Masks & Statues
“A Devil’s Abode,” that’s how any sailor will reply if anyone in the continent questioned them about the island. Some will recount how their ships almost succumbed to the treacherous waves near the island; some will speak in volumes about their narrow escape from a thousand headed beast and some others will send shudder through the listener with tales of blood-curdling screams they heard from the island. Even though most of these tales seems to exaggerate the events and heroism of the narrator, there is no shortage for listeners. The island is a curious mystery for anyone who has heard of it, and what kinds of stories should one expect from a place named ‘Devil’s eye’?
Yet the residents of ‘Shell’ Village, the only village on the island, would laugh at these tales. Amidst the protection of the witches, the villagers have only one word for describing their home; peaceful. In a sense it’s very true, the most dangerous thing the village faced in the recent centuries is a rogue wild beast that slipped the scrutiny of the witches, yet even that was dealt swiftly. Since most villagers pride themselves on earning their livelihood through farming or hunting, petty crimes are rare. ‘Shell’ truly is a village content with how their lives are. It must be this sense of security that turned the horrors of past into myths and fairy tales.
To the young generation of Shell, tales of Urkeries were nothing but myths, bedtime stories for naughty children, a deterrent for the youth, a campfire story for some old bones who ‘miraculously’ survived after stumbling upon an Urkery. Nevertheless it was a story just like the myths of crimson ghost. But unlike the legends of the nine divine beasts, the myths of urkeries and the crimson ghosts are special to the villagers; they solely belong to them, to the island, nobody in the continent has ever heard of these creatures.
So, where does these myths originate? The least popular answer, blames everything on the grandmothers who don’t want children’s near the ‘notorious’ yellow mist forest. However, the village’s conspiracy theorists have two more explanations. The first one gives all the credit to the village Chiefs, who use this fear to control the villagers for generations. But this theory got mediocre acceptance, primarily because it didn’t make sense, and mainly because of the third theory is much more enticing– the witches.
Rumor has it that, before her unexplained disappearance, the first witch gifted a treasure to the witches. It’s this treasure that is responsible for their long life and youthful appearance. Naturally, the witches concocted stories to hide the treasure from the villagers. Many brave souls made their journey into the mist, seeking this mysterious fortune, never to return, adding more mystery to the myth.
Along with these speculations and centuries of peace guaranteed by the protection of witches, the villagers were so relaxed, unlike the beast infected continent; they have nothing to fear on the island. However, everything fell apart one evening, it started with the screams of a farm boy at the border of the village. Then screams spread the entire village, along with many winged creatures. They dyed the sky and soil red. To the survivors Urkeries were no longer a myth but a nightmare that will make their spine shiver. They yearned to escape the island forever, but what had protected them until now becomes their cage - the coven. The coven and its witches were adamant in containing both the monsters and the villagers on the island.
They would have been successful in this endeavour if not for the one witch that escaped the island, along with her six-month-old nephew. From that day forth, both the coven and the Urkeries are after them, in a relentless pursuit to bring them back to the island.
Neo_leo · Kỳ huyễn
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