Silence drills into my mind.

  My heart beats slowly, to the pace of my steps.

  The balls of my feet grow numb against the cold, hard ground.

  And the fire that leads me is the only source of warmth.

  I part my lips to speak, but ultimately choose to stay silent.

  The person, who I'd figured to be a very tall, skinny woman, walks in front. Dozens of golden bracelets rattle as she moves.

  Rags drape over her, made of different furs and skins.

  Realizing I'm far behind, she turns around, shouting something. Her amber eyes fix on mine, sending a shiver down my spine. I increase my pace, catching up to her.

  The passage grows narrower the further we walk.

  Side-stepping through, we soon reach a dead end. Nonetheless, the woman glances above, trying to find something.

  [Tha kloh hti.]

  She says in a hoarse voice. I shake my head, confused.

  [I'm sorry, I don't understand.]

  Sighing, she points above. I raise my gaze, spotting a narrow opening. It seems like the only exit.

  [Vaw hti, vaw hti!]

  Crouching down, she sets the torch down and joins her palms together. I step on them, trying to grip the wall as she pushes me upwards.

  Quickly, I press against the narrow tunnel, making my way outside.

  The woman follows soon after, climbing with ease.

  After crawling my way out, I lay down on the mossy ground, gazing at the darkness above.

  Nothing can be heard.

  The woman jumps out, darting her gaze around before patting my shoulder.

  [Tha k’weh ta k’lee.]

  [I've told you, I don't—]

  She shoves me forward with force. Clicking my tongue, I start walking through the night.

  The sound of wet soil makes my head spin, playing constantly in my mind.

  Cold gnaws at my skin. My teeth rattle.

  In the distance, shouts can be heard. I stop, looking back over my shoulder.

  She's no longer there.

  My heart drops.

  Turning to all directions, I spin, breathing heavily as the fear threatens to consume me.

  [Hey, uh... Are you there?]

  [Anyone?]

  I keep spinning, turning every few seconds.

  [Shit...]

  Stopping, I quickly head to the tunnel, crawling back in. The torch below still burns.

  I groan in pain as I drop to the ground. Standing, I grab the torch and walk back to where I woke up.

  [Where are you, Aya...?]

  [Help me, please...]

  I mutter, gasping for air. The ground crumbles beneath my feet. Though I keep stepping through.

  A part falls off.

  Slamming my head against the rock, I fall. I hit the walls several times before smashing below.

  I close my eyes, waiting for the sharp pain to subside.

  I feel a presence watching me.

  Scrambling up to sit, I stare.

  Torches are lined on the walls in the small room. Several people, dressed in nothing but a couple of small rags.

  They snap their heads towards me.

  Their expressions straight. Unnerving.

  Barely human.

  Feeling a sudden pang of fear, I slide further away.

  There, a familiar face.

  [... Aya?]

  My eyes widen in horror.

  Her bowels. Spilled, blood gushing out.

  The skin on her hands is missing.

  The woman.

  I retch at the sight of her hands, wearing... them.

  Drenched in blood as she draws on the wall.

  Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

  [Na hti meh tha k’noh deh.]

  [Ta muh deh ta hka.]

  My teeth rattle violently, heart almost vibrating.

  [I-I d-d-don't unders-stand...]

  A man approaches, grabbing me by the arm.

  I freeze.

  Planting my feet on the ground, he shoves me towards the woman.

  The fire of the torches crackles nearby.

  Fire.

  I could...

  She grabs my head, pointing to a drawing painted in old, oxidized blood.

  Stick figurines are shown in a crowd in what seems to be a destroyed landscape.

  The woman points to another scene.

  I clench my jaw, trying to suppress my shaking.

  My gaze diverts away by itself.

  [I'm not...]

  Her cold fingers wrap around the back of my head, forcing me to look.

  The same figures run, despair on their faces.

  [Na hti vaw, a hpo hti k’lah deh.]

  Tears well up in the corners of my eyes as I sob.

  [Please...]

  The woman smiles, her crooked teeth sharp as a shark's.

  [Na hti htee la meh, na hti vaw ta hpo bluh hti.]

  I stare at the drawing, tears flowing down my face as fresh blood flows down the wall. My body goes limp, too tired to resist any more.

  Drawn poorly, they seem to come out of the ground, splitting to settle inside holes and into trees.

  [Na hti hpo, ta hpo bluh hti hti meh.]

  They come out, deformed, with horns sprouting from them. They attack animals, people.

  Three shining figures stand, with countless people behind them as they seem to fend off the creatures.

  The other tribespeople behind her clap, growing more interested by the second.

  Still holding my head tightly, she sloppily draws a single figure with long hair tied behind.

  Wiping away the blood, she paints again.

  Tall, rectangular shapes, with squares in them. A small, crawling figure above, shining brightly. Its colorless hair is left unfinished.

  [Na hti vaw, a meh hpo hti na hti deh.]

  [Hpo htee ta hti hpo hti meh, a hpo hti Zephyr ta hti deh.]

  The woman keeps painting on the wall, large disks with hands sprouting out of them.

  My consciousness starts to fade to the screams spreading throughout the room.

  I gasp, snapping my eyes open. Hay pokes my skin as I find myself lying down.

  Pushing off the bed with my hands, I sit straight. A small hut, clay walls and a wooden pillar in the middle to support the roof.

  My clothes are folded neatly and resting on a rock in front of me.

  I reach out, placing a palm. They're warm. At the sound of approaching footsteps, I stand and try to dress quickly.

  Vines hanging on the entrance provide some privacy, though I can clearly see the figure approaching.

  The same woman steps in, tapping the back of her hand. Her face is split in the middle, joined together clumsily by a red, pulsing matter.

  [Tho hti la.]

  She says, as a smile parts her lips, and part of her face.

  [I don't—]

  [Mor... ning has come.]

  My eyebrows shoot up in surprise.

  [Y-you understand me?]

  [mu ta won ta na.]

  [What did you say? I mean, you know how to...]

  Stepping closer, she grabs my shoulders. A freezing red liquid drips on my face.

  I flinch.

  [You will stay with us.]

  [Daughter of the demons.]

  My eyes widen.

  [What?]

  [Come. See.]

  Grabbing my wrist, she jerks me out. A warm, heavy rain falls, soaking me wet in seconds. Several people gather around a single point.

  She pulls me towards the crowd.

  Spinning, circular slabs made out of stone. Around ten of them, each on top of the other, carved in symbols I can't recognize. Each slab spins on the opposite side of the one below.

  Hands spread out of them, twisting and pulsing.

  My ears bleed.

  Screams fill the area.

  Crows sink dead to the ground, twitching their wings. Every sound intensifies.

  A crimson liquid bursts from within the structure.

  [Ta thoh Ywa.]

  Says the woman. My knees give out.

  I scramble away from the flowing blood.

  My stomach constricts as I gag, consciousness fading again.

  [Shit...]

  ——

  It's like a fever dream.

  I sit in the middle, staring down.

  The cold stone stings my legs.

  Clatter and conversation echo throughout.

  To the right, people. To the left, the same.

  Eating.

  [Eat.]

  A piece of meat is served to me out of the fire. I hesitate, smelling it first. The woman laughs.

  [Wild pig. No other. Eat.]

  Nodding, I bite. It tastes like...

  Nothing.

  Chewing slowly, I struggle to finish the whole piece.

  [You think... we evil.]

  [Kill friend. Lie about mission.]

  [You are real evil.]

  [Just don't see it.]

  I sigh.

  [And... and why is that?]

  [Ah, the daughter is curious. Will not tell. Isothe is dead. Friend is dead. Return. Back home.]

  [I wish I could. I don't know anything. How to leave, where to go.]

  [Then stay. Learn the real world. Become one of us.]

  Rain floods the pathways. Pushing the piece of meat aside, I stand up, walking to my hut.

  The vines sting my skin as I step inside.

  Walking over to the rock, I sit.

  [Hey... Are you there?]

  [I could really talk to someone right now.]

  [Even you.]

  No response. Irritation and fear cling to me as I stomp on the ground.

  [Useless parasite...]

  [Kill them.]

  A voice rattles inside my head.

  [Burn every single one of them.]

  My breaths deepen, the air around suddenly insufficient.

  [Wha- Why would... I do that?]

  [They'll kill you too, soon enough. Just as they've killed Aya, and every other Exterminator before in this operation.]

  I wipe sweat off my forehead and brush it on the rough stone.

  [I can't kill them. They're—]

  [It's you or them. You'll end up mangled if you don't do anything.]

  I consider its words, biting my tongue in the process. A few shouts can be heard from afar, lost in the chirping of birds and the incessant downpour.

  Just as my head starts to spin, I answer.

  [Alright.]

  [Good.]

  I slide slowly from the stone, standing up. My bare feet sink into the ground, leaving marks with each step. Outside, to the other side of the vines, I see the structure.

  Still spinning, with the same crowd.

  Everyone.

  I step outside, gazing above at a thin, impossibly tall wooden stick impaled on the ground.

  An Isothe hangs from it. Or rather, what remains of it.

  A fire crackles somewhere.

  I focus, closing my eyes.

  And as something spreads through the camp...

  A presence stands in front.

  Of me.

  I open my eyes to the woman.

  [No magic.]

  Her skin threatens to rip apart.

  I blink, finding myself high in the air.

  My mind goes blank, the only sensation is my hands tied to wood.

  The tribe people look up to me, knives in their hands.

  [Parasite?]

  [Hey. Parasite?]

  [What's...?]

  The Sun shines brightly, even as the sky paints itself an ugly gray.

  Gray, ashen arms. Thin, smooth.

  Palms as big as whales.

  A dozen. A hundred. A thousand. Above.

  Disks. Spinning. Engravings.

  The size of a mountain.

  It stretches its hands, reaching.

  I blink.

  Nothing.

  Blood drips down wood.

  It changes its course upwards, reforming.

  Flesh, bones, tissue.

  [Didn't... Kill me?]

  I untie my hands, falling. The world goes black for a moment as I crash down.

  Standing up, I gaze around.

  Corpses on the ground, their hands stained by their own blood.

  The rain washes it all away.

  I stare blankly ahead.

  For hours.

  Until nighttime.

  The whirring of a nearby helicopter.

  It lands in front, with several humans in tactical gear running towards me.

  [Are you alright, Exterminator? Kanna Alabaster?]

  [What happened to Aya?]

  [We hadn't heard from the mission in a few days...]

  [And—]

  [A few things went out of hand. It's alright.]

  I smile faintly.

  [Certainly.]