Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ The Fearsome Side ❯ The Mist ( Chapter 1 )

The Fearsome Side

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Author's Disclaimer: ~*~*

 

Hello readers!

 

I'm very happy that you chose to read one of my works!

This fic is about a resurrection of mysterious monsters that devour human flesh, and things that go bump in the night. Michael Crichton's `Eaters of the Dead' and research of cryptozoology inspired me to writing this.

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I don't own these monsters, nor the beloved characters of Fushigi Yugi. Anyway, au revoir!

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Chap 1: The Mist

 

I love the early mornings of February, especially when it snowed last night. The trees looked like they were covered with glitter as the sun rose, also giving the snow a powder pink texture.

This morning is looking pretty good, well, through the window that is.

Sadly, right now I'm shovelling the snow off the damned backyard.

The air is chillier than before, the aftermath of last night, with the cement-like snow high enough to rise up to my ankles.

Our backyard is like the wilderness, which was fenced with old, rotting wood. Up ahead of the fence lies a river, and after that, an empty field that goes beyond the naked eye.

During the summer, tanned cows and shaved sheep come down to graze there, with the ducks and swans inhabiting the waters. The geese don't come by until early fall, well, right now there's barely any wildlife.

Around spring, I often felt it was my duty to pluck out some plants. I never had much of a green thumb, so I don't know any names of the plants we grow here…but I do know we had a rare plant living around here.

Obviously, I don't know its name; we had always called it the `heart flower', fondly named by my twelve-year-old sister. It is a delicate-looking thing, its stem stooped over like one of those flytrap thingies, but the pink, heart-shaped petals dangle out like ornaments in a Christmas tree.

It blooms up every spring, living on its own next to the fences, the sad and horrifying part is that it's neighbour, a prickly, unknown green thing, would often grow its vines around the heart flower, until it would seem to strangle it.

My mama always has a soft spot for flowers, and often makes me make sure that thing never grows back again.

That reminds me…

I stab the ground with the wide shovel, and trudged towards that spot, peering at it, I wouldn't have guessed it would come back. I fingered that exact place around, prodding and poking, and my gloved fingers fished out a root, still green since the day I `killed' it.

Throwing that wretched thing to the iced river, I turned back to my present job, but stopped there when I saw it.

I had no idea how I could miss it, perhaps because it looked like my own footprint in the distance, because, like the footprints suggest, it was flat like my boots.

There were numerous clumped together, as if a whole herd were stomping around, surrounding the fence.

Cautiously, I crept up towards the markings.

The footprints were bare, you can see each of the five toes there, at each toe, there was a mark made by a digging of a horned claw, although the footprints looked more human than any animal `print.

Investigating further, I found traces of reddish-brown fur, stuck in the thorns of the bushes, stinking to high heaven.

Pulling my scarf up to my nose, I stepped over the footprints and looked behind the thick bushes.

Entwined with the skeletons of the plants, lies a rabbit with its head half-chewed. The poor thing is nothing but a shell of flesh, for its innards and ribs were ripped out, leaving a cavity on the frozen kill.

Outside of the fence, there's purple wild berries strewn across the floor, with a small lump of hard clay, abandoned.

As I spied all these things, I began to wonder what sort of active creature paid us a visit.

I jumped over the fence, and treaded cautiously towards the little clay object.

Picking it up, I brushed off the hard snow and peered at the crude details.

 

Just as soon as she recognised it, a sense of dread and surprise slid through her.

 

 

 

“Naaa?! Where did you get this?”

The whole throne room was in a standstill. Immediately, the monk corrected himself and cleared his throat.

“Errahem! My apologies, this is a very strange artefact, so I must need to know where these originated!”

He looked around the shocked courtesans, whom were horrified and fascinated by the sight of this hateful statuette.

He examined the stone, and took note on its form, in case it left any clues of its makers.

It was recently made, without a single hint of worn, but crudely carved as a child could have done.

He could only make out a headless, limbless, body of a pregnant woman.

Running his fingers on each detail, he could feel the emotions of the savage who made this. There was pride, triumph and devotion. But there was also a bestial side to it. But, also, Chichiri could almost smell the iron of blood, ashes and burnt human flesh.

He shuddered inwardly as his fingers dug into it; it was like touching a coil of snakes. Everything about it is sinister and primitive. It feels filthy, and unpredictable.

He looked back to the courtesans, all-waiting for his decision, so he decided to give them instructions.

“My subjects, to understand more of this thing—artefact, I must have more information on the location, how it was found, and who did this.”

A veil of faint whispers shrouded the room, each of the plainly dressed nobles shuffling to each other and exchanging information.

No women were found in the room, it was not their role to hear such matters.

Chichiri twiddled his thumbs for a moment, making his handsome face appear to be troubled and deep in thought.

As soon as he felt the whisperings quieting, he sighed and looked down towards them.

“Does anyone have any idea who had found this?” He asked. Silence filled the room for a few minutes, until an obese noble, donned in blue robes with great, long sleeves, bowed awkwardly. He replied in a gruff voice, “Heavenly Emperor, it was found in one of my lands, there had been numerous attacks in the north,” He paused and chewed his lips. Then he continued, “These victims were often nomads, they were robbed and attacked. My constables saw them taken place, and knew more than I do about them.” He paused, his dark bushy eyebrows furrowing like mating caterpillars.

“Would it please you, Heavenly Emperor, if I would bring them here for questioning?” He asked. Chichiri did his best, modest smile and nodded, “Yes, thank you for asking. I have to know about them to ensure safety to me people.”

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Salome Babeaux was anxious, she stood hunched over her father, who was sitting on his computer chair, examining the stone doll.

Bryan appeared to be calm, collective. His blue eyes were the only parts on his face that appeared to be restless. His hands ran on each curve, scratch and dent.

Finally, he weighed it out on his large hand and looked up to her, his eyes twinkling in a smile.

“Congratulations, Salome. You found a genuine, alright.”

Salome's young face fell, and for a moment, she was expecting panic.

“Papa, if I told you that there were creepy things're trespassing our garden, would you be worried?” She replied tonelessly.

He stared at her for a moment, and shook his head. “I'm sorry, what--?”

“There are things going in and out of our garden.”

He turned towards his PC, shut off the Internet he had been previously surfing, and turned off the computer.

He got up, his bones popping like firecrackers, and the chair groaning, as if it was in pain.

He stood there, stretching his thin, muscular arms. A sigh of relief whistled through his dense beard, and he bent over, looked into one of the drawers of the pine desk, and took a pack of cigarettes from it.

He got back up again, and studied her mild-mannerly. “Shall we go outside?” He asked.

Salome shrugged, and followed him out of the room.

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It was even colder at the late afternoon; the sun was already setting, so the fog hid away the world easily from the house of Babeaux, like a mellow, grey blindfold.

The sky was previously bright and white, now it is the darkest blue, darkening the details of today's discoveries.

Bryan waved his cheap lighter around the footprints, bringing light into the markings, which was now more secreted by the increased fall of snow during the afternoon.

“It's definitely an animal.” He calmly concluded, he drew out his cigarette, puffing out playful blobs of smoke, his eyes studying the footprints at a distance.

Salome continued to blow air into her freezing hands, thinking hard on the subject, and countered, “Oui, but check out the toes! There's five of them…and they're bigger than your own feet!”

He shook his head, creating a white smoky halo around his head. “You showed me the rabbit, Salome, and the hairs. Nobody gouges a rabbit's guts out without a knife. I don't see a neat slash over there. It's like the poor bastard had been mauled. Plus, the prints are bare, the only suspect I'm thinking of is a loose gorilla or some kind. If not, then one fanatical naturist.”

He sucked into his cigarette, and blew the smoke out once again, “I'm going to call the police now, sweetie. It could be dangerous if the animal was wild and is hanging out here. Even if they won't believe it, they can consider it as unauthorised trespassing and still investigate.”

“'Kay.”

“You're not going to tell anybody what I said? Not even your Mére? She's going to panic, or laugh at the idea…”

“I won't. As always.”

“Bon. In that case, go back in the house. Bring me a Zip-loc bag and some tweezers, We gotta take these hairs for the police.”

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As Salome pulled out the hairs off the thorn bush, Bryan kept watch, staring at the glowing windows of the small old house with his dark blue eyes.

He looked behind him, trying to look past the grey fog. He felt uncomfortable by its presence; a giant could be completely hidden within it.

With the fog, the creature that did this must have depended on it, to feed and be protected at the same time. If the wild animal was still here, he might need to buy a gun of some sort.

He looked down, “You done yet?”

She nodded and got up, tucking the bag into one of her large pockets. “Yup. Let's go inside now, it's freezing!”

The pair walked towards the front of the house, with Salome talking excitedly in her sing-song voice, about a large possibility of a warm dinner.