A Horror Novel’s Supporting Character Wants to Live as a Human

The raven cried out loudly.

The cacophony of ‘caw caw’ echoed through the forest, casting somber shadows that blocked even a single sliver of moonlight.

The ground was dark.

Under the damp ground, various decayed remnants left murky stains.

A putrid stench lingered, swirling like mist, disturbing the ankles of those who ventured through the forest. A single cart traversed the path, barely piercing through the dense fog.

The deaf and tongueless workers dragged the cart and wandered around.

It was a small, treeless site with a shady pit in the middle of the site that they managed to reach through the extended view

.

“…”

One of the workers nodded.

With a strange sound, the cart tilted, and its burden spilled into the pit.

The sound of a heavy body landing was heard four times.

Person upon person, they piled up, and others fell on top of them.

But there were no screams. The plea for life was also absent.

The workers hurriedly collected the cart and left without even looking into the pit. There is only a large pit and a body fallen on top of a rotting corpse.

There was someone who showed up not long after the workers left.

Hiding in the dark, he looked into the pit, hugging something tightly.

Even as the unpleasant and terrible smell approached, his expression did not change.

Into the pit filled with death and decay, the living man threw himself.

He climbed down the sheer wall of the pit with agile movements compared to his size, and as soon as he set foot on the floor, he felt like making the sign of the cross. He couldn’t do it because of the baggage he was carrying in his arms.

Instead, he recited a prayer in his mouth and desperately hoped that he would not fall into hellfire because of today’s events.

“Blessed one, may your seven sons look down upon us.”

He put what he was carrying on the ground. A lump wrapped in a dark blanket wriggled.

Inside, white hands, arms, and legs emerged from the tightly wrapped blanket.

The legs, trembling like those of a newborn, touched the ground and stood upright. Amidst the stench, the young man, smelling the fresh scent of flesh, immediately crawled towards that direction.

Beneath their abdomen lay sin and wickedness.

Carved into their bodies are the secrets that humans shun and deny.

A prey was caught in his white hands.

It was a beautiful woman with a broken neck. She still bore a vivid anger on her face, as if cursing a god somewhere above.

The young man patted her head a few times, like one would a newborn animal.

“Mother.”

“I’m here, Mother. A good, obedient me has come. I’ve come to keep the promise. You always listen to me, don’t you? I’m a good child, right? Father, grandfather, grandmother, they’re all here, aren’t they?”

Despite his murmuring whisper, the woman showed no reaction.

But it seemed enough.

He kissed the forehead of the pale corpse, stained with blood.

With wide-open eyes, the young man leaned against the cold body, as if expecting the woman, frozen in place, to praise him.

“Ah, I’ll do it. I’ll do everything just as you instructed.”

The man standing on the edge of the pit kneeled down, placing one knee on the ground and folding his hands together. Now he couldn’t see the sins he was about to commit with his own eyes. The held hands trembled faintly.

In the middle of the silent black forest,

At the top of the tower of the humblest bodies,

An entity that belonged to neither earth nor sky let out a satisfied laughter.