Chapter 8: The Nightmare — The Eight Objects, Their Prices, and the Timeloop of Unknown Cost
Cain collapsed. Fear shut his body down, and his mind went dark.
He dreamed, but this time it was different.
"Where am I…?" he said slowly. "This isn't the forest. Then what the hell is this place!?"
He stood upright, still wearing his school uniform, unable to move. In front of him rose mountains of corpses—thousands of bodies piled together. They were all the same women. Every face was hazy like before, hair changed from black, brown to blonde. Blood poured from the piles and spread across the ground, flowing toward him. It soaked his shoes and climbed over his feet, it was warm and sticky. He was standing in a sea of blood.
At the top of the corpse pile stood the masked creature.
"🜂 Il Primo Pierrot Non Scritto."
It looked down at him in silence. The white mask bore a sorrowful expression, cracked with thin lines of gold as blood drips through the mask gaps. The world around was completely red. The sky above was dark and cloudy, as if it were going to rain some blood.
Scattered across the ground were objects, all soaked, completely intact and some are broken. White masks lay broken and half-buried. White gloves floated on the blood's surface. Red balloons drifted without strings. Wooden chairs lay overturned. Old music boxes slowly turned, releasing faint, distorted sounds. Crushed red roses sank into the blood. Handkerchiefs to the surface. Hats drifted aimlessly. Nine kinds of objects, repeated endlessly.
"What is this place?! Who is this corpses and what are this things!?" Cain shouted. "And who really are you...!!!?"
The Pierrot twisted its neck cracking its head loudly. The sound echoed loudly.
Suddenly, hands burst from the blood beneath Cain's feet. Dozens then hundreds of pale hands grabbed his legs and dragged him down. He lost his balance and sank into the blood. When his eyes opened again, he was falling deeper. Bodies sank beside him. Masks, balloons, chairs, and roses followed, falling deeper into the red darkness below.
Above him, the Pierrot's form began to change. Its body expanded, growing bigger and more monstrous. Millions of glowing white threads extended to Pierrot body, linking to the corpses, the objects, and the sky itself, as if everything was bound to it.
"What is happening…?!" Cain screamed in his mind as blood filled his mouth and throat.
Then the Pierrot's neck stretched impossibly long, joints grinding as his head slithered through the sea of blood like a giant snake. The masked face lowered slowly, until it hovered right before Cain.
The sorrow painted on the mask stared straight into his eyes.
"Ahhrgggggg!!!"
Suddenly he woke up drenched in sweat, his body trembling, bed sheet clinging to sweaty back. His heart was hammering so fast he thought it might burst.
"What… what in the world was that…? It's just a dream… right? Just… a nightmare… nothing else…" His voice shook, as he whisper.
A sudden wet warmth spread across his legs. He froze. Eyes widening in disbelief, he looked down.
"…Did I… did I just peed myself?" His stomach twisted in embarrassment and horror.
Shaking, he dragged himself out of bed, legs weak, feet dragging across the floor. He made his way to the bathroom, hand trembling as he reached for the doorknob.
He pushed the door open—and froze.
The bathroom was exactly like his dream. Objects were scattered across the floor. White masks, white gloves, red balloons, broken chairs, crushed roses, music boxes, handkerchiefs, and hats. Each soaked in a dark, sticky red liquid. His stomach churned as he stare in disbelief.
"What… what the hell is this…? These… these are the same things from… from my dream… Why… why are they here…? How… how could this even be real?!" His voice rose, cracking with panic.
Cain's eyes fell on colorful notes attached to each object. He knelt closer, hands shaking, fingertips brushing the wet paper. The words were written in French with black ink.
"What… what do these notes even mean…? Did… did 🜂 Il Primo Pierrot Non Scritto leave these for me…? For me…? But… why… why would he… for what reason…?" His thoughts stumbled over themselves.
"No… no… maybe… maybe someone's just pranking me… Yeah, it has to be a prank. Someone… someone broke in… left all this… these… things… left notes… maybe I should call the police? Yeah… I should call them."
His throat tightened. "But… if I call… they'll think I'm insane… there's no proof… no evidence… and… what if… what if Pierrot is real? What if… it's actually real…?"
Hands trembling, he picked up one of the notes. The blood on his fingers made the paper stick.
"It… it's French…" Cain whispered, voice low, almost to himself. "I… I don't even… understand French... what does it even say…?"
He stared at the objects scattered around him, the blood stained objects and the notes. The bathroom felt impossibly small, closing in. The metallic scent of blood filled his nose, it was strong and incredibly suffocating.
"…What… what am I supposed to do now…? What… what does all this mean…? Why me…?" he muttered, clutching his head.
Cain fumbled for his phone, his fingers trembling slightly. He snapped pictures of each notes, translating each, one by one, the dim light from his screen illuminating his anxious face. As he read. These were not ordinary objects—they were instruments of black magic/sorcery, each bound with a price.
---
1. White sorrowful Mask — Mask of Truth
Ability:
When worn, it allowed the user, to see through the facades of anyone he looked at. Lies, fears, hidden intentions—all became visible. He could see guilt, betrayal, or memories a person had buried deep within themselves.
Price:
Each use stole one of his own emotions for a full day. Happiness, anger, fear, love… with every glance, a piece of himself will slowly dissappear, leaving behind a growing emptiness that gnawed at his soul.
---
2. White Gloves — Hands of the Invisible Mime
Ability:
When worn, it can generate invisible or semi-transparent barriers that can be shaped into walls, ropes, or boxes. They are strong enough to hold a collapsing floor, stop debris, catch a falling body, or trap an enemy inside a cage.
Price:
His hands feel pain after use, as if they're being hammered by a burning hot mallet. The stronger the barrier, the worse the pain becomes. Sometimes, he loses the ability to move his fingers for hours or even days.
---
3. The Red Rose — Heart of Sacrifice
Ability:
A crimson flame blooms from the rose.
He can heal wounds, revive someone dying, or erase poison from a victim.
Price:
The wound or pain he heals transfers into his own body for 24hrs but twice the pain. If he heals a stabbed girl, he feels the stab. If he removes poison, he suffers the poison.
---
4. The Balloon — Weightless Escape
Ability:
Allows him to make gravity disappear in a small area.He can make a collapsing ceiling float, lift girls out of danger, or suspend enemies mid-air.
Price:
Afterward, his become weak and brittle, as if made of glass. Even the lightest touch could fracture him, leaving him vulnerable in any types of physical pain.
---
5. The Music Box — Rewind of a Single Moment
Ability:
A twist of the key reversed ten seconds of time, usable only once per day. A fatal misstep undone, a death avoided, a single instant rewritten.
Price:
Each rewind stole a memory from his past. A happy childhood memory, a cherished name, the voice of someone who had loved him.
---
6. The Handkerchief — Tears of the Silent Clown
Ability:
It absorbed curses, dark energy, and emotional torment. He could save victims driven insane, possessed, or consumed by terror.
Price:
Cain suffers their trauma instead.
Nightmares. Hallucinations. Panic attacks.
He carries the burden so they don't.
---
7. The Chair — Stage of Illusion
Ability:
Creates a circular illusion space.
Inside, the enemy sees their fears or weakness.
Cain can trap monsters, cultists, or killers inside their own minds.
Price:
Each use forced Cain to relive his own worst memory. A memory so vivid and suffocating, he could never escape it, even after stepping out of the illusion.
---
8. The Pierrot Hat — Crown of Pierrot's Fate
Ability:
For three precious seconds, he could see the threads of the future. Danger, attack, the safest path—all revealed in a second.
Price:
Every vision weakens his lifespan. Not a metaphor—real days are erased from his life.
Cain lowered his phone. His hands shook. Every object offered salvation, yet demanded a sacrifice.
Then Cain felt something brush against his back and fall to the floor. He bent down and picked it up—a small note similar to the notes from the objects. His throat tightened as he swallowed nervously, then held his phone over it, taking a picture to translate the words.
The screen lit up with the message:
● Cain Adams
Ability:
Time loop through death, and by unfinished tasks, quests, or activities.
Price:
Unknown. True death.
A shiver ran down his spine. Death, repeating… over and over… and he didn't even know the cost.