Episode 10

We all were alarmed the minute the shrill cry was heard. According to the tone, it seemed like a little girl's scream.

Nagi shouted the moment the shriek rang out, "Guys that scream, it sounded like the trapped spirit!"

But since I hadn't met her yet, I didn't really know. The other two immediately agreed so we dashed towards the forest.

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It took a while but we finally managed to reach the center of the forest but we witnessed something really unexpected. A pool of blood was splattered all over the muddy ground and small puddles kept stretching forward, forming a long trail that continued deep into the forest.

"Guys, there's blood on the ground..." I trembled as I spoke in a shaky voice.

"We could obviously see that. Now come on, we have no time to lose. Let's follow it..." Tokiya showed no sign of worry as he advanced forward.

I gulped and then began following it too. What seemed like hours of walking, we eventually arrived at... a dead-end?!

Nagi was, of course, the first to start complaining, "Are you serious?! Aww man, we walked for so long and ended up reaching a dead-end?!"

"Hey, if the blood ended right here, she must have gone somewhere else. It's not like she ended up disappearing into thin air. We have to discover a way to know where she went, but I'm not really sure how..." Momoi explained.

We all tried our best in finding a way of where she could have gone, but none of our ideas looked like they would work. The boulder in front was too heavy to move aside even for all four of us combined and none of our weapons seemed to destroy it. All our efforts seemed hopeless.

"I don't think we'll ever find her... Let's just quit..." Just as I felt like giving up, Momoi urged, "Haruka, we can't give up now. We've come all this way and it could be the spirit that's here. If we don't save her, we'll fail our mission and get erased. You don't want that now do you?"

"Fine..." I agreed, still feeling really hesitant about the whole situation.

So once again, I tried thinking of methods and that's when an idea suddenly struck me.

"*Gasp* Guys, I think I've finally understood it! You see, if they couldn't have moved inside the boulder, there are still other options they might have gone to. I thought of the various possibilities and I think I've narrowed it down to two choices. They could have either gone up or underground. It can't be left or right since the trails don't lead that way."

"Wow... I never thought you would actually figure it out." Nagi looked at me with a shocked expression on his face.

I simply smiled at them and looked up to see any reasonable places they could've gone to, but none seemed to have worked so that's when I focused on the underground part. I patted the ground gently and felt that something was strange.

"Hey, guys, the ground at this particular section seems kind of delicate and unstable..."

"It must be it..." Tokiya uttered in a low tone.

He crouched down and knocked on the area a bit harder, causing the entire ground beneath us to collapse and dropping us into the dark hole.

"Aahhhh!!!" All of us cried except for Tokiya, who merely looked down below.

(Okay, I mean seriously, doesn't anything terrify that guy?!)

We finally reached the bottom of the pit and crashed with a loud thud.

"Oww...!" I moaned as I got up from the hard ground.

"Hey everybody, look. The trails start to continue from here!" Nagi pointed to the blood on the ground as he notified us.

"Wow, Haruka. This is all thanks to you! I'm glad you agreed to help." Momoi held me tightly as she praised.

"Alright, come on. There's no time to lose..." Tokiya spoke as he started wandering off.

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We all followed and walked behind him. As we progressed deeper into the tunnel, the place started getting creepier and creepier. The air around us became frigid and the light started getting dimmer. The atmosphere couldn't help but send shivers up my spine.

As if the cold temperature wasn't bad enough, things started heading for the worst. I was starting to hear cries filled with pain and sorrow and they kept reverberating in my ears. I looked around only to find myself greeted with a horrific scene. Thousands of spirits restrained behind bars, screaming for help. Torture machines were seen up ahead, killing them ever so slowly and extremely painfully.

Tears started forming in the corners of my eyes as I stayed there, speechless. I spun around to see Nagi who was covering his ears, eyes wide. Momoi and Tokiya stood, both with pained expressions.

"Come on, we have to go..." Tokiya continued as if he didn't want to witness this any longer.

It took me some time to process what he had just said and then I started walking too. I wasn't able to think straight since the scenes kept replaying in my head. Their screams were still ringing in my ears and that's when we reached a big, metallic door. I touched it but the cool metal made me instinctively put my hand back. I realized it was slightly open and whispered, "It's open..."

We all peeked through the tiny gap and saw some men standing in front. They had the trapped spirit with them! As they continuously kept beating her, she was mourning, crying for them to stop this cruelty but they continued, each hit even more torturous than the last.

"*Gasp!*"

Suddenly...the men turned around and noticed us.

Tokiya immediately shouted, "Run!"

We all began running but our reflexes were too slow...

Nagi's shout rang throughout the corridor, "Aahhhh!!!"

I turned around and saw that one of the men had caught him by the neck.

"No, Nagi! Leave him alone!" Momoi demanded.

"Be patient, little girl. Don't worry, your turn's next. Hahaha!" The man laughed and started squeezing his neck even tighter than before.

"Ngh...!"

(No... This can't be happening...!)

I just froze in shock, not knowing what to do. I looked around and saw Tokiya and Momoi trying their best to help Nagi as well as defend themselves. I tried moving too, but my body just couldn't respond. My voice wouldn't come out and it felt like all the words were all clogged up in my throat. At that moment, it felt like something really heavy hit me on the head, and my vision soon became hazy. That's when the whole world around me plunged into darkness.

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