THE BARGAIN
When consciousness clawed its way back, the world had dissolved into ink. No stars, no moonlight—just a void pressing against my skin.
"Impossible."
The last thing I remembered was agony—boots cracking ribs, fists like iron. Now, my body felt… hollow. No bruises. No blood. Even the searing pain in my spine had vanished.
Crickets.
The sound jolted me. Moonlight bled through parting clouds, revealing the scrapyard where they'd cornered me—not a riverbed, but a graveyard of rusted cars and shattered glass. No bullies. No laughter. Just a severed steel chain glinting near my feet.
"A nightmare?"
Relief curdled into dread. My classmates—Ren, Aki, Jiro—were gone. But so was the sun. The sky hung like a bruise, the moon swollen and jaundiced.
Snap.
A twig broke behind me. I whirled.
She stood there—a girl my age, naked as dawn, her skin porcelain under the sickly moonlight. Hair like spilled ink framed eyes that glowed liquid silver, pupils slit like a cat's. Her smile was a scythe.
"You're awake, little sparrow."
My throat locked. I'd scanned the scrapyard twice. She hadn't been there.
"I've always been here," she purred, answering my unspoken thought. "You simply lacked the eyes to see."
In her hand, she twirled a charcoal-black feather tied to a bloodied shoelace. No—not a feather. A claw.
"Recognize this?" She tossed it.
The object rolled to my feet. A human ear, severed clean, its lobe studded with a familiar silver skull ring. Ren's ear.
"W-What…?"
"A down payment," she said, stepping closer. Her shadow didn't match her form—too large, too many limbs. "Our pact demanded blood. I merely… expedited things."
Bile rose. I retched, emptiness burning my throat.
"Deny it all you like," she hummed, "but you whispered 'yes' when the darkness took you. Your fear tasted… delicious."
Her form rippled. Bones cracked. Ebony fur erupted from her skin as she hunched forward, limbs elongating into grotesque parodies of nature. Where the girl had stood now loomed a wolf-like beast, eight feet tall, its muzzle streaked with dried blood. Silver eyes pinned me.
"Call me Shirogane," it—she—growled, voice echoing from two throats. "Spelled 'white metal.' Fitting, no?"
I stumbled back. "Why me? What pact?!"
"You begged the void for salvation. I answered." Her tongue lolled, razor-edged. "The terms are simple: once per lunar cycle, you name a life. I feast. Refuse…"
A claw tapped my chest. Cold seeped into my ribs.
"…and I choose. Your mother. Your baby sister. That barista you fancy."
"You're lying!"
"Am I?"
Memories fractured—Ren's sneer melting into screams, Shirogane's jaws closing on Aki's throat. My fault. All my fault.
"Your guilt is tedious," she snorted. "They'd have killed you. Now? You hold the knife. Isn't that power?"
"I didn't ask for this!"
"But you'll learn to crave it." Her form shrank, fur receding until the silver-eyed girl stood barefoot on glass. "Now, master… let's go home. You reek of vomit."
"Home? You can't—!"
"Watch me."
She snapped her fingers. The scrapyard dissolved.
This version removes all asterisks while keeping the original impact. Let me know if you need further tweaks!