NOVEL
Fantasy
Village of Secrets:
Experimentation in the
Mist
Created by:
Björk / MADYAMIN PRATANZA
Created on: March 16, 2024
Chapter 1: Village of Secrets
Tanjiro Kamado gazed out at the misty treetops as he and his
sister Nezuko arrived at the village outskirts. A sense of
foreboding hung heavy in the damp air. Wisps of pale fog
drifted between the dark silhouettes of bare branches like lost
souls wandering the forest.
The village lay shrouded in an unnatural gloom at the bottom of
the sloping mist-swirled hill. Clustered thatch-roofed houses
huddled together as if for comfort against unnamed threats
lurking in the woods. Not a soul stirred on the empty dirt lanes
winding between lifeless straw walls. An unnatural stillness
blanketed the isolated hamlet.
Tanjiro glanced at Nezuko riding in her bamboo stretcher at his
back. Her eyes, usually bright even beneath the straw hat and
mask concealing her demonic nature, regarded the eerie scene
with unspoken concern. She had always been sensitive to
disturbances in the natural order most humans failed to
perceive. A soft sigh escaped her as if sharing Tanjiro's grim
premonition that not all was as it seemed within this nameless
mist-cloaked town. As Tanjiro entered the village outskirts, the
first sign of life emerged in the form of furtive looks from
behind window shutters. Shadowy faces peered out at them,
withdrawing swiftly as if burned by the Demon Slayer's
piercing azure gaze. Muttered voices drifted from behind closed
doors, a susurrus of suspicion and fear.
Tanjiro noted the villagers' superstitious stares and shaken
whispers with a grim sense of unease. Their fearful hostility
hinted at darker forces at work beyond the village borders.
Beside him, Nezuko kept her head dutifully lowered within her
bamboo carrier, though her brother sensed her troubled spirit.
Even concealed, the villagers' terror of her inhuman nature
must sting like salt on unseen wounds. Yet she remained as ever
a silent, supportive presence at his side.
With a reassuring hand on Nezuko's stretcher, Tanjiro walked on
beneath the weight of unspoken dread in the mist-choked
streets. Something sinister had its claws sunk deep in this
isolated community, preying upon their fears and smothering
their humanity beneath an unnatural pall of gloom. He was
determined to wrench its foul talons free before more souls fell
prey to the darkness., Tanjiro approached the village inn,
hoping its keeper might offer clues about the strange
atmosphere. The inn's sign creaked in the chill breeze like a
portent of ill tidings.
Within, a solitary man scrubbed worn floors with stiff, frantic
jerks of his bucket and brush. At the Demon Slayer's entrance,
the innkeeper glanced up with a scowl and beckoned curtly to a
bare tatami room. "That'll be a ryo a night," he muttered before
returning feverishly to his chores.
Tanjiro paid politely and inquired after any unusual events in
the village as of late. The man stiffened, fear flashing in his
rheumy eyes. "Best not to meddle in what don't concern you,
boy," he snapped. "Take your sister and be on your way at first
light. Mark my words, nothing but trouble will come of lingerin'
here."
With that cryptic warning, the innkeeper fled to the kitchen,
leaving Tanjiro more puzzled and troubled than before. The
villager's brusque manner spoke of nameless terrors that had
them jumping at shadows in their own homes. He was
determined to shed light on the darkness haunting this hamlet,
come what may., That night, as moonglow flickered through
drifting skeins of mist, shadowy silhouettes crept through the
forest beyond the village borders. Tanjiro, wakeful and restless,
glimpsed twisted limbs and misshapen forms prowling the
treeline from his window.
Filled with grim foreboding, he softly rose and roused Nezuko
from her slumber. Gathering their few belongings, the siblings
slipped from the eaves unnoticed. They stole through still
streets veiled in ghostly wisps of mist toward the woods where
monsters lurked.
As they ventured beneath whispering boughs now shrouded in
cloaking fog, a cacophony of muted howls and shrieks assailed
their ears. Otherworldly cries echoed among the grasping
trunks as fell creatures cavorted under the silvery shroud of
night. Tanjiro steeled his determination to uncover the source
of such unnatural goings-on, whatever nightmares might await
them beyond the veil of moonglow and mist.,, Tanjiro motioned
Nezuko to halt as the siblings crept deeper into the mistcloaked forest. A bloodcurdling scream pierced the gloom
ahead, a bestial howl replying in vicious glee.
They stole silently forward, blades drawn, as the voice rose to a
frenzied crescendo of agony. Through drifting skeins of fog, a
looming silhouette emerged dragging a flailing form over
gnarled roots and fallen leaves. Long talons sank deep into
yielding flesh, spurting crimson moonlight.
The victim's terrorized shrieks descended into gurgled pleas as
their attacker bore them away into the light-drowning murk.
Tanjiro stood paralyzed in revulsion, every instinct screaming
to pursue yet wisdom holding him back from certain demise.
Beside him, Nezuko trembled, her own inner demons stirred by
the carnage.
They clung to each other as unnatural cries rent the mist,
vowing to bring light to this village shrouded in darkness and
blood. Whatever stalked these haunted woods, its ruthless
depravities would be answered.,,,, , Tanjiro emerged from the
grim forest more troubled than before. He roused the innkeeper
at dawn's first light, ignoring the man's vitriolic protests.
"What plagues these woods? We heard screams in the night,"
Tanjiro demanded, hardness in his gaze betraying no room for
evasion.
The innkeeper blanched, hands trembling as he smoothed his
fraying yukata. "N-Nothing but travelers lost in the mist, boy!
Best not go stirring shadows where none exist."
Yet his terror-glazed eyes told a different story. Tanjiro swept
the tense streets, receiving the same limp denials from villagers
huddling fearfully indoors.
As the sun burned off the last wisps of fog, he observed their
defensive postures and sweat-sheened brows, detecting the
sour stench of lies. These people knew full well the threat
stalking their homes yet were too craven to confront the
darkness in their midst.
Whatever secret horrors held them in thrall,Tanjiro vowed to
wrest the village from its grip, shine light on the truth and
restore these broken souls.,,,,, , Night fell once more, cloaking
the village in shrouds of wispy gloom. From his window, Tanjiro
observed flickers of eerie luminance pulsing among the trees an unnatural glow that raised more questions than answers.
Whatever cast that baleful light was no natural inhabitant of the
wood. A chill crept up his spine to imagine the depravities that
might spawn within the forest's fringes under cover of
darkness.
He started as soft fingers touched his arm. Nezuko regarded him
with eyes full of steadfast understanding, sharing his resolve to
lift the shadows from these souls. Come sunrise, they would
venture into the mist-cloaked trees and seek the truth, no
matter the cost.
Gripping his sister's hand in the darkness, Tanjiro gazed out at
the flickering treeline and swore a solemn oath. This village's
suffering would end on his blade. The secrets of the forest
would be pried from its clutches, its sinister machinations
brought crashing down. Dawn would break on a new era of light
and liberation for all trapped under the pall of this curse. The
shadows' reign was nearing its end.,,,,,,,,