“You’re not supposed to be here,” the voice whispered. Tanuki turned around and immediately cast an acid spell but only hit the leafy ground. He did not see it disappear but heard its naked hands and feet slap against wood while it crawled away.

“Where did it go?” Tanuki snapped his gaze between the treelines. Suddenly, he felt a large, sharp claw poke his left shoulder. He turned but the hand quickly withdrew. Another came from his right, but he was quicker this time and saw the thing hiding beneath the tree, the most horrible, reprehensible creature.

It was thrice his size, possessing a bare human skeleton with long, sharp claws instead of toes and fingerbones. It had the head of a deer, whose carcass it wore, draped from its scalp down to its hips.

Their eyes met and the creature withdrew, but Tanuki listened as it sneaked behind him. He turned to catch it standing, arms locked and a claw raised to its chin in a thinking manner.

“Hmm, peculiar, I wasn’t expecting guests” the monster’s voice resonated from its skull. Tanuki distanced himself by crawling back. His breathing grew faster as the horrible thing towered above him, watching with the curiosity of a cat.

The same thought repeated in his mind. How is this beast a level-one creature?

The monster leaned forward to sniff him, but Tanuki put his sword between himself and the thing’s face. The monster observed the weapon, poked the tip of the blade, then quickly pulled its hand away.

“Yes, this is good,” he tittered excitedly, “You are not one of them freaks of nature, are you?”

“Are you Cervus?” Tanuki demanded its name.

“Why yes, that is what they named me, those pitiful fools. Let me guess, are you here because they came to you for help? Oh, that makes me think! Let’s play a game!” –– it locked hands behind its erect spine. –– “I ask you something, you answer, and then we repeat the other way around! Let me begin…”

Before Tanuki could say a thing, he presented the first question.

“What’s your name? It’s quite inhospitable to trespass onto someone’s property without giving them a name to curse!”

“Hachiro Tanuki,” he answered hesitantly, “Now you answer me! Why are you trying to destroy the Yoshimura Village?”

“I’m bored,” he shrugged. Tanuki waited for the thing to continue its explanation, but his face paled when it fell silent.

“Is that it?” he raised his voice, to which Cervus tilted his skull to the side in amusement.

“Yes. Oh, don’t tell me you wouldn’t grow bored if you had the same job as I! Tending the deer all day, welcoming dead animals into the afterlife, it all became so-so boring after the first few decades!” Before Tanuki could speak, he continued, “Now, those were two questions, which means I also get two. First question, how did you get here?”

This was tricky. The very fact Cervus even questioned it revealed some motivation to Tanuki. The portal was of interest. Tanuki wanted to play it safe, not to reveal anything that the deer god could use against them. He wanted to lie and say he woke up in the village without any previous memories. That would be enough of a misdirection to keep his cards hidden from the beast.

So, he opened his mouth, and Cervus immediately clawed a deep wound into his face. Tanuki cried out in pain and fear as the sharp bones barely missed his right eye. Even before he said anything, the thing expected he would try to play tricks, and it did not want to waste any time.

“I don’t like liars,” Cervus shook his head with disappointment, “Now, give me the honest answer, Hachiro Tanuki. How did you get into this realm?”

Tanuki covered his face and cried with his head against the tree. Cervus waited for a second, then sighed. This was no fun.

“Come on now, play it fair and answer me,” he approached to grab Tanuki’s shoulder. The moment his bony fingers laid upon his robe, Tanuki turned around and mustering all his might, stabbed through the creature’s skull. It went straight through its scalp, tearing some of the carcass with it.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

A moment of silence, followed by a health bar above its antlers.

[ Cervus (LvL. 1)]

[ HP: 9/10 ]

Tanuki’s eyes widened in terror. He felt his soul escape his body. Whether he knew or not, the horror in his expression entertained Cervus just enough not to slice him up into pieces. It wanted to savour that fear, if only just for a moment.

Closing its claws around the boy’s blade, Cervus pulled it out of its skull while quietly snickering.

“Now, now. That means an extra question for me. But first, how did you get here?” –– he leaned close to his face, his voice turning deep –– “And you better give an honest answer, or I’ll rip out your fucking throat.”

Tanuki was beyond terrified, yet some part of himself deep within resisted. Even when he was blinded by fear, some part of himself still searched for a way out. He knew he had no time to bluff and no path to flee. An enraged god watched his every move, one not just sadistic, but quite intelligent.

If he wanted to outsmart the beast, he had to do it in a way that it would not notice.

“What is it Cervus wants? Answers. Why? Either to get out of this realm or seal all paths into it. Which one’s more likely? The first. Why? It mentioned being dissatisfied and bored. How could I buy more time with this information? Either by stretching out my answer or by amusing it somehow. It seems to enjoy my fear.”

Tanuki gritted his teeth and closed his eyes forcefully to produce more tears. He set off the rhythm of his breathing to make himself more stressed.

“I- I- I came from the other side of the cube, the one on the… uh…”

He stretched his words and stuttered, which Cervus both hated and enjoyed. His panicking wasted time, but also made up for that loss with entertainment.

Tanuki opened his eyes and stared into the god’s empty eye sockets. He searched his peripheral vision for any way out, but only trees surrounded them. Not a path was to be seen, no soldiers to have fallen, not even any natural formation, only trees to where the eye could see.

He knew he should not go long without giving significant information, so he answered the first question.

“… the one with the nestmen! That side; I came from that side.”

Though he had to answer, it did not need to be specific. He would only get one attempt to do this, but it was well worth it for that extra thinking time.

Cervus’s posture turned stiff. Its spine straightened while it crossed both arms.

“Hachiro Tanuki, concentrate on the question! When I ask you something, be precise. My second question then, how did you get here? What did you use?”

At least five seconds. He would have five seconds to stutter out something. Since his last answer was not satisfactory, this one had to have a few more breadcrumbs so Cervus would be kept at bay while he planned.

“I used a p-portal! I’m not from this world, I came by u-using some sort of key!”

Cervus’s gaze lit up. This is bad. Perhaps he said too much, and the god knew something he did not?

Cervus still had one more question, but Tanuki feared that might be its last. He had to do something, throw a wrench into the works so it would birth more unanswered threads.

“I got another key from the shrine,” he added quickly, “It was an inverse of the one I had. W-When I got through, mine disappeared, but it was still there!”

Cervus leaned forward, eyeholes shining with a ghostly blue. There was no light in its eyes before, but upon hearing of an inverse key, it got more excited than from anything before.

“Jackpot,” Tanuki thought, a wry smile hidden beneath his crocodile tears.

Cervus did not think twice, but blurted out the next question, “Where is it? Tell me! Where is the inverse key?”

Tanuki dug into his pockets and pulled them inside out. They were empty besides specks of dried paper tissue.

He remained silent. After all, he was a bad actor, and Cervus’s imagination could fill in the blanks.

The god growled and turned to bash its fist into the ground wall. To Tanuki’s surprise, the god was more enraged than he would have expected. It bellowed like a wild animal while assaulting the mud. After some time, it stopped, bony chests raising and falling. Did it need to breathe? Tanuki wagered not, but Cervus was too upset to realise.

“Alright, your turn,” Cervus rubbed the deer skull’s temples.

“Success,” Tanuki thought, then returned to the scared act, “M-My question is, how did you become what you are?”

“Excuse me?” Cervus tilted its head.

“You heard me right! Y-You said you’ve worked with dead animals for decades before growing bored. That must mean you enjoyed it once, right? What happened?”

Tanuki was less interested in the god’s story and more in understanding the logic of its existence.

Skeletons were Tanuki’s most hated fantasy monsters. He utterly despised the idea that bones would suddenly return to life and move without muscles, see without eyes, and have the strength to carry weapons and wear armour without joints and muscles. It made no sense, he thought, even if it was explained by magic.

Where did that magic come from? What was fuelling it to work? And most importantly, could the source of that magic be extinguished, thus putting an end to the undead?

He had to know how Cervus became a monster. If he could get even the tiniest droplet of information to fall through the filter of its mumbling, he would be one step closer to defeating the beast. Cervus was too enraged to realise Tanuki’s ulterior motive. Instead, it let out an exhausted sigh and tried to be as quick about it as it could to get back to questions about the portal.