“What am I doing, having the guests hang outside in the cold weather? Please come in! I’ll close the store and be there soon!”

  Taisia opened the creaking wooden door behind the counter, reeking of dry blood. Unlike the outer appearance, the interior visible through the opening was lightly colored, something Foreigner never expected to see in the village drowned in darkness.

  Octavia took the hospitality head-on and entered the building, followed by Pafnuty, whom Taisia glared at but allowed with a sigh. Foreigner hesitated for a moment, but once Taisia gestured politely towards the door with her hand open, she swiftly hopped through the door. Once she was inside, Taisia closed the door behind her, and the cold air stopped flowing in and the warm air started to circulate. This was the first time for Foreigner to feel the absence of chill since the day she opened her eyes, and she felt like her entire body was melting while standing still at the entrance. Only after Octavia threw herself onto the sofa and made a strange noise, she snapped back into reality.

  The house was tidy and clean, with candlelight lighting up the place dimly in a moody way. Foreigner fidgeted her way next to Octavia and sat on the sofa, all the while watching Pafnuty heading to the kitchen and opening a food storage without the permission of the homeowner. She stretched her neck to see if there was anything inside, but it seemed empty from the angle she could see. And that assumption seemed to have been true, as all Pafnuty pulled out was a dried cucumber, and he still gobbled it up. She wondered how he could eat with his mask on, but that, unfortunately, remained a mystery.

  Foreigner looked to her side to see what Octavia was doing. She was sitting silently with her eyes closed and her hands gathered together, and one could assume that she was praying. This was the first time Foreigner saw her doing so and never expected to see such a scenery, but she thought she should do the same and did so.

  She squeezed her eyes tightly and remained silent, not realizing how hard it could be to do nothing but keep her eyes shut. One second, two seconds, perhaps even five seconds? As she remained still, the flow of time became warped, and she no longer could tell if she had fallen asleep or was still awake. She opened her left eye slightly to see if Octavia was continuing this, only to see Octavia watching over her with her chin resting on her hand and a smile that she did not care to hide. Foreigner quickly turned her face to the other side in sudden embarrassment, only to see the mask of Pafnuty up close and let out a brief scream from her lungs. At the comedy being rolled in front of her, Octavia released a huge laugh that filled the small living room.

  “Man, what are you two doing? Preparing for an audition?“

  Foreigner moved farther away while having her bottom still sitting on the sofa, but Pafnuty did not stop his close observation. He followed her closely with his face until Foreigner bumped into Octavia and there was nowhere else to fall back to. As the buffoonish mask of Pafnuty got closer to her face, Foreigner grew more anxious at not knowing what this man, who ate a dried cucumber out of someone else’s storage without a sign of guilt, could do in the blink of an eye. It was Octavia who pushed Pafnuty’s face away with her palm, making him fall on his back onto the floor. At the loud thud shaking the house, Taisia rushed inside with a worry emanating from her mask.

  “What was that? Oh, it’s just Pafnuty.“

  She shifted her mood quickly as soon as she learned the origin of the sound, then shouted at Pafnuty on the ground, completely stationary, when she saw her storage had been rummaged through.

  “Hey! How many times do I have to tell you not to look into someone’s belonging, you jerk!“

  Ignoring Taisia cleaning up the mess he left, Pafnuty sprang up, flinching Foreigner with a surprise. He once again drew his face close to Foreigner, but not too close this time, as he was aware of Octavia watching over him.

  “Just who could you be?“ Pafnuty said, with curious eyes gleaming behind the small holes on the mask. “Not a Demerii, not a Shakh Sah, not an Aranaim, not a Sirenetani, not a Gelip, not a Horaidian…Just what could you be? Truly fascinating! Please, tell me about yourself!“

  “Pafnuty! Stop being rude to my guest and get out of here! I never invited you in!“

  Taisia cried out loud, but Pafnuty neglected the call and waited patiently for Foreigner to speak up. Foreigner glanced at Octavia, who just shrugged her shoulders as if she was leaving this matter to Foreigner herself. As such, Foreigner took a deep breath and said the only thing she knew about herself.

  “I don’t know. I lost my memory of myself and my past, then got saved by Octavia about a week ago, but that’s all I know so far.“

  Foreigner checked Pafnuty’s reaction while being ready for any jump scare. To her surprise, Pafnuty simply maintained his posture without a single movement, and it was Taisia who reacted loudly.

  “Lost your memory? I’m so sorry to hear that. Please let me know if there is anything I can do. You can stay here for however long you’d like.“

  Taisia came out of the kitchen and pushed Pafnuty over the sofa to the other side. After a thud louder than earlier reverberated through the room, Taisia caressed Foreigner’s hands with hers. It was warm, soft, and comforting, like the gentleness of a mother would be. While Foreigner was feeling positive for once since she had entered Abaskan, Octavia glanced over her shoulder to see Pafnuty twitching in pain.

  “Well, we can’t stay for long. We need to leave tomorrow. That was the deal with Elder Germogen. Besides, we are on a journey to figure out who she is.“ Octavia said while swinging her crossed legs. She saw Taisia’s disappointed face and smiled, hoping it would be infectious, while gently stroking her head. “Of course, you were the first reason I came here, Taisia.“

  “Octavia! I’m not a child anymore!“

  Taisia complained, but she didn’t step away to stop Octavia from caressing her. Foreigner was stuck between them, which was physically awkward but emotionally soothing. But when she felt a chilling gaze from her side and looked there, she once again saw Pafnuty staring at her and went back to feeling threatened.

  “Pafnuty! I said, get out already! Why are you in my house anyway?“ Taisia turned her head abruptly to Pafnuty with the determined voice of the ruler of the house.

  “Actually, I do need him. I need a doctor to take a look at her and wanted to ask if he would like to, you know, join us on our journey.“ Octavia said as she avoided Taisia’s eyes, as she was afraid of what kind of expression she was receiving.

  Taisia couldn’t believe what she had just heard. She slowly turned her head to Octavia with her mask shaking faintly. “Him? You want him to join you? Why?“

  Octavia shrugged her shoulders while raising the left corner of her mouth. “Well, he is a pretty good doctor. Maybe even the best. So, are you interested?“ She directed the question at Pafnuty and got the answer immediately.

  “No.“

  As soon as he relayed his answer, Taisia sent a punch across the sofa at his face, which he barely dodged.

  “How can you say no?! She asked you with a kind heart to a journey filled with a noble purpose!“

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

  Taisia yelled at Pafnuty with anger planted in her voice, with Foreigner alternating her vision between Taisia and Pafnuty. Octavia was also surprised by Pafnuty’s answer, since she expected Pafnuty would be fully on board with the idea of getting out of this village.

  “Taisia, Taisia, Taisia. I am a researcher, not a nomad. If I leave my den, where would I conduct research? I need a stable, controlled station to make the breakthrough, and last time I checked, there is nowhere like that out in nature.“

  Taisia extended another punch, only for it to be dodged by Pafnuty with quite a margin this time.

  “Still, it is true that I’d like to examine you, my foreign friend! Why don’t you stay here and deliver whole new knowledge to this world with me!“

  Pafnuty approached Foreigner with his eyes fixed on her, causing him to not see the third incoming punch and get struck in his face.

  “Seriously, you are the worst! I don’t know why Papa saw potential in you!“

  Taisia released her victorious speech with her foot stepping on Pafnuty’s face. At that moment, a growling sound broke the air in the room. The three looked in the direction of the origin, Foreigner’s stomach. She slowly raised her hand to admit that it was her who made the noise, and said in an embarrassed, crawling voice.

  “I—Is there anything we can eat?“

  “Oh, dear! What am I doing, not bringing anything out for the guests! But I don’t have anything right now…“

  Taisia stopped in the middle of her way to the kitchen. She seemed unease as she looked at the food storage, because she knew that there was nothing of quality to be served.

  “Who says we have nothing?“

  Octavia stood up from the sofa and walked to the bag she carried over. Under the attention, she pulled out a packaged meat and some leftover ingredients for her soup and presented them proudly as if she were doing a magic trick.

  “Always have insurance, am I right?“

  At that scenery, Taisia and Foreigner brightened their faces with a hope sprouting out within their stomachs. Pafnuty stood up to see what was going on, then released a delayed reaction.

  “Perfect! A feast tonight, I see!“

  Taisia quickly lost the smile on her face and spoke in a bitter voice. “Nobody invited you, Pafnuty.“

  “Well, dear Taisia. I do not remember asking for one.“

  “You really haven’t changed since you were young.“

  “Of course! I was a genius as a boy, and I am a genius as a man!“

  “I’m not complimen—Haa, whatever. I’ll take them to the kitchen, take a rest, Octavia. Please make yourself at home, Foreigner. Let me know if there is anything you need! And you, just…stay still.“

  With her hands full of ingredients, Taisia went back to the kitchen while ensuring that the curtains on the windows were shut tight. Octavia sat back down on the sofa, and Foreigner got up on her feet to do some light exercise before the banquet.

  The first thing that caught her eye was, of course, Pafnuty, who quietly went upstairs without alerting Taisia. Foreigner thought of informing Taisia about it, but she kind of wished to stay away from their fight, so she stayed wordless.

  Foreigner walked on the wooden floor of the small living room. After she took a few steps alongside the creaking noise of the floor, she stood in front of what seemed to be a bookcase, but only the lower half contained books. For the rest, picture frames filled the space, all of them featuring Taisia when she used to be younger. Most of them were by herself, Taisia building a castle using dirt with brown muds on her face, Taisia crying with her knee scratched, Taisia smacking on the white dough.

  However, three of them showed Taisia with a young Aranaim boy, potentially being Pafnuty based on that iconic buffoonish mask with colorful patterns that resembled the face of a mandrill. She could now vaguely understand why Taisia treated Pafnuty like that, from the picture of him chasing her with a bug in his hand and forwarding into her crying face.

  But what caught Foreigner’s eyes the most was one picture. It was a blurry picture, as if the camera had fallen to the side when the shutter snapped, of Taisia, Pafnuty, and an adult male Aranaim between them with his arms around the children. This was the only picture of Taisia with a smile on her face with Pafnuty in it, and also the only picture of Pafnuty where he paid attention to the camera. And the adult Aranaim was emanating the brightest aura Foreigner had seen from Aranaims so far, enough to surprise her to learn that Aranaim can show such vigor through their mask. She lifted the picture impulsively, feeling the dust piled on the edge of the frame.

  “Nice picture, huh?“

  Octavia was on her side before Foreigner noticed, but her sudden presence did not surprise her.

  “I’m the one who took it. Well, I was never good with those devices that need a steady hand.“

  Octavia looked closely at the picture Foreigner was holding, then blew the dust off the picture. Foreigner coughed out the dust entering her lungs, which made Octavia laugh for some reason before she made a sorrowful face.

  “It used to be a good time. Staying in this house, playing with a friend. But I suppose those days are behind the dust now.“

  It had been a bit over a week since Foreigner knew Octavia, but she never imagined that she could make a face like that. Without a word, Octavia placed the picture down in its original place, alongside the other dust-piled frames.

  Foreigner crouched down to check the books on the bottom half of the bookshelf, with Octavia leaving her side and going to Taisia in the kitchen. There were a lot of books, but nothing caught her eye from the title. Not because they seemed uninteresting, but because they looked too difficult for a book to kill time. Rather than a lighthearted novel that she was hoping for, all of them were non-fiction with philosophical or rhetorical topics. And the worst issue was that they were big, almost big enough to be used as a weapon. Once she concluded that it would be a deeper pain to try them, she looked to her side where the kitchen would be, only to find the mask of Pafnuty right in her face.

  “Gyahhh!“

  This time, Foreigner released a loud scream in genuine fear. Not because of the mask itself, but because Pafnuty was holding a scalpel in his hand and stared at Foreigner with ominous eyes. He slowly approached and raised his arm with the scalpel until he got stopped by Taisia, who jumped out of the kitchen and rushed to Pafnuty instantly when she heard Foreigner’s call for help.

  “What are you seriously doing?! Where did you even get that out!“ Taisia locked Pafnuty’s neck with her arms by surrounding it on her side.

  “U—Upstairs. You should clean your room more, Taisia. I hid this years ago, and it was still the—“

  “You hid something like that in my house?! That’s it, today is your funeral!“

  While Taisia bestowed heavenly retribution upon Pafnuty, Foreigner quickly grabbed the scalpel Pafnuty dropped, just to make sure that he wouldn’t get hold of it again. And Octavia laughed out loud in the kitchen, but she soon dropped it and looked outside.

  “Wait, something’s not right.“

  Octavia rushed to the window and opened the curtains. What she saw were the villagers running away to one side, in panic and terror. She grabbed her rifle and dashed outside, followed by the remaining three.

  The screams and footsteps rushing to safety filled the air and trembled the earth. People who had a void in their eyes earlier now had horror escaping from them. Octavia walked further out to see what people were running away from, then screamed at Foreigner and Taisia, as Pafnuty had already left the scene by himself.

  “We need to run! Now!“

  In confusion, Foreigner turned her head to witness what Octavia did, and there was a creature that was beyond her imagination.

  An abomination with the head of a stag, walking on five legs of different animals. Half of its body was covered in rotting skin infested with maggots, while the other half exposed the bones and muscles pulsating at an inconsistent rhythm. The guts were visible from the outside and dragged on the ground, leaving a trail of black goo wherever it walked. The foul odor filled the street, which already had a terrible smell to begin with, that smelled like living flesh turning into a rotting corpse in an instant. On its face, there were six eyes of different sizes, all rolling around chaotically as if they had their own will. And out of all, what truly gave goosebumps to Foreigner was its cry. A cry that resembled that of a baby, asking to be cuddled by its mother, loud and annoying yet desperate.

  “Don’t stand still, run!“

  Octavia yelled at Foreigner and Taisia, who couldn’t flinch a finger at the sudden change of atmosphere. As Foreigner obliged the order and turned her body against the beast, she heard a puddle splashing and a boy crying out. Then, a gust of wind swept her back, and it moved further away from her.

  She turned around to see what she feared. A boy fell on the ground while crying out for his mother, and Taisia was running to him without hesitation. She turned to the other side to see the crowd rushing away, and Octavia was stuck in the middle of them with her hand reaching out to Taisia but nothing being done.

  Foreigner clenched her fist to feel a cold metallic object. A scalpel of Pafnuty was still in her left hand, and the sharp edge glowed brightly under the cold moonlight peeking out briefly among the clouds filling the sky.

  At that moment, the abomination released a horrible scream and rampaged towards Taisia, who covered the boy with herself. Foreigner could not understand what she was doing, but with the scalpel in her hand, she ran towards the beast charging ahead. She heard Octavia screaming at her, but everything was so hazy that she couldn’t register what she said. Before she knew it, she was standing between Taisia and the beast, with the small blade in her left hand.

  The next moment, black blood splattered on the ground.