Van was in the study with his assigned teacher, they were going over the preparations for when he went into the haunted house.

It turned out, the haunted house was more than a haunted house. It was what people call, a focal point.

Imagine when several dimensions and planes cross, a focal point is created. It's a demiplane where beings from multiple realities, most that are dangerous, will slowly fall into overtime. If not contained, it can break, and we would have a breaking, like what happened all those years ago. If properly regulated, they are a great way of training and earning essence, if too dangerous, their focal point or focal core is destroyed.

But there are many different types of focal points. One is when many people die and their essence, their souls, get entangled. Their soul realms get mangled together and you have a demiplane of tortured psyches producing things out of a nightmare. That’s where he was going into. A haunted house where the souls of the damned are trapped and suffering.

This was a layover from back when the Nilfan empire still ruled when they experimented with the souls of their victims to see what they could create. One of those experiments was to create artificial focal points made of the souls of suffering people.

The reason as to why such places were still allowed to exist, was to be a lesson of the horrors that unsanctioned necromancy can bring. And how to fix it and deal with the real horrors of true undead.

Van’s goal was to enter, reach the core, and temporarily subdue it. Not to destroy it. The haunted house has been used many times over the years to help train future necromancers and spirit callers. So many precautions have been taken to ensure that no real harm will befall the trainee that enters. Though you can still be hurt gravely if you're not careful.

They were given an amulet, that will protect the wearer from life-threatening harm by teleporting them out of the focal point, something only possible because of the way space and time work differently in a focal point. Such as the house being bigger on the inside than the outside, that kind of thing.

Taking a deep breath, Van put on his new upgraded coat/robe, mixing some of his old fabric with the new spirit caller/necromancer wardrobe. Full of sigils and runes, and thanks to his parents, handed to a skilled artisan that not only gave his new clothes a great style but enchantments for protection. Such as water and damage resistance, along with some very nice and comfortable boots.

But what made him the happiest, was when he was finally given a spirit caller's lantern of his very own. A black metal cylinder with eight legs and eight panes of glass with a flickering ghostly blue fire in its center. Gracefully made with small designs with curves and smooth edges, woven with enchantments and runes of its own. The lantern looked very cool clasped to his waist, opposite of his saber that he decided to bring with him.

Finally, he received an enchanted mana orb that has been repurposed to not only store mana, but to act as a focus for his spells. Not something he really needed since he was a sorcerer, but still appreciated since it was a gift from Lorenzo.

After making a few more final checks, he walked to the gate of the haunted house with his teacher.

“Are you sure you are ready?” his teacher asked. “While it is true we take every precaution, it's still very dangerous. You will have to use everything you have learned just to get by. There is no shame in turning back and trying again when you feel more confident.”

Van took a deep breath and let it out, steeling his resolve. “I’m fine, I’m ready for this.” he said, but inside thought. “it would be weird if I wasn’t, if I can fight off a giant snake then I can probably handle this.” to himself.

The teacher nodded and turned to the old iron gate and chanted a few spells that seemed to unlock a few magical protections. With an eerie sound, the rusty gate opened and Van walked in.

The second that he did, it slowly closed behind him on its own with an audible click. Van shivered at the sound, but his eyes did not stray from the small mansion in front of him.

From outside the gate, the mansion looked large and dark. From the other side, the house turned into a foreboding citadel with fog clinging to the ground. The change was like night and day, and all of a sudden, Van felt weird, off, like he was walking through water, but the feeling slowly passed and he felt normal again.

“Was that the feeling they were talking about?” Van thought back to when they warned him that entering a focal point would feel a little weird and hazy at first. As if you're dreaming, or that there were two of you taking up the same space, slight blurring of vision, and even a few other minor problems like headaches and nausea that were all temporary until your body adjusted to it. For him, it felt like he traveled millions of miles all in one second, like he was moving, even though he was not moving.

Thankfully the feeling slowly faded away and he felt like he could finally breathe normally again. He didn’t have to worry about being attacked right away since when you enter a focal point, it takes some time for the denizens of the place to take notice of you. Or even harm you for that matter, but the longer you stay inside, the worse it can get and one can easily lose their life if they stay too long.

People have been known to go a little mad inside focal points if they overstay their welcome. And for places like these, if you die here your soul could risk entrapment and you will be fuel for the core as it uses your body to add to its growth. For other focal points, it could be different.

Unfortunately for Van, he didn't’ have to wait too long for something to slowly move from within the fog and make its way to him. As a shambling pile of rotten flesh, organs spilled, eyes glazed and vacant, and a long-suffering moan of pain and despair that sent a shiver down Van’s spine slowly came into view.

The zombie slowly moved closer into his vision, showing him all of the disgusting glory of what a true undead looked like. A vision that Van could have done without for the rest of his life.

Taking a mental step back, and centering his thoughts, he went back to what he remembered from his classes. Sending a pulse of spiritual energy to check if there was a true soul in the zombie as he prepared to either destroy the foul creature or to save it.

Finding no soul, Van wasted no time in taking a small thin metal rod from his satchel and gently banged his lantern. The sound was like a bell going off, full with a loud ringing chime that was both beautiful and sweet. Some spirit callers had to be warned that they could get addicted to that sound if they are not careful. And he could understand why, he felt like his soul took a sudden cold cleansing bath.

Admonishing himself mentally for not putting the proper protections before ringing it the way he did. He put the lantern away as he watched the zombie freeze and stutter as if a few of its strings had been cut.

Taking out his new enchanted mana focusing orb, he decided not to waste any more time on the zombie and blasted it with a large fireball. A waste of mana, true, but at least it gave him some peace of mind as the zombie was blown to literal pieces and faded away, becoming pure essence that he absorbed. Though the scene of watching a body being ripped into many small bits with flesh and organs flying everywhere was not going to leave his mind anytime soon. Making him regret his hasty decision.

“Come on Van, pull yourself together! You're making rookie mistakes! Just calm down…” he then took another deep breath and let it out, and prepared himself for what else might follow.

Taking a look around he extended his senses out to check if any other dangers lurked nearby. Finding none, he slowly walked forward into the foreboding fog that seemed to cover the place. Not wanting to go straight into the house, he walked around the vicinity, hugging the edges and the large iron fencing.

He spent the next hour blasting the few zombies that were out and about and took the opportunity to gather some ghost weed that tended to grow near undead as well as a few other hard-to-find herbs.

“It's weird to find that such strange and rare herbs and materials can be found naturally in a focal point. I can understand why some people would actually want to keep such places open, knowing the risks. There's a lot of wealth that can be had if properly maintained and if you're careful.” he thought to himself. As he gathered a few more herbs and the spiritual residue of the zombies he blasted. He even found a single copper coin, a very rare find since focal points can’t so easily create things from nothing. Growing something was one thing, actual materials a whole other, though he had heard that some focal points seemed to specialize in that.

Walking around the mansion, he didn’t find much. While the essence and herbs were nice, it honestly was a waste of time. Worse, he was starting to feel like he was being watched, another side effect of staying in a focal point for too long.

Not wanting to waste any more time, he walked to the front of the mansion and up its steps until he was standing in front of two large doors that were made of wood and metal. The doors looked thick and heavy, and gave a strange sense of danger, almost as if they were more meant to keep something in, rather than the people out.

Steeling his himself once more, he pushed open the doors and walked into a large open space with a chandelier hanging overhead and low lighting from the many lamps on the walls. The flooring was tiled in a strange pattern of black and greys. Cobwebs were strewn about, and while lessened, the fog seemed to have also made its home within the walls of this haunted place. There seemed to be two floors, with a winding staircase on either side of the room. And several doors that seemed to lead out to many hallways that lead deeper in.

The loud bang behind him was all the warning he got as he snapped his head back to find the two large doors had closed behind him. He didn’t even remember entering…

Now... he was alone.

Calming himself, he started to move forward, his steps the only sound that echoed through the area. Once in the center of the large room, he looked around to see where he should go first. Steeling himself, he focused on the flow of energy to get an idea of where the core was. But the closed doors prevented him from doing so. If he was going to figure out where the core was, he was going to have to explore.

Deciding to take the rooms closest to the door, he went and entered one of the hallways. Rows of doors on one side, windows on the other, everything from the walls to the lamps was gilded and looked expensive, but old, as if they were not taken care of for centuries, the designs probably dating back to the Nilfan empire. Which meant that no matter how grandiose it all looked, it was black and foreboding.

Walking down the hallway, he looked back to find that he had not moved at all. A little creeped out, he turned ahead and walked further down, only for the second that he turned his head he would find himself back at the entrance. Now very creeped out, he realized if he wanted to get down the hallway, he would have to do so without looking back, at all.

As he went down the dank and foggy corridor he decided to check on the architecture and some of the items that were strewn about. Some that looked like they would be worth something. Unfortunately, unless made clear, you could not bring out things like chairs or painting, or other things from a focal point. As most of the items are made of a strange substance that, while real in the focal point, dissipates once out of it.

Even the copper coin he received from before, was probably something that someone dropped by accident, and the focal point repurposed for its own ends. this didn’t mean that you couldn’t use items made in the focal point. Such as hitting a monster with said chair, but you couldn’t bring it out.

As Van walked, he kept note of everything and anything that might be worth looking at. You never know what could be lootable, or a trap that would kill you. Slowly checking the rooms as he went down the hall to see what was inside them. His heart beating a million rounds each time he had to push a creaking door. He found that so far, he was alone. Alone except for the fog and his own thoughts.

A little worried about how quiet it has been so far, he decided to use his mana sight. And was blinded a little as the fog seemed to reflect the mana, indicating that it was more than just mere fog. But looking around he couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. He was alone.

And he continued to be as he walked down the hall, checking the rooms. The only sound he heard was the creaking of the house, and the echoes of his own footsteps, plus whatever actions he decided to take.

It was starting to weigh on him. The oppressive silence, he almost preferred the zombies back outside. Hell, he would prefer going back to work at the brothel for a day than be here.

But that was his fear talking… and if he started to get too afraid, he might not be alone soon, as his fear would attract the things that feed on it.

But no matter how much he looked, or how far he went, he found nothing and not a soul. Whether that was in the kitchen, dining room, or any other of the places on the first floor. The only places he hasn’t checked yet were the upstairs and the basement.

Sighing, he took one of the hallways, they were a bit confusing, looking back would set you back at its entrance, but if they turned, you might end up walking into another hallway or back where you entered.

It was while walking down one of these weird hallways that he was suddenly lifted up by the neck and smashed against the side of the wall!

Van struggled as something had an iron grip on him, and he was lifted up again and smashed to the other side of the wall. Something big was flinging him around like a rag doll, nothing solid as far as he could feel, but that didn’t really matter.

When it first started tossing him around he tried to free himself with his hands but found no purchase as it went right through whatever was holding him up. So giving up on that, he used his hands to grab his lantern and metal rod and bang them together. The sweet chime of the lantern made whatever was holding recoil in pain, as it let out a high piercing shriek and let go of him.

Falling to the floor, Van whipped around to find himself face to face with a large apparition. It was huge, with eyes completely red, claws black, wearing some sort of ragged clothing with a hood. It had no lower torso, and its hood only seemed to show its eyes and black nothingness until it opened its mouth and screamed bloody murder. Most likely his.

Van wrung the lantern again as he got back up on his legs. Making the horrifying creature recoil, but also making it madder than it was before. Not feeling like he could handle such a thing right now, he turned and ran down the rest of the hallway, giving one last and very loud ring of his lantern to deter it from following him as he closed the doors behind him.

Breathing heavily, his heart feeling like it was about to explode, he forced himself to calm it down, using the techniques he had learned over the years of his training.

Once calm, he berated himself for running away. The apparition was scary true and was obviously powerful, also true. But if he realized if he was prepared, while it would be difficult, he could have taken care of it, given enough time.

Unfortunately, time was not on his side. For he found himself back at the entrance, something he would now be dubbing the grand hall. It seemed that the mansion finally decided to wake up. Because the moans of the damned were now sounding everywhere. And zombies, ghosts, and more were now walking all over the place. Worse, as he banged the doors behind him, they all turned to look at him.

He wasn’t alone anymore...