Whispers in the Dark

[Kagami]

With the light of the day shone among the gray, overcast skies, while on the ground below, the gloomy morning mist was strolling across the monotone landscape as another day had long begun hours ago.

Unlike the lively and colorful mornings the rest of the planet is welcomed with, the valley’s mornings were always gloomy and silent, stuck in an eternal overcast. It was almost as if it was another world given the nightmarish if not also unusual nature of the place which the force behind it was eager as always to expand outside the boundaries, threatening to absorb the surrounding lands as its own, ever warping the very nature of those around it with such a dark and twisted desire.

The aria of a chilling, dark and malevolent presence lingered right on as one that would show people the futility of their ways, threatening to warp the very psyches of those who step in.

Given that those who were foolish or brave to enter the place would pass its walls, they would never be the same given to how the memory of the monotone valley would be forever etched in their deepest fears as a sinister reminder, often running off in a panic after barely a few seconds.

No one would dare to stay for long, be it not for any of the normal 'outsider' denizens, that is, with an exception of a couple of denizens.

Since then, there has been an effort for a small set of villages around that were set up to help the outsiders to go out peacefully if they ever remain for long since those denizens are eager to keep the valley in check while others want the valley to remain in peace.

Seated within the depth of its leafless, if not also warped and lifeless surrounding forests, there was a small wooden and stone abandoned cottage, namely one that has been dilapidated yet still standing with the likes of vines and brambles covering the walls among other things. Surely to any outsider, they would view the place as abandoned if they looked up from a distance and depending on their judgment, would decide to either approach or avoid.

Surely, nobody would expect company in such a place right? Wrong.

This cottage, while seemingly abandoned in its own worth, this place was actually claimed as a home to an outsider that remained in the valley for what it seemed to be for a while to anyone’s guess. Rumors of the mysterious “Valley Oddity” as some would call them would have their residence there and even if some had other names, everyone agreed that was their title as it is a label stuck to anyone that remained in this gloomy place, yet rumors also say that they were also young.

A mere child possibly.

Unfortunately for those who met the oddity would either be subjected to their schemes of scares, pranks and may even lose their stuff with the worst end, their eventual demise, at the hands of valley's monsters that linger in the darkness.

Additionally, some say that the oddity might as well have some screws loose or have a lot of nerve but the thing was that nobody will truly know directly and there was no avoiding it as they would have met a terrible fate regardless of the circumstances, minor or major.

Since then, the valley's denizens were uncertain on how to approach them, some avoided in fear of this misfortune while others weren't happy about it, especially when a rumored child would be a cause of trouble to ruin the peace it had, out of a potential spiteful desire.

It started years ago, a first.
They came from nowhere, a second.
And had since settled here, a third.
They came on a day like this, a fourth.

Regardless of the circumstances, the setting still rested at the cottage's front doors and from within, there were several rooms, however in one room to the left, it was something of an organized mess with books, furniture, antiques and other things sitting. Several instances of cobwebs, torn pictures, strange symbols on the walls, some objects scattered about on the ground, a stray shadow tentacle hanging out of an open drawer from a bookcase before it would retreat inside, closing the drawer in a hurry and the brief scurry of a creature would head into a hole wall but the general still and silent atmosphere was ever present.

However, this was only within the living room, or rather was before despite its apparent downgraded nature, and up on the wall, there was even an antique cheshire cat clock's eyes moving side to side as its pendulum swung.

TICK. TOCK. TICK. TOCK.

The hands from within the clock's old mechanisms move onwards with the hour hand on the eleven with the large hand nearly approaching the twelve. Regardless, the minute hand clicked closer towards the number on the top of the rounded circle that is the antique clock.

Each and every second time goes, another moment happens at an instance.

Another person lost to the Valley, another scream of a monster attack, another haunting, another fallen star, but regardless, time goes on. There's no stopping nor going back as the more time passes onwards, the late morning light disappears ever so slightly shifting, following the positioning of the hidden sunlight that remained.

 

[Kagami]

Down the hollowed hallway from within the cottage, there was a hint of a light snoozing sound alongside with the sounds of the ticking clock as down in another room, past a closed door, there was a short pale green freckled individual with short but messy green hair with a hint of purple on her bangs, laying in bed. A bit downwards from there, she was covered with a blanket consisting of prints with a mixture of crescent moons, pumpkins, cats and other things, resting on the lower half of her waist but also she had her orange hoodie on the upper half.

Upon closer inspection, she was laying on her stomach, only slightly revealing a black sleeved shirt while her hoodie was sloppily laying across her as where near the bed's side table, a pair of her glasses rested on the side table as boots were also nearby but subtly hidden.

Regardless, she had gripped the pillow around her arms, squeezing it tightly, while her tired eyes were still shut.

Much like the room on the outside, this place was also an organized mess but somewhat clean as with books would be inside bookshelves, some gemstones and crystal-based objects resting on top, among other things like a desk, chair and other miscellaneous furniture. The desk sat some distance away from the bed against the wall as there was a table to the right of it which sat at the corner underneath what would look like to be a window, which was always shut and covered by torn curtains so no light could come in.

Off to the side, there was an odd collection of things alongside some plush animals, that is, resting on the dusty shelves and nearby, there were several books sitting on a table where an inactive metallic handled fire lantern had long since rested sharing the same table with the opened books at the base of it.

As a first glance, the writings from within the first book left open was of a science fiction horror that was based off of several offworlders against Inverxe's nightmarish creatures stacked at the top, while the other had a fantasy action adventure genre based on an adventuring group inspired off from Erda Nona's past. While a bit off to the side, the other books that were closed were either about magic or other things among the midst of it as they had special accents on their covers to indicate such.

Regardless of the circumstance, it was silent as the clock outside the other room would eventually let out a click and a broken bell would chime a song, indicating the hour has passed but regardless, it rang on up to eleven times, causing a minor annoyance to the youth as she grumbled.

“...can you..keep it down?.. I’m…trying to..zzz..”

“..yeah..sleep is good..you need it Kagami..”

..mumbling? Well, more like sleep talking from a feminine voice with some format of accent involved.

Eventually, Kagami would turn in the bed as she laid on the side to try to keep warm. The cottage was nippy if not also a very dark place, ideal for any sort of supernatural shenanigans and other things to try to mess with her. However, the fact was that she was on alert, more so when she could sense hostility, regardless if it's nightmares or elsewise.

Thankfully for her, nothing has gone wrong, yet that is but she wasn't someone to let her guard down as anything could happen given the dark and unsteady atmosphere of where she was staying within. Mostly so the fact was that it wasn't the ideal place for her, but regardless, it was better than nothing as the valley was already shady and gloomy as is as a whole especially with monsters and other creatures lingering around the place on the daily.

Before long, her brief light snoring would subside as she would yawn before sighing as she would close her mouth with a smile.

"...yes, I would like..ice cream..got any chocolate mint? No? Quit lying you sorry schmuck! Hand it over or else!"

A sigh of relief.

"You were..." A yawn before she would return back to smiling. "..extremely lucky to still have some...zzz..."

She was still sleep talking and it looked like she wasn't going to wake up for a while because she was too stubborn to awaken despite that almost her entire morning was spent sleeping comfortably inside, or rather uncomfortably. Things had been somewhat rough for her as of late especially when it came to the entire dream ordeal but she believed that nobody should know.

Besides, who would even care about her? It's not like the others cared especially when she has been alone as the rumored "Valley Oddity" to which she believed that they were getting close to finding out who they really are.

The ambience in the room continued as there wasn’t going to be any action as the only sound besides the ticking of the outside clock were the sounds of crowing crows heard from outside the cottage. This was before a brief breeze would begin to blow across the quiet landscape, motioning the very branches of the dark trees that sat on the outside with one tree nearby scratching against the walls of the cottage.

The crows would eventually fly out and perk on the lone tree on the outside with one crow looking down to the lower level of the cottage and fly down, sitting on the perch that is the windowsill outside the room, waiting for a bit before flying off.

 

[Kagami]

Several minutes later, inside the room..​

There was movement as Kagami would steadily open her eyes slowly, revealing her magenta hues, only to be welcomed to the darkness as her sight was blurry.

Of course, surely an ideal time to be handling this!

To the Beanish in question, the answer was not really as even in the dark and anyone that says that is lying or can obviously see in the dark.

Regardless, that thought is what it is as she would roll her eyes, sighing.

While this was a problem of itself, a brief moment of looking into the dark resulted with the mixed magenta - purple aura highlighted the switch of the fire lantern as she would toggle the switch with her telekinesis, immediately brightening up the room, before she yawned.

"Sheesh, it's cold in here.."

Even if there was a brief glow from the lantern alit in the room's vicinity as the flames danced within the glass casing, the very sensation of the chilliness in the room would cause her to retreat back to warmth. Regardless, she kept going as she would turn around and eventually sit up on her bed for a moment to sigh as she briefly reached to grab her glasses from the side table, put them on before she glanced around her room.

"I really need to find something I could use for better warmth in this place or better yet, learn how to create fire so I don’t have this issue in the future."

She would remove the hoodie from around her and put it on over her black sleeved shirt that showed a skull with accents as there was a crescent moon behind it, eventually given that she would put on her hoodie and soon zipped it up before she would remove the blankets showing her dark green shorts and black leggings.

Eventually, she turned her body towards the boots near the bed and would put them on, strapping them on, before she would briefly swing her legs as she would stand up on her legs, stretching her arms and the rest of her body to loosen up after a long night's sleep.

The last thing she did was reach into her pockets and bring out her fingerless gloves to set the mood as she would put them on to cover over her hands to which she took some time to look over for a bit, wondering as she slightly tilted her head.

Of course, she was almost ready but not exactly yet as she was still getting ready to head out.

However, it wouldn't be long before she would finish off getting ready, finishing off pulling up her hood on the back of her hoodie over her hair. For a moment, she would think about what she should do besides the usual.

“Alright, let’s see what sorry schmuck I’ll run into today. Will it actually be worth it or absolutely nothing? Who knows?” she sighed before she smirked, "Besides, it could be fun even. Am I right?"

There was no response for a moment.

"..oh..right, talkin' to myself again."

A pause.

"Ah well! Who cares because off I go!"

She was really hoping that she did get some good news and before long, she would go on to grab the lantern sitting out on the table as she would exit out of the room, soon to click off the lantern, letting it rest there as she left the cottage as she was greeted by the monotone valley’s light.

Fortunately, the mist has already subsided and with the closing door behind her, Kagami set off on her own.