THE CURSE OF MADNESS

　　Ethan is in the fields, waiting for the guards to join him so they can find out what is hidden in the basement of the house at the edge of town. His eyes were red as he couldn't sleep the previous night, thanks to the strange girl he caught trying to seduce her way to his bed. He is yet to question lady Zara, who the girl claimed to be her mother.

　　He focuses his energy on completing the mission, once he settles it, then he can talk to Lady Zara about the strange encounter he had with the petite wolf in the dark.

　　"Alpha, we are ready!" Max says.

　　Most of the men in town are too scared to go into that basement. They say whoever goes in there never returns. Ethan knows all of that was just gimmicks so they won't go down there and since he promised not to force anyone, he let them be. But he needs to know how many men were going with them.

　　"Okay, how many of the men are going?" Ethan asks.

　　"Only five men agreed to come," Max says. The people of the town had become cowards. They've lived in fear for so long, they had forgotten what it was like to be brave.

　　"I can make do with that, Let's go." They mount their vehicles, two black SUVs, and then zoom off to the place. The people in town, stand by their doorsteps watching the brave soldiers and their Alpha risk their sanity into this hole they all feared to go to.

　　Soon they reach the edge of town and they all park in front of the building. The door is still broken down, just kike the last time he came and it didn't look like someone or anything went through it.

　　Ethan is at the lead, holding the big torchlight Max gave to him. He passes the scattered sitting area, slowly maneuvering his way around the broken chairs and table. They enter the kitchen area and Ethan recognizes the long corridor ahead of him. He picks up the breathing of the men behind him and he can tell how scared they are, despite their large muscles.

　　Ethan chuckles.

　　These were third-generation werewolves that have not faced war. They don't know exactly what it feels like to be scared. When they live long enough, the story might change and they won't be scared of entering a dark basement in the middle of their town.

　　They reach in front of the door that leads to the basement and Ethan raises his hands, stopping them. He hears their relieved breath and he turns around to face the men. Aside from Max, they were all looking scared, but they still try to put on a brave face when Ethan turned. He can see the twitches on their faces.

　　"I know you are all scared but I want you to take a deep breath. We can conquer whatever is in there if you all believe it. But if you don't, the mission is already lost before we even begin," he says looking them in the eyes.

　　"There are about a hundred men in this town, but only five of you are here today because you care about your families and your town. Not because you think you can stand whatever is in there but because you want to put an end to the tyranny and fear in your homes and I salute all for that." As he speaks the men, start standing straighter and puffing their chests. This is the energy, Ethan is looking for.

　　"You are brave soldiers and that bravery will win against any battle!" Ethan says and the men looked about ready to conquer anything.

　　"Now, you are ready!" Ethan says turning to face the door again. He takes the first step unto the old stair and it creaks under his weight. Holding himself up he descends to the bottom in a good state.

　　"Don't put all your weight, the stair won't hold. It's too old." He warns the men as he proceeds deeper into the basement.

　　He is shocked to find the basement properly arranged. It is not as destroyed as the rooms on the upper floor. He focuses his light on the walls and finds them to be reinforced with concrete.  Going further, he finds another door, this one is a metal door and he is about to pull it open when a loud crash resonates in the basement.

　　Ethan turns to it and finds the men running towards him. "What's going on?" He asks them. He points his light behind them but finds nothing chasing them. "Why are you running?"

　　"It's coming Alpha!" The one at the front says catching his breath.

　　Ethan is confused. He points the torchlight to the direction they all came from and finds nothing. He even tries to use his wolf senses to feel but he gets nothing. There is nothing evil or strange happening.

　　"What was that sound?" Ethan asks them.

　　"Alpha, it's death himself! We are all going to die down here!" Another cries, falling to his knees.

　　The men were starting to make him go crazy. None of them is giving him a sensible answer. Something crashed and rather than find out what it is, they concluded that it was a monster or evil coming to kill them.

　　Ethan clicks his tongue and starts going back the way they had come.

　　"No! Alpha! What are you doing?" They all cry out.

　　Ethan pays them no attention. He continues heading back till he got to the source of the matter. There was dust everywhere and he has to squint his eyes to be able to see what is ahead of him. Something fell to the ground, the pecs of dust are enough evident.

　　Using his senses he moves till he gets to the foot of the stair they had come through and raising his torchlight he discovers it is the old wooden stair that broke.

　　The men ran because of a broken stair!

　　Ethan is about to go back and tell them about their silliness when a shadow starts growing in the dust. He places his torch on it and starts moving closer to it. Whatever it is, he will find out. The closer he gets he begins to see that it is a man, a very familiar man... Max.

　　"Max?" He calls.

　　Max turns to his light and walks a few meters closer to him. "Alpha, have you found anything?"

　　"Just a door down there. What happened here?" Ethan asks him.

　　"The last man to come down the stair came too fast and the poor structure gave way." He says with amusement in his eyes. "The rest didn't even wait to check what it was before they ran off crying in fear."

　　Ethan shakes his head again. Getting these people to become brave is not going to be an easy task at all. He and Max return to where the others were still panting in fear.

　　There is relief on their faces as they see Ethan and Max, so much so that Max snickers at them.

　　"Guys it was just the stair that broke!" He explained laughing.

　　Max expected them to laugh, even Ethan had the same idea, but the fear In their eyes only intensified by that information.

　　"This is a bad omen! Humans say broken stairs are signs of doom!" One cried out, causing the rest to even shiver in fear.

　　The air changes as their fear fill the room. Ethan watches them and starts seeing a different opinion to what he had before, maybe there is no monster or evil in this place. Their fear is what affects them. They allow it to eat at them so much so that they let it feed into their thoughts. Looking around in the basement, there is nothing in it. Just a strangely organized place.

　　"How do we leave here?" Another squeak.

　　Max's face palms himself. "Guys, it is normal for an old stair to break! Have you seen yourself, dude!"

　　But Ethan is no longer paying attention to them. His eyes are focused on the basement. Why is it so well arranged and the rest of the house is in disarray? There is something wrong here!

　　As he turns the torchlight around, it falls on the metal door again. There has to be an answer to all of these in there — he thinks to himself.

　　"I want this door opened!" He booms and the room falls silent.

　　The men stop arguing with Max who was laughing his heart out and they all turn to stare at Ethan then as if the words Ethan had said finally sank into their heads, they turn slowly to the door he mentioned.

　　Max goes to it and tries the knob. It shakes but doesn't open. "Alpha, we'll be needing a key to open this one!" Max says.

　　Ethan moves to it. He places his palms against it, testing the strength. He pushes gently and the hinges cry out.

　　"It isn't strong. Enough amount of force and it will break," Ethan tells Max.

　　Feeling left out, one of the men comes forward and leans on the door, also testing the strength. He finds it is indeed not too strong. Without saying a word, he decides to brave up and suddenly he throws his weight to the door.

　　"Good. That's my man!" Max encourages him and the guy takes another step back and throws his weight to the door again. The lower hinges start pulling but it's still not enough to open the door.

　　Another joins him and they both start throwing their weight to the door. Slowly the lower hinges finally come off. Seeing their hard work show, two others come forward and stop them.

　　"Rest your shoulders, let us give it a try too," The new team tells the other two.

　　They step back gratefully and the new guys start going to the door. Before long the basement his filled with grunts from the men and a loud banging sound from the contact of their bodies to the door. Slowly the top hinges start coming off too.

　　The door falls open and they all step back waiting for the dust the broken door caused to settle.

　　By the time the dust settled and the content of the room is exposed, they all remain standing with the shock of their lives.

　　Ethan feels more anger than he felt towards Mike earlier.

　　The first time he came here, he saw someone down in this basement and he tried to follow the person but Mike insisted that it was only his imagination and there was nothing down here only the curse of madness. But he had lied.