Chapter 3 — Beginning—Red Moon(II)
[Volume 1— Deliver Us From Evil]
[Arc 1— No Light Left for Us]
…..
A light waited at the end of the tunnel– or in this case, the bottom of the descent.
Pale and red like an open wound.
The gleaming light reflected in their eyes, evoking excitement and fear.
Raven felt it the instant he saw it— a dread too large to name. It was vivid, visceral, and cold enough to come from the very floor of Hell.
He couldn't trace its origin. The fear had no memory, no logic—only presence.
His breaths shortened, turning shallow and jagged. Desperate, he reached for the cold walls, seeking warmth in the most unlikely place. That didn't help.
His mind began to twist and turn.
'Turn back. Run away. Retreat to the chamber!'
Raven reached up and swiped at his face. His hand came wet. A dark line of blood smeared across his fingers.
He stared at it.
This… this was real.
Something was wrong with this place. Wrong in a way that predated him. The fear gripped him with the strength of a furious mother, and any trace of excitement vanished.
Raven let out a wry smile. 'Am I going to die here?'
His steps slowed as he descended towards the ground floor.
'That's fine," he murmured under his breath. 'That works, as well.'
…..
『Ground floor』
The students stepped out of their first dwelling.
A beautiful picture came into view.
Grey grass stretched endlessly in every direction, each blade as tall as the tallest man to ever draw breath. A forest without trunks. The land was nothing but grey to the horizon where it dissolved in a silver haze.
[Wicked Moon awaits]
Above, the moon hung low and swollen. Red and pulsing like a bleeding heart. It bathed the land and grass in a celestial, crimson glow, its rays frolicking across the horizon under the rhythmic, throbbing embrace of the Mother Moon.
"Wow. This might just be the most beautiful sight I've ever seen," Mist whistled.
"On that I agree," Raven nodded.
The beauty was undeniable. Absolute. Too perfect.
But beauty and peril were old companions
Looking around, Raven didn't know what to expect. No roads. No structures. No ruins. There were no signs of human settlement, which was never a good sign.
"There is something wrong with the moon!" someone shrieked.
The students caught sight of the trembling red moon. The pulsations were intensifying. Across its surface, the redness rippled like disturbed water.
Suddenly, a low sound rolled through the sky. Not thunder. Not wind. A moan. A beastly moan that vibrated in their very marrow.
The moon exhaled.
A ray of light shot out, latching onto a patch of grass not far ahead. Instantly, the grey withered. Rot spread from impact point, turning the grey grass into black, liquefying filth. It began spreading outward in violent veins, corrupting everything it touched. The puddle of rot squirmed and heaved, and familiar moans echoed from within its vibrant darkness.
Raven felt a wave of dark emotions surge within himself. An instinct, alien and intimate, urged him to walk forward. Closer. Just a little closer to the moon's rot.
'Isn't this what I was hoping?
As the impulse took hold, thoughts began to bubble up. But the craziest element about this madness was just how familiar they felt.
The words slipped into place so naturally that he almost nodded.
'Death. It is finally here.'
'It is time.'
They weren't foreign. They were his. Buried thoughts. Thoughts he'd never thought he would confront in a long time.
Raven's eyes widened in terror as his body continued its walk. A raw, primal fear arose in him. Revulsion quaked in his bones, but even that wasn't enough.
Humanity's deepest fear was violation.
Violation not merely of flesh—but of will.
And now, this darkness was stepping in the bodies of the students.
Raven could feel it adjusting his posture. Relaxing his muscles. Steadying his breath. Making him ready.
Suddenly, Raven slammed his fist into his face. Pain detonated behind his eyes, offering enough will to regain control over his body. He tore his gaze away from the puddle.
'Fuck, that was disgusting.' Raven fell to his knees, retching out bile from the depths of his body.
Around him, the other students were snapping out of it too. They all shared the same look of pure, sickly disgust.
It took a long time for the shivering to stop, and an even longer time before anyone spoke.
"Move away from the puddle." Jesse said, "We cannot afford to be enthralled again. Let's make a clearing far away from it."
"Shouldn't we continue moving?"
"No. We are exhausted. We need to recover before moving again. Plus, I'm sure we have a lot to think about, a lot to process. What do you say?"
Everyone agreed. A moment of quietness and recovery was much needed. Especially after everything they had experienced.
They moved as a group, careful not to look back at the corrupted patch. Even from a distance, it seemed to shift, as though disappointed.
They eventually chose a stretch of grass far from the rot, and began the awkward process of building a camp. There was no cinematic triumph in it. Beds were nothing more than flattened patches and bundled stalks. Camping in an alien land, as it turns out, isn't nearly as cool as it looks in the movies—more frustrating, more humiliating.
Still, it was something.
Hours passed by.
Eventually, a black-haired youth approached Raven and Mist.
"My shift is over. It's your turn to take over, " he said quietly.
『Hours passed by』
Eventually, a black-haired youth approached Raven and Mist.
"My shift is over. It's your turn to take over, " he said quietly.
The boy looked exhausted, his eyes weary and his spirit, clearly flagging. Despite everything, there was a softness to him. Polite. Considerate enough considering the circumstances.
Raven merely observed the boy, then gave a small nod.
Mist tilted her head. "So… what's our post? Can we call it that?"
The boy replied, "Your designation is the north-end."
"Designation..? Seems authoritarian."
He replied with a shrug. "Jesse's idea. She thinks it's better we have a structure and transparent duties. Less anxiety. More control. To be honest, I don't give a shit, but I guess she's right, as always. "
He hesitated. "All you have to do is stay on the lookout."
"What are we watching for?" Mist asked.
"Anything," he said. "Anything that moves. Rustles in the grass. Changes in the sky. And don't look at the moon too long. My group didn't experience anything, but I heard some others fell to the moon's enthrallment again. So, that's that."
"Cool."
Mist didn't know what to say. The whole situation was still surreal to her, but if there was one thing she was, it was adaptable.
"How long is our shift?" asked Raven.
"Two hours."
"That's a long time to stare at grass," commented Mist.
"We plan to wait a day, twenty-four hours approximately. Two hours is an appropriate length for lookouts."
Time in the new world was skewed. It was a constant night, and without the presence of a sun, certain anchors were useless. No daybreak. No dusk. Just an incessant world without dawn.
Raven and Mist thanked the boy and left, approaching their post where they met their group.
They got together and stationed their post at the north-end perimeter. At first, it was uncomfortable and a bit unnerving to be at the outmost end of the camp, but then it became easier.
Light chats kept them company, filling the spaces between the silence.
"For what it's worth, I think I'm starting to like his place," Roy commented.
He was the oldest among the group, sporting brown wavy hair and a smile that usually comes with the start of adulthood.
Next to him sat Hayden and Zoe.
Zoe was the quiet, meek kind—a lot like Raven, more observer than speaker. On the other hand, Hayden was a bit unreadable. He was the kind of guy that had a bit of everything in him.
The duo claimed to not be in a relationship, but that fell on deaf ears.
Then there was Raven and Mist, the unlikely duo.
Roy pointed his fist at the sky. "We are gonna have a blast when we get back. You know how much we could make just talking about this? We will be on a ton of shows."
"That's if we get out of this alive. Not that I'm complaining. I'd like to get rich," chuckled Mist.
Roy groaned. "That's a massive red flag, man!"
Mist shrugged. "What? I'm just saying this is as good of a graveyard as it gets. I know people who would pay a fucking lot to get buried in this scenery."
Raven considered it. She wasn't wrong— a lot of old people would pay for a grave here. Something about the serenity of it all. But saying it out loud felt too pessimistic, even for him. Not that he truly cared; dying here didn't sound too bad, either.
"Dude, that's just dark. Don't you wanna go back?" Hayden asked.
Mist looked away, a faint light reaching the far corners of her eyes. "Probably…"
The group descended into silence.
The red moon pulsated faintly overhead.
Then—
A tremor slid down Raven's spine. The familiar feeling of dread shot up as goosebumps rose across his skin.
'Not again.'
Raven's flickered at the edges. The tall grass seemed to stare back at him, its red glow twisting and bending. It almost looked like a smile.
A scream clawed up his throat. He swallowed it down.
'It's here.'
His fingers curled into his palms.
"Raven?"
The others had noticed his abnormality and asked, "Are you okay?"
The moon moaned once more and the feeling of dread heightened.
"Something is wrong," Raven spoke in a croaked tone. " I can feel it—"
"Raven—"
"It's like— like there's a misalignment. A disbalance in a world already revolting. Like a white piece on a black board. Something that shouldn't exist here."
"Raven—"
"I have been sensing it for a while, but I can't exactly pinpoint what's wrong. But it's getting closer and closer."
"Raven—"
He snapped. "What?"
Turning backward, Raven's mouth hung in the air as his eyes widened at what he saw.
Mist laid on the ground, eyes shut.
Her breathing was wrong; too deep. too heavy, completely unnatural. And the grey grass beneath her was wiggling incessantly like maggots. Beside her, the other three were in the same exact state.
'Impossible!' Raven whispered.
It made no sense. They had been talking moments ago.
The moon moaned once again.
[Rejoice…]
'What the fuck is—'
And then it hit him. A lull of a treacherous kind, crashing against the walls of his mind like a tempestuous storm. The world tilted sideways.
He tried to hold on, fighting against the raving sensation. Yet mortal tenacity was always thin against something this vile.
And ultimately, his mind gave in.
His eyes shut.
[Rejoice Severants, Wicked Moon harkens]