Not every village on the map is meant to be found.
A quiet town, a couple of kind strangers… and an ancient pact sealed in the dark.
Chapter 1: The Devil Helps if You Ask
Norman, an insurance broker, travels to a small town in Germany. His goal is to win over new clients. But his car breaks down on the way, still far from the small town.
Then, Norman’s “luck” seems to change with the sudden arrival of a car that unexpectedly stops in front of him.
A charismatic elderly couple pulls over and asks where noble Norman was headed. Once he tells them, they promptly offer him a ride, but only if he asks for it.
“Dear Mr. Norman, we can give you a ride to our beloved Doris, but you must ask us!”
said the lady accompanying her husband.
With little choice, and despite finding the situation a bit strange and unusual, he politely asks for the ride.
Chapter 2: Welcome to Doris
They arrive in Doris, a small, distant, and quiet town in rural Germany. Since it was already quite late, Norman asks the elderly couple if there was any place to stay overnight. But they explain there are no hotels or inns in Doris.
Instead, they kindly offer him a guest room so he can sleep peacefully.
Chapter 3: The Dead Hour
In the dead silence of the night, where nothing could be heard at all, Norman gets up to go to the bathroom and notices the back door is open.
What’s disturbing is that the back of the couple’s house opens directly into a dark and dense forest.
Chapter 4: The Welcome Ritual
Worried about the kind couple who had helped him, Norman decides to follow them. He follows a narrow path and soon spots a bonfire.
Surrounding it is what seems to be nearly the entire population of Doris.
In some kind of ritual, they chant:
“He who is just passing by, we offer him!
Oh, Lord! Within the flames.”
Chapter 5: A Good and Quiet Night
As the chanting continues, Norman sees the figure of a large goat emerging from the fire.
Suddenly, the flames go out, and everything is swallowed by darkness.
Norman runs and runs but just before he can reach the door he came from, the great black goat pulls him into the dark, dense forest of Doris.
And all those people return to their beds… for a good and quiet night of sleep.