 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.,,,,,,,,