Whispers slitherd through the streets, low, trembling, and full of dread. A crowd had gathered before the town's notice board, eyes wide and full of dread.
Twinty-six names were scrawled across the parchment.
Seventeen children, nine adults.
All missing.
"That damned monster is behind this!" Someone in the crowd spat, voice brittle with fear.
"Please, God...not my baby..." A mother sobbed, clutching q crumpled toy to her chest as she sank to her knees, wailing into her palms.
"Don't worry...he might've just been taken by a bandit." Her husband said, trying to comfort her.
An explanation. Terrible, but still more bearable than being taken by the Skeleton Fisherman
A black-haired man gripped his spear tightly. His face twisted with anger, his eyes burning with hatred.
A hand rested calmly on his shoulder. He turned and looked up.
Standing before him was a man at least six feet tall, with messy white hair, that contracted sharply with his neatly kept beard.
"Captain Grathe." The man said, snapping into a salute.
"Kael" Grathe replied calmly, his tired eyes meeting the young man's. He held a briefcase in his right hand. "How are you today?"
"I'm...fine, captain." Kael said, his gaze lingering on the briefcase.
"And are you going to see Grandmaster Aliza?" He added, his curiosity still fixed on the case.
"Yeah. Wanna come with me?" Grathe asked, casually offering him the briefcase.
Kael took it, suprised by how light it was.
"I thought it'd be heavier." He joked.
"She's mad of porcelain, so...she doesn't weigh as much as my other puppet."
Kael's grip on the briefcase tightly the moment he heard the word porcelain.
"Don't worry about it." Grathe said cooly. "She has a magical core."
Kael was about to respond.
But a piercing wail shattered the moment.
"No—my child... She, she's been taken by that monster!" The mother screamed.
Kael turned toward her, eyes filled with anguish.
Grathe, meanwhile, kept his expression still, a perfect poker face.
But something cracked in the mask.
The conner of his lips twitched ever so slightly, the small scar across its making the movement more pronounced.
"I think we should go." Grathe said, his tone clipped and commanding.
"Yes, Captain." Kael replied at once.
The two men turned and began walking towards the Knight's Temple of Holy Saints to meet with Aliza.
They walked in silence.
Not because there was nothing to say. But because neither of them wanted to be the one to say it.
The mother's scream still echoed in kael's ear.
Eventually, he let out a quite sigh, just enough to break the hush.
"So, Captain..." He began, voice low and awkward. "What kind of core does your new...toy have?"
He winced slightly at his own wording, immediately regretting it. But it was the only thing he could manage to say. After witnessing that mother's grief, anything else felt... Wrong.
Grathe let out a faint sigh and forced a smirk.
"You don't have to force yourself to talk." He said calmly, his voice soft, but still carrying weight.
"And as for your question...even I don't know."
Kael blinked, suprised.
"Even you? That means... it's something. Something mysterious."
Grathe raised a brow.
"Wanna see her?"
Kael nodded.
Grathe took the briefcase and opened it with a soft click.
Inside, the velvet lining clung Liliya's porcelain limb like a second skin. Soft, snug and strangley suffocating.
"What is going on...?" The thought echoed inside Liliya's mind as the light spilled in, reflecting off his bright blue eyes.
Grathe reached in and gently lifted the doll out, setting him upright on the ground.
Kael tilted his head, squinting slightly. "It looks cute." He muttered.
Liliya stared back, face fixed and unblinking, expression carved into an unmoving smile.
"Who is this guy? He totally looks like a background character."
Grathe voice came low and firm. "Follow me."
Liliya's legs moved at once. Not by will—his own will has no place here—but by command. A quite click...click...click echoed as his tiny feet stepped towards Grathe, obedient and automatic.
Now standing before him, Liliya looked absurdly small. Only seventy centimetres tall beside Grathe's towering, six-foot frame. A hulking shadow looming over a fragile doll.
They walked on.
Kael followed silently, occasionally glancing down at the porcelain figurine trailing them.
And after a few minutes, the trio arrived at the stone archway of the Knight's Temple of Holy Saints.
Knights and mages turned to look as the trio passed, drawn not by Grathe' presence, but by the tiny figure walli beside him.
"This is embarrassing..." Liliya muttered inside the her mind, his voice shy despite the frozen stillness of his face.
His face didn't shift, he couldn't lower his gaze.
He could only walk, while the world started.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
"Come in." A commanding feminine voice rang out from behind the door.
Grathe stepped inside without hesitation, kael trailing behind him.
"If it isn't my worst best student." Aliza said dryly, without even glanceing upnfrom the stack of documents she was signing.
Sunlight poured through the window, catching in her vibrant red hair, making it glow like embers.
"Student? Grathe... Was her student?" Liliya blinked internally, confused bubbling in his mind.
"That's not right. Aliza was only supposed to have one student to have one student, and it sure as hell wasn't him."
"Grathe wasn't even from this novel." A thought that has been stuck his mind ever since he heard his name.
"I hear you've been looking for me?" Grathe asked, voice clam.
Aliza let out a tired sigh, finally setting her pen down.
"Short answer; yes. Long answer—" She paused, eye drifting towards Liliya.
"Who's this cute little lady?" She added with a warm smile, her voice suddenly filled with excitement of someone spotting a very adorable pet.
"She's Liliya." Grathe said plainly. "And second, why were you looking for me?"
"Ahh, what a way to ruin my fun." Aliza sighed, then suddenly vanished from her chair.
Before Liliya could process what was happening, she already in front of him, lifting him off the ground with a swift, almost playful motion.
It was so fast, it felt like she'd teleported.
"I forgot how strong she was." Liliya thought, his non-existent heart pounding, or at least, it felt like it was.
"Liliya Fallgrant, huh? So that makes her your child?" Aliza teased Grathe, making both him and Kael, who'd been silently spectating blush at once.
Meanwhile, Liliya was internally screaming, drowning in embarrassment inside his permanent porcelain grin.
"You didn't call my other puppet a child. What's so special about her?" Grathe asked, trying to keep the irritation from his voice.
"Because she looks more human than the rest." Aliza replied instantly, still clutching Liliya like a plush toy.
Grathe sighed in frustration. His tone hardened slightly.
"Then tell me...why were you looking for me?"
"Fine, fien." Aliza wave a hand, her voice playful as always. "The reason is..."
She paused, her smile dimming ever so slightly.
"...I want you to search for Chloe."
The air shifted.
"Chloe is missing." Grathe and Liliya said in unison, though no voice escaped the doll's unmoving mouth.
"How could this be...?"
"Chloe isn't just her student, she is the main love interest of the main character, and the second knight..." Liliya's though spiraled, rising like a tide of static.
"Just how much has this world changed...?"
"Yes. And with all the rumours about Skeleton Fisherman..." Aliza's voice dipped slightly. She paused, then shook her head.
"Nah. She'd never fall for its bait." She smiled again.
Her voice was light, almost carefree...but a flicker of doubt betrayed her eyes.
A silence fell into the room, an uncomfortable silence.
"Can I... Help too?" Kael asked gently, breaking the silence.
"Yeah, sure you can." Aliza said, spinning Liliya playfully in her arms like a doll at tea party.
Grathe grinned.
It was meant to be reassuring.
Instead, it looked... wrong, a bit too wide, a bit too tired.
"Stop that. You're scaring him." Aliza scolded, jabbing a finger at Kael.
"N—ni, I'm fine..." Kael stammered.
Aliza gave him a comforting pat on the back, all while hugging Liliya far too tightly.
So tight, in fact, that the proceline doll's delicate torso began to crack.
Crack.
"Ahhh...!" Liliya screamed, the pain flaring beneath his frozen smile as the first fracture crawled across his chest.
"Hey, stop, you're hurting her." Grathe said, just enough to draw her attention.
Aliza looked at Liliya's cracked body and smiled awkwardly.
"Oh... I am sorry..." Aliza said, still keeping her forced smile. Then gently shoved the doll towards Grathe.
"I'll find her." He said, calmly, steady but resolute.
Aliza's lips trembled.
"Thanky you." She whispered, a flicker of hope glimmering in her voice.
Liliya stayed silent, listing to the exchange between them.
"Your are welcome." Grathe turned to leave, kael bowing and following close behind.
"Thank for coming along, Kael." Grathe added.
"No problem, Captain, but...your doll. She is cracked."
But when he looked down.
Liliya's body was whole again. Flawless.
"Don't worry." Grathe said. Without looking back. "Her core heals her body."
Kael's gaze lingering on Liliya, filled with awa, and a quite fear.
Fear of that unknown magical core, humming just beneath the porcelain shell.
"Anyway... Thank you for your help." Grathe muttered, and walked away before Kael could even find the words to answer.
Time passed... Slow and cruel.
And still, they couldn't find Chloe, or even her wearabout.
The sun began to settle. Not with peace, but like the slow descent of a ticking bomb.
With every inch it dropped, fear crept deeper into the heart if the townfloks.
Not fear of the dark.
But of the creature that came with it.
A thing whispered in dread, feared in silence, only known as—
Skeleton fisherman.
And finally, the sun was gone. The dim light of the street lamps bathed the town in a dull, flicker glow. Every house was shut tight.
No citizens walked the streets, only the city guards remained, consisting of; mages, archers, scouts and knights.
They stood watch, scattered like silent sentinels beneath the starlight.
Silence.
Absolutely silence.
Above, the star shown brightly in the vast cloudless sky.
Knights and mages stood guard their eyes fixed upward. Watching each blinking atar like it might fall.
Grathe moved quietly through the town, briefcase in hand, until he spotted Kael and Aliza both standing still... staring at the stars.
"Did you find any information about her whereabouts?" Grathe asked, breaking the silence.
Kael flinched.
Aliza didn't move her gaze still among the stars.
"Sorry... Captain. Not a single hint." Kael whispered.
"And the Skeleton Fisherman?" Grathe pressed.
Kael shook his head. "Sadly... nothing."
Grathe sighed, frustration creeping into his voice as he took looked skyward.
Then—
"Help... HELP!"
A distant scream rang out, slicing through the night like a knife.
Everyone went still, not a soul dared to move.
As fear of it being a bait, was the only thing in their mind.
"Halt." Aliza commanded, her voice sharp.
The guards held steady, though more than a few trembled where they stood.
"Emergency scouts formation." She ordered,eyes narrowing as the cries for help echoed again.
Two scouts advanced towards the source of the scream, followed closely by an archer.
People watched in silence as the three figures vanished into the shadows.
They waited... waiting, hoping and then, a bright burning arrow shot into the night sky.
A signal from the scout group.
A signal for help.
"Everyone on guard." Aliza commanded.
The guards raised their swords and spears, mages aimed their wands at the stars, and archers drew their bows towards the sky.
"Knights, charge forward." Aliza instructed, her eyes fixed on the night sky.
Searching, scanning, trying to spot the difference between real stars, and the fake one.
A fake star made form a magical lantern.
Her gaze swept across every point of light, studying their rhythm, their shine, the subtle way they moved.
And then she saw it.
A star blinking just a bit too awkwardly. Too faint to draw attention.
But not from her.
Aliza snapped her fingers.
A fireball burst from her hand, straking towards the fake star.
The mage and archer followed instantly their own spell and arrow, their projectiles chasing her through the sky.
As knights advanced towards the source of the scream, kael and a few others paused lifting their heads to witness thousand of glowing trails rip through the sky.
Then it struck the fake star and a monstrous growl echoed through the sky, deep and unnatural.
The star began to move.
Violently.
It jerked up then down, left then right, zigzagging across the sky in a frenzy with no rhythm, no sense.
And then. It charged.
Racing towards the ground like a falling god.
From its burning trail, souls began to fall.
One by one, they slipped through the air, faint, ghostly shilouettes drifting downward like a dying fireflies.
The fallen souls as they reached the ground, turend violent and lunging at the knights below.
Steel clashed the ghostly figures.
Kael looked at the ghost they were fighting.
Something was off, he could feel it in his bones.
They were all warriors, battle-worn and trained. But that wasn't the real issue.
The real problem was the absence of civilians. Not a single soul among them was ordinary.
Meanwhile the fake star hurtled towards the Aliza's group. But before reached them, it began to slow down.
Then began to hover floating just two hundred inches above the ground, pulsing with and unnatural glow.
People watched, paralyzed. Then some began to pray.
And then they saw it.
A decaying wooden boat, swaing gently in mid-air.
At the bow, an old lantern swung back and forth. Slow but hypnotic.
At the stern, two rusted bells dangled, chiming with a hunting metallic echo.
And standing at its centre...
A skeleton, cloaked in seaweed and rot. Empty socket glowing faintly. Its stomach, made of a big old rag bag.
Hands gripping a fishing rod carved from bone.
The Skeleton Fisherman had arrived.
An Archdemon.
Aliza hurled a fireball towards the creature.
The Skeleton Fisherman turned, it's lantern swaying with every creak of the old boat.
It jaw began to open, far too wide for something without flesh.
From its stomach made out of nothing but a tattered rag bag, sewn crudely into its ribs, ten shreiking soul burst forth, funneled straight through its gaping mouth.
The souls collided with the fireball mid-air, screaming as they absorbed and smothered it, snuffing ot the light in an instant.
Everyone stood, rooted by dread.
But Grathe didn't hesitate, he hurled the briefcase straight at the demon.
Mid-air, it snapped open with a sharp click.
And from within... Liliya emerged.
His tiny porcelain body trumbled through the air, limbs stiff yet eerily graceful, as he landed upright before the archdemon.
Inside, the soul trapped within Liliya screamed raw, helpless terror echoing from the depth of his core.
But on the outside.
That smile.
That perfect smile stayed frozen on his delicate face, mocking the agony buried beneath.
"What is this creature...?" Liliya's though trembled. "Why am I questioning it's existence now...? This thing, this monster, was never in the novel..."
A cold wave of dread washed over him, deeper than fear.
"Is something else... controlling me? Not Grathe, but something beyond him?"
He couldn't blink, he couldn't scream.
He could only wonder and that was the most terrifying part of all.
"...Am I just a plaything?" The thought echoed like a cracked music box tune in his mind.
A horrifying, haunting though. A cruel possibility.