#it's just missing earlier context and whatever it led into... I'll finish it someday maybe lmao

[kalloway]

Happy Halloween to everyone except my computer because it’s being loud af (again) dshgsdfj

Anyway, I never did finish this BUT here’s an excerpt from an EoH DIO fic I started a while back, cuz it has some semi-spooky scenery/elements to it and I figured now’s a good excuse to share it 8)

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The woods felt haunted, as you approached. You couldn’t describe what it was, exactly… but it was as though the air had grown colder, causing the hairs on your neck to stand on end. On any normal day, you would’ve immediately turned away and returned home as quickly as you could, for fear of some evil spirit or creature you felt could live here. A place that was host to a holy site couldn't possibly be evil, though… that rationality was all you had with you, aside your resolve. Despite your instinct insisting you run, you instead walked towards it.

There was hardly a trail left behind to walk upon, long since overtaken by nature some time ago. All that you had to guide you was this map, of a handful of landmarks. A particularly gnarled tree with twisted bark that formed faces, a particular ditch that snaked among out of place fauna, and a carving into a stone marker long abandoned that resembled clockwork, from the looks of it. Not much to go by, and for a while you were convinced you’d been conned.

Nothing parted in the woods for you. You felt like you’d walked for miles, tracing circles and feeling as though you’d passed the same areas a dozen times by now. The Sun didn’t seem to mind, as it sat high in the sky. Maybe if you’d waited until later in the day, you could’ve used it as a compass of sorts, to orient yourself? But, ah - had you done that, it would be too low to see amongst the dense foliage of these woods. A though passed your mind when you paused to rest, sitting upon a flat stone:

Maybe you were meant to undertake this pilgrimage under cover of darkness? It was a full moon tonight, was it not? All the texts and lore spoken about Him, all pointed towards the conclusion that He was an entity that favoured the night. You smacked a hand to your head, as you felt foolish for not thinking of this sooner. You were doing this for your mother’s sake, and here you were bumbling around with your half-assed plan! You heaved a sigh and leaned back, a tree close enough you could do so somewhat comfortably, only to notice something between the living pillars in the woods.

A particularly gnarled tree - round and fat in the base, not at all like the tall slender limbs surrounding it. As you approached, it was like its bark was shifting before your very eyes. Faces… some of the divets and twists in the bark resembled faces. Pained ones. It sent another cold shudder down your spine, and a heavy feeling of dread settled in your gut. This was a mistake. There was something at work here, telling you to stay away. There was no doubting this now… but what choice did you have? Modern medicine could work miracles in itself, but that wasn’t enough to shake the doubt from you. It had failed you once, and almost failed you several other times.

You needed that failsafe. Something to show that you tried, by the skin of your teeth, to prevent a disaster from happening.

Referring to the map once more, you pushed onwards, despite the phantom sensation of eyes upon you, gnawing and begging you to turn back.

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The ditch you’d found by chance as well - more wandering and feeling a bit shaken from all the strange, threatening sensations threatening to puncture the delicate viscera of your resolve, you had quite literally fallen into it. A root you didn’t see beneath the forest floor stuck out enough to trip you, causing you to stumble and tumble a few feet to the bottom, causing a tear in your dress you were quick to lament. You’d worn your finest, with the hope it would make any sort of difference once you found this place, and now? Now it was dirty and tarnished. 

A woman you once knew in passing - defamed as a heathen at one point and cast out from the church - had once said that ‘cleanliness is equivalent to godliness’. Her wild tales of how the One God had come before her in the night to ravish her were enough to turn up anyone’s lip at the very idea. Now that you thought about it, she had the most peculiar scars on her neck… like holes had been cut out of it. They didn’t seem to cause her any discomfort at the time.

Brushing yourself off, you glanced both ways before turning to look at the map once more - the last thing you needed in an unfamiliar place like this, was to be lost and forgotten forever. Time was beginning to lose its relevance on you, despite it very much being on your mind at all times. It felt like ages since you’d entered, but you knew this to be an exaggeration. And yet… you couldn’t see the Sun any longer. The sky appeared… dimmer. It couldn’t possibly be evening by now, could it? A breeze rustled through the woods, brushing past you with an icy quality that did nothing to settle your nerves.

It was summer. It wasn’t meant to be this cold during daylight hours.

You walked onwards, at an easy pace that would keep you from getting too fatigued from walking so long. You only paused when you thought you heard a voice amongst the trees. When you turned to see what it was, there was nothing there. A persistent feeling of… something, digging into your shoulders was unmistakable, however. You slowly reached up to feel what it was, but were met with something intangible. You whisked around to catch a glimpse, swearing you saw something there, like a ghostly apparition… but you’d blinked in the same moment.

It was likely your imagination.

You had once spent some time gazing up into the sky at night, convinced you’d seen a shooting star, only for no one else to have seen any. You had also blinked in those moments too. Perhaps doubt was more deeply-rooted within you for much longer than you initially anticipated?

But this was… different. That feeling - like a hand grasping your shoulder - had tried to pull you back. Turn back. Go back. What was it? This couldn’t be anything that was a result of Him, could it? Why would he direct you away from Him, if that were the case? None of this made any sense to you.

You couldn’t be shaken from this now, though. Not when you were this close. One marker remained, before finding this wayward shrine for yourself. What was meant to be an hour’s journey was much longer, due to how puzzling the woods themselves had been.

Yet the sky continued to darken, as though you had taken tens of hours.

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The final marker was close by this shrine, according to the crude little map you still obeyed. It should be fairly straight-forward from here-on out… and it appeared to be exactly like that. A path was now visible. You’d paused at the large, perfectly smoothed stone to admire the carvings in it - definitely akin to clockwork, now that you got a glimpse of it for yourself. But something was off about it. You glanced down to the base and noticed that no plants seemed to feel compelled to climb it, as they normally would something like this. Instead, they’d given it a wide berth.

That crawling sensation came back again, along with that sensation of fingers digging into your shoulder, urging you backwards. It seemed each consecutive time this had occurred, it had amplified these feelings of mental torment - much like tug-of-war, your instincts jerking one way while your resolve yanked in another. Voices returned in the back of your mind, but this time it sounded quite clearly like your voice.

No. You were this close. This close. Whatever tricks your mind or these woods were trying to play on you, wouldn’t work. You refused. Prying yourself from the grip from behind you - one that had now actively been trying to hold you back, to no avail - you walked forward with renewed purpose and vigour.

The woods grew darker yet.

Twilight appeared to have settled in by the time you finally reached your destination - the candles alight in the distance acting as a beacon for you from afar, drawing you in like a moth to flame.

...But who had lit these candles? This was so far out of the way, it was highly unlikely you’d cross paths with another here. Unless fate had deemed today to be that unlikely kind of day.