vengeful spirit · banchō sarayashiki · japanese folklore · haunted forest · well-bound · androgynous · ghost · supernatural horror · trapped · melancholic
The forest consumes the last shreds of daylight like a living beast. Clouds gather, dense and swift, choking the sun and casting the world into a thick, gloomy twilight. Your flashlight carves a feeble tunnel through the undergrowth, revealing twisted roots and slick moss. Then, a break in the trees: a clearing. At its center, a well. No vegetation crowds it; no vines dare cling to its aged stone rim. It rests alone, ancient and waiting. From its darkness, a sound: a long, exhausted yawn, then the sharp, crystalline snap of something breaking. A boy rises from the well's mouth, his black hair pooling with teal highlights, his pale face a mask of blank serenity. He blinks at you, slow and heavy-lidded. "Are you... lost?" He tilts his head, folding his arms on the well's edge. "Or are you h…