#i think scary gets marked by the slaughter and hunt more than the eye cause daddies is more proactive in their aproach so these are also

[koszmarnybudyn]

Yeah I know that's not a tape recorder this is a doodle and i didnt google it before i drew it. Anyway.. dndads tma au because its plauging my mind again so have a little snippet that i wrote in class:

Uh...Willy, told me to do these logs now as a way of catalouging our "adventures" and archiving the older stuff. I heard before my times there were reports but it seems kinda hard to belive since i've worked here for ages and never seen any, literally none. Guess some unfortunete soul needs to get stuck with the paperwork and today it just happpens to be me.. great. For some fucking reason writing or recording this shit digitally doesn't work, so Norm decided we could use these..tapes? Or whatever, I'm not a nerd. So yeah I'm now stuck in this stuffy basment speaking into a beat up dictaphone like some wacky sci-fi scientist that's going crazy, I guess. *Sigh* Fuck I spend too much time with Norm i'm starting to sound like him.

So where to start..? *Pause as the voice gets slightly further and muffled supposedly reaching under the desk* I guess one of these is as good as any, I think its from... Well definitly before i started working here. Let's just get this over with...

[herwonderland7]

𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟒  》  the memory, her return

summary  》  A way to remember the memories - in order to believe all of her previous dreams are her own memories, Aera had to come in contact with water.

characters  》   Gae Aera, Grandma Kim, Lim Jaebeom, Mark Tuan, Jackson Wang, Park Jinyoung, Choi Youngjae, Bambam, Kim Yugyeom

warnings/author’s note  》  another long post!

genre  》  fantasy, got7!as!werewolves

       “But because they believed that… if they were stuck grieving, they were afraid your soul might not rest well.. So they decided to move out of your father’s village and since then, they are known as the bulldogs .”

“In order to find out if everything is either a dream or a memory, the old woman had no choice but to use a spell where she hadn’t used in years. A spell to find out her memories that has been closed for more than 10 years.”

       ‘I have no choice, Saera. It’s the only way. The book of prophecy made 2 choices: either her living in the human world or she is being eaten by a bunch of beasts. It’s only the only way to ensure the safety of her pack.’

‘Alright then, Aerina. I hope the White Queen will visit me in the human world. You have to. Aera would still remember you,’

‘Aera. As an alpha, I have to find my other half. When we grow up, would you… want.. to be my.. companion for life?’

‘Aren’t you not afraid of our kind, princess? I mean, look at me. I’m the biggest. Don’t you find it scary?’

‘I always loved you, since day 1. But the alpha, he is my leader. It seems that my love isn’t worthy for you, princess. But do know this, I will always be with you, I will always stand by you and as a warrior of Jb’s pack, I will protect my pack and most importantly, you, my princess.’

‘As our princess, a princess to our village, you must learn how to defend yourself, Aera. We will always be with you and we can smell you but, just in case - if one day we would be slaughtered to death, you have to learn how to survive on your own and find other packs.’

‘Aera, keep this plant. Grow it on your courtyard. This plant, a healing flower where it could cure any wounds - even deep cuts. You have taught me on different kinds of healing plants and this, this is for you, princess.’

‘We should do this everyday, Aera! Could you imagine if we could hunt deer meat everyday? It would be a feast! Well, our alpha would reprimand us but since you are involved, I don’t think he would be so mad since you - his lover - are involved!’

‘How therapeutic, Aera. Can we do this every night? But.. you have to ask our alpha for approval. I don’t want to get scolded by him. He is a little scary when he is furious. Maybe he is just jealous since we spent more time together…’

More bubbles were being made as water started to enter her nose, mouth as it entered onto her throat - her eyes opened in a shot, sitting up abruptly as she chokes out while breathing in and out.

Aera’s eyes roam everywhere, her eyes went downcast as she finally has her answer - seeing she is sitting up in the middle of the pond with blooming flowers and plants such as her favorites since child - the pickerel plant, blue iris and water lilies.

“It was a memory,” muttered Aera with a sigh - Grandma Kim had persuaded her to use a spell to her, with water involved and she had no choice but to follow her instructions - or else her old wooden stick would have to be involved.

Now Aera was in a daze as she slowly stood up, bare footed making her way out of the pond.

There stood Grandma Kim with a towel on her hands, slightly smiling towards Aera.

“Young one… It will take time, and again - everything will be answered as soon as we arrive at your mother, the White Queen’s castle as she will be the one to answer your burning questions.” Grandma Kim softly said, as Aera looked down at her with a smile.

“Thank you… for being patient with me..” Aera softly muttered before feeling a hand laying ontop of her cold arms.

“Now, let’s have a cup of tea. You could ask me questions related to wolves. I can sense that you were curious about who were the ones who appeared on your mind.”

“They are a very, very good looking pack. One of the strongest and dominant packs. I heard from others that female wolves tried to lure them but… I was told they shoo them away…” Grandma Kim giggled, her eyes glancing towards the young woman.

Aera frowns while gulping down the sweet tea - eyes were onto the photo frame.

“Okay… So.. they are Mark the oldest and a beta so as Jinyoung but he is younger than Mark, Jackson the delta and the leaders of the warriors, Youngjae the healer, Bambam the hunter and Yugyeom the youngest, also an omega.” Aera repeated slowly after what Grandma Kim had told her. 

Grandma Kim decided to make some pastries and tea for the cold bodied Aera and decided to tell some stories that she remembered back when Aera was just a little girl.

The old woman proceeded to take a picture of a young girl which is said to be Aera and 7 wolves surrounding her. Some of them were licking Aera’s face while some were looking like they were playfully biting each other’s ears.

“Yes, and this - the one that had bright furs, he is my grandson. Yugyeom. Back when the two of you were just little, Yugyeom would always ask me if he could bring you to see the dragons.” Grandma Kims smiled, her eyes started lovingly towards Yugyeom.

“And this, the black one. Jaebeom. The alpha.” Grandma Kim pointed towards the only black furred one - somehow standing beside the little Aera with a piercing gaze although everyone was looking a little too joyful.

“He looks pissed,” 

“Well, the alpha always looks pissed. I heard from Yugyeom that he used to love you,” Grandma Kim giggled softly, earning a reaction from Aera.

“Used to love?” Aera repeated and Grandma Kim sigh softly.

“Well, that’s what I heard a few years ago from Yugyeom.” 

“Where are they now? Don’t tell me they are dead…” Aera frowns and Grandma Kim lightly hit Aera’s head - due to her saying harsh words.

“They are more than dead. Immortal,” 

“Immortal? That exists too?” Aera squeaked, earning a chuckle from Grandma Kim.

Grandma Kim’s expression slowly fell, as it replaced with a sad smile.

“After the news spread that you were missing and proclaimed dead, Jb’s pack lost their spirit and their playfulness. They no longer howled as a group - they used to that years ago.” Grandma Kim recalled as she looked away.

“They were depressed - all of them. It took years - for some of them, mainly the alpha, beta’s and delta’s - to move on. But because they believed that… if they were stuck grieving, they were afraid your soul might not rest well..” Grandma Kim continued with a slight sigh, then letting out a soft smile.

“So they decided to move out of your father’s village and since then, they are known as the bulldogs - going on different parts of the forests to kick out other wolves that had invaded the territories of others.” Grandma Kim added with a proud smile.

“I didn't mean to leave you know…” Aera muttered, her eyes still fixed to the photo frame.

She could tell from the picture, from how she was as a child and from her memories, Aera had a happy childhood and everyone around her was living happily. But from what Grandma Kim explained, ever since she had left - the day where she drowned, it seems happiness wasn't mentioned much after that.

Aera somehow felt… sad.. as if she missed them.

“So where are they now?” Aera questioned as she turned towards Grandma Kim, who looked taken aback.

“I too do not know, young one. They have been going around but I think they should be in the East forest..” Grandma Kim thought as she nodded slightly.

Aera slightly looks away before her focus turns towards the picture.

“Come on Jaebeom pleaaaaseee? Pretty pleaassee? Can we go and fish right by the lake?”

“Maaaaark! Stay still! I’m trying... to... get the— Yes! Now your fur is all clean!”

“No! No! Nooooo! Not that way Jackson! Don’t let me pull your fur!”

“Junior— Awwww c’mon! Why don’t you like that name? It’s cute! Can I be the only one to call you Junior?”

“Youngjae! Youngjae! Look at what I found! Your favorite healing flower, a calendula! I bought a bouquet, just for you and the others!”

“Bambam, it’s the opposite! It’s stated in the book. Here, I have my own notes and yes, you can keep it.”

“Yugyeom! Be gentle! You do know that I can’t shift to a wolf form right? Don’t just jump on me like that or else I’ll tell Grandma Kim on you!”

Her voice trailed off...

“—I didn't mean to leave you know…...”

Each one of them had dreamt their own moments with her - more like remembering their old friend, the young princess. 

But the 7 of them clearly hear her voice - a slight change of voice where they couldn’t recognize. It seems her voice wasn’t as high pitched as back when she was younger. It’s understandable since she was just a child.

It  was as if she grew up.

This caused the 7 of them to be awakened abruptly from their peaceful sleep.

“Did you.. you dreamt of her too?” Yugyeom whispered, seeing Bambam sitting up as he slightly sighs. They were sleeping next to each other, also sharing the blanket since they were in their human form.

“Yeah.. I guessed it's one of those nights..” Bambam answered with a whisper. They were about to lay down when they heard a few sniffles - not from an itchy nose, but more to someone trying their best not to let out a sob.

Both of them knew who it came from, to see Jinyoung laying facing the tree - his shoulder slightly moving.

Bambam and Yugyeom can’t help but notice some of them were having trouble sleeping - seeing some of them shifting and turning, coincidentally right after seeing, hearing their dead princess, one of their former friends laughter and voice.

Some of them were frowning in their sleeps and the obvious ones were Mark and Jackson. They were even talking in their sleep that includes Youngjae too.

Yugyeom’s eyes turned towards their alpha, who was in his wolf form. Anyone can notice that he was having trouble sleeping, seeing its tail curled up close towards its head, his forehead frowning deeply and what’s interesting is, there were tear marks on his black fur face.

There was a soft sigh coming from Bambam as the youngest turned towards him as they lay on the ground.

“Perhaps.. maybe the prophecy was right?” Yugyeom mumbled, seeing Bambam facing upwards as he closed his eyes with a slight smile.

“I hope so, the forest is too gloomy without her presence,” 

Out of the 7 of them, the 2 youngest - Bambam and Yugyeom - were hoping that the prophecy was right. They heard stories of seeing a young woman, carrying a very familiar looking old sword and a bow-arrow, in the South forest - walking and hunting around the forest.

They could smell her scent but there were other strong, unfamiliar scents overlapping hers. 

They recognize her smell - they never forget how she smelled like. 

To them, it was like a mixture of vanilla and an aroma of cherry blossom.

It’s no surprise since the princess likes cherry blossom trees.

“Well… it’s been years. I prefer her to be resting in peace than seeing her spirit roaming around,” Bambam whispered, causing Yugyeom to smile slightly. 

Bambam was right, Yugyeom too wants their friend to rest in peace rather than seeing and having to take down her spirit forcefully.

Both of them didn’t realize that the others somehow were eavesdropping - including the ones that had entered their territory miles, miles away.

“You mastered everything, princess!” 

“It’s all thanks to you, Grandma. You were very patient with me,”

“Well, that too… Now you are able to venture out to Aerina’s Kingdom - right, there’s one more thing I have to specify with you,” Grandma Kim walked towards Aera who was practicing how to throw daggers.

Aera raised an eyebrow while looking down towards her.

“Do you know how wolves work.. like how does an alpha find a mate?” questioned Grandma Kim, her eyes never left Aera as the young woman’s cheeks turned a little red.

“Well.. urm… hmm—

“Incorrect!” Grandma Kim hits her on the head with her iconic stick, earning an embarrassed laugh from Aera. She already got used to her random one time hit.

“That’s an embarrassing question! Well, just like how we humans are but I think theirs are complicated. Involves the smelling of genitals and such which I think I don't have to elaborate more, should I?” 

“If you want, I enjoy dirty jokes,”

“Grandma,” Aera shakes her head a little, seeing the old woman laughing as if she enjoyed this conversation.

“Well, you’ll know when you see your own-- well you will experience it soon but.. Now the warnings..” Grandma Kim stumbled at first but her expression changed as she slightly looked around.

“Just as humans in your world, young girls, woman have to be careful around men as there are few twisted ones - just like the one we have met, the red eye alpha,” Grandma Kim mentioned and Aera slowly nodded, somehow knowing what she meant and to think of it, it’s pretty dangerous.

“Right… so that’s what he meant by ‘submit’ and ‘mark’. But.. as far as I know, I’m not… I mean Jb has yet to mark me right? I mean.. I don't belong to their pack, officially.” Aera doubted as she glanced towards Grandma Kim, who was just blinking at the young one.

“Well… I think you have to question him personally, princess. After all, he’s the alpha.”

𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒐𝒖𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒑𝒕𝒆𝒓  ⇿  𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫

𝒎𝒂𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒍𝒊𝒔𝒕

[signs-of-the-moon]

Moon Rise: Chapter 1

Bright green grass littered meadowy hills as far as the eye could see. The bright blue sky shined above with no clouds in sight, seeming to enhance the vivid greenery around black and white mix-matched paws. Vibrant pigments of pink, blue, and yellow flowers dotted the area adding splashes of color to the plush meadow. A warm Greenleaf breeze blew through the grass and swirled around soft white and black patched fur gently, pulling scents of nectar, prey, and freshness towards a small pink nose. It was so serene here, so peaceful. Not a sound could be heard; for a moment the world was trapped in a bubble of pure silence. A cat could live in a place like this forever.

Black ears perked as a voice could suddenly be heard carried on the wind, just as soft as the breeze itself. "Swift-" called the voice in a hushed tone. What could that be? Who could that be? The world fell into silence for another moment before the voice called again. It was a bit louder this time, yet still so beautiful, inviting even. "Swift-!" The small white and black patched feline stepped forward, moving towards the voice without thinking, her black ears perked, trained on the sound. It was definitely calling her, even if that wasn't a name she recognized. What could the disembodied voice want...?

                                                          ***

The sound of a loud wooden creak caused the young cat to suddenly jolt awake, torn away from her heavenly dream. Her head quickly shot up to look in the direction of the noise, ears fully erect. It was only the door being opened. Following the sound came the young cat's housefolk, walking clumsily across the dark hardwood floor of the main den area. The young molly relaxed and rose to her paws, leaning back on her haunches to stretch and let out a huge yawn. Drowsily she stepped out of her nest, padding over to rub up against her owner with a loud meow in greetings; the black nub she called a tail held high to welcome the housefolk warmly. The metal identification tags attached to her crimson collar jingled against each other as she moved around and tilted her head back to look up at the giant creature.   "Hana~" It cooed her name, reaching down to pet the white and black patched she-cat. Hana let out a loud purr for her owner to hear, housefolk have notoriously bad hearing. The young she-cat arched into the creature's strange, warm touch. In a moment she found herself being hoisted far from the ground, held in long lanky limbs. The housefolk walked with the feline in its arms towards another door, thumping its feet loudly on the floor as it trudged around. With ease the door was opened, allowing blinding sunlight to come pouring in to greet them. Hana blinked a few times to allow her eyes to adjust to the sudden change in light. The housefolk stepped out into the open long enough to gently put the little nubby tailed she-cat onto the brown, half-dead grass. It gave her another pet, murmuring something that could not be understood before retreating back inside its den. It was always difficult to communicate with the large creature, perhaps Hana should try harder to teach her housefolk Catspeak. Happy to be out in the fresh air, the molly trotted across the yard, appreciating the scenery of her territory. She took notice of the bird bath which stood in the center of the yard bombarded by twittering sparrows, and the flower patch which lined along the fence with freshly planted blossoms. Hana recalled sitting with her housefolk a few days ago, watching as it dug up last year's dead stems, replacing them with new flowers already fully bloomed. The young molly wondered how her housefolk managed to find flowers which were already in bloom so early into Newleaf. Once she had reached the end of the yard, Hana leaped up onto the white picket fence which marked the end of her boundary. She sat down, closing her eyes for a moment to better feel the fresh Newleaf breeze blow through her whiskers, dodging around the edges of the crimson red collar that hung uncomfortably around her throat. She was in the mood for some peace today.

"Hiya, Hana!" A voice caterwauled from across the way. Hana's eyes flicked open to look at the cat who had called for her. In her sights was a huge cat with brown and black spotted fur, a black leather collar hanging loosely around his neck. Hana flinched for a moment, startled by the other cat's sudden presence, but immediately relaxed. This cat always caught her by surprise. He looked like one of those ferocious big cats she'd seen on the moving vision box a few times while sitting with her housefolk. But this large tom was anything but ferocious.

"Hi, Max," Hana meowed in reply, looking down at the larger cat prowling towards her across the dusty path.

"Beautiful morning, isn't it?" Max purred, joining her up on top of the fence with a mighty, effortless leap.

"It sure is!" Another voice unexpectedly chimed in from their left. Crossing over the fences that lined up evenly from den to den, came a ginger and white tabby she-cat with odd backward curled ears. The tiny pink bell on her light blue collar tinkled lightly as she took clumsy short hops from fence post to fence post to join her friends in front of Hana's yard. Hana sighed quietly to herself. So much for a quiet, peaceful morning.

"Nice to see you outside today, Gem," she mewed to the new molly with slight sarcasm in her tone. "It's been a couple days since we've seen you."

"Ugh, I know," Gem griped with a soft sigh. She lowered her odd shaped ears slightly as she spoke. "But I couldn't just leave my housefolk alone in the den with their new kit. Those two don't know how to care for it properly, I swear! They bound it's limbs together in a pelt as if that'll keep it safe and warm. I had to lay with it every time it would wail just to get the poor thing to settle down."

"Sounds like a lot of hard work," Max commented, grooming himself absentmindedly as they talked.

"Oh it is! But I'm so lucky to have a break. Today they took it out with them when they let me outside. Though I am a bit worried, I hope the kit will be alright without me."

"I'm sure it is. How do you think housefolk live so long if they don't take care of their kits properly?" Max asked, letting out a small chuckle.

"Hush!" Gem hissed playfully, swatting up at Max's nose, missing by a whisker. Max couldn't help let out a little mrrrow of laughter at the failed attempt of attack. Hana just rolled her eyes, looking over into the yard towards her right as she heard something stir from the den next door. Out of the door held open by another housefolk walked two kittens. One had a brilliant sorrel ginger pelt and a purple collar, while the other had bluish-fawn fur and a pink collar. Both cats bounded towards the fence together, leaping up on it in unison and walked to the corner post.

"Hey guys!" The sorrel tom mewed to his friends. The other two cats turned their heads to look at the littermates.

"Hello, Oliver, Hello, Flower!" Purred Hana warmly.

"Hey, Hana!" Chirped the bluish-fawn molly. "And Max, and Gem. How are you?" The two other housecats nodded as if to say they were alright.

"I'm well, I think..." Hana replied. Flower tilted her head.

"What do you mean?" She asked curiously.

"Well..." Hana mumbled, lowering her gaze to the ground, her eyes unfocused from fatigue. "...I haven't been sleeping well for the past half moon. I keep having weird dreams."

"Oh? About what?"

"The meadow...something keeps calling me there," she confessed, shaking her head and turning her blue gaze back onto her friend. "But that's silly, right?"

"I don't think so!" Flower purred. "It could be sign. It'd nice to explore there. Maybe you should go?" She suggested. Hana thought for a moment. Maybe visiting the meadow would be good for her. It might help her clear her head or at least help to satisfy her strange dreams and put them to rest.

"Yeah. Yeah maybe I will!" Hana meowed.

"Are you crazy?!" Shrieked Gem suddenly. The other cats turned their heads to look at the ginger and white she-cat, puzzled. "It's too dangerous to go out there!"

"Why? Afraid a sparrow will swoop down at me?" Hana joked, causing the other cats to snicker.

"No! Haven't you heard, Hana? There's huge scary wildcats who live out there!" Gem crouched down, making herself small on the fence post.

"Wildcats? I think you've been watching the moving vision box too much, Gem," Oliver remarked, flicking his ear dismissively.

"It's true," Max confirmed with a firm nod of his head. "I've spotted some wildcats a couple of times on my walks with my housefolk.  I see them coming and going from the meadow and the forest. They're kinda scruffy and scrawny looking, a few have some scars."

"Really?" Hana queried, her curiosity piqued.

"Yeah, from all the fighting they do! They're vicious and cruel. I heard they hunt animals like squirrels and rabbits, attack each other over nothing, and let their kits play with the bones of their slaughtered enemies!" Squeaked Gem, amber eyes wide with fear. "And what's worse, they kill all cats who aren't apart of their little gang. I once heard of a house cat who wandered into the woods one day, and he was never seen again..."

"That's ridiculous, Gem, and you know it!" Groaned Hana in annoyance, hopping down from the fence onto the dusty path on the outside of her yard. "I'll prove it! Besides, a couple of mangy strays won't scare me so easily." she boasted, lifting her muzzle in the air snobbishly. The other cats gasped, but none looked more worried than fluffy little Gem, who seemed to have grown double her size from her fur which stood on end. Her amber eyes met with Hana's beautiful blues, shining with concern.

"Hana, yo..you don't understand," she stuttered. Hana blinked at Gem slowly.

"Maybe not, but I want to." She lifted her chin, casting her gaze on the edge of the dusty path, her mind wondering about the mysteries beyond her neighborhood. "I'll be fine," she assured with emphasis in her mew. "I won't be gone long!" She promised as she darted off in the direction of the meadow, her nubby black tail sticking up in the air with determination as she ran around the corner and out of sight.

                                                       ***

The strangely familiar feeling of long green grass tingled Hana's mix-matched paws as she stepped into the meadow. She walked far into the open grassy field, but not far enough to lose her way. In a small clearing only a foxlength and a half large she froze for a moment, shutting her eyes. Her dreams were starting to come back to her again. They were pretty much reality now, now that she thought about it. The only exceptions were that the breeze had a slight Newleaf chill in it, and Hana was not met with the warm welcoming voice calling out at her. It took the young she-cat a minute before she snapped herself back into reality. Her eyes fluttered open, turning towards the bright blue sky. A few cloud obstructed the view, but otherwise it was a perfectly sunny day. Suddenly Hana began to leap around in a circle excitedly like an overjoyed rabbit, letting out a small "woohoo!" and a giddy laugh. She started to bounce and run around the clearing, weaving in and out of the grass just like a deer, sniffing her surroundings as she went. The feeling of freedom was exhilarating, even if it was only temporary. Hana sniffed some early bloomed dandelions, the grass, the air, everything. She wanted to drink in all the meadow had to offer. All of a sudden as she sniffed, Hana caught something strange on the wind. She stopped her gleeful play and froze in place perplexed, trying to figure out what it was. The young she-cat parted her jaws to taste the air to see what she could pick up with her dull, untrained senses. She strained herself, breathing in deeply to draw in the scent. It smelled so familiar. The scent was...cat!

[omega-al]

The Cave

The cave was on the cliffs behind the the old Epidaurus house, past the woods that surrounded it. Lady Epidaurus had died over forty years ago, and since then the place had been abandoned, only occasionally inhabited by roaming bums, drug addicts, and satanic cults. Weird shit happened in that house even before she died, there were rumors about her family, sometimes the towns people would show up to have their fortunes read, other times they’d show up with fire and pitchforks. If there were anyone left alive that’d remember them, they’d say that family was cursed, marked by the devil, dark, wrong... We first heard about them when we were researching the Salem witch trials, and their name came up in relations to an obscure demonic cult from early colonial times, though after more research, we discovered the family was older than that, even before they came to America, this gypsy family had traces in eastern Europe, Bulgaria and Greece. The Epidaurus family had been creeping around in the dark corners of the earth for a thousand years.

The cave itself was a local legend, before American settlers came to this area it was used for ritual sacrifice. The local native tribe was the kinda scary that was into all sorts of dark shit. Cannibalism to child sacrifice. The cave was at the epicenter of their belief, they thought it was a gate, a kind of doorway between worlds. Being the kind of brutal warmongering tribe they were, they had no shortage of enemies to offer up, but eventually other tribes learned to stay far away from this fucked up society. You can imagine what happens to a people that inbreeds and sacrifices half its gene pool to dark gods, but you don’t have to, because I am going to tell you. If you believe the stories of the white settlers, they found a group of about sixty people who were barely recognizable as people, they looked like demons. They were animalistic, violent and carnal. They had cut parts of off, sew other parts of animals onto themselves, horns and fur, and in the case of the chief, the cocks of his enemies, animal and human a like. Their skin was ritualistically burned, cut and bloodied. They looked like monsters, or at least that’s what the white men said. They slaughtered all of them, wiped the tribe from the face of the earth. It was said that a curse was put on the land that day, and anyone who lived there after that. Maybe the curse is what drew this strange gypsy family to build on this land.

We found hundreds of years of weird happenings and tragedy, missing children and sorrow unending, and then all of a sudden with the death of the last living member of the family, it all went quiet. Nothing for decades. The ‘satanist’ cult visitors, no more than wannabe gothy teens and the advantageous mystics trying to fuck them. But I knew it was still there, I knew it was just hiding, waiting for the right people to carry out its will.

We had been to the house that morning and found nothing, just shitty graffiti, used needles and a bum named Jared who smelled of piss, and thought I had stolen his hat thirty years ago in a bar in Brooklyn. He was useless but he did tell me late at night sometimes when the wind blew the right direction, he could hear chanting. He said sometimes the chanting would start as a low growl, like that of a large cat reminding you who is the prey, then it would get louder and louder until you could hear voices in the depths, screaming… that’s about when he started hitting himself in the head with his fist and we had to subdue him. He was just a jibbering mass of tears and sweat after that, so we left him with a bottle of whiskey and bump of heroin to get him through this episode, which we clearly caused. I told him before we left, to go, to leave this place, but I don’t think he heard me. Poor sonofabitch.

We set out from the house on foot at one, I had a map of the local trails and was fairly certain I knew where we would find the cave. We should have told someone where we were going, come back the next day when the sun was just coming up with help and a guide, because before we knew it, we were hopelessly lost and it was getting dark. My partner wanted to head back a few hours into it and we did, well we tried, but the trail markers kept changing, nothing was as it should be on the map. We found landmarks where they shouldn’t be, we crossed our own footprints several times. I might be a city kid, but how can you get so fucking lost of sixty acres of land. I’ll admit I was spooked, and my partner was near hysterical. That’s when I heard it, low and deep on the wind. It was coming from the east, from what should be the cliffs. I could barely hear it at first over the sound of leaves rustling in the sudden strong gust, but once I did, it got louder, until it was all I could hear. That’s when I realized the wind was no longer blowing, and the trees were completely still, but the sound was growing, in my chest, not my ears. I felt like I was about to be devoured by the lion I can’t see, but know I’m being hunted by. At this pinnacle of horror familiarity strikes and I can hear voices, low human voices, old unknown languages calling something up from the darkness. I looked at my partner and saw they were white, frozen in horror at the same realization I myself was experiencing. We were close.

Trying to leave this place didn’t work and my curiosity was driving me forwards, no amount of pleading on their behalf did any good, I had to know. So we went east toward the cliffs and the cold dark unfeeling ocean.

Something about the ocean always fascinated me, it gobbles up life, and is the source of life, it had seen it all, it watches the land and sky change, and die, and regrow, like we watch the lives of insects, each individual life without meaning, only able to be understood as movements and trends, and really all those lives are meaningless in the grand scope of time, for which the ocean has much more of than us. The ocean is like my mother, a cold hard bitch that doesn’t care if you live or die, just don’t make a fucking mess of the joint. And these cliffs, they had run red with blood into that cold forgetting ocean for hundreds of years. If a land could be haunted, this place sure as hell looked like it. The stone was white, alabaster, jagged and worn by the ruthless sea and as the moon rose into the sky it cast strange and terrifying shadows across the gnarled rocks and crags. The trail led us right to it. The dirt path becoming a dark red rust stained into the rocks. Blood. This was must be the way the sacrifices were marched, being flagellated and whipped by the rest of the tribe on their way to their fate. The chanting was louder here and came from a peak on the cliffs now outlined by the silver light of the moon. Maybe it was a trick of the light, the sheer contrast of light on the surface of dark, but it looked black, like really black, you couldn’t even see the mouth of the cave, it looked like a blurry smear of shadows undefined in reality, there, but not there.

As we stepped from the trail onto the cliffs I could almost see them, brutal busted forms of humans merged with animals, goat gods and feral ghouls, pain and blood, and lust, worn as armor. The atrocities that happened here are remembered by the earth, by the very stones beneath our feet.

As I walk towards the peak, my partner held onto my arm, I dragged them with me, they sob quietly as I imagine the weak would have when facing their fate, but they do not stop. Maybe fear had overwhelmed them, but my mind was racing, filling with images of the things that could have happened here. I didn’t know if I was going crazy or if something wanted me to see. The closer I got the louder the chanting, drums in the deep dark ahead of me urging me forward, the history of this place flooding my mind. White men, invaders, waging a war against the devil in their eyes, they killed them all, they raped their women, and sold their children into slavery, they were monsters. And when they owned the land, the brutality did not cease, this place made people wrong. It fucked them up, gave them strange ideas, maybe showed them what it was now, showing me.

I was about twenty feet away from the opening of the cave when the moon finally crested the peak and filled the area with white light, the ground was red, slick with blood. Our feet were wet with it. My partner saw this and started gagging and trying to climb me at the same time. The blood was flowing from the mouth of the cave and there in the deepest darkness, was a red glow, a small point of light that only grew in size the more you focused on it. I was fixated, I could not look away and my feet kept moving towards it. My partner was freaking now, screaming, begging me to stop. I could hear them threaten to leave me here if we did not turn back, but I did not speak, I had to keep going I had to know what was in the cave. I was ten feet away when he chanting stopped and I heard what sounded like the crunch of bones underfoot. Looking down, the ground was littered with them, animals mostly, but I could see crushed human skulls and the bones of what could only be children amongst the more familiar deer and coyote. I looked to my left and there at a stone altar, was the chieftain, his arms held aloft a giant maul, a naked body knelt beneath him, bound and gagged. He wore a cloak made of human flesh, and just like the legend, there were fucking cocks and balls all over the thing, like some visceral decorative fringe of manhood. His head had ram's horns grafted to the sides of his skull, his eyes were hollow blackened sockets. I was staring agape at him when he turned and looked me straight in the eye. He could see me. I was there, with him. He lowered the maul and gestured for me to join him, I turned to look for my partner, but suddenly I was wearing the cloak of dicks, my hands held the maul and I was bringing it down upon the skull of this kneeling human. I could feel the buckling of the skull easily giving way, I could feel the squish of their head meats escaping through their ears when I brought the heavy weapon down on their head, I could hear the silence of their sudden lack of breath. I dropped he maul and closed my eyes, holding them closed and telling myself, it’s not real, but even with my eyes closed I could smell the metallic scent of blood all around me. When I opened my eyes, the river of blood and the chief were gone, the bones remained but looked a lot less human, and there beneath me was my partner, brains smashed out by the rock I was still holding in my hands. It was so quiet. So completely still. What had I done… Then from the dark behind me, a low growl of something old, and evil, and pleased as punch with itself. I looked back and the body was gone, my partner nowhere to be seen, I still held the rock, but it no longer covered in blood.

I turned to face the mouth of the cave and dropping the rock, walked into the darkness as the growl became a deep laughter. I still want to know, the devil shoulda known better than to fuck with me. And now I know where he lives.