The Woman with the Bone-White Mask

Cold, numb pain rises through every part of Khachi's body before vanishing away and being replaced with warmth. Nothing but blackness surrounds him as he lays in his subconscious. 

A warm hand gingerly rests on Khachi's forehead pulling him from a deep sleep. Before him sits a young woman in a light taupe-colored deel. She moves her hand just in time to see his eyes open. 

"Have a good rest?" The woman's voice is soft as she helps Khachi sit up. 

Khachi leans forward and places his back on the headboard of the small bed. He glances around the room, taking it all in. 

The yurt was circular and is the only room the structure has. The ergenek to the yurt was just a few walking paces toward the end of the bed. The bed has a dresser at its foot, and across the room sets another set of bed and dresser, as the room mirrors itself. Sunlight lights up the room through roof felts on a circular grid hole on the yurt's ceiling. 

"Khachi, what's wrong?" A tone of worry falls onto the young girl's voice, pulling Khachi's attention back to her. 

Her short jet-black hair reflects different shades of gray and brown as the soft, muted sunlight hits her short shoulder-length hair. The edge of her lips falls a little as concern coats her oval-shaped face. Her taupe-colored deel was dull with small shinny silver squares dotting it. An unusual blue, pink, and brown ribbon layer lay on a silver pattern sash at her waist. The addition of flower decor on her wrist gave a more modern modification to the traditional piece of clothing. 

He continues to stare at her in confusion. The sound of his name leaving her mouth keeps him from looking away and fixing his composure, but at the same time, he does not dare ask his distress out loud. 

Taking in his expression, she quickly registers his concerns. "Oh, the friend that came with you told me your name," she explains herself. An internal sigh floats through her mind. 

"Okin?" His voice comes out low and dry. The name alone harshly rubs his dry throat in pain. 

When the word "friend" leaves her mouth, any suspicion he has of her evaporates into the air. All of his attention and worry turns to the younger boy that was apparently dragged here with him. 

The woman starts to open her mouth before someone else interrupts. 

"Khachi!" Okin's whaling voice suddenly shoots from the door to where Khachi is sitting, quickly pulling his attention to him. 

A sigh of relief leaves Khachi's lips upon seeing the young boy in a healthy condition, but it quickly becomes a rough, dry cough. The woman is swift at grabbing a cup of water and gently handing it to Khachi. He gives her a slight nod in a gesture of his thanks before eagerly drinking the lukewarm water. 

"I'm fine," Okin tells Khachi as he makes his way to sit beside him. Tears start building up in the corners of Okin's eyes as he looks Khachi over. "I was so worried for a moment there you would die!" 

"Lin Hui said he would be fine," The young woman reassures him, trying to calm the young boy. A sweet soothing smile rests on her face. 

"I know. Thank you, Khaliun," Okin tells her, throwing a smile in return before looking back at Khachi. "But, Khachi, you were out for nearly two days! How could I not worry?" Okin continues to cry out, making Khachi softly laugh at his childish behavior. 

"Healing takes time," A low somber voice says as another person makes their way through the entrance carrying a large bowl. 

Her dark green deel strangely lacking in brightness and pattern design. As patterns typically hold symbolism to where one comes from, it was odd that both women had no unique motif on them. On top of that, the woman's hair was a strange faded shade of green with dark ombré highlights. Her hair, too, is cut short and in curls at her shoulders. 

Moving on from the woman, Khachi notices Okin is wearing a fire brick-colored deel, also lacking in design. A yellow sash is tightly wrapped around his waist. It is this observation that Khachi realizes someone must have changed his clothes for him at some point in the last two days. He, too, is now wearing a cool gray deel. Someone even managed to firmly secure a thick green sash around his waist. 

"You-you can talk?" Okin looks at the newest intruder in the yurt with wide eyes before sternly glancing back at Khachi. "And why are you laughing? You don't even know how close you were to being dead! Do you realize you were nearly completely frozen solid?" Okin's distraught tone puts a halt to Khachi's laughter.

The memory of the plum blossom trees and then the sudden overflowing rush of frigid waters run through his mind. 

"Could I have a moment with Okin?" Khachi inquires once his throat feels better. 

Khaliun, who Okin thanked earlier, gives the other girl a look. Lin Hui sits the large bowl down and places the back of her hand on Khachi's forehead checking him. When she feels nothing out of the ordinary, she gives a nod of approval. 

Khaliun's smile widens, and she stands up, grabbing ahold of Lin Hui's forearm for support. "We'll be just outside if you need us. Just holler," she politely says before leading herself and Lin Hui out the door. 

As the two leave, Khachi notices something unusual about the two. His thoughts start running in circles. 

"Where are we?" Khachi wonders out loud. In reality, his mind is still trying to process the little information.

"Khaliun said Aldsan," Okin answers. He glances at Khachi. His face begins to grow serious. "She also said you would know where this is," 

She wasn't wrong. Khachi knows where Aldsan is at, but it isn't where Aldsan is that has him troubled. It is what Aldsan is and where it resides.

Aldsan is a small nomadic tribe within what is called the Spectral Domains. The idea of the Spectral Domains to a human is illogical and only exists in oral form. To most, it is referred to as the underworld. To Khachi, it is a parallel world. 

Vague memories flood his mind as stories of the Spectral Domains make his mind spin dizzily. 

Stories that made the world seem both extraordinary and chilling. Monsters, ghosts, and demons of lore and myth living together. Each one is separated by the tales of humans. 

But those were nothing but folklore and myths. Just stories.

"Have you seen anything out of the ordinary these past two days since we've been here?" He asks his attention fully on Okin's expression. 

"No," The boy answers honestly. He indeed never saw anything out of the ordinary since they ended up where they are. 

Khachi falls back into his thoughts for several minutes.

Their ears.

When the two women left together, Khachi noticed that their ears, which their hair typically covered, were pointed. It's not uncommon for a human to have pointed ears, but if this is Aldsan that they are in, then it is even more unlikely they are even humans at all. Adding on top the green hair Lin Hui has. 

Nemes or, at worst, demons. 

Khachi's thoughts rush to piece everything together. 

"Did Khaliun say anything about where they found us?" Khachi asks his mind now changing subjects. 

"No, other than that you were found nearly frozen submerged in water and that I was found about a mile or two away at the bottom of a hill," Okin explains. His face changes after a few seconds, and he looks back at Khachi. "How did you end up in the snow? There was no forecast for snow in Dariganga." 

Khachi examines Okin's face before debating on explaining things to him. 

He starts to evaluate his choice of words. 

❄❄❄❄

When evening rolls around, Khachi explains everything to Okin and concludes that Khaliun and Lin Hui are not threats. Yet, he still knows trust in a world like the Spectral Domains isn't vital to what creatures are here, and treading water will always be the wiser choice. 

A low table had been moved into the yurt and placed in the center. Sunlight becomes candlelight. The smell of onion and garlic with a hint of caraway hangs in the air as Khaliun walks through the ergenek carrying a large round basket of buuz. 

Okin quickly takes a seat at the low table, just as Khaliun sits the food down.

"Sorry, these are all we have right now," Her tone affable with a light smile on her face. "Would you like some help?" Khaliun's dark ebony eyes turn to Khachi, on the bed, as the offer leaves her mouth. 

"He's fine," Lin Hui's solemn voice answers for him. It isn't said meanly like most would register it as. 

After being around the two girls for a few hours, it was quick to tell that Lin Hui is reserved and pragmatic, for she was the one that tended to Khachi's hyperthermia. Her words are simply based on Khachi's current, now healthy state. 

Lin Hui, herself, sits across the room on the mirrored bed. Leaning forward, she works on a piece of wood. Carving a snow lion out of the block of wood with nothing but her long sharp fingernails. 

"Come eat," Khaliun urges the two.

Khachi slides off the bed and places himself next to Okin at the table. Lin Hui wordlessly sits the carving down, her long nails retracting as she does, before sitting at Khaliun's side. 

Not waiting anymore, Okin eagerly reaches out and grabs a steamed dumpling, nearly choking on it in a rush. 

"Slow down. There's more," Khaliun laughs as she passes him a glass of water, which Okin takes thankfully. 

Lin Hui stares off, looking lost in thought. Only pulling herself out long enough to grab a buuz to nibble on. Khaliun grins at Khachi as she picks one up and gestures for him to do the same. Khachi briefly returns the smile to her before taking one and making a small bite.

Khachi sits in the silence, finding it hard to bring himself to seek out information. Khachi isn't the kind of person to ask questions if there is a way for him to figure it out on his own. Yet, he currently isn't in the position to not ask questions. 

Relying on half eroding stories of a place that shouldn't exist instead of seeking information will put him in the arms of death with no escape. Even worse, Khachi can't help but feel that Okin getting dragged here was his fault. All responsibility of this younger boy fell on him. 

He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.

"Were we found in Shirüün Övöl?" Khachi's pensive question gains expressions of shock from both of the girls. Okin, on the other hand, remains oblivious and continues to eat. Khachi's question throws out any caution and holds up to the "Do not believe that you will reach your destination without leaving the shore." proverb in a verbal sense. 

Yes, but the things beyond the shore can probably kill me. 

And judging from the two women's expressions, this was not at all what they expected Khachi to ask about. 

"The Shirüün Övöl is long gone," Lin Hui's voice comes out contemptuous and cold. Lin Hui isn't much of a talker, but Khachi's sudden knowledge over an extinct location, long gone, gave her her own set of questions for him. Yet, before she has the chance to interrogate him, Khaliun grabs her forearm under the table, stopping her and capturing her attention.

"It is indeed, unfortunately, gone. That name hasn't been used for it for millenniums now. Few remember the name. It now goes by the name of the Martagdsan." Khaliun kindly explains with her full attention on Khachi. 

Khachi's facial expression remains unfazed on the outside, but on the inside, he becomes full of perplexion. 

Martagdsan? Then why do I remember the name Shirüün Övöl?

Part of Khachi finds it hard to believe that he would remember it wrong. From the faded collection of memories, the stories he was told about were mainly about Shirüün Övöl. It isn't that the name Martagdsan seems foreign, but his memory of it is brief. 

Though, Khachi should have expected this outcome. From what he remembers, Aldsan was also a replacement name for a lost tribe, only currently he couldn't remember it.

"Okay. Okin said I was found in a semi-frozen lake and him several miles at the base of a mountain," Khachi states. Okin's attention is drawn towards the conversation at the mention of his name. 

"That indeed is correct," Khuliun confirms. 

"Could you two, by any chance, lead us back to Martagdsan?" 

"Why go back?" Confusion rises in Khuliun's voice as she takes in Khachi's composure. 

"Because, I fear that is where we need to go to get back to the Human Domains," Khachi clarifies. 

"I'm afraid…." Khaliun's lugubrious voice fades as she struggles to find the right words.

"There's no going back," Lin Hui's apathetic voice finishes it for her. 

"To be honest," Khaliun quickly tries to explain in an attempt to fix the gloomy mood. "Both domains used to cross each other. We could visit the Human Domains, and the humans could enter the Spectral Domains, though not many dared to. But between twenty millenniums ago until around ten millenniums, the natural gates to the two worlds started closing. Once closed, for thousands of years, the two worlds have been cut off from each other," Khaliun pauses, lost on how to convey their situation right. "You might have entered, but getting out will be impossible,"

"But I won't know if I don't try," Khachi declares, refusing to give up on any amount of hope they might have at getting back. 

"You'll be fine," Lin Hui states back. 

Khaliun exhales deeply downwards before looking back at Khachi. "You are right. It won't hurt, but you will also be fine here if you stay. When the worlds separated, those who weren't in their natural world were also trapped. Why do you think humans still run into spiritual beings and demonic creatures? Aldsan is home to many lost humans." Khaliun reaches across the table and places a hand on his in comfort. "But if going back to Martagsdan is your wish, then-"

Ear-splitting screeching noise from outside the yurt puts a stop to her words. Without a second thought, the four rush through the door to see what it is. 

This is the first time Khachi has been outside since he had regained consciousness. 

Even in a layer of darkness, Khachi could still make out several similar circular yurts in the distance. The Spectral Domains does a good job reflecting parallel geography identical to the Human Domains. The sand and dirt on an open field with sparse plant life let Khachi know they were still in similar terrain as the Dari Ovoo was in. Nearly at the edge of the Gobi Desert and eastern Mongolia. 

"Lady Khaliun! Lady Lin Hui! Help us!" A young woman cries as she comes charging for the two women's assistance. Her voice is out of breath. She trips upon reaching Khaliun and nearly falls onto her, but Lin Hui intercepts and catches the woman in one of her arms. Like the woman weighs nothing, Lin Hui holds her up with one arm on the woman's back. 

"What's wrong?" Khaliun gently grabs the woman's shoulders. Concern coating her face. 

"There-there is," The woman's words come out stuck on a loop. Whatever she had seen scared her completely speechless. 

Before Khaliun can push it any further, more high pitch yells fill the night air as low growls follow. The growls seem unhuman and similar to that of a dying animal. 

In the distance, through the thin shrubs that line the sandy plains, bodies of bone and decaying flesh unveil themselves from the coat of darkness—a walking corpse thrashing onto any living thing in sight. 

"Oreks," Lin Hui coldly spits, saying what is on everyone's mind. 

Their bodies lack clothing and are nearly naked if they even have skin still clinging to their bones. Dirt sticks to their rotting flesh. Some, depending on their original death, were missing body parts. Feet dragging or their intestines hanging from their old and unhealable wounds. 

More screaming fills the dark atmosphere, both human and not. 

"Lin Hui, get them inside," Khaliun instructs her as she looks keenly at the two young men. 

Lin Hui grabs them and hauls them back inside before Khachi nor Okin can object. "Don't leave," Lin Hui warns them harshly. Once they are back in, and she lets go, the two collapse on the floor, losing balance from her force. She shuts the door, locking them in. 

Khachi rushes to his feet and crashes into the wooden ergenek. 

"Lead me to the wounded," Lin Hui sternly commands the woman that came seeking help. 

"I'll handle the oreks," Khaliun states before rushing off in the direction the oreks seem to be flowing from. 

Khachi starts banging on the entrance finding the structure to be incredibly firm. Okin jumps off the ground and rushes to grab Khachi's hands.

"Khachi, what are you doing?" Okin's voice pulls Khachi from his current action. 

In all honesty, Khachi isn't sure what he was doing. Part of him wants to know more about what is currently beyond the door. If those stories he grew up hearing were real, then what better way than to see it for themselves while it was right in front of him. Yet, if those stories are real, seeing them up close was also the fastest way to end up unalive. 

"Nothing," Khachi says after a while of silence passes between the two. "Let's-" Khachi's words stick to his tongue as he realizes something is off.

"Let's wh-" Okin starts to push Khachi to finish but is interrupted as Khachi swiftly covers his mouth. 

He lifts a finger and brings it to his lips signaling Okin to remain silent. 

A low humming sound, just barely audible, surrounds the yurt from outside. The sound of bare feet lightly shifts from the back of the structure to the entrance. Delicately, the sound of sharp tapping from fingernails on wood echo off the door. 

Khachi pushes Okin in the direction of the bed, motioning for him to slide underneath. 

The room doesn't have much furniture, to begin with, so while hiding with a basty would typically not be ones' go-to idea, they have no choice. Besides, Khachi highly doubts Khaliun or Lin Hui would let one hide in their own dwelling. 

The bed is low to the ground, making it so only one can slide under it. Luckily, there are two. 

The moment Khachi slides under the bed and checks on Okin across the room, the ergenek splits into several pieces, leaving a gaping space in the walls. 

From their obstruct perspective from under the beds, they watch a pair of bare feet cross the threshold. An eerie wind follows the intruder as they make their way farther in. The flapping of white fabric adds to the chilling wind. 

The feet come to a stop just at the end of Okin's bed, causing both of the men's eyes to go wide. Fear penetrates Khachi's veins as he worries the intruder will find Okin. 

Khachi silently scoots closer to the edge of the bed's frame, trying to get a better view. He could now tell it was a woman in a white dress, but her face had a cover of an equally bone-white mask. Besides the cover-up being ghostly white, an expression of terror is permanently embedded into the frame of the mask. 

The woman continues, unaware of the two people hiding near her. For a moment, the air sits in an unearthly silence before an erupting sound of an angry cry leaves the woman's mouth.

"Where is it?" her voice sends chills down both of the boys' spins as it didn't sound like one but two. Two overlapping voices compete to be in control.

Once the words leave her mouth, she starts rampaging through the dressers at the foot of the beds. She makes her way from the top to the bottom. Tossing anything and everything, physically grabbable out and onto the floor. As she makes her way closer to the ground, Khachi's worry starts to build again.

One toss of something she needs or one adjustment and Okin will be in her view. 

Near his bed, Khachi notices a chunk of wood. He starts processing the outcome of tossing it as a distraction as fast as he can. The moment he reaches for the broken board, he instantly knows he miscalculates how much of his body will be exposed. 

In a flash, the woman's attention is drawn to Khachi. Now committing to what has happened, Khachi rolls out from under the bed and onto his feet. 

Initially, he hopes to move fast enough to make it to the door and yell for Khaliun, Lin Hui, or anyone who could help. But he is also unaware of what this woman is, and her speed proves to become ungodly. 

Before Khachi can defend himself, sharp nails dig into his neck. He feels the sting they leave, and even the hot liquid from his body that comes from their gashes run down his neck. The beating of his heart moves from his chest to his head. His whole weight is at his neck as she lifts him off the ground. 

The disturbing double-layered voices flow into his ears over his racing heart. Their voices howling in amusement. 

"Found it,"