Clans of the Storm

he tunnel in the Yongsan district had been closed for a week. Officially — for reconstruction. Unofficially — no one who entered after sunset ever came back. Cameras — black screens. Signal — dead. And the air around seemed to thicken — like tar, like an old spell, forgotten but still alive. Arianna walked in front. On her back — a sheathed weapon. In her ears — the rushing of her own blood. Behind her — Ruo, and further back, a little apart, Kariss and Emilia, glancing at each other, tense. The flashlight’s beam cut through the darkness like a knife through butter. “He’s here,” Arianna whispered. “I hear… cracking.” “Bones?” Emilia asked. “No. Something older. Like… branches. Or antlers.” Step. Step. Another step. And suddenly — silence. The rain stopped drumming. The wind — gone. Even the electric hum of the flashlight — faded. Only a slow, heavy, scraping sound remained. A silhouette emerged from the dark. Tall. Humanoid. But not human. Its head — a deer skull, with branching antlers draped in scraps of flesh. Its eyes — hollow, but stars seemed to move inside them. From its chest — bandages dangled, inscribed with something in Old Korean, Latin letters, and a language none of them could read. Gi Shu. He stood in the middle of the tunnel, as if simply waiting. “What the he—” Kariss began, but Ruo shot out a hand. “Don’t. He listens.” Gi Shu slowly raised a hand. No fingers — just tangled claws, like tree roots. And then he spoke. The voice wasn’t a voice. It crawled through their bones like frost. It echoed both inside the skull and outside the body. He spoke in a language their brains tried to translate… but delivered only terror. “Hunters… have come again…” “You… don’t belong to this layer…” “You… are excess…” Suddenly — the flashlights burst, flooding the tunnel with neon, blood-red light. The air smelled of ash and wet fur. From the walls, shadows began to emerge — not shapes, but the absence of light, as if the darkness itself had taken form. “Back!” Arianna shouted. Kariss fired first. The bullet pierced the skull — and exited through the other side, leaving not a single crack. Gi Shu didn’t move. He took a step. Reality lurched. Beneath their feet — not asphalt, but a glassy ocean. Above — not a ceiling, but a night sky filled with dead stars. Gi Shu kept walking. His step made no sound, but it was felt — in their temples, in their sternums, in the pit of their stomachs. Arianna clenched her fist. Her artifact ignited — a blade pulsing with gold. “Run,” Ruo said. “This isn’t a fight. It’s a warning.” And they ran, leaving behind the tunnel, the neon, the water… And the horned shadow, standing in the flickering reality, whispering: “You… are already… mine…”