Mysterious Awakening

“The red paper is gradually losing its hold on the eye underneath. The limit is almost reached it seems.” Miles noted the imminent failure of the paper’s talismanic properties even as he wiped water droplets off the mirror and noticed the splitting of the red paper affixed to the back of his hand.

A distinct crack was undeniably there.

The paper wasn’t ordinary; it was a memento from a vengeful ghost. Its durability far exceeded regular paper – no amount of brute force could tear it. Only the might of a vengeful ghost held such power.

He questioned himself, “Did invoking the ghost domain today trigger this? Or is the power of the red paper naturally fading over time?” As he ran his fingers over the paper, he sensed the agitation of the eye buried within his flesh.

Despite all appearances of normality, he could feel the dormant ghost eye stirring, poised for a revival.

His body felt less like his own and more of a vessel for this haunting eye. As the eye gained strength, the more he felt like he’s walking a tightrope over death.

“But it’s irrelevant. Once I discover a way to suppress the ghost’s resurgence, all will be well,” he murmured to himself. After experiencing a handful of supernatural events, the threat of death had somewhat lessened its grip on him.

His gaze, however, faltered upon noticing a pile of dark brown human-skin parchment by his side.

The parchment – it was the epitome of eerie and malevolent to Miles.

For his sanity, he unrolled it to check for any new changes.

“To ensure my safety, I should commission a goldsmith to fashion a box for it. This skin parchment could be more than an artifact. If it’s a ghost, it could be the death of me,” he mused aloud.

But while scrutinizing the parchment, a newly formed sentence caught his eye.

“After bathing and examining the parchment today, I’ve unearthed a unique attribute—it appears to seal other ghosts. This knowledge has led me to a staggering revelation.”

“From the parchment, I’ve unearthed the secret to survival.”

“It feels like a bargain, yet, uncertainty clouds my mind as I ponder whether to accept the offer while staring at the peculiar parchment.”

“Doubtful, my foot! Only an idiot would trust you. Jing’s death was a direct consequence of your deceit. The phrase ‘full of lies’ seems to have been coined for you,” Miles ranted, hastily folding the parchment and diverting his attention.

The parchment seemed uncannily adept at tapping into his deepest yearnings, knowing precisely what he craved.

And yet, it seemed to be masterfully manipulating these desires, formulating a plan step by step.

Despite his wariness, Miles couldn’t part with the human-skin parchment. Everything it told him so far had proven accurate.

If it weren’t for the knowledge gleaned from the parchment during his school years, his ghost tamer’s skills wouldn’t have saved him.

Thus, regardless of the parchment’s unsettling and ominous nature, Miles felt compelled to retain it for his survival.

Like a desperate drowning man clutching at straws, the parchment represented his fleeting hope.

He simply couldn’t relinquish it.

As Miles emerged from the bathroom, the front door creaked open, revealing River standing in the doorway, heavily panting, burdened with a sizeable bag.

“River, how on earth did you manage to shop and return so quickly?” Miles asked, a look of bewilderment crossing his face.

Moving to her, he instinctively took the weighty bag from her hands.

River looked at him hesitantly before admitting, “The lateness of the hour made me nervous. The thought of encountering another ghost spurred me on. I didn’t linger, I ran straight back after leaving the elevator.”

Miles responded, “Ghosts don’t distinguish between day and night. If your luck is down, you could run into one at high noon.”

“True,” River chuckled, “But you’ll come to my rescue if that happens, right?” Just being in Miles’ presence seemed to assuage her fears and tension.

She then experienced what can only be described as a sense of security. So, such a feeling really existed.

“Please come inside,” urged Miles, suddenly experiencing an odd sensation.

Not within his body per se, but within the ghostly eye he bore. It seemed to be acting of its own accord, pushing its way outwards without his consent.

Across his body – his hand, his head – six eyes in total sprang open.

All of a sudden, they tapped into their full potential.

“What on earth is happening? Why is the ghost eye behaving so erratically, like when the ghost child bit me?” A wave of pallor washed over Miles.

He had never experienced such a sudden and violent reaction before, save for when the ghost child attacked him at school, which triggered the ghost eye’s initial awakening.

But now, it was happening all over again.

“Quick, come in and shut the door.” With an urgent tug, Miles pulled River inside and promptly shut the door.

“I haven’t showered yet, there’s no need to hurry…” River started to protest but fell silent when Miles placed a finger over her lips.

The stern look on Miles’ face immediately alerted her to the gravity of the situation. Her eyes widened with fear as she thought, “Is it happening again? Am I about to see a ghost?”

“Not in here. Outside.” The ghost eye situated on the back of Miles’s head registered the flickering lights outside. It was happening nearby.

Without hesitation, he dashed to the window and looked out.

On a small path not far from their building, a gray, somber world seemed to consume everything in its vicinity. The street lights were futile against this dark void, and anything that came into contact with this world instantly lost its luster, blending into the gloom.

“What is that?” Miles’s expression darkened as several of his ghost eyes simultaneously focused on that direction.

But barely two seconds later, all the ghost eyes simultaneously snapped shut.

Yes, beyond his control, the eyes closed themselves, remaining unresponsive as though sealed with red paper.

“Do the ghost eyes fear to look?” Miles felt a chill creeping down his spine.

Yet even with his naked eye, Miles could tell that the spreading grey landscape was unmistakably a ghost domain.

The extent of it was alarming.

Ranging from the west to the south, it was a vast sea of grey that seemed to stretch on forever. It bisected the entire city like a line of death.

If this domain was ruled by a single ghost, there was no telling how fearsome the entity would be.

If he had to categorize it…

At the very least, it was S-tier, a harbinger of destruction.

“Fortunately, the ghost domain only straddles the middle of the road, sparing our building. The ghost eye probably just detected this massive disturbance early,” Miles surmised, exhaling a sigh of relief.

Had the ghost domain engulfed their building…

He might not have survived the night.

“What… what’s happening? Is there another ghost?” River asked in a whisper, holding her breath.

“It’s none of our concern. It’s merely a passing ghost. It should leave shortly,” Miles reassured her.

He watched as the ghost domain started to fade, clearing up the murkiness outside as it did so.

Based on his understanding of ghost domains, Miles knew the ghost had already moved on. The ghost could be anywhere, even though its realm still seemed to linger.

After all, a ghost could manifest anywhere within its territory.

However, just as the ghost domain was on the verge of complete disappearance,

Miles witnessed a phantasmal sight.

Like a mirage, it projected a snippet of the grey world.

A single candle, flickering, stood amidst the darkness, casting an eerie green flame.

A golden candlestick held the white candle, not seeming ancient but rather recent, possibly of European origin and made in the past month.

Illuminated by the candlelight were a pair of hands. They were smooth, white, and perfect.

The hands were pierced by the other end of the candlestick, yet they bled not.

Finally, with a wavering of the candlelight, Miles made out that the hands belonged to a woman. However, her silhouette was all that was visible, devoid of any defining features.

She was an enigma, unknown, or perhaps, horrifying.

Eventually, the vision faded, and the ghost domain vanished.

“Gold is only used for sealing ghosts. Those hands, that woman… could a ghost tamer have encountered this ghost? It appears their confrontation ended poorly.”

“A lone ghost tamer couldn’t have tackled a ghost of this magnitude; it would necessitate a coordinated team effort.”

“But given the ghost hasn’t been captured or sealed, it implies the ghost tamers were… annihilated.” Miles drew a deep breath at the thought.

Who could have possibly orchestrated such a perilous endeavor?

Attempting to ensnare a ghost of this magnitude, the audacity was staggering.