Breaking the balance

Chapter 4

It was already the 30th of December. I had been at my apartment for five days now. Living on my own wasn't quite as exciting as I imagined it, but I was still happier than I had been with my parents. The neighborhood was nice and quiet. Nearby, people were setting up for a New Years party. I was able to sneak back to my house when my parents were out. Stacked in the corner of my room were four boxes of stuff. It's fine, I'd unpack them tomorrow.

Tomorrow finally rolled around, forcing me to actually start unpacking my boxes. Although, I had left it until like...11:30pm. Almost midnight. My walls were kinda thin, so I could hear everything going on at the New Years party. It sounded fun. I brushed it off. I wasn't really interested anyways.

After a while I made my way through all the boxes, and laid down on the floor to relax a bit. My head lolled to the side, my gaze catching on something under my dresser. It was the book I got from my grandma. It must've slid under there somehow. I pulled it out, realizing I hadn't had a chance to look at it yet. Flipping through the pages, I started to wonder just how old it actually was. It was even in a strange language I didn't know. Except for one page. This page was translated into English. The lines were roughly rewritten with red ink. The ink itself was a very deep red, and seemed to flake off the paper. It didn't occur to me that it might've been blood. I started to read the text.
"Let the ancient one rise,
For they shall bring about the end?"
Something told me I should stop reading, but I continued.
"The ancient one will grant thee whatever they desire...for a price,"
Whoever wrote the translation had terrible handwriting, I could barley tell what it said.
"Shake his hand,
And surrender your soul?"

After I read the last line-with difficulty-the entire book crumbled to dust. At first I thought it was just because the book was so old, but suddenly the dust burst into red  flames. An invisible force threw me into the wall, and I barley registered the sound of fireworks outside. A figure rose from the flames, almost like a Phoenix rising from its own ashes. A pair of glowing red eyes locked onto mine, and I felt paralyzing fear spread through my body. The figure strode towards me. I desperately wanted to run, but I was frozen to the spot. Shutting my eyes tight, I expected to feel pain. Maybe from something ripping through my flesh, but all I felt was a light poke to my forehead.
"Hey kid, what year is it?"

Update my dear readers ☺️🤌
I'm trying to write as much as I can but my school year ends in a week and I'm going on a trip right after so I'm gonna be a little busy.