[b]DAY 1: CHELSEA SMILE - SMILE FOR ME![/b]

Aurora didn't know where she was. The room was very much pitch-black and she couldn't really distinguish anything around her. She couldn't recall how she had ended up in that place, but she was sure someone had drugged her – she could still feel the effects in her body, mostly experiencing some sluggishness and numbness. However, minute by minute she started to get her senses back and became more aware of her situation. She was tied to a chair, and no matter how hard she tried to struggle and break free, it was no use. She was bound too tightly. 

Then the questions started to pop up in Aurora's mind.

Why was she here?

Who could have done this?

What was going to happen to her?

And in that instant, she heard a door open and someone switched the lights on – the sudden light hurt Aurora's eyes and she had to close them.

“Well, well, well, look who's awake!” It was a male's voice.

Then Aurora opened her eyes again and looked at the arriver. It was another shark. He was pretty muscular and had quite many scars visible – he wasn't wearing a shirt so it almost felt like he was purposely trying to show them off. But the most notable one was the scar he had on his face: his cheeks were torn in a gruesome smile.

He walked to right in front of her and looked down at her. Aurora stared back, defiantly. That made the male shark chuckle a bit. 

“Who's a good girl?” he asked, tauntingly. He tried to stroke Aurora's red hair, but she didn't allow that and almost bit the male.

“Fuck you!” Aurora growled.

He wasn't amused by this. Not one bit. With one swift move, he got a knife on his hand. Aurora became startled by this, but didn't let it show.

“Here's this one thing, now, so listen carefully”, the other sharks spoke with a low voice. “I'm not going to keep you here for long, so don't worry. I just want to do you some little… cosmetic improvement I think you deserve. Then you can leave.”

Aurora had no idea what that meant, but it didn't sound promising. It seemed like that this male had a problem with her for some reason, but she didn't know why – she had never met this guy. There was something wrong with his head, for sure.

Suddenly, the male shark attacked her – he grabbed her from the hair and smacked her head against the backrest of the chair. Then the knife came closer. A swift swing from this weapon and all of a sudden, Aurora's corner of the mouth was cut open. She screamed in agony when the male shark did the same to her other side of face as well. The blade of the knife cut smoothly her soft flesh of her face.

But that wasn't all. However, for a little while he just admired the job he had done, the torn skin bleeding abundantly. He wiped a little bit with his finger that red nectar of life and then licked it. He smiled faintly. And next, as a master of sudden movements, he gave a powerful and painful kick to Aurora's groin. She let out such a scream that she had never before sounded so loud. Because she had male genitals, the pain was horrible. And because of that, her screams caused her even more agony: the cut corners of her mouth got torn up even more as a result.

The other shark just laughed at her suffering. And he continued that for a little while. But when he was done, he really was done. He cut the ropes that had been restraining Aurora and released her. Still whimpering from the pain, she collapsed to the floor.

“The deed is done. You can go now”, he said. What was the point of this, why did she have to suffer like this, Aurora didn't know. And she didn't really want to ask.

She finally got strength to get up. Aurora staggered toward the door, partly because of the pain, partly because she still felt some sluggishness in her body. She went through it and was greeted by a chilly night air. Where she was, where should she head to, she didn't know. But anywhere was better than staying in here. So she took her first uncertain step.

She needed help.



[b]DAY 2: EXTRA EYES – I'LL HELP YOU TO SEE[/b]

He had spoken with his friend about urban legends, cryptids, folklore and stuff like that earlier on that day. One of most memorable topics they discussed was a tale about a black fox spirit that served as the guardian of the local area. He didn't believe that this thing existed, but his friend was sure that the legend was true. So, on that night, he told his friend that he was going to check out the shrine dedicated to this spirit and prove that it was nothing but a story.

He didn't really have time during the day, so he couldn't visit the shrine when the sun was still out. But when the sun set, he found his way to a pretty remote park. And because it was pretty distant, not that many people strolled around that area. People who were fond of nature were the most common visitors of the park. It almost felt like that this patch of land was still clinging to the past: small guardian statues could be found all over the place, holy ropes had been tied to some trees and few koi fish ponds were scattered around the area. And of course, on the highest hill was where the shrine had been placed.

Old, a bit worn out stairs of stone led to the shrine. He climbed them up, and was soon standing on the top of them. A pavement made of stone, which was a little cracked at some points and had plants growing from them, greeted him and escorted him to the holy place. There was a dozen of meters to walk and soon he was facing the small shrine. It was like a miniature temple: few columns were holding a tiny red building. On the front was the most spacious part of the structure and was currently storing some incense, two candles that were lit, a bouquet of flowers and rice balls. All of these were offerings for the fox spirit. It seemed like that someone had just been here, which, in fact, was pretty common thing to do. People tended to come here and make an offering in order to get a blessing from the fox, whether it was for success in school or work, luck in love life or hoping that a sick relative would get well.

But to him all of this was rubbish.

He had a disgusted expression on his face as he circled around the shrine. The offerings, the blessings… it made no sense to him. In his opinion, there was no fox spirit in this existence. And so, he tried to prove that he was right and went ahead and started to demolish the shrine. He kicked and trashed and was completely destroying it.

“I don't see you, you damn fox!” he shouted mockingly as he kept ruining the holy place.

The candles rolled onto the pavement, but were extinguished by a sudden gust of wind, resulting in a darkness conquering the place. The wind felt unusual somehow, and gave him the goosebumps for some reason.

“Then I shall help you to see.”

This voice came from behind him. It almost sounded like a child. He instantly turned around, only to greet a dark figure. It was hard to see because of darkness, but it appeared to be some kind of animal.

A black fox.

That was his first thought anyway. However, even though he was seeing this creature, he still didn't completely believe in its existence.

“You're not real!” he claimed firmly.

“I am right here”, the fox said, then chuckled a little. “Perhaps with more eyes you can see.”

He didn't know what this meant. But soon horror took him over.

First, he started to feel pain on his skin. The agony seized his body, but the suffering was nothing compared to the terror that was about to come. He looked at his arms as his skin was starting to get holes in it – it was almost like the skin was collapsing into itself. The sight was horrifying and he started to panic and cry in pain and fear. Then he began to hear some disgusting noise that sounded like something was squirming inside those fresh holes. They started to bleed and oh god, it hurt like hell. But the next thing that happened was the worst. Suddenly, eyeballs started to pop up from those holes. They were twitching, looking wildly around, not being able to focus on anything. Their movements hurt and they were bleeding – this all felt like pure nightmare. But it wasn't one. This was reality.

The fox only laughed at his suffering.

He wanted to tear the eyes off, but he wasn't bold enough to do that. All he could do was helplessly stare at this horrific abomination that was previously his body.

He just wanted this suffering to end so he let out a pathetic plead: “I'm sorry, I'm sorry! Please, stop this! I'll do anything you want!”

But the fox was gone.

He was alone.



[b]DAY 3: BACKSTABBED – TINY SAD WORLD[/b]

Darkness had engulfed everything. But it was, however, very much like a living creature. It was breathing, pulsating being. Even in the gloom, there was life. It was like a mother who protected her children in her womb, caring, nurturing them. At least, that is what this place seemed to be like for the shadows. There are two sides for everything. And so, this was also a tiny world filled with sadness, loneliness and doubt, it was a trap for the depressed. But honestly, not that many people cared. This was a place that existed for the broken mortals and because they had all the time in this prison of the wretched, they mostly just suffered in silence. All alone and abandoned. Most didn't consider this place as hell, since simply living a life was hell enough for them. In here, they could be left in peace. They could just curl up in a ball and pretend that they never even existed.

Tamayuki was a newcomer to this place. Like most, he had no idea how he had ended up in here – or why. Somehow, he was at ease. Maybe all of this was just happening inside his head, who knows? So he just sat in silence, surrounded by darkness that still somehow permitted him to see. There was not much to stare at, though. It was just these strange walls that kept swirling around like smoke, changing hues from black to purple and then to blue. Tamayuki didn't know why, but for some reason it was soothing to watch how the walls were in a constant state of change.

Then the wave of depression hit him. He hold his legs tightly against his chest and bewailed. He didn't know why did he have to be the one to get imprisoned here, but he thought that he deserved it. This way he didn't have to plague anyone's life anymore with his existence. He was sure that not even his friends wanted to be around him, they had tolerated his company just out of pity.

And for a while, he solely dwelled in his misery. But after crying a moment that had felt like an eternity, something started happening.

Tamayuki hadn't yet seen the shadow denizens of this place. But when he was facing one, it almost seemed like he was greeting an old friend – he felt no fear. The pretty much shapeless dark figure floated around him, giggling a bit. Then, it just decided to stop behind him. Nothing appeared to happen, so Tamayuki looked over his shoulder – and saw that the shadow was holding a knife. And still, he was calm, not feeling dread at all. He shifted his gaze back to front and waited.

Then, he sensed sharp pain in his back – but he didn't even budge. He felt how the steel gnawed his flesh as the shadow moved that sharp object up and down. Next, Tamayuki experienced another sharp thing in his back, it was apparently a new knife. He could feel the blood stream down as the shadow moved those knives in and out, up and down. Then the dark thing inserted yet another knife to his back. And few more. But Tamayuki didn't flinch – he thought that he deserved this torment for being the pitiful wretch. So, he let that shadow tear his back to shreds, allowing it to do whatever it wanted to him.

Bleeding, back completely torn by the knives and experiencing unbearable pain, Tamayuki collapsed onto the ground, whimpering a little bit. The shadow was done – and with one last giggle that faded away, it was gone, leaving him alone. But then, the pain was suddenly gone too. Perhaps the wounds in his back were disappeared as well? 

Though, for some reason, he felt like that the shadow was going to come back.



[b]DAY 4: BURN – BURNING LOVE[/b]

Somewhere, deep in the forest, a certain pond was located. Its clear water was said to be helpful against sicknesses and some even believed that it would prolong the life of living beings. Thus, it was common that people visited this pond… and not just people. Or animals. There was this one young dragon who would come to drink this miraculous water every day. But whenever it sensed that people were coming that way, it would hide from sight, maybe still spying on the visitors. Eventually the dragon learned the faces of the folks who came to the pond pretty often.

And one of them was this certain maiden. 

The dragon had never seen anything more beautiful than her. There was not even a single thing in nature, not any treasure, that could exceed her beauty. And the dragon was sure that she was more gorgeous than any fairy or nymph. After seeing her many times visiting the pond, the dragon eventually fell in love with her. Every day it hoped to see her, hiding behind the bushes and trees, spying on her. Few times the maiden had even bathed in the pond – which surely was a very delightful sight for the dragon. It would memorize every curve in her body and how soft her skin looked, feeling lust for her. But regardless of the dragon's feelings, it had not yet mustered enough courage to show itself for the maiden.

Not until that day.

It waited to see her again. And it was lucky: the maiden did come to visit the pond again on that day. She had a barrel with her and she filled it with water, humming a song while doing it. It sounded really sweet in dragon's ears. And so, it snuck silently through vegetation, showing its scaly form to the maiden for the first time. She didn't notice its great body immediately, but when she did, she froze with terror.

“My dear, you don't have to be afraid”, the dragon spoke with a low voice. “I'm not going to hurt you.”

“Wh-who are you?” the maiden asked.

The dragon simply grinned as it answered: “I'm someone whose heart you stole.”

The maiden became silent and looked rather confused by these words. The scaly beast came closer to her, starting to circle around her.

“I will cherish you forever and ever”, it said. “Our love shall be everlasting.”

“I don't want to offend you, oh mighty dragon, but my heart already belongs to someone”, the maiden spoke.

The dragon stopped its movement. It smiled gently to her.

“No need to be shy”, it uttered. “It may be a scary thought but I know our hearts are tied together!”

After that, the dragon took its long and thin tongue out, licking the maiden's face, then trying to slither its way to her mouth. She didn't like this one bit, and shoved the dragon's head aside.

“I'm terribly sorry, but I already have a spouse”, she said. “He's been very ill lately, so I have come and fetched this water in order to help him recover.”

The dragon could almost feel its heart shattering to thousands of pieces. “So you… don't love me?”

“I don't even know you!” the maiden almost cried. “Now please, let me go home!”

She then hurried away from the pond and the dragon. The beast was left behind, abandoned and heart broken. For a little while it just stared behind the woman it had loved. But the longer it did so, its love started to deform into pure rage. Then it flew after her.

The dragon crashed right in front of the lady. Hatred in its eyes, it let out a mighty roar.

“If I can't have you, then no one can!” it screeched.

Then it grabbed the maiden with its long, whip-like tail and crushed her slightly. The poor woman was absolutely terrified and screamed for help… but nobody could hear her. Next, the dragon opened up its maw and spitted fire right at the maiden. She was helpless, captive and could do nothing as the fire scorched her figure. She shrieked in agony as the flames ate her beautiful body. The blazes devoured her flesh, the skin, the nerves… The heat was turning her body into a black mass that was beyond recognition. Her death was slow and in the dragon's opinion, fitted her well for being such a seductress.

When the dragon was done, it dropped the completely charred body that was still smoldering to the ground that had got a taste of its fire as well. Then it spread its wings, not caring at all if it had started a forest fire. It just wanted to leave that place, not wanting to return to it ever again.



[b]DAY 5: MONSTER – FOREVER MINE[/b]

A sundown had painted the sky with pretty colors. It was such a beautiful evening and the city was full of life even at this twilight hour. Paper lanterns brought some warm light to the city, keeping the darkness away for those that were still wandering throughout the streets. Two of those people were Miruko and Shingi. They had been doing some late shopping and were now heading to home. They were walking through the town, minding their own business, but at some point Shingi made an eye contact with some pretty girl. This maiden smiled at him and waved at him, and he gave her a silly smile, then continuing on his way with Miruko. He had no idea that his beloved one had observed this small affair. And so, those two just continued on their journey to home.

Who could have guessed that such a beautiful evening would end up in tragedy?

When they were finally at their house, Miruko opened the door, and they both stepped inside, Miruko then closing the door behind them. After doing that, he surprised Shingi and took a grasp of him, pressing him against the door – the things they were carrying dropped onto the floor. Miruko kissed him fiercely and Shingi enjoyed every bit of it, kissing him back. Who knows, maybe this could lead to making love. Shingi was totally ready for it. But then, Miruko grabbed him from the front and tossed him against the floor.

“I saw what you did in the city”, Miruko said.

Shingi was very confused by this. What had he done that could upset Miruko like that?

“You're mine!”

The shout was almost like one of an animal. And with that, Miruko began to transform into his fox form. His figure became a lot larger – even larger than usually, Shingi noticed. But that wasn't the only abnormal thing. There was something really off with Miruko's transformation. His typically white fur was now dirty grayish and there wasn't almost any trace of elegance left. He was now a hideous monster: strange additional eyes had appeared all over his body and small jaws accompanied them. There were also some tiny extra limbs drooping from various parts of his body. This figure gave you an idea that it was trying to be multiple entities at once. Probably the most disturbing change was his maw that now hold too many teeth and was wide, making a perpetual grin.

It was the corruption. At some point just recently, Miruko had gone too far with sucking the lifeforce of others. And Shingi hadn't noticed that. And now, he was in a situation where he was staring, horrified, at this monstrosity that used to be his lover.

“Why such a face?” Miruko asked with a demonic voice. “Am I not beautiful enough to you?”

“Y-yes you are!” Shingi stuttered.

“Liar!”

Miruko grabbed Shingi from his thigh with his jaws and pulled him closer, biting hard enough that blood started coming from those bite marks.

“Look at me!” Miruko screeched. “I am perfect!”

Poor Shingi, who was now almost underneath the fox's body, squeaked: “Wh-why are you like this? What did I do wrong?”

“You looked at that girl! I bet you want her!” Miruko screamed. “But you're mine! Mine!”

Then he sunk his dreadful teeth into Shingi's arm. Shingi let out a scream as the monster fox gnawed his flesh.

“I'm sorry!” he yelled. “It was all my fault! Just tell me what I can do to make up for it!”

Miruko tore off a piece of Shingi's arm, growled a bit and dropped that chunk on the floor. Shingi started to crawl away from him, wanting to escape. It felt like that it was useless to reason with this corrupted fox. Oh why… why had things ended up in such a misfortune? Miruko used to be such a calm and mellow person. This beast… it wasn't the same individual. The person Shingi had met on that one day in the emperor's palace… it wasn't this corrupted monster.

“You're mine!” Miruko shrieked again. “And only mine!”

Then his jaws were around Shingi's leg and the monster pulled him closer, tearing his limb. At this point Shingi started to feel that he was going to get killed – so he began to struggle and kicked the monster with his free leg. He managed to stun the beast a little and attempted to creep away. But in vain. Miruko's teeth were now around Shingi's healthy leg and he began to tear it to shreds.

“Please, stop this!” Shingi was crying at this point.

But Miruko didn't listen.

Soon Shingi's legs were in such broke condition that he couldn't kick anymore – or walk. He couldn't really do much to defend himself: he could only punch or try to bite back. He was pretty much helpless as the beast was ripping pieces off of him. A pool of blood started to form below them. During this whole ordeal, Shingi had to get reminded over and over again how he belonged to Miruko and only to him as his flesh got torn from his body.

Then Miruko ripped Shingi's chest open, exposing his ribcage, lungs and heart. Shingi was pretty much losing his consciousness due to blood loss, tears still rolling down his face.

“Ah, the heart that belongs to me…”

Miruko buried his snout inside Shingi's chest, starting to nudge his heart in a tender manner. It was still beating, but very weakly. But then, he gently took that organ in between his jaws – and ripped it out, blood gushing everywhere. He gobbled it up in no time, it was his first tasty treat.

“Now you'll be part of me, forever”, Miruko whispered at Shingi's dead body.

And at that moment, he began to devour Shingi. Miruko consumed the flesh, licked the blood… Until nothing remained.