[b]DAY 6: REIKI – GRUDGE OF A DEMON[/b]

The two brothers were strangers to the area, they probably couldn't have known about what kind of secrets, curses or tales were bound to these parts. They had been so carefree, passing a small village laughing and having no worries at all, and they left the settlement behind blissfully unaware that their journey was about to get a grim turn. Everything seemed so ordinary and for the most part, that's how things were around here, but there was something in the forest not far from the village that was a serious exception to the otherwise so peaceful region. Though, even the memory of this thing existing had started to fade away from the minds of locals, it had been generations since the incident had taken place around here. This is why they didn't warn the two traveling brothers about the danger that lied in the forest. If only they had known.

It had been a beautiful day, the sun was shining, it was pleasantly warm and there had been a slight breeze blowing. The brothers hadn't been troubled by anything and they continued to stroll through the forest which was so tranquil, so full of positive energy that it was getting to the young men, further making them feel so lighthearted. Birds were singing all around them and this fact only proved that everything was completely normal, that there was nothing to worry about. It caused the brothers to become so ignorant about their surroundings that they were totally unaware of the first warning signs once they passed a certain point, having no clue that they were walking towards danger. They were immersed in their conversation, telling jokes and filled the forest with their laughter. They hadn't noticed at all that the birds had gone completely silent.

They ended up straying from their path, eventually entering a territory where people usually didn't go. Still, they continued to laugh and talk loudly while their surroundings started to take a little darker tone. It wasn't exactly getting more dim, it was more like that the air was rippling with something ominous, slightly tinting the forest with a murky overlay. There was something heavy lingering in the air, which had the power to smother smaller animals like rodents, birds and snakes. But it was almost unnoticeable to humans, so it didn't make the brothers turn back. They should have done it after they noticed that the trail they had been following seemed a little odd. They continued to go forward and it wasn't until they could feel a strange oppressive power, like a grudge, seeping through their skin to their bodies when they started to question if they should turn around.

Then a humongous figure emerged into their view, they had no idea how it was possible for it to soundlessly come charging at them like that. The brothers recognized it as some sort of oni with red skin and other typical characteristics, such as wearing horns and having huge fangs. But there was a strange aura glowing around it and they could see through its body. It was the first instinct of the brothers to get away from the creature as fast as possible, so they turned around and started running as fast as they possibly could.

But the creature didn't want them to escape, its head was filled with the desire to take revenge on humans that had slaughtered it in that very spot. It reached its hand that had huge claws and it managed to grab one of the brothers from his shirt and violently yank him. He screamed as he was being pulled towards the creature and the other brother glanced behind him to see what was going on. He did this just in time to see how the creature brutally crushed his brother's head, blood splattering everywhere, bits of his skull and brains scattering around the ground; a horrible image that would haunt the brother's nightmares for the rest of his life. It was then when he faced forward again and kept running, not daring to slow down until he was near the border of the forest again.

Miraculously, he had survived the horror in the forest. But the tragic loss of his brother would plague his life from now on. When he got out of the forest, he fell on his knees and started sobbing. In a way, the creature had crushed him too.



[b]DAY 7: KEKKAI – YOUR MONSTER BABY[/b]

Losing your baby when you're giving birth to it is bad enough, but when that child turns out to be a monster as soon as it takes its first breath in this world, it's even worse. During her pregnancy, Himari had assumed, just like any mother, that she was carrying a perfectly normal baby – she had already had two other children, why would this time be different? Then came the night when she went into labor and she gave birth within the walls of her own home. Himari had no idea what kind of abomination she was bringing into the world until it crawled out of her. She could only watch in horror at the little creature, it didn't even look like a human, it was more like an ugly monkey. Covered in blood, it cut the umbilical cord and skittered away, leaving only a trail of blood behind. This incident had shaken Himari so profusely that she couldn't talk about it to anyone, not even to her family or friends. When asked what happened to her baby, she refused to answer.

She became depressed shortly after this and spent a lot of time just sleeping. Her family was worried about her and were under the impression that she was grieving the loss of her baby. They didn't know the truth, but still, they attempted to take care of her to the best of their abilities. But no matter how much they tried, she just wasn't getting better. She was withering away since she barely ate anything at all, she had no strength to do anything and to her family it seemed like she was getting drained of her lifeforce. Her family started to suspect that she was possessed by something, but even when they sought help from a priest and performed an exorcism, nothing changed. Nothing helped Himari, making her family completely heartbroken.

When her monster baby had fled, she had thought that she would never see it again. But she was wrong.

Another nighttime arrived and seemingly everything was peaceful. Like usual, Himari was sleeping soundly, dark dreams infesting her head. How can you have pleasant dreams if your mind is constantly clouded by darkness? Perhaps that was why she was in such a deep sleep, because these visions were draining her and making her weak. They would be the last dreams she would ever see, for this night, her child was coming back and it had no good intentions.

The little monster was scurrying under the floorboards like a huge and dangerous rat. No one knew that it had been hiding in there and no one heard it moving around that night. It was seeking for its mother. It moved around for a while until it finally found the right spot, the room where Himari was sleeping. The little monster started to burrow up, infiltrating through the floorboards. The creaking and cracking of the wood didn't wake up anyone, because just like Himari, everyone was fast asleep. The monster could fulfill its dark desire, the one instinct that had driven it since the moment of its birth and nobody would be able to stop it.

Himari was sleeping straight above the spot from which the little monster was coming through. Once it managed to come through the wood, it would invade the flesh. The monster started to claw its way into Himari's stomach. It tore open the woman's skin and flesh, making a hole big enough for it to crawl inside its mother again. Like a parasite, it squirmed around the belly of its mother and began to tear her apart from the inside. It shredded everything, causing abundant bleeding and mutilated Himari's organs. It didn't take long for the little monster to kill her. But the critter wasn't quite done yet. It started to gnaw at her remains, eating her flesh. For such a small creature it could devour a lot of meat. It ripped huge chunks of flesh from Himari from all around her body, completely mangling her corpse.

After the little monster was done with the feasting of its mother's body, it skittered away again, leaving behind a bloody and mutilated mess. Stomach torn open, organs missing, ribcage exposed, pieces of flesh missing everywhere and lying in a pool of her own blood… That was the last state her family would see her in.



[b]DAY 8: OKURI INU – IT'S FOLLOWING ME[/b]

A young woman had traveled through most of the day, all alone, in order to visit some of her relatives in a neighboring town. It was a journey she had done many times before, so she knew exactly which road to use and how much time this trip would take. Even though she had left her home later than she would have liked, she still wasn't worried at all about the approaching darkness. The world had enjoyed the light of the sun when she had started her travel, and she knew that for the most part, her journey was blessed by that light. But she was aware that the nighttime would come while she was still on the road, however, she knew that it wouldn't take long for her to reach her destination after the darkness would fall. Feeling so carefree during her travel, she was sure that her journey would be an ordinary one.

Gradually her surroundings had turned darker, but she wasn't afraid of the dark. Although the sun had set for a good while ago, the full moon had taken its place in the sky, and so the young woman had some illumination on her way, even though she was currently walking along a forested road and the branches of the trees were preventing some of that light from getting through. And of course, light also created shadows, making anyone's travel through the woods an eerie one, but the young woman didn't allow these shadows to play with her mind, no matter how much they crawled and skittered around, trying to frighten her. She simply focused on walking forward, not paying any unnecessary attention to the dark forest around her.

However, at some point she got a shivering feeling that something was following her, something else than just the ordinary shadows. For a while she struggled with whether to look behind her to see if something really was there and eventually, she gave in to this temptation. She glanced behind her and even among the shades of the forest, she could swear that there was a dark figure in the distance, like a large dog. It just stayed there, completely stationary, but seeing it still managed to scare the young woman. She wasn't sure if the thing really was following her, so she continued to move forward, occasionally turning her head to see the whereabouts of the weird dog that gave her the chills.

Almost like a loyal shadow, the dog stayed on her trail, making the woman feel increasingly nervous. But it always kept its distance, it never came close to her, and whenever she would stop and look in its direction, the dog would remain still. It was horrifying to the young woman, she was sure it was a creature with bad intentions. Little by little she started to move faster, wanting to get to the safety in the next town and also, to get away from the following creature.

She practically didn't even notice that she had started running. She hurried through the nocturnal forest; she knew that she wasn't far away from the town. It gave her hope that she would make it. She couldn't hear anything behind her, but she didn't dare to turn her head anymore to make sure if the dog was still on her trail. But she was pretty sure it was. She had to get away from it, she had to. Even when her lungs started to hurt, she didn't stop. The fear was giving her power to keep running, even when her body began to scream against it.

Due to the darkness, she didn't have a clear vision of her surroundings. She didn't notice a large root on her way and she ended up tripping on it. Before the young woman had even registered that she was now laying on the ground, the dog had pounced on her so fast that it was practically impossible. The dog sunk its sharp teeth into her neck and started to violently shake it; so brutal was its force that it didn't take long for the dog to break her neck with a disgusting crack, killing her. Then it proceeded to tear her body apart, mauling it so horribly that it became just a mess of blood, shredded organs and torn flesh, making her completely unrecognizable.

The dog devoured some of her meat, but once its stomach was full, it left the rest to rot. What a gruesome discovery waited for the next person who would traverse that road.



[b]DAY 9: YAMANASHI NO KAI – IT'S YOUR FUNERAL[/b]

“Masuyo!”

Shiori was worried sick. She had been out in the mountains together with her little sister Masuyo, but then she had just run off, without any kind of warning. She had been giggling as she dashed away, so it seemed to Shiori that she was just playing and being her mischievous self; she didn't want to even think about the other option, that her dear little sister had been possessed by an evil spirit which had made her ran deeper into the mountains. Shiori had gone after her immediately, calling for her name multiple times, but never got an answer. She had been begging her to stop, tears veiling her eyes, and it didn't seem to matter how fast she was running, Masuyo was nowhere to be seen. She continued to call out for her, but still, no answer.

Shiori spent the whole evening looking for her little sister, feeling like an ice-cold fist was grasping her heart and something was churning in her stomach. She was so anxious; you didn't need to be wise and old to know that mountains weren't a place for a lone little girl. Of course there was the wildlife that could be dangerous pretty much to anyone, but then there was these… other creatures that were capable of the worst things imaginable. As the sun had started to set, Shiori was concerned about her own safety as well, but she was so worried about Masuyo that she tried her best to ignore the watchful eyes she had started to feel on her back. The feeling of guilt had also snuck into her heart, because it had been her responsibility to take care of Masuyo. If she didn't find her, how could she face their parents? How could she tell them that she lost her and now she probably had been torn to shreds by some creature? That was the conversation Shiori didn't want to have.

As the mountains were getting darker and darker, the more nervous Shiori became. She was afraid, afraid of what kind of beings there were around her, watching and waiting. She was so scared that she stopped calling out her sister's name, because she was terrified that something would hear her, something that she definitely didn't want to meet. Tears still in her eyes, she fearfully continued to walk forward, but since the nighttime had arrived, it seemed like the world was against her and her quest in finding her sister. Where could she have gone? Why was she doing this? Shiori didn't understand and it made her feel worse about the whole situation.

The search for her sister eventually exhausted Shiori greatly. She had to stop for a little while, just for a moment, that's how she justified it for herself. She sat down next to a boulder and wondered, what if Masuyo had already made it back home? What if she wasn't even in the mountains anymore? Shiori started to ponder whether she should return home. Even if Masuyo hadn't come back, at least she could gather more people to help look for her. She would still feel the anger and disappointment of their parents, but at this point, maybe it would be better to endure it rather than spend the whole night in the mountains all alone. Shiori made the decision that she should head back home, once she had rested for a little bit.

Suddenly, she heard something, something unnatural, and it made her freeze. It was coming from a distance, but it sounded like it was slowly approaching. She heard the sound of drums and cymbals, as well as ghostly voices chanting. Shiori was terrified, but at the same time curious about what could be the source of those noises. Carefully she peeked around the boulder and tried to get a glimpse of what was making those sounds.

There were orbs of fire coming closer, but other than that, Shiori couldn't see anything. The sounds, there was no one making them – no one with a body, at least. The dance of fires and the noises were getting closer and for a second Shiori was afraid that they would come to her hiding place.

“Where is the wild pear tree? Where is the wild pear tree?” Shiori could hear them chanting. Being able to understand their words somehow made her even more terrified.

“Here it is! Here it is!”

They had stopped. Shiori watched how something was digging a hole right at the pear tree and she could distinguish a mass of something carried by the flames that horribly resembled a human figure. Shiori made the decision that she didn't want to be here, she had to go now as this entity's focus was on digging a hole in the ground. She was crouching and started to sneak away.

A twig got snapped and at that moment, it seemed like it was the loudest noise in the world.

“What have we here? I'm going to eat you!”

That was the cue for Shiori to start running as fast as she could. But she didn't get far when she felt how a cold hand grabbed her leg and she fell to the ground. Pain coursed through her body as something sharp was sunken on her feet, the horrid realization that she was being eaten alive flashed in her head and she struggled instinctively, although in vain. Her bones were grinded, skin and flesh torn apart and even when Shiori had lost the lower half of her body, she dug her nails on the soil and attempted to crawl away. As soon as her stomach was torn open, however, she lost her fight.

That was the day when two sisters went into the mountains and never came back.



[b]DAY 10: TSURUBE OTOSHI – BLOOD AND CACKLE[/b]

Late at night a man was walking along the forest road, heading back to town. Feeling tired but content that he was close to home and could soon take a well-deserved rest, he was at peace, for the nightly world around him seemed peaceful at that moment. He was approaching the border of the forest when he suddenly heard sinister cackling. He wasn't sure where it was coming from, but it sounded like the source was near him. He looked around, but saw nothing out of ordinary, just a regular forest the way it was supposed to be. This made him wary; he knew that hearing a sound like that wasn't a good sign. He walked forward with cautious steps now, keeping an eye on his surroundings, because if something evil was pursuing him, he wanted to know the exact moment when it would get near him, so he could get a chance to escape.

But the one direction he didn't look was straight above him. He was so close to the town that the tree line was getting out of his way, but right when he thought that he got home safely, his body got crushed. He died instantly. A huge disembodied head of blue-skinned oni had dropped on him, completely mashing the man's body. Every bone was shattered, organs squashed and blood splattered on the ground. The head began to devour his body and once it was done, it returned to its place, to a spot high in a tree and waited for the next unsuspecting victim.

Stain of blood was left on the ground, which perplexed the townsfolk greatly once the sun was in the sky again. No one had any idea what could have happened in that place, but since it was an individual incident, they didn't really investigate it.

Maybe they should have. The same tragedy repeated itself the next night.

Another person was on the move in the same forest during the dark hours. A wandering thief, coming over to the town in search of new people to rob. As he was getting closer to the settlement, he could hear someone cackling. Just like the man previous night, he tried to pinpoint where the sound was coming from, but didn't see anything. He just thought that he would get to the town before something had the chance to attack him, so he continued forward. Just when he saw the lights of the town in the distance, the same oni head dropped on him, crushing him under its weight. The enormous head got yet another meal and the only thing left behind the thief was a bloodstain on the ground.

The light of day revealed another mysterious blood splatter. At this point, a handful people started to get nervous about the matter, but not enough that they would actively try to find out what was causing those bloodstains to appear.

Then came the next night. This time, a young woman had started her travel out of the town, to escape from the clutches of her abusive husband, hoping that under the cover of darkness she could slip away without anyone noticing. She stayed in the shadows as much as possible and successfully avoided detection, soon making her way out of the town. She hurried to the safety of the forest, when a terrifying cackle filled her ears. She didn't slow down, she didn't stop, she just wanted to get as far as possible and as quickly as she could. But her journey was cut short when the oni head fell from the tree and mashed her. Leisurely it ate her crushed body – such a tragic end to a tragic tale that was her life. And just like in the previous nights, nothing was left behind except a stain of blood on the ground. The satisfied creature hid on the tall tree again and waited for the next night.

Once the blood of the woman was discovered, more and more people started to become convinced that something horrible was preying on travelers during the night. But what was it, a violent creature of some sort or just a deranged individual, it caused a lot of arguing. People were advised to be extremely cautious at night if they really had to be outside, but it was recommended that they would stay indoors. This information, of course, was something that travelers from other locations weren't aware of.

The creature had found a perfect hunting ground for itself. Almost every night it was able to crush travelers, then feast on their broken bodies and thus, caused terror among the townsfolks. And for a long time, it was able to continue repeating this pattern.

Once you heard its cackle, you were already dead.