: "Father Pavel! I broke it! The heart is broken!"

Pavel did not answer. But then, a small, weak sound broke the silence. Ana Popescu was stirring. Sorin knelt beside her.

Father Pavel lies prone on stone, his body intact but his eyes wide open and utterly empty, staring at nothing

Ana: (Weak whisper, her own voice) "The mountain is angry, Father. I heard it... grinding its teeth."

Ana Popescu stirs weakly, her eyes opening with a clear but profoundly sorrowful gaze, whispering of an angry mountain

She looked at Sorin, her gaze clear and sane, but filled with a profound, soul-deep sorrow. The possession was over, but the rot remained in the mountain. Sorin realized with a chilling dread that the entity was merely scattered, not destroyed. It was waiting for a new anchor, a new act of betrayal, or simply for the stone to heal. He was spared the flame, but he was not spared the truth: He was now the keeper of the silence.

Chapter 13

CHRONICLE LOG: An unofficial police report, filed by a regional officer in 2003 and later classified, noted structural damage to the Monastery of the Silent Veil consistent with a minor seismic event. The officer noted, however, that the epicenter appeared to be directly beneath the lowest chapel, a geological anomaly that was never explained.

The air in the catacomb chamber rushes outward in visible currents, dust spiraling into massive cracks as the mountain settles and heals

The air in the catacomb chamber rushed out, sucked away by the massive cracks spider-webbing across the stone walls. The mountain was settling, healing the wound Sorin had inflicted. He hauled the still, empty form of Father Pavel onto his shoulder, then gently lifted the limp, fragile body of Ana Popescu. The silence was profound...the complete absence of the rhythmic thrumming was unnerving, far worse than the noise.

A young priest desperately drags an unconscious woman and a catatonic older man up crumbling stone steps as the monastery collapses around them

Sorin: "We have to move, Father. It's collapsing."

(The sound of grinding stone and shifting earth.)

Pavel, though physically intact, was gone, his eyes blankly reflecting the stone ceiling. He was now a silent witness to a horror he could no longer articulate. Dragging both bodies required a desperate surge of adrenaline. Sorin knew the Archbishop's report would never mention a "petrified heart" or an entity that fed on regret.

It would be filed as a tragic accident, a case of demonic resistance that overwhelmed the elderly exorcist and traumatized the novice.

Carved into ancient stone just above a sealed fissure, a fresh, jagged symbol of a crude heart...Malachi's calling card

As Sorin stumbled up the final steps from the catacombs, the black, oily substance had vanished completely. The floor was now bone-dry stone, scrubbed clean by the retreating malice. But carved into the wall just above the fissure, where the substance had drained, was a single, fresh, jagged symbol...a crude, unmistakable heart carved into the rock. Malachi had left a calling card.

Chapter 14

BROKEN DOCUMENTED FACT: Historical accounts from the villages surrounding the Monastery of the Silent Veil often mention that "those who return" from the monastery are afflicted with the "blank eyes," a condition where the survivor is physically healthy but completely devoid of mind or soul. This condition was considered a contagion of the spirit.

A sparse stone infirmary with a single functional stove, two beds holding an unconscious woman and a catatonic priest

Sorin managed to secure Ana and the catatonic Father Pavel in the monastery's infirmary...the only room with a functional stove and unbroken windows. He stripped the beds down to the bare mattress, using the sheets to tightly bandage the wounds on Ana’s wrists and ankles where the iron restraints had dug in.

A young priest gently wraps clean white sheets around the wounded wrists and ankles of an unconscious woman in a sparse monastery room

Sorin: "I failed you, Father. I broke the heart, but I couldn't save your mind."

He sat beside Pavel's bed, the older priest's eyes open and fixed on the ceiling, utterly empty. It was then the subtle attack began. Malachi had retreated from the mountain's structure, but it had left a part of itself behind...a seed planted in the most vulnerable place.

The silence of the room was too loud. Every creak of the old wood, every gust of wind against the glass, began to sound like a whisper of doubt. It was the same rhythm of despair that had driven the tormented monks to suicide.

Then, Pavel's lips cracked open, not to speak, but to emit a low, guttural sigh that was the precise, amplified echo of the sigh Sorin's mother gave just moments before the final flames consumed her.

Sorin: "Stop it! Leave him alone!"

The Entity (A low, ambient voice that seems to come from Pavel's blank eyes): "He is a perfect anchor now, Sorin. Empty, clean. And you... you are still spared the flame."

The entity was trying to drive Sorin mad, making him the next empty vessel. Sorin grabbed the Cyprian Relic from his pocket, pressing the cold, petrified wood against his sweating forehead, trying to ground his mind against the terror.