𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗧𝗔𝗟𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗚𝗨𝗠𝗜𝗛𝗢 | 𝐓𝐚𝐞𝐡𝐲𝐮𝐧𝐠/𝐕

ᴘʀᴏʟᴏɢᴜᴇ

A man wearing a dark robe gently placed a small rectangular-shaped paper with some Chinese words written in red on top of a medium painting.

The painting itself showed a white background with a tall tree at the left side and short grass fulfilled the ground colored in dark brown almost the shade of black. He muttered some words under his breath that were unknown or unheard of for the people that stood behind him a few feet away, watching the mysterious man.

Once he was done, almost instantly the color shown on the painting changed slowly.

It became lively and looked like normal scenery that you could find in real life. He turned his body to the people behind him while holding the painting in his hands.

"I've locked the beast and sealed him from this world so he can't make a comeback but you have to be aware!" The painting was now held on top of his head so the people before him could see it clearly while listening carefully to every word the mysterious man said to them. "Hide this painting in somewhere where no people can find it and don't try to let anyone inside or even try to rip the seal! Else, you'll let him outside this world again and when that time comes, I won't be here to save you again."

Nobody could see the expression that the mysterious man had since his entire face was covered in black cloth, leaving only his black eyes shown to the people. His sharp black eyes gazed slowly at the people in front of him one by one to pass his warning.

"Now, my job is done and I'm sure you can do the rest?"

He offered the painting to one of them to take and do the deed that he said just a few minutes ago. One of them nervously walked in front of him and took the painting from his hand very carefully, afraid that he accidentally let out the beast again by making a terrible mistake. The mysterious man nodded his head to him before he walked away from them and when the people tried to look where he disappeared, he suddenly vanished into the air as if he never existed in the first place.

All of them could feel a chill running down their spine when they witnessed an anomalous departure of the mysterious man.

"Well, can you guys accompany me to place this painting?"

"Where should we hide it?" One of them shouted from the back.

It was silence for several seconds before one of them, an old woman raised her hand and made the rest of the people brought their attention to her. "I know a place. There's a small shack hidden a little bit from our village since it was located at the end of it. Nobody lives there and it was empty since years ago." The rest of the people agreed with the old woman when they heard her explanation. Straight away they went to the said shack, passing the bloody scene in front of them and destroyed houses while also keeping their tears at the sight of it. The beast truly did big damage to them.

The man who held the painting came in along with the old woman and the other two people since the small shack couldn't fit all of them.

The old woman pointed at the clear wall to place the painting there.

Oddly but fortunately, there was a nail stuck on the middle of it that made the man could easily hang the painting. With trembling hands, he placed the painting on it and backed away almost instantly once he succeeded the act.

Still with trembling hands, he stared at the painting with horror written all over his face.

"What are we waiting for? Let's just lock the shack! We already heard the man, right? Pass the warning to our children so they won't come to this place. Don't tell about what happened today, let it be our own story that should be forgotten along with the beast!" One of them said that came along inside the shack.

Three out of four nodded their heads yes before walking out of the shack, leaving the man that was holding the painting before. He kept staring at the painting until he noticed something strange in it.

There was something peeking out from the tall tree, pointy ears and a furry face with bright red eyes.

The man blinked his eyes several times to make sure if what he sees is real and yes, the strange creature revealed his body more that showed its front side. It looked like a werewolf if it just showed its head but honestly a fox when it showed its front legs. Its nine tails came out from behind the tree and lightly swaying from side to side as if it is warning the man. The man knew exactly in an instant that it was the beast.

"G-guys... l-look! Please! Look!"

Wide eyes and shaking voice, he tried to call the people again. One of them came inside again when he heard the man shouted. "What's it, Jae?"

The man looked at the newcomer before pointing his index finger at the painting.

"The beast! It comes out!" He told them almost yelled because of how terrified he was. It alerted the people outside and made them try to get in to see. "Where?!" Shouted them.

The newcomer looked at the painting that the man—Jae—was pointing at but could only see a normal painting, green grass and a tall healthy tree with a white background; nothing changed. There was nothing in it or even the said beast that attacked them before. The people that came inside also looked at it but found nothing. The painting looked eerily normal.

"Are you trying to prank on us huh?! Get out from here before we lock this place! Staring at it longer makes you delusional, Jae!" One of them angrily spoke to him before shoving Jae out of the shack.

"B-but..."

Jae tried to defend himself but he couldn't because when he saw it again the fox creature was nowhere in his sight at all and it made him horrified to the core.

Eventually, the shack was successfully locked by the villagers.

Nobody was ever mentioned about the story of the beast or even dared to talk about it. Children were kept far away from the shack with a pathetic story that a woman was died in that place and haunted it. The villagers never even spoke about the mysterious man that helped them, all of it was locked deep inside their memories.

Years after years passed and no one knew exactly about a bloody tragedy that ever happened or even the ghastly and monstrous beast.

It seemed like the elders believed that they were all safe and the beast would never make a comeback again. They made sure of it since nobody ever came inside the hidden shack nor unlocked it. The shack was kept locked for years since the day they placed the painting inside and hung it there. I appreciate their confidence but wasn't it a bit too overconfident, huh? A bit too much or a bit less is never good especially making assumptions that aren't credible. Someone once said that anything could happen.

Indeed, anything could happen.

They were being reckless because of their overconfident personality that an accident could happen and the feared beast finally come again, ready to be the nightmare of humans.

Once it comes, nobody could ever escape from it again or even help them.

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