[Folk Horror] Ten Days of Mourning

At this point in my thinking, I was interrupted by my friend's call.

"Are you okay?" Your friend whispered softly and smiled at you, "Don't be afraid, I'm right here, as I said, I will always be by your side."

You send her a sincere smile, take a deep breath, and drink the bowl of talisman water with your head up.

It doesn't taste good, you think.Force yourself to swallow it, and feel that the bowl of cold water freezes your esophagus and stomach uncomfortably, and a chill rises from your body, as if your internal organs are frozen together.Your friend suddenly held your hand, and you couldn't help guessing how ugly your face was, but your friend reminded you and encouraged you, okay, you can overcome all of this.

You keep calling out those bright things in your heart, the love of your parents for you, the kindness of grandpa in the vague memory, and the happy memories of friends at school... The friend is holding your hand, that temperature.You call upon all goodness and light, and use them to melt the coldness within you.

Gradually, it feels different.

You feel that the blood seems to be boiling, burning the flesh and blood inside your body, like a thin snake... no, it is a cold thin needle, flowing from your blood vessel to your fingertips.

You opened your eyes, gritted your teeth, and raised the bright sacrificial knife, the blade suddenly slashed across your fingertips!

There was a tingling pain, and there was an extra scratch on the index finger.The flesh burst open, forming an obvious wound, but... there was no blood flowing out of the wound, not a single drop, obviously you had scratched hard enough, but there was still no blood.So it was more like a dark gap, a hole, than a wound.A hole in your finger.

The friend took a breath, his voice trembling: "Blood on the tip of the tongue...?"

"I know." You said vaguely, your heart was about to jump out, the strength of your friend's grip on you almost hurt you, and she was also very nervous.

You raised the sacrificial knife again, spit out a piece of tongue, aiming at the tip of the knife.

You feel that you are about to suffer from acute phobia, you close your eyes, harden your heart, lift your tongue up, and hit the sharp point of the knife!The pain almost pierced your skull, and you gasped, but didn't dare to waste it.There are already a few drops of blood on the Xueliang sacrificial knife, it is the blood from the tip of your tongue, you use your backhand to hold the knife, the tip of the knife rushes down, watching the blood drop slide along the knife surface, fall, and suddenly drip onto the ground!

...Although I have been mentally prepared, the next scene is still unimaginable.

A little finger-thick, blood-red snake with a pointed head and long tail crawled out from the wound on your fingertip.As if following the smell of blood, its twisted body is shaped like red silk, slowly extending forward, winding, crawling around...

If you don't hesitate any longer, immediately raise your sacrificial knife and slash down fiercely!

With too much force, the blade hit the ground with a loud noise, the red snake's head and body were severed, but there was not a drop of blood, only black liquid flowed out, like muddy water or asphalt, slowly spreading on the ground.At the same time, you suddenly froze.

Something...is different.

That knife seemed to cut through the air at the same time.In an instant, the sound of the wind, cicadas, frogs, and the air...all froze and paused.All the voices have been pulled away, and the earth temple has become dead silent, only your heartbeat, and the breathing of your friends, so dead silent, so ominous, you are like being cut off from the whole world, and thrown into the vacuum of the universe .The only difference is that in this small and silent universe, something seems to be approaching and peeping.With the eyes of a god, or a ghost, or a hunter, or a beast of prey, He is watching you.

"...Is He coming...?" My friend's voice was very low. If it wasn't for the eerie silence, you might not be able to hear what she said clearly.

You feel weak all over, the wound on your finger is still not bleeding, just a weird hollow.

He is coming.

All the evil spirits that have caused your family, and other innocents, for 80 years.

He is coming.

That's exactly what you were hoping for, but... what next?

Holding the sacrificial knife, you stand up, your brain is calmer than ever, and in the extreme fear, you gain the ability to think instead.

Even if you become equal in the ceremony, the Yin God is still the Yin God, and it will be fruitless to confront him head-on.

There must be a way out, you and your friends have found so many clues and learned so many past events.You can find your way out!This is not a dead end... You must, must be able to find the door of life!

As long as you think about it... yes, think about it...

This is the final thought.

There is no way out when the mountain is poor and the river is full of doubts. Will it be possible to brighten another village?

You tell yourself that you can think of it.

You must be able to.