I awoke in the morning feeling sore in my stomach. Its not like I have a stomach ache or anything, and its not burning up like what volcanic activity does to me. Non of that at all.

Its Mr. Puffin jumping on my stomach like a trampoline.

I swear to god, the strength that this bird has is abnormally off the charts. His feet may be smooth, but the pressure on my stomach is like he's pumping something out of me.

"Wake up, you lazy head!"

That voice…I have always asked myself, 'Did this bird somehow went to Italy and learned from the mafia?'. He even hijacked one of the songs I was singing a long time ago. This bird may be the definition of death metal.

"Stop it!" I yelled out, "Are you trying to squeeze my organs out?!"

"Oh I'm sorry, sleeping beauty!" His sass made me wince, "So I shouldn't inform you that I can't find Lukas anywhere in this house!"

"What?!" I sat up immediately in my shock, with Mr. Puffin jumping off me and landing on the ground with a thud (he called me stupid once he stood up again).

On to matters though, Lukas is not here?

"What do you mean he's not here?" I looked at him on the ground. He stared back with his wings spreading in and out uncharacteristically of him.

"Exactly what I said, he's not here!" He flew to the bed, "I woke up much earlier than you. I was on my way to the kitchen to find some liquorice when I saw the door to Lukas's room open. I peeked in and…"

He paused. He never pauses like that.

"Mr. Puffin, what the hell happened?!"

"Take a look at his room!" He flew in front of my face, "I'm going to sacrifice my pride for this, but I'm begging you!"

For Mr. Puffin to practically beg me in order to check out Lukas's room…Although I know he would never let this up if I were to talk about it.

I know I can't, cause now I'm in a situation.

I shot out of bed and was forced into the bathroom by the bird (He says that hygiene is still important. I would've gone in without his help anyway). I wore my usual clothes and headed straight out of my room.

My house is pretty large, its actually a mansion. My room is situated at the end of a long hallway, where the rooms for guests are situated at the other end of the aforementioned hallway.

I had to run, seeing as how Mr. Puffin won't shut up about hurrying up.

"Hurry up, hurry up!" The bird landed on my shoulder, "He'll disappear if you slow down!"

Hold on.

"Who will disappear?" I stared at him.

"Just look!"

When I reached Lukas's room, I noticed that the door is slightly open and how unusually dark the inside looks, despite being morning right now.

I slowly opened the door further, but the room is still really dark. Too dark to even see.

"Mr. Puffin, how can you see if the room is this dark?" I muttered so quietly that he didn't hear me.

Why is his room so dark now? Lukas has a love for mythology yes, and he claims that he uses magic on a frequent basis (I still don't believe him about that) but is there any reason to darken the room?

"H-hello?" I said out loud but to only meet silence.

I then stared at the bird on my right shoulder, "Are you sure there's someone here?"

"I wouldn't lie to you!" He does have a point. Mr. Puffin is brutally honest most of the time and I really don't think he would lie in a situation like this.

When my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I can see something on top of the bed. Looks like a tall figure with tattered clothes and a horrible distorted face…

What the hell is that thing?!

My body started to quaver uncontrollably, what I'm looking at is a horribly distorted person with the face of the screamer and the right arm is seriously twisted unnaturally.

Why is that thing there instead of Lukas?!

"Where's Lukas?! What did you do to him?!" I yelled out in rage, "What are you?!"

Right after I yelled that, the thing started walking down the bed and slowly approaching me while staggering. At this point, fear kicked in me and I slammed the door, leaning against it.

"What the hell is that thing?! Why is it in my house?! WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!"

"Calm down!" Mr. Puffin yelled in my ear.

I can't calm down, how can I calm down when I saw that monster in my house?!

I needed to seek help. Just before I stood up properly, I saw one arm next to me and grabbed my neck forcefully.

I then realised that I'm being strangled by the monster.

"Gah! A-a-ack…"I struggled breathing when the hand of that monster is trying to close up my throat, "H-h-help…!"

The monster started to scream but it was unlike any ordinary scream, it was haunting in my ears and my fear amplified even more.

"Emil!" Mr. Puffin left my shoulder and started flying. He then went to hand and tried pecking it, however the monster is even more sturdy than I though it would be.

"Damn it!" Mr. Puffin flew back, "I-It's going to kill you!"

He's right, this monster is going to kill me if this keeps up! I struggled in trying to break free, but the arm is too damn strong. My sight started to dim and my mind is leaving me…I can't breath…

"Emil-san!"

I heard someone yell, and a bright flash filled my sight. When the flash happened, the monster's grip on my suddenly loosed and the arm retreated back through the door. When my sight became clear again, I saw a familiar man in front of me holding a camera.

It was Kiku Honda, or Japan.

"Emil-san, are you ok?" He extended his hand out to me. I took a while since I had to get my breathing back. When I felt like I could breath again, I grabbed his hand and stood up. Mr. Puffin flew away to the nearest celling.

"Kiku…? What're you doing here?" My voice still low, I coughed a bit.

"I'll explain it to you later, Emil-san." He raised that camera up, "I need to get rid of the ghost in that room."

"Ghost…?"

Before I can ask any further, he shoved me aside and stood right in front of the door. He then looked at me with those brown eyes of his, and I can sense anger from him.

"The moment I open this door, that ghost will come out. I need you to step outside."

I've had enough of that 'safety' bullshit, "No. I'm staying here. That…monster…invaded my home, and did something to Lukas. Whether you like it or not, I'm not going anywhere until you do your thing with that monster."

He stared at me, as if he's trying to rebut me. I stared back at him, determined to make my word clear to him that I won't take it anymore.

"…Fine. But please stand back."

I nodded and took a few steps back, my heart started pumping loudly and quickly. That strangling earlier made my heart pound really quickly.

When Kiku opened the door, the monster immediately lunged himself towards the Japanese man. Kick moved quickly to the side as I saw him focusing his camera on the monster. The ghost made small walks towards the Japanese man, and it looks like its struggling to walk in a straight line.

Once I saw the monster standing directly in front of Kiku, the camera clicked and a loud flash covered the area. I saw the monster staggering back, appearing in pain from the camera flash. In its struggle, the monster swiped it's left over towards him and pushed him with a lot of force. He landed on the ground while the camera flew from his grip and ended up sliding to my feet.

I picked up the camera in a haste and the monster immediately saw me. It started to stagger its way towards me and I automatically looked through the camera. Through the view, I see a circle that keeps glowing blue and white simultaneously.

"Emil-san, wait for the right moment!"

Taking in his words, I kept the camera focused on the monster. When I looked at it carefully, the monster looks like a man that has the appearance of a horrible distorted screamer from that famous painting. It has no eyes, but I can feel those dark sockets sending shilling vibes down my spine.

The circle surged in a light blue, is this what Kiku meant as 'the right moment'? In my confusion, the monster is dangerously close to me. That distorted face is amplifying my fear again.

"Now!"

Hearing Kiku's yell, I clicked the trigger on the camera and a loud flash surrounded the monster. It staggered back as I removed the camera from my eyes.

The monster fell to its knees, its right arm bending unnaturally and its left arm covering its face. I stared at the monster as I saw its moment of agony. It felt…horrifying.

It faded away, leaving behind a mournful yell that quickly disappeared.

"What was that?!" Mr. Puffin flew to me, "That was cool!"

"That was definitely not cool!" I argued back. I faced Kiku, who stood up from the ground and he approached me.

"Are you ok?" He asked me while eying the camera I'm holding.

"Yes." I nodded, "But what was that-"

"We are still not done yet, the room is still pitch black." Kick pointed to the open room, which is still dark even though the monster is gone. He approached the room without entering it, with me behind him, and Mr. Puffin flying behind me.

"Emil-san." He spoke to me without looking back, "I want you to look at this room through the Shaeiki."

"The sha…what?" I got confused by his wording. I know its a Japanese name, but I don't know what it means.

"Shaeiki." He looked at me over his shoulder, "Or as others might say, the Camera Obscura."

"Oh."

Kiku moved out of the way for me to enter the room slowly. When I looked through the camera, the room suddenly became well-lit like it should've been in this time in the morning.

"Look around the room, there should be something odd that caused the darkness."

Slowly and carefully, I looked at the room through this mysterious camera. The vision of this camera is limited because it has a small lens screen, so I have to really look at every nook and cranny of the room. When I focused on the window, I saw a small blue cloud covering in front of it.

"Ok Kiku, I can see this weird blue cloud covering the window. What should I do?"

"Take a picture of it. Its the spirit of the exorcised ghost."

So it was a ghost…following his word, I took a quick shot at the blue cloud. When I saw the picture that I just took, I started seeing images.

A man is running through a long wooden hallway. He is clutching his badly twisted right arm.

"I-I have to get away!" The man yelled, "Please! Don't kill me! I-I only wandered here by mistake!"

He was approaching a door that lay at the far end of the hallway, when someone stopped him. A woman wearing white and she has a distorted smile on her face.

The woman grabbed the man's face with her shockingly pale hands. The woman's face approached the man's face closer and closer…

The man screamed his last voice.

Hearing that blood curdling scream and looking at that man's face filled with absolute horror, I snapped back to reality by the shock. My breathing became loud and I looked at the ground, scared from that experience. I saw the camera on the ground, so it must mean that I dropped it when I had that vision.

His voice even sounded Icelandic.

I felt a hand landing softly on my shoulder, "That was…the last moments of that man. The ghost you exorcised."

"W-why am I seeing this…?" I looked to Kiku, "W-why…what in the world is happening?"

After calming myself down through deep breaths, I took a look around the room. Only now I noticed that the lighting is back to normal.

What I noticed from the room is that is messed up. The bed sheets are on the ground, the drawers of the dresser have fallen to the ground, the curtain has a lot of rips, and the window is broken with glass shards on the ground.

This is not what I saw through the camera at all.

"How come the room is like this…" I paused as I look at the grounded camera, "when I saw it differently earlier?

"Its the effect of the camera." I saw Kiku bending down to pick the camera up, "This camera allows the user to see those that are of the other side, as well as looking at the truest form of environments touched by the beings of the other side."

I'm starting to get it, "So…that ghost…it was a man who was murdered. An Icelandic man…" I felt sad, knowing that one of my people was murdered in a horrible way.

"Emil-san, was someone staying in this room before that ghost appeared?" Kiku stood up.

I nodded, "It was Lukas. he was staying with me ever since Mathias disappeared."

"He did not go without a fight. It appears that the ghost arrived here and was targeting your brother. He was trying to defend himself but he failed."

He's right, the mess in this room proves it. However, I don't feel satisfied knowing that. The more I think about what happened here, the angrier I get. I even felt hurt knowing it.

"Why didn't he call for help?!" I clenched my fists, "If I knew that something like this would happen last night, I would've helped him! He would still be here, giving me that everyday boring expression…talking all about magic and that norse mythology crap…and continue to pester me to call him big brother…"

This hurts so bad…my heart is aching.

"I think Lukas kept himself in the room because he doesn't want the ghost to go after you. I may not know too much about you guys, but I know that Lukas is the type to protect his family. He would do anything to protect you, as you are the only one left for him."

I'm the only one left for him…he protected me, because I'm his last family…

Yet, I failed to protect him.

"Emil-san, let's go to the living room. I have to discuss with you about the situation."

Kiku and I are sitting down on the sofas in the living room. The camera is placed on the coffee table with Mr. Puffin sitting next to it. I also ordered Mr. Puffin to shut his beak for this moment, and he agreed. (Not without anymore profanities though).

"Emil-san, in order to make sense of why I'm here, I need to talk about what happened more than 100 years ago."

I nodded, "Go on, if it will make any sense to this situation, then I'll let you talk to your heart's content."

"A paranormal investigator in my country is trying to discover ways to capture spirits in image form. In his research, he has successfully developed the Shaeiki, or the Camera Obscura if you want. The camera's function is to let the user see spirits that are still roaming in the living world."

"Wait." I interrupted, "I saw that ghost before you arrived with your camera. How was I still able to see the ghost then?"

"There are ghosts that are naked to the normal eyes. However, there are also ghosts that are very powerful, whether it be through lingering regret, dying while in extreme fear, or an unsolved rage towards something or someone in the living world. These powerful ghosts are hostile, wanting to attack anything living to let them experience the pain they are in. In fact, there are even extremely powerful ghosts that can order around weaker ones. When these ghosts want to attack, they'll make themselves visible to the living."

"I thought that those types of ghosts are stuck to the place they died." I interrupted again, "What I saw earlier, the area is nothing like anywhere in my house."

"They are tied to the place they died in. Which is why I question the ghost in your house. He did not appear to die here, if he did then you would've noticed a long time ago. Whatever ghost sent that one to this house, it must have taken a lot of power to do such an action."

It will take a lot of power to send one ghost from one location to another…

"Ok Kiku." I said, "Please go on."

"The success of the camera being able to take pictures of spirits, as well as a surprise function of exorcising spirits, has convinced the man to make more of these cameras so that other people can use them. However, after making more cameras, the creator discovered that the more you use the camera to capture spirits, the more vulnerable the users are to the other side. Afterwards, the creator stopped making the cameras and they are now a rare collector's item."

So this Camera Obscura is the result of a man's research of wanting to take pictures of spirits. However, the side-effects were enough to stop production. I bet that the more people use this camera, the more worried and paranoid they got. After all those people can see ghosts, its enough to make someone insane.

"Years later, a wealthy father who lives in a mansion found one of the cameras thinking that it is simply an antique collection. The father's family are known collectors of antique items. In curiosity, each family member in the mansion tried out the camera. It consists of the father, the mother, the older son, and the youngest daughter. The whole family started seeing things they shouldn't see, and they even passed on this sort of influence unknowingly to their close ones and this influence caused the close ones to either go insane or get killed.."

"So what did that family do?"

"The father made a verdict, that they should all live separately from each other. They can do this since the son and daughter are already working adults at that time, and everyone is starting to become paranoid. So the father used his vast wealth to build mansions in different countries, and sent each member of his family to live in different countries."

I know that the father is acting our of desperation and safety, but there are better ways of solving this situation instead of sending his wife and kids to different areas! They could research more about the camera, they could consult with an occultist, heck if they understood the camera they would have a means to fight back!

I'm getting riled up after hearing that the family had to separate. I don't take separation too well, even though I'm an isolated country. I would've questioned Kiku why he told me this story of that family, but I decided to wait as he said that he needs to explain the history of the events related to this camera.

"Time passed since each family member had to separate, and they were content with isolation if it means that they won't have any more paranoid feelings. However, soon the family started dying. The son died first, followed by the mother, then the daughter, and finally the father. Their deaths were mysterious and still remain unsolved to this day."

Kiku's story makes sense but why does he know all of this?

"Wait a minute, Kiku." I interrupted for the second time, "How come you know all of this? Are you involved with that situation somehow…?"

"I found out about this when I was asked to help for an investigation. The investigation revolves around the death of a man who lives alone in a secluded mansion, back in Japan. That man is the father. I…don't want to explain that right now, but that investigation is where I found out about the camera, and the man's family. Through more research, I've heard rumours that one of the members went to a european country but I can't find which country exactly."

After I heard that, I felt myself knowing a bit about what he is about to say next…truthfully, I'm scared that he'll mention the disappearances but I managed to keep my emotions at bay.

"When I heard 2 months ago that Tino-kun, Berwald-san, and Mathias-kun went missing, I was curious. The story of the family I told you earlier was never in any news media because of the mysterious history and lack of records, so nobody knows its true nature."

That story was never in any news media? Now that I think about it, the higher officials of Finland, Sweden, and Denmark refused to say anymore about the disappearances other than the fact that they disappeared here in Iceland.

Now I realised something I missed: Nobody was able to enter their houses to investigate. The higher officials closed down their houses since they are investigating it themselves but the lack of news makes me doubt that they are doing anything at all. Some people might have seen pitch black rooms inside the houses, just like the guest room a while ago, and figured that it is not safe so they closed down the houses.

That made me realise that ghosts must have entered their homes at some point. However, Tino was seen here in Iceland and the last time I saw Berwald and Mathias was also here in Iceland.

Won't that mean that they fought off the ghosts and went investigate here knowing what was happening? So the reason Tino never told me he went here is because of his experience with that ghost, and didn't want to drag anyone with him. Berwald found rumours about a forest here, and went to investigate himself maybe knowing that whatever happened to Tino also happened to him. I think Mathias, after that experience, felt horrified that something like that happened to Tino and Berwald, so he also investigated.

If Tino chose to investigate here in my country from that experience, then the ghosts that attacked them are Icelandic.

"They're houses were closed off from everyone without a reason. I think the ghosts attacked those three at some time period, and went here to investigate why. They can't get back to their houses, as there are also pitch black rooms. The ghost that attacked us earlier and the ghosts that attacked them are Icelandic people, by the accent." I sighed and looked at the Japanese man, "Does that mean that you have a theory that one of the family members used to live here in Iceland?"

"Its just a theory, but it makes a lot of sense." He looked up to the ceiling, "Iceland is a country far from the other european countries, and it has a small population."

That's true.

"So you came here to see if your theory holds true, and you came to see me…why?"

"Emil-san, I want you to help me." He grabbed the camera from the table, "I want to investigate the theory, and I know that you want to find everyone else. You can use the camera like I can, except that since this is your country I feel that the camera would work better for you this time. Since earlier that ghost resisted my attack and managed to almost defeat me if you haven't intervened. I was also about to ask Lukas-san for help but…he's also gone. So…please help me."

So that's it…he came here to investigate more about this family, and he knew that the disappearances are tied to the mystery. However, I'm getting a lot of questions about this…

"Why do they need them? Why do they need us?" I lowered my head, "Do they need us for something? Why are we the targets? Do they know that we are personification of nations? Kiku, I won't rest easy if I don't know the answers."

"So you'll agree to help me investigate and save your family?" He said while smiling and handing me the camera. I looked at his smiling face and then to the camera.

That was when I smirked myself, and grabbed the camera from Kiku's hands.

"I'll save them. You can do what you want with your objective, but mine is to have my family back."

Kiku nodded and stood up looking a bit more proud, "Then we leave for that forest today. I think Its called he…hed…uh…its somewhere in the capital…um re..rek…"

"Heiðmörk in Reykjavik." I said for him, "Its close by this house, but bringing a car would catch attention. Walking would be around 2 hours more or less. Running would take 1 hour more or less. Its also not a good idea to commute, as that will also catch attention. Our best bet is to leave right now."

"Ok, Emil-san…Um…" Kiku interrupted, "Pardon for asking this but how come you know that? The walking and running, I mean."

"When I don't feel like isolating myself in this house, I just…walk." I then picked up Mr. Puffin, "I'll gather some things first, and I'll meet you down here."

Kiku nodded as I headed upstairs to my room. When I entered my room and closed the door behind me, Mr. Puffin flew up to my face.

"Are you crazy?!" He yelled out, "After that ghost experience, you and that asian boy will get hurt! Speaking of that asian boy, can you seriously trust him?"

I looked at the bird before moving to the closet, "Kiku is mostly the serious type. The story that he told, and the ghost here earlier, matches up. If I'm going to find everyone, then Kiku is my best bet."

I opened the closet and grabbed a brown satchel bag that's hanging from a clothes hanger. I placed the Camera Obscura inside and I proceeded to my work desk. From the main drawer, I grabbed a blue covered journal. The journal was a recent gift from Mathias, as he said that he noticed that my old one is going to be full soon. I soon smacked him for even looking at it.

"Why are you bringing that?" Mr. Puffin asked.

I placed the journal in the satchel bag, "Recording purposes. I'm going to write down what I'm going to experience, so that I won't forget it. I just have to be careful of Mathias snooping around, again."

"So you got everything you need so that we can go?"

"I'm going to bring some bottles of water and some of Lukas's home-made pastries, so that food and water won't be a problem for tonight. Also," I looked at the puffin, "You are staying here."

"Huh?!" The bird panicked, "Why?! Without me, you'll be weak! I'm much stronger than you are!"

"Mr. Puffin." I grabbed the bird, "You have been with me ever since I was a newly discovered country. You and I may not see the same right now, or even have the same personalities, but I would never let you get hurt."

I then pulled the bird closer, so that he will look directly at me.

"I don't want to have to worry about you, as I'm already worrying about everyone else. If I know that you are here safe and sound, then that'll be one less thing to worry about."

I'm serious about this. Mr. Puffin could be called a childhood friend of mine, and if he gets hurt, then I go nuts over him. He may talk like a mafia guy, is absolutely prideful, and likes to talk back to me…

He's too important to me.

"…Fine, you win, tough guy." I released him from my grip and he flew up, "But if you go missing too, I'm taking this house for myself and I'll be called Iceland!"

I made a small chuckle, "Then I have to make sure that I'm back so that I can still be called Iceland."

Afterwards, I walked down to the kitchen to grab some bottles of water and some of the pastries Lukas bakes. I would never say this in front of his face but his pastries are absolutely delicious and I can't get enough of it. Maybe Kiku would like it as well.

When I'm all done preparing, I met up with the Japanese man in the living room.

He stood up from the couch, "Are you ready?"

"You don't have to ask."

He and I went out of the mansion and as I was about to lock the door, I saw Mr. Puffin standing on the railings of the 3rd floor balcony.

"You better get back, do you hear me Emil Steilsson?!" he squawked out, "I swear to god, if you go fuckin' missing on me, I'll take your place as Iceland and turn this country into a mafia!"

I gave the small bird a small smile, "Food's in the kitchen. Help yourself to whatever you like, ok? See you later."

Waving bye to the bird, Kiku and I started to walk our way to Heiðmörk in order to solve this mystery.