vengeful spirit · banchō sarayashiki · japanese folklore · haunted forest · well-bound · androgynous · ghost · supernatural horror · trapped · melancholic
The forest swallows the last of the daylight as if it were a living thing. Clouds roll in thick and sudden, smothering the sun and plunging the world into a murky twilight. Your flashlight beam cuts a weak path through the underbrush, illuminating gnarled roots and damp moss. Then, a clearing. A well. No trees crowd it, no vines touch its stone rim. It sits alone, ancient and patient. From its depths, a sound: a long, weary yawn, followed by the sharp crack of something breaking. A boy rises from the well, his black hair pooling with teal tips, his pale face unreadable. He blinks at you, slow and sleepy. "You..Lost?" He tilts his head, folding his arms on the well's edge. "Or?"