The scream bubbled in her chest, the page held tight in her hand. She could feel the bones pop as the cracked with tension, the fear coursing through her veins. The spirits around her held her fear in place, forming a transparent pink shield- before her just as tentacles came flying at her from the horrible faceless monster. They yelled at her to run. To get away before her found a way through their barrier. But she was terrified; worried the spirits would be injured and eternally trapped in the place of nightmares.
"Mai! Come on!" Monk yelled, the wind itself seemed to have picked up, excited by the confrontation between supernatural and human.
Her legs twitched before she bolted past the creature, the tentacles flying after her. Her vision started swimming, the pull of unconsciousness tugging harder and harder with every step she took. It felt as though the earth itself was shaking under her, the primal need to escape dominating her senses.
The spirits seemed to understand her desire as the shield seemed to expand, taking over the two males in a soft pink glow as they joined the brunette in her escape. The hair raised on the back of their necks as the tentacles whizzed past them, inhuman screams echoing from them as they hit the ground and shattered. Specks of what seemed like black blood sprayed their clothes under the volley of piercing strikes, the force of their impact rebounding from the barrier jarring their very bones as they kept running.
They could hear the screams growing fainter, the attacks lessening as the creature slowly gave up. But they knew it was far from over, feeling the very forest itself shiver as the creature seemed to vanish from existence, just like it did every other time it appeared.
The trio finally stopped on the edge of another clearing, panting hard as they struggled to catch their breath, hackles raised as fear of attack still ran high.
"What the hell is in this place?" Monk yelled, punching a nearby tree in frustration. He ignored the pain the flared through his hand as the impact, shaking it out as he stood upright once more. The torch in his hand shook with the adrenaline that coursed through his veins, muscles shaking with built up tension, ready to run at any second.
"It's worse than a demon." Mai's voice was quiet, but strong. A strong sense of foreboding emanating from her hunched body as she unfurled the crushed page from between her fingers, "It is a creation of the mind that has used countless spirits to manifest itself in our plane of existence. I think John used the term, Tupla effect. Where so many people think of the same thing that it becomes reality. And then... the more people that believe in it... The stronger it gets."
Her voice was lifeless to them, cold and unfeeling as she tried to suppress her emotions on the situation. She could feel the spirits of the children that were tethered to the pages she held. They blanketed her like a veil, making her see more of the other side than she ever had before. Everything took on a hue of silver, outlining everything in a haze.
She could see small footprints in the ground, tinged pink for the spirit that she was about to follow. The next page was close, and she was determined to solve the Tupla problem the camping grounds were having.
"Well, how do we deal with it then Mai? How are you learning all this?" Naru was genuinely curious and anxious to solve the case before someone he knew was hurt. Or worse...
"We have to free all the children. And then... Then he will be weak enough to destroy." She paused, eyes closed as she inhaled before looking at Naru, reading the question in his eyes before he even spoke, "That on the other hand, is to be decided later...”
It was with cold determination that she finally managed to look at the paper that had been crumpled in her hand since the incident at the cross walls. It was hard to make out, even with the torches shining down on the yellow page, but the thick scratched lines marred every inch of the page. But there was one symbol on it that definitely stood out amongst the darkness. A tall creature, featureless head and tentacle like limbs… The spirit that had died with the page had gotten a chilling sketch down before the poor child lost its’ life.
