Chapter 1, Book 1: A Mimic of My Reality

I heard an annoying screeching sound coming from my backyard, I tipped closer and closer to the door and slid the door open. “You got this, Isaki,” I thought to myself as I stepped outside the door and had a look of horror in my eyes. I caught a glimpse of a dismorphed figure. I felt cold hands against my back, as I fell into a maze.

I saw a stained note on the wall, and stepped closer to read what the note says. “Yōkai maze,” I read. I entered the start of the maze, hoping to find the way out as soon as possible. I turned to the left, then the right, I saw a note that said, “Seek the room with shimenawa, but be careful, Mai is looking for you” I began searching, I head to the left and heard humming and singing noises, I walked closer and saw the room with shimenawa. My face lit up in excitement, thinking that this nightmare would be over. As I got closer, the smile on my face faded, when I saw Mai.

I looked at her cold and creepy face, Mai was wearing a dusty black flowy dress, she had short black and red hair. She had a flower crown with dead and crumbly yellow and white flowers, and an unsettling face.  As soon as I locked my eyes at her, I felt so much pain, and everything blacked out.

I woke up at the start of the maze, trying to remember what had happened. Suddenly, memories came flooding back. “Did I die? How am I still alive? Am I stuck in some sort of story?” I thought. I felt so scared, but I knew that I had to get out of this ‘Yōkai Maze’ as soon as possible. I went the way I went last time and looked down at the floor. “Don't look at its eyes” I thought to myself, “Don’t look at its eyes.” I crouched down, with my eyes locked on the ground,

I tried my best to not look at the monster, Mai's eyes. I made it to the room with Shimenawa. A long empty hallway appeared out of nowhere. I walked into the hallway, and I saw another maze. I saw a note that read, “seek all 4 lanterns and bring them here, the Yokai Mishiki will lead you to the sphere.” I ran as fast as I could, desperately wanting to get out of this horrible nightmare. I thought that there would only be 1 monster, but turns out there are 2 parts, with 2 different monsters. The first one, Mai. The second, Mishiki. I heard really soft humming coming from the left, and knew what it meant. I ran to the right side of the maze, bumping into many walls with twists and turns. The humming got faster and faster every second. Suddenly, I ran into a dead end, closing my eyes, hoping this was a dream.

  When I opened them, I was back at the entrance. “Did I die again? I have to be stuck in some mimic of my reality,” I thought to myself. I ran inside the maze, hoping to find a lantern. I saw a bright red lantern shining in the darkness, and ran towards it. I picked it up and ran back to the entrance, which wasn’t too far. There was a long pillar that had plates around it. A red plate, a white plate, a green plate, and a black plate. I quickly placed the red lantern onto the red plate. I sprinted towards the left side of the maze and there were so many twists and turns. I went to the left, then the right. I saw 2 lanterns glowing brightly in the darkness. I picked them up and started hearing humming melodies. I ran towards the entrance of the terrifying maze, and suddenly got jump scared by Mishiki, and screamed so loud. I was back at the entrance and somehow still had the 2 lanterns. I woke up, and 2 bright lights shined in my eyes. The green and black lanterns were in my hands. I got up and placed the green one on the green plate. Then I quickly ran to the black plate and placed the dark black light onto the black plate.

I ran back to the maze, and took a left, then a right. I finally found the final lantern. I picked up the white lantern, which was the shiniest of all. I made it back to the pillar and finally placed the white lantern onto the white plate.

There was a big plate in the middle which Mishiki appeared on. She suddenly burned into ashes as a butterfly spirit came out of her stomach. I picked up the spirit and went back into the maze. The lights flickered more than before. I took out my own Japanese lantern for more light. I saw a glowing sphere at the end of the maze. There was an empty part to put something inside it, so I decided to put Mishiki’s spirit in the sphere. The glowing sphere had turned into a sliding Japanese door, and my face lit up in excitement, because it was my backyard door.

I entered the door happily, and suddenly reality came back. I was back in my backyard, but I saw 4 Yokai’s in front of me appearing. One had a black dress, one had a red shirt, the other had a white dress, and the last one had a green shirt. “What is that!” I thought to myself. The black dress one had long nails, her name was Kintoru, she was also known as Sama. She showed me a spirit and said, “4 Shall Stand, All Shall Fall.” Suddenly, everything blacked out, and all I could hear was loud laughing.

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