Scene — The Blood Moon
The elder sister moved.
She didn't think.
She didn't plan.
She simply attacked.
Her broken blade swung toward the spider.
The creature turned.
Too fast.
One leg struck her side.
She flew across the ground.
Her body rolled through the flowers and stopped against a stone.
The blade fell from her hand.
She tried to breathe.
Pain seized her ribs.
Still—
she forced herself upright.
The spider advanced.
The Traveler watched.
His eyes remained open.
His body remained frozen.
Then something strange happened.
The weight inside him changed.
His limbs became heavier.
His chest felt as though stone had been placed upon it.
His knees weakened.
The paralysis vanished.
Not because he had broken free.
Because his body simply couldn't remain standing.
The Traveler fell.
THUD.
His shoulder struck the earth.
His hood slipped farther back.
He tried to push himself up.
His arm trembled.
Nothing.
His body felt impossibly heavy.
The elder sister looked toward him.
"Traveler..."
He didn't answer.
Then—
the ground moved.
A small crack appeared beneath the flowers.
The elder sister stopped.
Another crack formed.
Then another.
The soil began to rise.
Something was underneath.
A hand emerged.
Pale fingers broke through the earth.
The elder sister stared.
Another hand appeared several meters away.
Then another.
The ground began opening across the mountain.
The spider stopped moving.
For the first time—
the creature seemed uncertain.
A head emerged from the soil.
Mouth open.
Eyes empty.
Then shoulders.
Then the rest of the body.
A corpse pulled itself from the earth.
Another hand emerged.
Then a second head.
Then an entire body.
The mountain began producing the dead.
Slowly.
Silently.
One after another.
Hands clawed through the soil.
Heads rose from beneath the flowers.
Bodies dragged themselves free.
Some wore ancient clothing.
Some wore armor.
Some had been buried so long that nothing remained but bones.
The elder sister backed away.
Her injured body trembled.
"What..."
The sky changed.
The morning light disappeared.
A red glow spread across the mountains.
The clouds turned crimson.
Then the moon appeared.
Enormous.
Red.
Completely red.
The younger sister's grave stood among the dead.
The elder sister stared upward.
Her face drained of color.
The Traveler remained on the ground.
He slowly lifted his head.
The red moon reflected inside his eyes.
A corpse crawled past him.
Then another.
Then another.
The spider stepped backward.
The creatures emerging from the ground didn't attack it.
They simply continued climbing out.
As though they had been waiting beneath the world.
The elder sister whispered,
"The Blood Moon..."
Her voice shook.
The Traveler looked at her.
"What..."
His voice barely came out.
She swallowed.
"It's today."
A corpse slowly stood behind her.
She didn't see it.
"The dead..."
Her eyes remained fixed on the red moon.
"They always return."
The Traveler's gaze shifted.
More hands emerged.
More bodies followed.
The mountain was filling.
Not with an army.
With the dead.
The elder sister finally looked behind herself.
A corpse stood only a few steps away.
She froze.
The corpse slowly turned its head.
Its empty eyes opened.
The Traveler pushed one hand against the ground.
His body still felt impossibly heavy.
He couldn't stand.
Couldn't fight.
Couldn't even understand what was happening.
The red moon climbed higher.
And the dead kept coming.
The spider backed away from them.
For the first time since the Traveler had seen it—
the monster looked afraid.