Chapter 1: Scopaesthesia

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Your move to Ocean Town had been a regrettable one. It was, to be blunt, a dump, and that was during the brief periods it wasn't flooding or on fire. You lived on the outskirts, and so were able to avoid much of the drama. Nonetheless, it was quite a welcome opportunity when Hannah, your friend from down the street, invited you and a few of her other friends along on a trip to Korea.

It was a fascinating experience, but every night in the hotel, you kept having the same dream. The same field. The same flowers. The same tears that weren't your own. The same colossal shadow looming over you, startling you awake.

You were at a local festival on what was supposed to be your last day, but you were distracted. To the north, between some buildings, you could see a chain link fence, beyond which lay a field full of what you already knew were pink hibiscus flowers. A shiver ran down your spine. You had the weirdest sense of familiarity.

"What's up that way?" you asked after catching Hannah's attention. "That isn't where the DMZ starts, is it?"

"I don't know. What's the DMZ?"

"Demilitarized zone."

"Why would there be one of those?"

"... to maintain the border. Between North and South Korea."

"Border? What border? Either I'm confused or you're really not making sense."

"We're in the country known as South Korea right now, right? The Republic of Korea. Then there's the country North Korea, or the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. They don't exactly get along. That's why there's the border."

"(Y/N), who do you get this stuff from? I swear, this is just like when you were convinced Keystone was called Pennsylvania. It didn't tip you off that the name sounded awfully vampire-y? There's the People's Republic of Korea, that's all. Were you thinking of Vietnam, maybe?"

"Yeah," you muttered, scratching your head, "yeah, that must be it." You were a bit freaked out. She was right, it was just like the Keystone thing. Or how you had expected to see three states called Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware where Delmarva actually was. An absurd notion, really, as the supposed state of Delaware as you had pictured it in your head was far too small to be realistic.

But this was different. You knew there were two Koreas. There had been all your life. But there weren't. You looked up at the top of a nearby building where a flag was flying. A flag which ought to have been utterly innocuous, but which felt... wrong. A shiver unlike any you'd felt before ran down your spine. You looked over your shoulder, back down the narrow street. You heard an eerie sound, like a woman singing in the distance, faintly, echoing. No words, just a voice. It sounded as though it was in reverse. A young woman with brown hair, who looked European and wore a green jacket, stood staring back at you. The voice wasn't coming from her, as her mouth wasn't even open. To her left stood a tall figure in a black suit. He reminded you a bit of the Slenderman. His appearance was disturbingly... incomplete. The two of them were far away, but you could see far more detail of the strange figure than you should have been able to. His skin had an unhealthy grey tinge. His white-gloved hands had only four digits each. His head was unusually tall, and his facial features were all wrong. He had no hair, not even eyebrows, no trace of a nose, and no visible ears. His eyes were tired-looking with pink irises, and his mouth, with lips too thin to notice, looked to be sewn shut until you realized that those were strands of flesh sealing it. He tilted his head lazily to the side when he met your gaze, blinking slowly. You looked back to the woman. She looked worried. Fearful, and terribly sad. You turned your body and started instinctively towards them. Then, as soon as you blinked, they were gone.

"Did you see that? One of you has to have seen that," you said to your friends. They all looked at you, confused.

"See what, an empty street?"

"No, there were... never mind, I'm just gonna go check it out."

"(Y/N)? Where are you going?"

But you were already wandering off, as though in a trance-like state. As you passed through the space where you had seen the two figures, you noticed nothing more than a slight chill in the air. Carrying on, shuffling your feet slightly, you kept going until you reached the fence. In Korean and English, a sign on it read "keep out." However, if there was one thing you had learned in your life, it was that if you're ever in a locked room with nothing but a big red button and instructions not to push it, you push it! You climbed the fence, made your way over the hill, and there it was. The field of pink hibiscus flowers. Exactly as you had seen it so many times before. The next thing you noticed was the unearthly silence. Not one bird sang. Not one insect flew near. The sounds of the city, mere metres behind you, seemed to have ceased. You had the feeling of being watched again, only this time it was more tangible, as though someone was very close by.

"Hello?" you called timidly. Just over the next hill, you heard voices, barely more than a whisper. As you crested it, you saw two large structures - one was a bright pink hexagonal prism with small mechanical spider legs, partly buried in the ground and leaning to one side. The other was a tall, amorphous, dark blue mass. You approached cautiously and curiously, then froze when you saw someone moving over there. It looked to be a woman of very slight build who, curiously, looked blue for some reason. She appeared to speak, but too quietly for you to have any idea what she was saying... until you saw her turn and point at you. You looked from side to side, unsure of how to react. Unable to think of anything better to do, you waved... then felt your blood run cold as the gigantic blue mass shifted, the top of it falling back to reveal it was the hood of a dark blue cloak worn by a colossal figure. The giant, who evidently had been kneeling until now, rose to her full height of roughly seven metres. Seeing her look at you with eyes each bigger than your own head, you turned and ran.

You hadn't run far at all before you saw someone standing just at the edge of your peripheral vision. You couldn't see clearly, but it looked almost like the strange "blank" man you'd seen just minutes before. You turned your head to look, but as soon as the area in which the figure stood entered your focus, there was nothing there. Your distraction caused you to trip on a small stone while still turned partly to the side. You fell forward and spun, landing hard on your back among the tall grass and flowers. You could feel the ground shaking as the giant being drew closer. You lay still, hoping maybe she wouldn't see you if you stayed still and lay concealed by the tall vegetation. You drew in a sharp breath and held it as a shadow blotted out the sky above you.

Looking up, you saw a huge, light blue, almond-shaped face with a tall, slender nose, pale plump lips, and deeply sad blue eyes which were large even for her size. Her eyelashes were thick, the circles under her eyes dark, her pupils diamond-shaped, and her entire face wreathed by silky white hair which seemed to join at the bottom. She was strikingly beautiful, but only one of the many thoughts running through your head was strong enough to escape out your mouth.

"Please don't eat me."

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