Selena woke up with a violent headache, the sensation akin to a tuning fork embedded in her brain, vibrating with some unseen resonance, churning her mind into a pulp.

  What in the world is inside my head...

  She struggled to get up and took a dose of opium tincture, yet it had no effect—though she grew drowsy, the buzzing in her head only grew louder.

  The sound was both urging and coaxing, as if emanating from the depths of her soul. Suddenly, without reason, she saw a barren land dotted with round pits of various sizes. Beyond the dust and gravel, the starlight under the cloudless, exposed night sky was brighter than ever before—yet beneath that beautiful expanse, there was no life to be found, not even plants or moss.

  She emitted an unearthly, whale-song-like cry and burrowed back into the earth, descending all the way to the rocky strata, moving through cold, damp crevices untouched by light...

  No! This isn't me!

  Selena jolted awake, only to hear chaotic shouts arising from the village.

  What just happened to me?

  She could hardly stand—the fleeting vision had been too vivid. She could distinctly differentiate between the dry sand of the surface and the moist soil of the deeper layers, both equally frigid, enclosing her elongated body...

  Where... was that? The terrain didn't resemble any place in this world. The jet-black sky and unnaturally bright stars made it seem as if she were floating in the infinite cosmos, while the desolate wasteland evoked the primordial earth before divine creation.

  For no reason, a deep longing—an inexplicable homesickness—rose within her. This was the place where she had been born and raised, so why did it now feel so foreign? In contrast, she felt a strange mix of familiarity and terror toward the lifeless world from the vision—as if that were her true homeland.

  The church bell tolled with a peculiar rhythm, signaling the gathering of all villagers. Normally, this only happened when something of great importance had occurred.

  Was it related to the earlier commotion? Could my vision be connected?

  Rubbing her aching head, Selena resolved to follow the village’s summons for now. But some premonition made her take Edwin’s voodoo potion with her.

  "I think I just heard a strange buzzing noise… and it gave me such a headache that… when I got up, I found Heena missing. There was a little blood on her bed—her nightgown was neatly tucked under the covers, but she herself was gone..."

  Upon reaching the clearing before the church, Selena saw a villager responsible for tending to the female bees questioning one of the elders.

  "That is the call of the Bee God. The blessed have already received His gift. You, too, shall be graced..." The elder pointed toward the ancient well at the village entrance. "This time, the blessing will descend upon the altar, bestowing upon us all—not just the vitality we long for, but even... immortality..."

  "Truly?! Merciful Bee God!" The villager’s face lit up with joy, and without further urging, he eagerly descended into the well.

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  As the hollow echo of footsteps on stone faded into the depths, Selena felt another wave of dizziness. The unseen hum of bees ebbed and flowed in her mind, crashing like tidal waves.

  "...The blessing will descend upon the altar, bestowing upon us all..." The elder repeated, pointing at the well.

  Now, the eastern sky had lightened slightly, tinged with the pale hue of dawn. In the dim half-light, Selena suddenly noticed stains on the elder’s clothing—was it mud? But the way it seeped from within made her think of something far more ominous—blood.

  "The blessing… will descend upon the altar..." The elder insisted once more.

  Their gaze was cold as a shrine statue, and their movements carried an indescribable strangeness. Selena couldn’t quite articulate it, but if she had to compare, it was like the difference between a puppet and a human. When a person moved, their muscles worked in harmony, producing natural, fluid motions. But the way this elder gestured toward the well—it was as if their hand, even their fingertips, drove the motion, lifting a limp arm that barely seemed attached. At full extension, the arm even caused the body to wobble slightly.

  Yet more disturbing than the visual oddity was the homesickness—or perhaps dread—welling inside Selena. These conflicting emotions compelled her to obey the elder’s command, as sheep follow their shepherd or worker bees serve their queen.

  Clutching the small vial in her sleeve, she sat by the well and warily began her descent, gripping the rope as she vanished into the dark passage below.

  "...Bestowing upon us all… not just the vitality we long for, but even immortality..." In the golden-red light of dawn spilling over the village, the elder repeated these words to the empty streets, like a broken machine.

  Selena lived on the village outskirts, and after her, no other villagers seemed to remain. The elder’s clouded eyes no longer registered anything. Moving with the same puppet-like jerks, they shuffled to the well—then suddenly bent at the waist, performing an impossible contortion.

  Worms poured from their sleeves and collar as their body deflated like a punctured balloon. More insects crawled from their nose and mouth—some eroding from within, others gnawing outward—until soon, nothing remained. Not hair, not bones, not even fingernails.

  Now sated, the swarm of worms crawled over the well’s edge and plopped one by one into the water. Before long, the village fell silent again—a hollow, deathly stillness.

  A while later, two figures crept out from behind a haystack.

  The man and woman wore ordinary villagers’ clothes, both shaken and fearful. The farmer kept a hand clamped over his wife’s mouth until she stopped trembling, then carefully lowered it.

  They had been childhood playmates, closer than most—though the village custom had robbed him of manhood early, their bond remained strong, more like siblings. Now, without a word, they fled together.

  They ran breathlessly through the woods, pausing only when the woman could barely stand.

  "What… was that...?" she gasped.

  "I don’t know… But this morning, when I lit the fire… I saw it. People… worms came out of them. They hollowed them out and wore them like skins... We have to leave—now!"

  The urgency kept her moving despite the pain.

  "...Don’t you hear it? That sound… it’s calling us..."

  "Ignore it!" he snapped—though he heard it too.

  They ran blindly, stumbling over roots, the trees seemingly endless.

  "Have we been here before?" she whispered. A broken branch looked freshly snapped—their own doing?

  "We should’ve reached the fields by now!"

  Panic set in. The woods were small—they should’ve been out long ago.

  "Why can’t we escape?! Even the sun lies to us now!" he cried, pointing wildly at the pale disk. His sense of direction had warped—like an ant trapped in a death spiral, walking in futile circles.

  The buzzing returned, louder than ever, calling them home.

  "Hah… hahaha… It’s always been there… in our heads. It’s eaten me hollow… I want to leave… but we can’t… We have to go back..." She laughed and sobbed, her face a mask of terror.

  "No! Fight it!"

  But then her words dissolved into nonsense. Her muscles spasmed. Limbs curled like a boiled shrimp—and from the base of her neck, something translucent and threadlike oozed out.

  It wriggled weakly toward the village before stiffening.

  It took him too long to react. Shaking her limp body, he rasped, "Are you…?"

  Her eyes stared blankly, pupils already dilating.

  With a scream, he dropped her corpse—but not for long. The buzzing came again.

  Now he felt it: a force peeling him from his body. He didn’t know where it led—or what awaited—but he knew:

  It was home.