It was hairless, with gray skin, a bruised skull, cracked open in a few places, a black liquid oozing out. Beneath the torn clothes, its body was emaciated. Its milky-white eyes bulged and mouth was open from one side of its head to the other, revealing long, sharp teeth gnawing on something.
Nagisa bit hard on his jacket, to keep himself from screaming.
Its claw-like hands held onto a human leg. Blue jeans and a shoe were visible under the feeble light. Wheezing and snorting, the creature devoured the leg—jeans and shoe too—until only the bones were left. It set them aside, one next to the other, then proceeded to grab the rest of the shape lying on the floor.
Was that truly a human? Was this a deranged joke? That couldn’t have been a real human leg… could it?
A crack and the creature started feasting on the other leg. That was the sound. Bones cracking. He’d never heard such a sound before. Sickening. And the snorting and the gnawing. His stomach tied in knots, twisting, bile rising toward his throat.
This wasn’t a prank. This was real.
Finishing the leg, the creature dived into what must’ve been the torso. Nagisa couldn’t look anymore. The sounds nauseated him. He wanted to throw up.
Shit.
He needed to leave now while the creature was busy eating. He willed his body to move and stood on wobbly legs. Did he even have the strength to run? No, it was a bad idea to run. He couldn’t risk being heard.
Slowly backing away, but keeping his eyes on the room’s door, Nagisa reached another hallway and turned around. The wooden floor snapped under him, catching part of his boot. Panicking, he crouched, pulling out his foot, making more noise.
A low hiss and shuffling came from inside the room. The creature had heard him.
Nagisa ran, not caring where the hell the hallway took him. He needed to get far away from that thing. But the wheezes and snorts were getting closer.
No, no, no!
He rounded a corner, entering another dark hallway. The wheezes grew louder. It was behind him.
An icy hand grabbed onto his jaw from behind, fingers digging into his cheek, muffling his scream. An arm snaked around his body and dragged Nagisa backwards into a room. He struggled and whimpered, but the monster’s grasp was strong.
The door slid closed.
CHAPTER 2
Nagisa whimpered, waiting to be eaten alive. Or maybe killed and then eaten as a cadaver. Was all this a hallucination? Was that thing really a ghost?
“Be quiet,” a voice whispered.
Nagisa snapped his eyes open. A young man—looking early twenties—with smooth, raven hair tied in a loose bun, knelt beside Nagisa, holding his mouth in a tight grip. He wore a blue summeryukata, top and pants and was bare-footed. His attention was focused on the closed door as he was probably listening for that creature, but no sounds came from the hallway.
The man pulled his hand away carefully as though he expected Nagisa to yell, but he wouldn’t do that. This man, whoever he was, just saved his life.
“Are you unharmed?” the man asked.
Nagisa gave a slow, uncertain nod.
“You shouldn’t have come here.”
“What the hell is that thing?”
The man put a finger to his lips. “Keep your voice low. It’s still nearby. It likes to wander inside the castle and out in the forest, looking for people dumb enough to visit this place.”
Nagisa opened his mouth to protest at the insult, but it was well-deserved. He’d been foolish to come here. After calming down a bit, he looked around. It was a tentatamifloors room, with a clean, whitefutonmattress and duvet on the right and two sliding doors next to it, slightly ajar, hiding rows of shelves. On his left was anirori—a square sunken hearth—and above it hung a steaming ceramic kettle.
A low table with old rolled parchments on it and a legless chair stood in one corner. Three bamboo and paper lanterns lit the room, one on the table next to the parchments, the other two on the floor in the opposite corners of the room.
The smell of rot didn’t reach this area even though there were no windows to ventilate it. The room was spotless like it didn’t even belong in the castle. His gaze fell on the thin walls—perfectly intact compared to the rest of the building—and Nagisa squinted. For a second, he had the odd impression they glinted purple in the light of the lanterns, but when he blinked, the purple glow disappeared.
The man stood and opened the door just a fraction, peering out into the hallway. Nagisa saw the dilapidated castle beyond and realized he was still inside the building.