The Shadow Over The Foggy Eve

As a experiencer, the glance made me emotionally disturb…

On February 20XX, as a Negarquian who came to China for the first time, I sat on a deserted 19th century ancestral temple. As a traveler, if you pass the little-known and isolated village, you will notice that the cottages were astonishingly unified, the black tiles and stone walls looked as ancient and plain. The sparse pedestrians sometimes stared at me intentionally which made me intranquil. Nevertheless I had to spend a night here.

I heard from my friends that there would be a custom of“Celebrating the Spring Festival”in China recently. Yet, I really didn’t find any New Year decorations related to my friend’s description.

Under the black eaves, I caught sight of two elderly who sat on the wood chairs spoke: “Mgepnah y‘or’nah.” However, it seemed to be an abnormal dialect. I could vaguely understand the general idea of their conversation, as if they were looking forward to the arrival of the new year.

When it comes to the new year, I have to mention the tale that have been passed down in China from time immemorial: In the grotesque forest with colossal trees, the disturbing square shaped peak, rose from the ground unnaturally. The ancient and misty ‘IT’ slept at here. After each circular Earth orbit around the Sun was the time of IT’s annual awakening.

Of course, these legends were both unconfirmed and absurd, which existed in the great ancient China thousands of years ago. After decades and decades, perhaps the original story had been annihilated in the history. Surprisingly, the legendary forest was exactly identical with the one next to the village. Of course, it must be a coincidence.

The cottages and wells were carved with some ancient patterns, which were very similar to what I saw in the National Museum of Negarqua. The pattens narrated a group of people surround an inscrutable and eccentric existence.

At dusk, the setting sun cast an orange glow over the mountains. I arrived at the solitary hotel in the village. Unexpectedly, a person talked to me. He confirmed my check out time and sighed after hearing that I just stayed for one night. He warned me to leave before tomorrow evening. Although I questioned him, he became uncommunicative and mutely took me to my room.

Unknowingly, I slept heavily, dreamed that I had joined the “crowd”, then the kilometers long crowd floated into the forest, the process was suffocating silent. Crowd was extremely cautious until the whole line of people drilled into the forest silently. I couldn’t remember what happened next but it was my first nightmare in years.

The next morning, I found that I got up late, already missed the only bus which passed this remote place today. I was forced to stay for another night, and had totally forgotten what the receptionist said. Effected by last night’s nightmare, I looked at the grotesque forest again, it became more marvelous and attractive to me.

It was toward evening soon. In the blink of an eye, rained, the stone wall covered with extremely smooth and moist texture. Recalling last night’s dream, I was scared and ran back to the hotel, curled up in bed. Not dared to think about it, I lay down and fell asleep again.

I woke up in the midnight. There was a crescent moon in the sky, I found myself walking on the street, surrounded by crowds. The rain hit on my face, I was pushed by the crowd. Their hair was as sparse as the withered grass in the winter, their eye sockets were filled with emptiness. I wasn’t able to make a single sound in the absolute silence. Until the crowd pushed me into the forest, yesterday’s dream might no longer be a dream…

The crooked trees in the forest were ridiculously tremendous, countless frames, which were constructed by trees, higher than the Eiffel Tower. Several twisted stone tombstones stood intricately among the trees, with several cracks. Being attracted and captivated, I turned my head and saw the most unforgettable scene in my life. The megalo ring-shaped platform was located on the top of the square mount peak, with a sacrificial tower in the center. There seemed to be sacrifices wrapped in a red carpet, as if worshipping the beyond description great existence.

A wave of terror rushed over me when I saw IT’s tentacle was wriggling in a beyond-description way. IT’s deep dark bright eyes, reflected my panic look. Thousands of shriveled limbs which looked like hands behind IT’s body, stretching without order. IT was creepily yelling and whispering the heavenly music and devil’s whisper. The fearful and blissful emotion made me dizzy, totally above my acceptable level. I sang the eulogisive, nonhuman, inhuman, beyond human poems with the crowd. I exhausted in the heaving and we burned red offerings with a kind of dark shiny flint. IT seemed to enjoy the destruction of all the “red color”. Like a child, IT laughs…

I couldn’t remember how I escaped from the forest crazily, let alone how I recognized the direction in the darkest eve with dense fog…

On the morning of the third day, the dawn fog had gone. Even if I stepped on to the bus, the whole world is peaceful except my intranquil heart. After twists and turns, I came to my trip’s destination, only a few kilometers away from the forest —— my great-grandmother’s family mansion. Yes, I do have insignificant Chinese ancestry. After more than a century, I stepped back into the ancestral homeland on behalf of my family. The mansion looked archaic and similar to the buildings in the village.

I saw the old genealogy of our family. Its cover seemed to be faded vermilion, but the ancient ancestors’ portraits inside are unrecognizable, leaving a few blurred portraits quite similar to the villager’s face in the village. Meditating about the unspeakable experiences of the past two days, I put it aside and sat down. Wandering in the dark room, I suddenly glimpse a square wooden box, inside was a black smooth flint wrapped in red cloth. A dawning comprehension befall and I rushed out the room yelling, screaming, giggling “Mgepnah y’or’nah! Mgepnah y’or’nah……”