C90: The smiling Stag

“Please, somebody, help!”

The brown-haired girl with loosely braided hair looked back and forth in sheer panic. She stood at the iron front gate, fists slamming against the cold metal bars again and again, the sound desperate in the stillness of the day.

Mary’s face was twisted in terror. All the color had drained from it, leaving her skin deathly pale. Sweat soaked through her hairline and neck, darkening the fabric of her dress. Her eyes trembled violently in their sockets, darting left and right as if expecting something to leap out at her at any moment. Her lips quivered, her expression collapsing into raw fear.

“Please, miss, mister, help!”

She screamed until her throat burned, in the desperate hope that someone, anyone inside the mansion would hear her. Her voice cracked midway, but she didn’t stop.

The two stone gargoyles perched atop the gate’s pillars stared down silently. Their carved wings were folded, their expressions frozen in eternal mockery, mouths half-open as if laughing at her misery.

*Crunch.*

“!”

Mary jolted. Suddenly, a crunching sound of a breaking branch came from behind her.

Slowly, she craned her head around, her face contorting in an expression of pure, unadulterated horror.

‘...’

Izzy raised her eyebrows.

Through her Field Vision, she saw nothing standing behind Mary. Just an empty forest.

‘Don’t tell me…’

Isa immediately seized control of one of the birds circling above and angled its vision toward the direction Mary was staring at.

‘Izzy, something is there!’

Isa shouted in alarm, her mental voice filled with terror.

Izzy linked herself to the bird’s sight and took a look.

‘!’

Behind Mary—

“HELP, PLEASE, HELP!”

A massive silhouette loomed beneath the forest canopy, its shape half-swallowed by darkness.

It was a stag.

A towering, grotesque black stag, standing upright on two legs. its bulk barely discernible under the deep, inky darkness of the forest canopy. Two enormous antlers erupted from its forehead, branching outward like twisted crowns.

And its face…

It was a human face.

A smiling human face!

“!”

Just looking at its smiley face sent a jolt of pure, icy fear to her spine!

‘What the hell is that!’

That smile… like a grin of an old, twisted, disgusting man.

Its human face, stretched and distorted, was devoid of skin, revealing sinew and bone. Strands of coarse hair and beard sprouted through the flesh in patches. And its eyes… wide, empty orbs, completely devoid of pupils.

The black stag stood there, on two legs, without moving, without doing anything.

Its shoulders slumped, its posture unnervingly relaxed. Its limbs still retained the proportions of an animal, yet arranged in a mockery of a human stance.

Gray mist coiled around its hooves, crawling outward across the forest floor.

The fog spread, swallowing tree trunks and roots, making the forest slowly descend into a cloak of vapor. Yet the mist stopped cleanly at the forest’s edge, refusing to cross into the mansion grounds.

The most terrifying part was that…

It did not appear in her Field Vision.

“!”

The stag eyed Mary from afar, its horrific smile vividly visible even through the gloom.

Mary turned back toward the mansion in pure panic, slamming her fists against the gate harder than before.

“PLEASE! PA—PA! PLEASE HELP ME!”

The scream reverberated through the mansion grounds, cutting through the usual silence of the place.

“AHHHHHH!”

Inside the mansion, Erin snapped her head up.

“Hmm?” The girl hesitated, then slowly stepped toward the main door, the desperate cry ringing in her ears.

“!”

“Don’t move.” Jack appeared behind her, his hand grasping her shoulder to stop her.

“Hyaaa! Who!” Erin shrieked, startled.

‘...’

Izzy stared at Mary through the bird’s vision, her thoughts racing.

‘What should I do?’

Would she leave the girl alone outside, to be killed by that monstrous creature?

Or would she take her inside?

Izzy was skeptical. It was incredibly risky.

‘Mary.’

Izzy remembered the Mary Arnold had encountered in the forest.

That Mary—

To Izzy’s eyes, that Mary and this Mary looked identical.

The only difference between them was subtle. The previous Mary spoke very little, one or two words at most. Her clothes were cleaner. She carried a basket neatly in her arms.

While this Mary—

This Mary was broken.

Her dress was torn, fabric ripped at the hem and sleeves. Her skin was scratched and smeared with mud. Blood trickled from her knee where she had fallen earlier. Her face was a mess, her hair had come undone, the braid half-collapsed into tangled strands clinging to her damp cheeks.

The girl still hit the gate with her small hands, yet the sound became weaker and weaker.

Izzy hesitated.

‘What do you think?’ she asked her young mind.

‘Isa, um, Isa don’t know.’

Isa tilted her head, staring at Mary with confusion and… wariness?

‘...’

“P-PLEASE, KIND SIR!!!”

Meanwhile, Mary cried, her voice hoarse and tearing apart with desperation. Her knees suddenly buckled, strength draining from them as if her body had finally reached its limit.

She collapsed in front of the gate, falling hard onto the cold stone. Her palms scraped against dirt and gravel as she tried to catch herself, fingers clawing uselessly at the ground.

She leaned her weight against the iron bars, striking them weakly. Her knuckles were smeared red, skin split open, the pale outline of bone disturbingly visible beneath torn flesh.

“P-please, please, I don’t want to die, please, help me,”

She kept hitting the gate, but each impact grew softer and softer each time.

Her eyes were swollen and red, the once-bright brown colour slowly dimming. The tears falling to her cheeks became less frequent, as if her hope was slowly dissipating along with her strength.

“P-please…”

Her hand smeared red, the frantic knocking from the gate barely hearable now.

‘…’

The sight was deeply unpleasant.

Izzy remembered her bright smile, the way Mary laughed easily, teased Arnold without fear, and waved her hands excitedly whenever she talked.

[“I am truly your friend?"]

She remembered the girl crying while speaking of her father, of her wish to be useful, of her loneliness, of the small hopes she carried so carefully in her heart.

["I wished to help him. To ease our burden, even a little—”]

She remembered Mary’s stubbornness, her kindness, her clumsy courage.

Yet now, that same girl was slumped against the gate.

Her face was haggard, eyes hollowed out by terror. Her nose ran unchecked, her breathing broken into short, ragged gasps as she struck the gate with what little strength remained.

[“He is the only one I have left.”]

“...”

A wave of unbidden memories surfaces in Izzy’s mind.

[“She’s the last remnant of me.”]

["The last person that can keep me in check"]

["Without her, I..."]

"..."

“A-Arnold, help me.”

‘Let’s help her.’

‘…’

All things considered, Izzy still needed Mary.

The girl knew the village well enough. She might be of some help in dealing with Victor, as well as peering into Lumber’s secrets.

‘…’

Isa’s hesitation rippled through their shared mind.

‘Why?’

‘Isa doesn’t know…’

Meanwhile, Izzy shifted her attention. She took control of the bird again and observed the stag monster from afar.

‘What is it waiting for?’

‘...?’

It still stood there. There was no sign of it moving toward Mary to harm her, merely watching with that horrific grin.

Why?

The stag lifted its head.

‘Huh?’

Izzy lost her connection with the bird.

‘W-what?!’

‘!’

H-how?

‘How could it see our puppet!’

Heart racing, Izzy immediately possessed another bird, forcing her perspective back. Since their Field Vision was useless against that thing, she had to rely on normal sight.

She scanned the forest again.

But by this time, the stag had disappeared from its spot.

‘!’

It was walking toward Mary!

‘Isa!’

‘Hii-yes!’

Isa immediately controlled her psychokinesis and threw open the gate.

The heavy iron gate slowly groaned open, just enough for Mary to fall forward into the mansion grounds.

“!”

As Mary scrambled to her feet and ran inside, sobbing with relief, Isa immediately slammed the gate shut!

Izzy checked with the bird’s vision again.

‘As expected.’

The moment Mary was out of sight, the stag stopped moving.

‘It can't get in.’

The creature lifted its head slowly, tilting it as though it were looking straight at the bird Izzy was controlling.

Its perpetual, smirking human face became wider.

Or was that just her imagination?

‘...’

Was there anything in the mansion that prevented it from entering?

‘Is that why I’m safe here?’

If there was, then Izzy felt a genuine gratitude toward whatever unseen force protected this place.

‘It can sense our possessed puppets.’

Izzy remembered the old man, Benjamin, could also sense her gaze to an extent.

Was it also the same with this monster?

The stag with the human head stood still for a moment.

Its face twisted, the skin rippling, before it turned and walked back into the shadow of the tree’s canopy, disappearing into the mist.

‘...’

Noticing the small girl collapse just inside the gate, Erin rushed forward.

“Miss, are you alright?”

Erin stroked Mary’s back and held her hand, slowly helping the trembling girl up.

Watching the scene, something tickled Izzy’s mind, a kind of uncomfortable prick.

‘Hold on, how did she even find this mansion?’

The situation had been urgent, Izzy didn't have the time to think about it.

But the mansion, didn't it appear invisible to the outside?

Was it a fluke? Did Mary just coincidentally stumble upon it in her panic?

“...”

Mary slowly stood, leaning heavily on Erin.

Her eyes brightened.

There was no trace of fear in her face any longer.

‘Ah.’

Izzy finally understood.

‘Fuck.’

Mary smiled and opened her mouth.

“Found you.”

—

“Isidora, Isidora, i am here, Isidora”

In a dark, reclusive forest, an old mansion stood alone.

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