Insidious whispers broke out all around me, seemingly coming from nowhere and everywhere all at once. The temptation to look around, to try and catch a glimpse of whatever was happening, ate at me. Only the frozen cool of Insight kept me from doing so. Its warnings of death being all around me only seemed to increase as the volume of the whispers did till the point I was surprised my flesh didn’t freeze over entirely. My blood sure felt frozen as it pumped through me though.

The whispers turned to voices, to crying desperate voices. Far off, as if the whispers were trying to bury it, I heard a cry. A childlike plea. “Mom?” Then the voice faded entirely, lost in the sea of whispers.

The whispering abruptly stopped as if whatever was happening was all just a lie. Slowly, the sound of a gentle breeze blowing reached my ears even if the breeze didn’t. Several birds even chirped as the light seemed to fade from the thin parts of my eyelids. Childish laughter spawned around me as the tone shifted entirely.

A voice, a woman’s voice, called out to me. It sounded familiar, so close to the faint memories of my mother’s voice and yet not quite there. It was full of joy and cheer just the same as she had always been. “Ah, there you are! I’ve been looking all over for you.”

For a moment, I wanted to believe it. I wanted to open my eyes and see Mom just one last time, even if I knew she wasn’t really there. She was dead though. Dead and gone. Her and my dad both. I had seen their bodies before they were cremated. This was just a faulty illusion.

The birds' chirping faded down to a lower pitch as the woman infectiously laughed, speaking as if she could read my mind. “C’mon silly, no wonder you can’t recognize me. How are you supposed to recognize me with your eyes closed?”

The birds stopped chirping, and the woman spoke again. Her voice sounded off in the absolute silence. A bit of her joy faded, turning to sadness. “Oh don’t be that way! It’s me. Just look. You’re hurting my feelings…”

”Please?” She whined, her voice growing more distant as if this was my last chance to see this ‘familiar’ person.

The tone shifted entirely, turning into an angry snarl as a different voice spoke. This one familiar in a different way. It was similar to a voice I never wanted to hear again, even had the same accent as it screamed in rage. The voice rolled with rage and writhed with wrath. “Look! Just look at me! How dare you! After everything you’ve done, you can’t just look away and pretend you can’t see me!”

Something big and heavy hit the ground somewhere around me, clattering against the small rock outcroppings.”Fuck you bitch! You did this to me! And now you can’t even bother to look at me.” The twisted voice yelled at me to the point I could even feel spittle smack my face.

I buried my head in the sand, feeling the coarse material press up around my mask as I tried to drown out the voices. I couldn’t resist in the slightest, at least if Insight could be trusted. I didn’t even know what it was, let alone if I could fight it.

The rage and wrath billowed around me as in the distance I heard a different voice buried under the layers. A young boy called out, sounding around five or six years old. “No! No, let me go! Help! Someone help!”

I tried to remain calm as I pressed my hands into my ears, ignoring the shouts and cries for help. The voice sounded young. Too young. I don’t remember there being anyone that age in the camp. This- this wasn’t that bad. If it was just this much-

My heartbeat picked up as something latched onto my leg. Not physically though. It was more of a phantom sensation. A bit like the ethereal vibe of Insight but with an absolutely vile feeling to it. It felt like rotting worms and wriggling maggots working under my skin, eating at my flesh. The phantom insects hardened to claws digging into my skin in a phantasmal feel.

I kicked and twisted in an attempt to get away from the sensation, but it easily followed me, digging deeper. The claw slowly slunk up my leg, only fading as a whimper came off from my side back over by where Cota had been.

A voice, far deeper and more guttural than anything I heard before, as if the very abyss itself spoke, muttered, “Fine. I’ll just kill you then.”

I waited, expecting to feel a spike in Insight as it brought down a lethal strike onto me. Instead, it stayed the same. Paralyzingly cold yet tame at the same time. The trait had yet to fail me, so I put my full faith in it as I tried to block out everything happening around me.

It’s just a bluff, Shiro. If this creature could’ve killed you immediately, it would’ve already done so. Just stay calm and ignore it. Nothing will happen-

Something- something warm and wet splattered across my cheek followed by a splattering of impacts across my clothes. I grit my eyes tighter, attempting to ignore the disgustingly slow movement of the liquid as it oozed down my face. It itched, an infernal burning just beneath my skin, as it slowly skittered down my face.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I gave it my entire focus, feeling as it slowly worked its way down my chin, my neck, eventually working into my clothes. The warmth slowly faded, turning to an icky chill as a rogue desert breeze teased past its path.

I tried not to think too deeply about it as I retracted into the back of my mind the best I could, attempting to block out the world. The creature tried several different voices and tactics to get me to look at it, all of which I promptly tried to ignore the best I could.

Some time must’ve passed as I grew distracted, only a familiar voice drawing me out of my thoughts. It was the elder, speaking calmly. ”It’s okay. You can open your eyes now…”

For a moment, I was tempted to listen to him. To open my eyes. To see for myself. Only the frigid, death-guaranteed chattering of Insight across my body kept me from giving in to temptation. It beat and wailed against my mental state, demanding I just curl into a ball and wait. To ignore the world.

The creature spent a long time trying everything it could to get me to look at it. It touched me with its phantom caresses of writhing insects, completely incapable of actually affecting me in any way. It shouted and cried, twisted voices and conversations to provoke me. Occasionally I would hear blips and cries of despair being abruptly cut off, but nothing else seemed to break through the unnatural silence.

My body shivered uncontrollably on the desert sand. The heat had long since leached from my body, making the digging sensation of the sand feel all the more raw. I felt tired, so tired. The constant cold from the double attack of Insight and the cool air surrounding this demonic creature ate at my energy, leaving me entirely drained.

Just as my physical strength waned, so did my mental. If something didn't change soon, I was afraid I’d crack under the constant assaults. I tried to bury myself deeper away, small rocks scattered in the sand cutting up into my face and arms as they drew blood.

By the time the wounds stopped bleeding, the cool air slowly faded as the voices quieted down. They turned from the occasional scream back to normal voices. Then they receded down to mere whispers. Before long, the noise stopped entirely and quietly returned, though this time it wasn’t an unnatural silence.

The air slowly started to warm up as Insight finally calmed down, the constant chills of death halting entirely. Still, I stayed down for a while longer. Only once I was sure there was nothing did I finally peek open my eyes, scared of what I might see.

Day had shifted to night at some point, only the moon and the brightest stars providing the bare minimum light. And yet I could see all too clearly. The camp sat in complete disarray, the tents ripped to shreds with several of the massive machines dented and tossed around as if they were mere toys.

The Leper-Khans themselves were done. I looked around the camp, only spotting three other people among the once fairly sized camp. All of them were still on the ground. Splatters of dry blood dyed the sand red, not even remnants of their clothes or chrome left behind.

After regaining my stability, I looked towards the elder. He was gone, just the same as everyone else. Only Cota lay still shaking in the sand, her eyes twisted tightly.

I took a deep breath and just sat back down for a moment. Two. Three. I needed to decompress. Once I recentered myself mentally enough to keep moving, I shifted over to the woman’s side. “It’s gone. You can open your eyes now.”

”I knew it was a trick. Got that street slicker too, huh?” She muttered bitterly before curling up tighter on herself.

For a moment I wondered how I could convince her. Then I simply patted her head, remembering how it hadn’t been able to imitate touch very well. “It really is gone now.”

She stilled entirely before slowly sitting up. Cota slowly opened her eyes, her bandages blocking her eyes slightly as she looked at me. Then the camp. She immediately slammed her eyes shut as tears began to pour out in droves.

I sat there awkwardly as she wept, brushing sand off my body. She didn’t keep crying for long before sitting up and wiping her face, forcing strength onto her face as she pushed herself off the ground and started to head over to the other still-living Leper-Khans.

She turned her head back and pointed to the way out of the camp, tears still in her eyes. “Just leave. Get out of here.”

I mutely snuck over to the tent the elder had looked at, feeling raw all over. Not just physically, but mentally too. Everyone was down or too busy trying to collect themselves to notice me.

I searched the collapsed tent for mere moments before finding a slightly opened black box, blood splattered all over it. I swiftly shut the thing and locked it up, giving one last glance around the area as I tossed it into my backpack. Small valuables were lying around, but I- I just didn’t feel like stealing anything.

I gave one last glance to Cota walking around rousing her kin and wandered back down to the path I came up on, which felt like oh so long ago. A blood splatter marked the wall with no sign of the man in sight. I knew by now what the splatters meant though.

I made my way back down to the original Leper-Khan tent, thinking about the box the entire way. Should I even bring it back to the city? They called it cursed; was it the origin of the monster? Was it tied to the box?

If this monstrous entity that could flatline others so easily if someone merely looked at it broke out in the city, it would cause thousands of deaths nearly instantaneously. Did I even want to risk the chance of bringing it with me?

I half-heartedly looked it over with Aetherial Perception, finding a pitch-black malice barely contained by the box. There was so much hatred pouring off of it, that I myself felt wrathful before I swiftly shut off Aetherial Perception, cutting off the infectious emotion.

What to do?

「Request Received - Owl’s Inquiry

* Owl would like the box

* Requirement - Interface Expansion - Skill level >12

* Reward - ?」

「Request Received - Fuck ‘Em

* Crow requests the box. Explicitly wants it to be known that he only wants it so he can break it and spite Owl. ‘Kaw kaw KAWWW!’

* Requirement - Interface Expansion - Skill level >12

* Reward - ?」

「Request Received - Gimme

* Fox wants the box

* Requirement - Interface Expansion - Skill level >12

* Reward - ?」

Now what fresh hell was this?