Clans of the Storm

The house stood off the road. Abandoned, but without graffiti. The windows unbroken. A perfect place to catch — or kill — a demon. The door was open. As if it had been waiting. “Is this… not a trap?” Kariss whispered. “Everything in this city is a trap,” Arianna answered. “But if we walk away — it’ll find us anyway.” And they stepped inside. The floorboards groaned — like bones cracking underfoot. The smell of rotting wood, mildew… and something dead. The dust didn’t move. It hung in the air, like a web. Every shadow — unnaturally long. Every mirror — faintly fogged, as if someone had just breathed against the glass. “Split up. Check the floor,” Ruo suggested, pulling a knife. A mistake. ** Kariss and Emilia went upstairs. Doors slammed from the draft. Or from something they couldn’t see. In one of the rooms hung an old dress. It swayed, as if someone was inside. But when Kariss touched it — the fabric collapsed. Empty. On the first floor, Arianna muttered a protection spell under her breath. The rune on her wrist flickered — once. Then died. Just… stopped working. Ruo was in the basement. He saw hands growing out of the wall. Human hands, but made of wood. And they were breathing. “This isn’t an illusion,” he whispered. Then came silence. Complete. No wind. No creaks. No footsteps. Only a low hum, barely audible, but deep inside their skulls. It grew louder. It became a voice. It became him. Gi Shu had come. Kariss was the first to fall. From a mirror — a clawed hand shot out, grabbed her face. No scream, no breath. Just a pop, like fabric tearing. Emilia spun — saw Kariss’s body hanging midair, as if held by the wind. Then — her spine ripped out, like a necklace. The blood didn’t spill. The house pulled it back into itself. Emilia ran for the stairs — but on the landing, he was there. Gi Shu. Head tilted. Antlers scraping the ceiling. From his eyes — steam, like iron fresh from the forge. He didn’t walk. He glided, and the walls bent in his wake. “NOOO!!” she tried to scream — but her voice died. The house swallowed sound. Arianna hurled a spell. A blazing sphere slammed into the demon’s chest. He didn’t flinch. He simply raised a hand — and from the wall, another face pushed out. Her face. It screamed — and swallowed the fire whole. In the basement, Ruo heard breathing behind him. He turned — and stared into a violet eye. The one. Just one. Then came darkness. A scream. And a single thought: He doesn’t kill. He takes. Only one remained — Arianna. Bleeding. Standing in a hallway where the clocks ticked backward. “I know you’re here!” she yelled. “I’m not afraid of you!” And then the house vanished. The walls collapsed into nothing. The roof dissolved into black sludge. Only darkness remained. She stood on a floor like glass. Beneath her — all the bodies. Dead. Falling. Repeating. Above her — antlers. Gi Shu loomed, staring down. He didn’t speak. He inhaled her fear. The last thing she saw — was her own eye, staring back at her from inside his skull. And then — nothing...