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"What could you do if I gave you some of my hair?"

Μark sighed for the fifth time in a row. "Less than I could do with your palm. Stop offering up different bodyparts and start helping my protect the house."

He immediately turned to the Japanese and produced a slip of paper. All the way down the paper were four, large, detailed runes. "Now you can start helping me by etching these symbols in this order into every window frame and door frame in the living room. Once you've done that, come see me and I'll tell you where you can help me next."

The two immediately got to work. Yuta carefully inscribed the complex runes into the top and bottom of the window frame - all whilst fighting off an angry dishcloth - in ten minutes.

Mark appeared beside him. "Are you done?" His face dropped as he looked at the runes drawn on the window frane, and Yuta chuckled nervously.

"They're done well, but where are the rest of them?! Come on, man! They're witches, not slugs. If they found you, the can find me." He plucked the knife out of his hands and skillfully drew the rest of them.

But when he went to complete the final rune, the knife wouldn't cut into the white, wooden frame. It didn't matter how hard he pressed, it just wouldn't cut.

And when the lines started to well with a thick, black liquid and run down the walls like blood from a wound, Mark dropped the knife.

He grabbed Yuta's hand and pulled him away from the window. Soon after, all the runes he had drawn were weeping pathetically and spilling onto the floorboards.

The living room was drowning in the good.

The bedroom was totally drenched.

The only room he hand't thought to guard with runes was the bathroom, and so that was where they ended up.

Yuta backed into the sink as Mark slammed the door shut. The Canadian held onto the door's handle and mumbled something in a language he had never heard before. The handle glowed a hot red. As soon as he let go, the door slammed as though a heavy weight had knocked into it.

"Don't panic," Mark swallowed.

Yuta breathed heavily. "I'm okay--"

"I said! Don't - panic!"

Mark watched as the door rhythmically pounded against the frame. Suddenly the handle was shaken, and the loudest, sharpest sound infiltrated their brains when something sizzled on the other side.

Then the house became dead silent.

Mark put a finger to his lips. He looked around before carefully picking up a tube of toothpaste. He unscrewed the lid and crouched down to the floor.

Whispers circled the room and seemed to be coming from every side of the two. Yuta's heart rate spiked and got caught in his throat, clawing at the back of his tongue and just hanging there.

There was a moment of total silence.

And then the whole room suddenly shook violently as the door clattered. Screams poured in from every crevice and was so loud that he felt his ears start to bleed.

Mark suddenly hopped to his feet. "Hold me and don't let go," he said, and the terrified Japanese immediately did so.

As soon as he wrapped his arms around Mark, the door shattered into thousands of splinters.

It was as though time had stopped with the way they suspended in midair, but past all the wood was a black figure staring back at them.

Mark shouted, "Ystwyth!" and the room sparked out of view.

The shadow's jaw unhinged as it dove towards the two, but before it could get to them, they pair fell through a circle he the witch had drawn with the toothpaste on the floor.

Yuta's eyes squeezed shut.

Whatever he had just seen was pure nightmare material. The figure was that of a person in a cloak, but what scared him the most was the fact it was missing a face.

The stillness of the air in the bathroom suddenly warmed, and a gentle breeze fluttered through his brown locks.

"Oh my god, I'm so proyd of myself," Mark whispered excitedly.

Yuta lifted his head back. "Uh..." was all he could say, because when he finally looked up, he was astonished to see green leaves and blue skies. There were children screaming with laughter, chasing each other in a foreign language even the Canadian raised a brow at.

"Hey, you with me?"

Yuta snapped back to the man in his arms. Nodding firmly, he said, "Yes. But... where are we?"

Mark stepped out of the Japanese's embraced and smiled at his surroundings. "One of the nicest places on Earth."

His face showed pure excitement as he hurried up a sloped path. When Yuta followed, he was amazed to see castle ruins. There were people climbing them and taking photos, and it felt as though he was on another planet.

"So... where is this?"

Mark turned to him with a beam on his face.

"Aberystwyth!"

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