The frantic words carved into the bed board sent a chill through Lordi Payne, mirroring the creeping dread he’d felt since entering the house. An unseen presence watched him, its gaze inescapable yet impossible to pinpoint.
More carvings sprawled further along the board, etched in desperation. Gripping his Blade of Life Hater, Lordi crawled deeper under the bed, the cramped space a stark contrast to the house’s deceptive tidiness. Bloodstains smeared the wood, mingled with nail marks that told a story of someone’s final, frantic moments.
"The eye is back. The moment I’m alone behind a closed door, it stares," the scratches read. "Damn it, what is it?!"
"No escape. No matter where I hide, the eye finds me!"
"Am I mad? I must be! It’s in the teacup’s base, between window slats. Why does it glare with such hate? What did I do?"
"There’s more than one! Eyes everywhere in this house!"
"Opening my eyes means meeting theirs. They’re in the closet gaps, behind the bookshelf, even in the bed frame!"
"They’re everywhere!"
"Haha! I’ve found how to make them vanish!"
"Why? Why, even after gouging my eyes, do I still see them? Are they inside my sockets now?"
The writing began legibly but descended into chaotic scrawls, reflecting the writer’s unraveling sanity. After they blinded themselves, the words stopped, replaced by erratic, bloody scratches—marks of a mind shattered. The room above appeared pristine, but beneath the bed lay a horrifying truth. The eyes weren’t just a ghost; they were a curse, unrelenting even in self-inflicted blindness. Strangely, the confined space under the bed felt safer than the open room.
Lordi clutched his blade in one hand, keeping the other free to seize any eyeball and burn it with Ice Pith Fire. The house was silent as a grave, yet he felt the weight of that unseen stare. His eyes darted around, memorizing the furniture’s layout to detect any shift.
"Wait, what’s that?" Hidden under the bed, Lordi spotted a new doll in the corridor outside the room. "Are the dolls possessed? Or is the ghost hiding among them? Should I slash them all?" The previous owner’s ramblings offered no clear answers, only nightmare-fueled fragments. As he pondered, the doll toppled over without cause, landing on its side. Its two glassy eyes locked onto Lordi’s, staring directly at him under the bed.
A frigid wave of fear gripped him. Instinctively, he spun around and saw a blood-red eye peering from a gap in the bed frame. Driven by terror, he swung his blade, but the eye vanished as if it had never been. Gasping, Lordi gritted his teeth against the resurging agony and itching in his joints and organs, turning his head back to the corridor. The doll was gone.
Unease grew. Nowhere in this house was safe. Like the previous owner warned, the eyes would follow him relentlessly. With a surge of desperation, Lordi kicked the bed board aside and scrambled out, determined to escape the cursed house at any cost.
Lordi Payne steadied himself, reasoning that if the ghost haunting this house was a sadistic type, like the yandere Phantom Maid Willow, it might toy with him, buying time to escape. But if it was an aggressive spirit, like the vengeful wraith from the Hanz Clan Ancestral Shrine, he’d have to flee immediately to survive.
"I can’t panic," he muttered, forcing thoughts of the eerie eyeball and sinister dolls from his mind.
Rising slowly, Lordi pushed aside the lingering pain and itching in his bones. Standing too quickly, his vision blurred momentarily, and in that fleeting darkness, every hair on his body stood on end. He glimpsed a figure—the unmistakable silhouette of the girl vengeful wraith from the ancestral shrine.
"Damn it, I’m dead!" he almost cursed it loud, heart pounding.
When his sight cleared, he scanned the house frantically. No trace of the wraith remained. In his weakened state, Lordi knew he couldn’t survive a direct confrontation; the wraith’s claws would shred him instantly.
Wasting no time, he focused on finding tools to escape, perhaps a ladder to break through the ceiling. He started in the bedroom, moving toward the bookshelf. Among the books, a sketch pad caught his eye. He pulled it out and flipped it open, revealing childish doodles centered on family themes, accompanied by broken, naive hand writing:
"We moved to a new home! Pretty mountain, bigger than old home, with a zither and lots of dolls."
"Daddy is my daddy, Mommy is my mommy—not anyone else’s!"
"This is my home now. Daddy, Mommy, and dolls are mine!"
"Why does she take my things? She lost her daddy and mommy, so she wants mine."
"I found a way to get rid of her. She’s blind, so she won’t find her way back!"
"How did she get home? I hate her! I hope she disappears forever!"
"Hahaha, she’s blind. If I stay quiet, she’ll never know I killed her."
The vibrant drawings contrasted chillingly with the malicious words, hinting at a dark story. "A little girl lived here and killed another who was blind?" Lordi murmured, piecing it together. He tossed the sketch pad aside and continued searching, finding two goatskin scrolls in the bottom drawer of a wooden study table. They were a death certificate and an asset inheritance certificate, issued by the Hanz Clan.
Issued by the Hanz Stronghold
- Name: Cain Hanzwart
- Date of Death: 15th of Sun’s Dusk (November in the Abyss Pit Sect World), 4E 187
- Cause of Death: Sustained mortal wounds during a coordinated bandit ambush southwest of Darkwater Crossing. Injuries included deep lacerations from bladed weapons and blunt trauma consistent with an organized highwayman attack. Deceased succumbed to blood loss after healers could intervene.
- Burial Site: Hanz Family Crypt, Shor’s Stone.
Name: Soraya Hanzwart (née Castillo)
Date of Death: 15th of Sun’s Dusk, 4E 187 Cause of Death: Perished alongside her husband in the same ambush. Burial Site: Hanz Family Crypt, Shor’s Stone.
Name: Yunny Hanzwart (Daughter)
- Age at Time of Parents’ Death: 6 years
- Condition: Congenital eye affliction (legally blind, unable to live independently).
Witnessed & Sealed By:
Jorund Hanz, the 98th Chief of the Long Live Mighty Hanz Clan
Thonar Mitchell, the Silver-Blood, an Enforcer of Outer Sect Punishment Crypt.
Mark of the Hanz Clan
"By the old ways and the new, their names are recorded in the Halls of the Dead."
Asset Inheritance Certificate
Issued under the Hanz Clan & Recognized by the Jarl of Eastmarch
- Name: Yunny Hanzwart
- Relation to Deceased: Sole surviving child.
- Asset: Pond House (The homestead near Mistveil Keep, Rear Mountain)
- Land Deed Reference: HLD-4E187-23
- Condition of Inheritance: Held in trust until Yunny Hanz reaches majority (18 years) or is deemed fit by clan law.
Temporary Guardianship:
- Name: Suzanne Marshall (née Castillo)
- Relation: Maternal cousin (sister of the deceased woman).
Duty: To maintain the property and care for Yunny Hanzwart until inheritance conditions are met.
"Per Abyss Pit Sect Law, Article XII: Minor inheritances lack force of law until the heir comes of age. All holdings revert to clan stewardship until such time."
Clan Steward: Harald Hanz
The Holy Sect Representative: Lucan Olson, the fang master of Roar Cloud Peak (Elder of Outer Sect)
"Property remains bound by blood and love. May the holy law watch over the innocent."