The road stretched long into the night, lined by skeletal trees that swayed against the cold wind. Alex gripped the steering wheel of his worn-out car, eyes flicking between the road and the barely visible turnoff ahead.
"This is a bad idea," he muttered to himself, exhaling a slow breath as he rolled his shoulders. The tension had been building for hours, ever since the latest body had turned up with the same cryptic markings.
'Binding runes. But binding what ?' Alex thought.
He pulled into a secluded lot near the forest's edge, killing the engine and stepping out. His boots crunched against the gravel, the sound swallowed almost instantly by the thick silence. He had been on countless hunts, but this one felt different. Something about the case gnawed at him, like a whisper at the back of his mind that he couldn't quite hear.
"Alright," he muttered, rolling his neck. "Let's do this."
The house where the last murder had taken place stood before him like a monument of bad choices. The old structure loomed in the darkness. Alex hesitated at the doorstep, letting his psychometry do its work. He placed a gloved hand against the door, inhaling sharply as visions rushed through him.
Flashes of movement. Shadows writhing along the walls. The sharp scent of blood and something… older, like a horror straight out of myths.
Then he was assaulted with piercing pain in his head.
Alex pulled back, gasping. "Damn it," he hissed, steadying himself. Whatever had happened here had left an imprint strong enough to nearly floor him. That wasn't good. It meant something powerful had been involved.
He took out his notebook, quickly sketching the symbols he had seen in his vision. "Binding runes," he murmured, studying them. "But why do they look… incomplete?"
A sudden rustling sound made him snap his head up.
"Who's there?"
Silence.
His fingers tightened around his weapon. He wasn't alone.
The air shifted, the temperature dropping noticeably. Alex turned slowly, keeping his movements deliberate. He knew better than to act on impulse in situations like this.
A figure emerged from the tree line, moving unnaturally, as if each step was a struggle against the air around it. Its face—no, its lack of a face—sent a cold spike down Alex's spine.
It looked a bit like slenderman but black and with claws.
"Great. Another thing that shouldn't exist," he muttered.
The creature lunged, and Alex barely managed to dodge in time. He hit the ground, rolling as the thing's clawed hand slashed through the air where he had just been.
"Alright, buddy," he said, pushing himself up. "Let's see what makes you tick."
His eyes flicked to the markings on the creature's arms—similar to the ones at the crime scene. He frowned. "You're bound"
The creature hissed, its distorted form shifting. That was all the confirmation he needed.
Alex tightened his grip on his weapon, but this wasn't a fight he wanted to drag out. He reached into his jacket and pulled out a small vial of iron shavings—an old exorcism trick he had picked up from another hunter.
"Let's see how well you handle this."
With a quick flick of his wrist, he scattered the shavings into the air between them. The creature screeched, its form destabilizing. Alex used the opening, pulling out a crude but effective banishment sigil he had drawn earlier.
"Hope this works," he muttered before slamming the sigil onto the creature's chest.
A blinding flash of light erupted, followed by a guttural, echoing scream. The entity convulsed before vanishing, leaving behind only a faint, lingering trace of sulfur in the air.
Alex let out a long breath. "Well, that was fun."
He turned back to the house. If that thing was still tied to this case, then he had only scratched the surface of whatever was really going on here.
Back at his motel, Alex collapsed into the chair by the window, rubbing his temples. He pulled up the panel in his mind, watching as the translucent interface flickered to life.
Abilities (Main) :
- Psychometry (Enhanced):Now capable of extracting clearer information and experiencing longer vision sequences.
- Power Absorption (Developing):New data processing… possibly skill refinement?
His eyes lingered on the second line.
'Developing ?'.
That was new.
He sighed, leaning back. "One thing at a time."
The hunt wasn't over yet. If anything, it had just begun.