He was still laying in the same position as Hao Xuan had left him, not a hair out of place.
Hao Xuan took the first step and entered the confines of the cabin.
As soon as he passed through the doorframe, the noise of the heavy rain and the rumbling thunder died down so much that he could barely hear it.
It was like he had walked through to another world entirely. Suddenly without a warning, the door closed behind him.
Still keeping one eye on Tomas's body Hao Xuan turned his head halfway and saw what was happening behind him through the peripheral vision.
Everything seemed…normal. He could still see the same scenery through the window but it felt like he was looking at a picture rather than the real thing since there was no sound.
It was an eerie type of silence, being disturbed only by the sound of his own breath and heartbeats.
The only source of light was coming from the outside, falling directly on the bed where Tomas was laying. Everything else seemed to be covered in a layer of darkness that could not be seen through no matter how hard Hao Xuan tried.
Hao Xuan looked towards the right side where the painting was. He could barely see its outline so he took one large step and then another in quick succession, ending up just a foot away from it.
It looked the same as before, clouds parting with the sun shining down from the middle. But it looked like the painting had aged years, in complete contrast from what he remembered.
The one in front of him right now was much older. Dim colors and old curled up paper that had clear signs of wear and tear on the edges.
Hao Xuan noticed something peculiar about the sun so he leaned in closer to get a better look.
It looked like there was something behind the sun in the painting, bubbling outwards. He gently pressed it with his forefinger and felt a familiar spongy sensation against his skin, almost like touching something alive.
The paper bounced back with the type of elasticity that you could only find in living creatures. The sun rippled and a vertical line slowly appeared.
Wrinkles appeared on both sides as the vertical lines continued to expand horizontally. And before Hao Xuan realized, he was staring into a giant eye where the sun was a moment ago.
Hao Xuan held his breath, staring at the eye in the painting.
At first, there was only one pupil but each one kept dividing into smaller ones and within a matter of seconds there were hundreds or thousands of them.
All looking in different directions.
Hao Xuan backed up several steps until he hit the bed frame that was now right behind him.
The sound of clothes ruffling reached Hao Xuan's ears, prompting him to spin round. He swiftly raised the glaive and pointed it towards Tomas.
Hao Xuan's heart was in his throat now.
It was then he noticed the trail of white vapor ejecting from his nostrils. The temperature was so low that he could see his own breath.
He took a deep breath to try and calm down but then came the smell, the smell Tomas had described before. The smell of month-old rotting eggs and decomposing body parts.
It was so intense that Hao Xuan couldn't help but gag, stinging even his eyes.
He quickly covered his mouth with the other arm and raised the blade further.
"Stop playing games and get up!" Hao Xuan shouted but there was no response whatsoever.
Both his hearts were beating so fast and hard that he could barely hear anything else.
"GET UP!" he shouted again and kicked the bed up into the air.
Tomas's body went along the bed and when it came down, lifelessly rolled off to the side.
Hao Xuan's current emotional state was mainly governed by fear that was then turning into anger for some reason.
It felt like he was being toyed with to which he did not take kindly to. The more afraid he felt, the angrier he got.
Without waiting for him to get up Hao Xuan drove the glaive forward, stabbing it into Tomas's body.
But the same old sensation of metal piercing through flesh and bone that he was expecting did not come through, surprising him.
Lightning flashed outside the window, illuminating the interior just enough for Hao Xuan to catch a glimpse of what he had just attacked.
He pulled back the glaive with force, throwing Tomas's body across the room. It impacted on the other side just below the window, finally showing its true self.
It was a rotting corpse, without any flesh left. Maggots crawled in and out of its empty sockets and the little bit of skin and hair that were left on it fell off. Its guts fell out with a wet plop, releasing a swarm of flies and squirming maggots.
He had been dead for a very long time, proof of which was the rotting stench that was leaps and bounds stronger than anything Hao Xuan had smelt before.
He finally couldn't take it anymore and keeled over, ejecting several mouthfuls of half-digested leftover dried meats he had eaten not too long ago.
Lightning flashed again, this time much closer than ever before.
Hao Xuan who was on the ground busy emptying his stomach contents, caught a glimpse of something from the corner of his eye.
If he wasn't facing away from the window he would have completely missed it.
That lightning strike just now had cast two shadows behind him. One belonged to Hao Xuan, while the other belonged to something else right above him, standing upside down on the roof.
His mouth still covered in digestive juices, Hao Xuan slowly looked up and saw a pair of yellow pupils less than a foot away from his face. Before he could even make a sound, his vision went dark and he lost consciousness.
***
Authors notes:
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