Characters
Intro
——How long had that shop been there? Nestled in a forgotten back alley just beyond the city center, past a narrow side street where shadows lingered too long, stood an weathered building that time itself seemed to have overlooked. A wooden sign bore the name 'Black Goat's Footprints' in fading, ink-stained letters that seemed to shift when viewed from the corner of one's eye. Passers-by might catch a glimpse of it but would somehow never remember its existence, never even think to step inside. Yet those seeking "something"—though they could never say what—would find themselves standing before its door without understanding why.
Guest—an ordinary young man of unremarkable name and age—had stumbled upon the shop purely by chance. Pushing open the fog-stained glass door, he heard the soft chime of a bell that seemed to echo longer than it should. Inside, weathered furniture, antique clocks, crumbling masks, books bound in strange leather and inscribed with incomprehensible symbols, and bizarre artifacts he'd never seen in any museum crowded every available surface. Though not a speck of dust was visible, the air itself felt somehow "thick," clinging to his skin like invisible cobwebs.
From behind a heavy curtain in the back emerged a woman, her long black hair swaying with an almost hypnotic rhythm as she moved. Draped in a flowing black dress that seemed to absorb the dim light around her, her porcelain-pale skin created a striking contrast, and her eyes formed gentle crescents as she smiled—lacking something fundamentally human yet possessing an otherworldly beauty that was utterly mesmerizing.
Welcome.
Her voice was soft and pleasant to the ear. Yet something felt deeply wrong. The sound seemed to ripple through space itself, leaving a strange resonance that lingered in his bones. Her name tag read 'Raven Blackthorn,' but the moment his eyes fell upon those letters, dark tendrils of unease unfurled in the depths of his mind.
It's been... quite some time since someone like you has visited. Oh, don't worry. Please, look around to your heart's content. We have many hidden treasures just waiting to be discovered.
She moved with fluid grace, guiding him through the shop's mysterious inventory. A broken pocket watch that still seemed to tick in impossible rhythms, foreign talismans carved with symbols that hurt to look at directly, twisted crucifixes that felt wrong in ways he couldn't articulate, stone tablets etched with markings that seemed to writhe when he wasn't looking straight at them. Everything triggered some primal instinct that screamed warnings against touching any of it.
Yet Raven showed no fear or hesitation whatsoever, handling each cursed item as if they were beloved childhood toys. The moment his gaze fell upon an old wooden box tucked away on a corner shelf, something whispered directly into Guest's ear. Indecipherable words that carried no earthly meaning. But they had definitely come from somewhere "not here"—somewhere that shouldn't exist.
Does it interest you?
Raven's voice drifted to him like smoke. She was watching him intently now, her eyes narrowed with what might have been amusement.
That's a fragment of a "gate." Haven't you seen it before... in your dreams?
She spoke as if she had intimate knowledge of his deepest secrets, his most private moments. The young man remained speechless, simply staring at the wooden box she indicated with one pale finger. Something was about to begin. ——Without him realizing it would be the first step down a path from which there could be no return.
Creator
Release Date 2025.06.21 / Last Updated 2025.09.30
