[b]DAY 26: DESIRED PATH – THE PATH OF VIOLENCE[/b]

On some level, Kagin could tell this wasn't the waking world. But was it a dream or some other realm entirely, he wasn't sure. He was traversing a road through the woods, sensing that something sinister was hiding within. There was not a single sound to be heard; no wind, no bird's singing, no snapping of twigs as some animal would quickly pass by, nothing. In addition, the sky had gone pitch-black, devoid of sun and moon and clouds. But none of these things really bothered Kagin, he was confidently pressing on, guided by an odd sensation that had snuck into his heart as soon as he had become conscious in this realm.

The trees started to become more scarce as he walked forward, until they disappeared completely. There was only the road to follow in the middle of the void. Kagin could see a crossroad just a little bit ahead of him and for some reason, he got the feeling that it was important somehow. He walked towards the spot where two paths diverged and stopped for a minute. Which path should he take? It was hard to say since he couldn't see anything in the distance that would tell him where exactly these roads would take him.

“So. You are finally here.”

Kagin looked around him, being rather confused because he hadn't seen anyone around as he had come here. But now, an old man had appeared behind him, or at least it sounded like such, but a hood was covering their face and their whole body was covered in dirty rags. The strangest thing was, he had four arms.

“Are you the one guiding me?” Kagin asked from the odd man.

“Not quite. It's your heart alone that will guide you. I'm just here to witness it all”, the old man said. “Now, Kagin. You're at the crossroads of your life. What is the path you desire?”

Kagin shook his head a little. “I don't know. Which road should I take, can you give me a hint?”

“No, I can't. This should be the path you desire, not what somebody else wants. Look inside your heart and tell me what you see.”

Kagin did. He stayed still and closed his eyes, seeking for answers from the bottom of his identity. He felt the need to draw his sword and so he took it out. He could feel his heart tremble, but why was that? Fury, hatred, vengeance… The raw destructive sensations. It was these he wanted to unleash, he wanted to be possessed by them and wanted them to guide his blade. He wasn't sure who he was in this realm, but there was no doubt about what was inside. These sensations were stronger than his sense of self.

He opened his eyes. He could feel that he was grasping something, something else than his weapon. He was holding a decapitated head of a man, grabbing it by the hair. Kagin also noted that blood was flowing down by his trusted blade. He wasn't fazed by any of this.

“Hmm. It seems you have chosen the path of violence”, the man said – his voice sounded different now.

Kagin looked again at the old man. But their appearance has changed drastically now. He was a huge mass consisting of multiple bodies, some being more intact than others. Some had their limbs cut off, some had been struck with a spear and swords. Some had guts hanging out from their open stomachs while some had their ribcages open.

But still, Kagin wasn't bewildered by any of this. As he watched this unholy mass of tortured souls writhing in agony before his eyes, he realized that he was looking into the future. This thing was the embodiment of his forthcoming victims that would inevitably be downed by his blade if he chose to walk on this path. But it didn't matter to Kagin. There is a reason why a man would choose a destructive path stained with blood and anguish. Once you have suffered enough, you have the desire to make others suffer.

He knew now which path to take. Kagin took the left one, starting his journey towards the life of a murderer.



[b]DAY 27: HASTENED HEARTBEAT – RUN, LITTLE MOUSE[/b]

She should have never come here. She realized this now. What had started as a curious journey to explore an abandoned manor had turned into a total nightmare. All of a sudden the whole building had gone against Kiam, trapping her inside and the layout stopped making any sense. The halls and corridors and rooms were shifting, making it impossible to navigate. And the worst thing of all, Kiam wasn't alone. Something was here in the shadows, crawling through the old building like a predator in pursuit. Kiam didn't know what it was or how long it had been lurking here – maybe it was responsible for the manor's downfall to begin with – but it was definitely a vile being. It was in no hurry, moving rather sluggishly while it was looking for her. It was toying with her, which made it even more frightening; perhaps it already knew how this hunt would end.

The old building was full of debris and decayed wood which made some places quite dangerous. It was also very dark, like daylight hadn't graced it for a long time. Luckily Kiam had her flashlight and it was probably the only advantage she had against the monster. It was blind, so using her light didn't really give away her location. Why did she know this? Because the monster had told her so. It was capable of human speech and it continuously taunted her as she desperately tried to find an exit.

“Run, little mouse, run as fast as you can.”

Sometimes it would cackle, causing Kiam's blood to run cold. She could hear how the monster's huge body was slithering through the manor. At least it wouldn't be able to sneak up on her, though that didn't really make Kiam feel any better about her situation. She was still trapped and had no idea how to get out of here.

The old wood creaked around her as the monster crawled on the floor above her. She put a hand over her mouth to silence her breathing and pointed her flashlight to the ceiling. From the few cracks on the ceiling, she could see a dark mass passing by.

“I can't see you, but I can hear your heartbeat.”

Kiam was afraid that her heartbeat was so loud the monster could hear it. But it was one thing she couldn't control. She tried to move as quietly as she could, to gain some distance between her and the monster. But something had just changed; no matter where she went, she could hear the creature nearby. It was a distressing observation because so far it had come close to her path only a couple of times, but now, the creaking and something heavy being dragged on the floor were constantly tormenting her ears. Maybe the thing had started to look for her seriously only now. The thought was horrifying.

All the fear and adrenaline made her heart shudder in a way that even she could almost hear it. And oddly, she had started to feel a slight ache in her heart. It was pounding against her chest like it wanted to get out.

“Oh, the quivering young heart. It will be mine.”

Kiam spun around instantly because it sounded like the monster's voice had come right by her ear. But there was nothing. Carefully she began to move away, now more terrified than ever that the quick pace of her heartbeat would reveal where she was. She tiptoed forward, evading all sorts of rubbish as she pressed forward. She came to an end of a hallway and pointed her flashlight at her surroundings to make a decision where she would go next.

But the light hit the last thing she wanted to see. The head of the monster was peeking from a next corridor as if it had been waiting for her there the whole time. The creature was ugly like a gargoyle and had terrifyingly huge teeth that resembled what humans had. It had no eyes but somehow it still seemed to know where Kiam was standing. It had a long neck that was connected to a massive body covered by scales. It had only two limbs at the front of its body, looking like clawed hands.

“Found you”, the monster cackled at Kiam.

She was frozen in her place, like being bewitched. She couldn't move an inch and so she couldn't do anything as the monster reached for her with one of its hands. Kiam's heartbeat was louder than it had ever been as she stared at the nightmarish creature.

“Poor little girl, you shouldn't have come here”, the monster said.

Then it just bit Kiam's head off. The body dropped the flashlight and its glass shattered on the floor. The monster gobbled up her body in no time and nothing remained. It would then slither away and wait for the next foolish victim to enter the building so it could hunt once more.



[b]DAY 28: CONTAGIOUS LAUGH – LAUGHING DEMON[/b]

Who could have known that a late evening walk with a dog would turn out to be cause for a tragedy. Just like usual, Noah had been walking the family dog through a path in a nearby park that was surrounded by trees. It was a nice glimpse to nature in the middle of a city and this path was one of Noah's favorites. It tended to be quiet and peaceful during the dark hours, even the traffic sounded distant. Countless times he had taken this road and never had he encountered anything strange. But that evening, he could suddenly hear weird laughter coming somewhere alarmingly close to him and the dog. It sounded like a man, but there was this strange echo to it which Noah found a little disturbing. For a brief moment he stopped to pinpoint where the laughter was coming from and even the dog was looking around nervously, but then it just stopped and everything was quiet again. Without thinking much of it, Noah continued his journey home, although now accompanied with a weird desire to laugh.

Noah had no idea that he had led an entity to his house; an entity that had malevolent plans for his whole family.

The presence of something dark and strange was noticeable right in the morning. The atmosphere felt oppressive somehow, causing weird anxiety among Noah's family. His wife Aurora and son Samuel shared this chill feeling that something wasn't right, although no one was able to specify what exactly was wrong. Nonetheless, their day started as usual and both Noah and Aurora had a normal work day while Samuel's day at school turned out to be an ordinary one as well. Maybe it was nothing.

It wasn't until the next evening when the nightmare began. Noah had been in the garage, looking for his toolbox since the hinges of one door needed to be fixed. While he was skimming through all the stuff that had accumulated during the years, he was suddenly scared by a sudden laughter. He turned instantly to face the direction where it was coming from, noting that it sounded exactly the same as what he had heard in the park. Noah could see a black figure in one of the corners of the garage, having a humanoid shape but it was sickly thin, nothing but skin and bones. It had the head of a goat and empty white eyes that looked like they could see right into Noah's soul. Facing the creature alone was a horrible experience, but the laughter… The horrible, horrible laughter… Noah felt like it was drilling into his brain. He tried to cover his ears but that didn't help at all. The noise was making him insane, he wanted it to end and tried to run away from it. Still he couldn't escape from its clutches as it infected him, causing him to unwillingly laugh as well. He sounded like a madman and felt like one too as he lost the control of his own body. He was still conscious, still aware, but something else was moving him.

Whatever had taken control of him decided to pick up an axe. Noah could already tell where this was going and was utterly horrified, trying to struggle against the possession. It was no use. He was like in the backseat, frightened to watch what the driver was doing. Still he was laughing as his body was forced to walk towards the living room where Aurora and Samuel were watching television, completely unaware of the impending danger. Eventually they did hear Noah's approaching laughter.

“What's so funny, honey?” Aurora asked and she turned to face her husband.

She noticed the axe and immediately grew concerned. Noah wanted to scream for his family to run away from him, but couldn't. His body suddenly moved very quickly towards Aurora and Samuel and even though they tried to get away, possessed Noah was able to swing his axe so badly it damaged Aurora's right leg, almost cutting it off. She fell on the floor and screamed: “Run, Samuel, run!”

But possessed Noah was able to smack the boy down by striking his axe at the boy's back. He fell and Noah was relentlessly attacking his body, chopping him into bloody little pieces while Aurora watched in horror, knowing very well that she was next. The manic laughter of possessed Noah filled the air as he gruesomely killed his own son, then turning his axe against Aurora. Noah was forced to watch how the thing controlling him used his body to split his wife's head. Then he would keep striking her over and over again, chopping her into pieces just like Samuel.

It was a horrible mess of blood and flesh and pieces of organs. And when the attack was over, the entity possessing Noah's body freed him and he could finally stop laughing. It was a cruel deed, leaving him alone with the mess. Noah fell on his knees, tears in his eyes.

What the hell was he supposed to do now?



[b]DAY 29: UNORTHODOX DECOR – SWAMP WITCH[/b]

Flamet could instantly say that he didn't like swamps, especially at night. Maybe if he had been wiser, he would have waited until dawn, but he wasn't sure if it mattered that much in the end. The swamp was a dark place with a sinister atmosphere and murky waters. Flamet had seen tiny blue flames dancing in the distance, but luckily he knew that one shouldn't follow them or they would be lost forever. Still, as he stared at the moving lights, he couldn't help but wonder how many poor souls they had managed to lead astray. Flamet wasn't really afraid of blue flames, he was more scared of what lay beneath the surface of the dark waters. His main concern was snakes, but who knows what kind of ungodly creatures lurked around, ready to make him disappear without a trace.

Even though Flamet felt like he was all alone surrounded by many pairs of eyes that he couldn't see, he was able to stay brave and look for the hut of a witch he had set out to find. He was holding a lantern, but although it helped him to see around, he couldn't shake the shivers whenever it crossed his mind that everything in the swamp could see him because of it. But he would be utterly lost in darkness if he tried to wander around without a source of light.

He felt immensely relieved when his lantern revealed an exterior of a small building. That had to be the witch's house – who else could live in such a place? The hut looked a little dilapidated and there was a lot of slime and cobwebs decorating it in a gross way. The place didn't seem welcoming at all, but Flamet still walked towards it. The wood under his feet creaked as he climbed up the short set of stairs and walked through the porch to the door. He knocked on the door and waited.

Flamet couldn't hear anything coming from inside, but soon the door was opened and a strange short man peeked from the gap. He had a very thin physique and was dressed in what Flamet could only describe as rags. He was wearing multiple necklaces and bracelets with pearls and small bones and other strange things. Flamet noticed that his fingernails were black and almost claw-like, but the most conspicuous thing in his appearance was the horns on his head. They didn't look like something he had taken from an animal, it really seemed they were actually growing from his head. The man was eyeing Flamet with his dark eyes and had a weird smile on his face.

“My, my, what do we have here?” the man spoke with a surprisingly high voice.

“Um… Good evening, sir. Is this the place where I can find the witch Näkki?” Flamet asked.

“You're staring at him right now”, the man responded and opened the door wider. “Come in, come in, dear.”

“Oh, I thought…” Flamet didn't manage to finish his sentence as he entered the hut.

“You thought you'd find a woman here”, Näkki completed his thoughts. “That's a common mistake and I don't mind it, to be honest. Now, what can I do for you?”

But Flamet was captivated by his surroundings. They were rather disturbing. Something like jars full of weird liquid and small creatures and body parts was something to be expected to find in a witch's house. But there was just all around so many morbid things Näkki was keeping; animals with horrific defect traits such a frog with only one big eye, two-headed snake, a pike with one huge tooth at the front of its mouth and a bear with extra rows of teeth and for some reason Näkki had also attached wings to its back. Then there were of course all sorts of bones and herbs. But the worst thing of all in Flamet's eyes were the body parts of humans; organs, limbs, even heads… Flamet started to fear for his life.

Näkki probably sensed what he was thinking because he said: “Oh, don't you worry, my dear, you're my customer now! You won't get put up on the wall today.”

Flamet was a little bewildered. “You mean… I could still potentially become part of… this?”

“Why yes, my dear”, Näkki responded. “Client today, victim tomorrow. You'll never know. So, what do you want?”

“I uh… There is a sickness in the village and we thought that maybe you could help us”, Flamet explained.

“Ah, of course I can. The cause is because of your children. They disrespected your local god by breaking the statue depicting him and as a punishment, he let the disease spread among you, but especially with children.”

Flamet was astounded by the witch's answer. “You know that much? Well, then, what can we do to mend the situation?”

Näkki was moving swiftly around his home, looking for ingredients for something. “Well, for starters you need to hold a ritual to appease your god. Replace the broken statue, give him a worthy offering, things like that. But let me quickly whip up a remedy for the sickness.”

“Oh, thank you so much!” Flamet felt extremely relieved and grateful. He wasn't sure when coming here if the witch would help them at all so this was good news.

Näkki mixed a few herbs together and put a little bit of some powder in the concoction. He put everything in a little blue bottle and gave it to Flamet.

“A couple of drops on the tongue will do the trick”, Näkki instructed.

Flamet took the bottle in gratitude. “Thank you! How can we ever repay you?”

“No need for that”, Näkki replied. “Maybe tomorrow you will curse me.”

Flamet wasn't sure what the witch meant, but didn't think much of it, he was so grateful for his help. He gave a slight bow to the witch and said: “Well, thank you again and goodbye.”

“Farewell, my dear”, Näkki answered.

Flamet left the witch's hut behind with a hope in his heart. He made haste as he was now grasping the cure to the sickness plaguing his village. But even after this event, the strange man who lived in the swamp visited his thoughts. What a peculiar little man he was.



[b]DAY 30: HOME-MADE MEAL – BUNNY BLOOD FEAST[/b]

The mother rabbit was peering out from the window, frowning. There it was again, that little pesky wolf pup, stealing the toys of the rabbit's children. He probably thought that no one was watching, but the mother rabbit did and the longer she observed the pup, the more furious she became. Bad manners and parents had done a poor job raising their pup, he had been a constant nuisance to mother rabbit and her children. He was bigger and stronger than the rabbit's children and was constantly bullying them. Mother rabbit couldn't even count anymore how many tears her precious children had cried because of this horrible wolf. But right there and right now, the mother rabbit decided that it would end today.

The mother rabbit opened the front door of her house and as soon as the wolf pup noticed she was home, he dropped the toys he had planned to steal and pretended like he wasn't doing anything bad in the yard of the rabbit house.

“Come in, come in, little wolfie”, the mother rabbit said warmly and gestured to the wolf pup to enter the house. “I have special candy, my children can't eat it all and I'd love to share.”

The wolf pup was interested and without thinking anything of it, he went inside the rabbit's house. What bad could happen in the home of a loving mother rabbit?

“This way, dear”, the mother rabbit said and led the wolf pup into the kitchen.

The young wolf still didn't suspect a thing as they arrived in the kitchen. There was, in fact, candies stored in one of the cupboards and all the mother rabbit had to do was open the cupboard for the wolf and keep him distracted that way. The pup was excitedly going through the contents of the cupboard, being completely vulnerable. He had no idea what was happening behind his back, not until it was too late. The mother rabbit had taken a knife, the biggest and sharpest she had, and got closer to the greedy little wolf. Without a warning, she stabbed the pup on the back and he let out a scream. He tried to flee, but the mother rabbit had taken a firm grip on his arm and kept stabbing him over and over again. The little wolf's blood was spilling everywhere as he struggled against the furious rabbit, but eventually the wounds were too much and he fell on the floor, weak and helpless. The mother rabbit continued her assault long after the last breath had left the little wolf's body, completely covering him in stab wounds.

Eventually she stopped. But killing the pup wasn't the only thing she had planned. She took his body and chopped it into pieces. She cut and mushed and grinded it all; the skin, flesh, organs, bones, even saved some of the blood and made a minced meat out of the wolf. Today her children would have a feast, the secret ingredient being a wolf pup. The mother rabbit believed that if her children ate the body of the wolf, they would grow stronger and bigger. So, she made this meal with love and care.

The little rabbits returned home from school and their mother greeted them from the kitchen.

“Dinner is almost ready, just wait for a moment!” she informed her children.

The little rabbits played until it would be time to eat. The mother rabbit was humming contently while she prepared the meal for her children. The little ones needed a lot of vegetables, wolf meat was only a part of the dish.

Finally the mother rabbit called her children for dinner. All seven little ones took their seats around the table as their mother brought the hot fresh meal. With a scoop she gave each of her children a portion from the dinner she had prepared. Once everyone had food on their plate, all seven children and their mother started to eat.

And the mother rabbit was happy; all her children were consuming the flesh and blood of the wolf. They would surely become strong afterwards.



[b]DAY 31: HALLOWED NIGHT – WHEN THE DEAD SING[/b]

And so came around the most hallowed night of the year. It was once more the annual festival to honor the dead, a tradition that had been held for generations in the reclusive little village. It was because of the secluded location that the dead couldn't make it to the spirit world on their own and needed a little bit of help. The festival would invigorate and empower them so they could make the trip to where they belonged. It was for this reason that the spirits of the dead lingered by their graves and didn't even try to move on their own. They would wait, some even for a whole year, before they would say goodbye to their homeland.

But the dead weren't still able to do their journey alone. The darkest part of the tradition was that a sacrifice was needed. And not just anyone; a suitable person would be selected from the community of priests and priestesses. With their high spiritual energy, they would be able to shine the light of their souls and guide the dead to the spirit realm. The one chosen would be honored as a hero for this deed and their body would be enshrined. 

It was a full moon that night. The great silvery sphere was shining brightly, perhaps trying to aid the souls who would start their journey tonight. A cheerful music was playing around the village and the air was filled with the smells of all the delicious foods that were traditionally made for this night. The overall atmosphere was joyful in the village and this would be their final goodbye to those who had passed away during the past year.

A new sound then rose above the festival music and laughter of the children and the chattering. It caused everything else to stop suddenly, even the children halted. The villagers were like enchanted, listening to this sound resonating in the night air as it kept growing louder. It was the singing of the dead. Now it was their time to go.

Collectively the villagers started to walk towards the graveyard. It was located in the outskirts of the village, by a body of water that reached far beyond. Some of the villagers held lanterns as the mass of people marched towards the shore. They walked past the graves and could see the souls of the dead that had appeared, their pale forms almost glowing in the light of the moon. They were all singing from the depths of their spirits, signaling that it was time to go.

There was a pier on the shore. Only priests and priestesses were allowed to step on it tonight. Four priests walked all the way to the end of the pier, turned around and waited. A woman dressed in holy white robes, carrying a lantern that wasn't lit at the moment, came through the crowd and made her way to the far end of the pier. She was the chosen one tonight. She was ready to perform this duty with honor and grace.

One of the priests had been holding onto a pillow, a beautifully crafted dagger resting on it. One other priest picked it up with respect and looked at the shining blade for a moment. Then he gestured to the priestess to step closer and so she did. Holding her head up with dignity, she stood absolutely still while the end of her life was approaching. With a one clean cut, the priest slit her throat. Her body fell in the water, sinking a little bit. Her blood colored the water red, but then, suddenly, an underwater light started to shine. The lantern she had been holding was now lit by the radiance of her soul. It was a sign to the dead and all of them glided towards the water and went under the surface. A soul left the body of the priestess and while submerged, she started to travel ahead, to a place somewhere far in the distance. And the other dead followed her, her light guiding them.

It was done. The villagers would resume their festivities. The priests got the woman's body out of the water, planning to enshrine her.

Next year, all this will repeat.