As we rounded a bend, the forest suddenly gave way to open space—a clearing that might once have been farmland but was now overtaken by what could only be described as the world's most disturbing junkyard boxed in by forest and rising gray and black cliff sides featuring mundane-looking, non-rainbow waterfalls. Piles of scrap metal, broken appliances, and unidentifiable mechanical parts stretched in every direction arranged in random towers and uneven piles.

I parked outside a rusted, warped fence that marked the property line and got out, staring at the scene before me. Kristi exited more cautiously, her nostrils flaring as she scented the air.

"This is way worse than I remembered," she murmured, moving to stand beside me.

As we approached the fence, I noticed something strange—a faint metallic tinkling sound that seemed to come from all directions at once. It wasn't until we were closer that I realized the source: hundreds of makeshift wind chimes constructed from scrap metal, old cutlery, and what disturbingly appeared to be animal bones, all strung together and hanging from metal frameworks throughout the property.

"What the actual fuck," Kristi whispered as I pushed open the creaking gate and we stepped onto the property.

The eerie chimes intensified as a breeze picked up, creating a discordant, eerie symphony that sent chills down my spine. Between the towering piles of junk, I could now see massive intricate web-like structures—complex geometric patterns woven from wire and string, with bits of broken glass and metal fragments embedded throughout.

"Huh," I said. "Those look like oversized… dreamcatchers."

"These weren't here before," Kristi shuddered. "Old Dan was completely bonkers before but this is… probably the freakiest thing I've seen outside of a dungeon."

Upon closer inspection, I could see that the web patterns weren't random—they formed spirals and fractals that seemed to continue toward the center of each dreamcatcher where clock gears hung suspended featuring bits of mirror and broken glass shards secured with tape or glue into odd prisms.

"I don't think we should be here," Kristi said, staying close behind me, her eyes darting around nervously. "This place smells... wrong."

"Wrong how?"

"Like… death." She uttered with a shudder.

"It's fine," I shrugged, channeling the dog on fire meme. "This is fine."

Something about the arrangement of junk, the mathematical precision of the web structures, the hollow tinkling of the bone chimes—it all combined to create an atmosphere of calculated madness.

Ahead, partially obscured by scrap piles, stood what must have been the main farmhouse. Or rather, what remained of it. The structure was a blackened shell, its roof collapsed in sections, windows gaping like empty eye sockets. Yet even in its ruined state, I could see that it wasn't exactly abandoned—more of the wire webs stretched across the doorways and between the charred support beams, even more elaborate than those outside.

"Alec," Kristi's voice had a warning edge.

"Shush. I'm going in," I replied, drawn forward despite the growing unease in the pit of my stomach. "He's supposed to be expecting me. Mom said that he's expecting me!"

I navigated through the junk labyrinth toward the house, the chimes growing louder, more frantic as the wind picked up. Inside, the devastation was complete—burned furniture, melted plastic, ash-covered floors. Yet amidst the destruction, the wire webs were pristine, their patterns extending from floor to ceiling in complex three-dimensional arrays.

"Hello?" I called out, my voice echoing through the empty rooms. "Grandfather? Daniel Foster?"

No response except for the tinkling of the chimes outside.

I moved deeper into the house, Kristi following reluctantly. In what must have been the living room, the webs were concentrated around a particular section of wall that had somehow escaped the worst of the fire damage. As I approached, I could see that something was etched into the cracked, black mold-covered plaster—words carved directly into the surface.

"To whoever finds this," I read aloud, "know that I have left this mortal coil, departing to the city of System Wizards, Manchester. I bequeath the farm and all of its contents to my grandson Alec Benoit Foster. If you're reading this Alec—make good use of whatever remains after my departure."

Beneath this cryptic message was a stylized symbol—a number eight wrapped by what looked like a circle of tree-like branches extending into an eight-pointed star.

"What the shit is the city of System Wizards?" Kristi asked.

I shook my head, a cold emptiness settling in my chest. "I have no idea."

My grandfather was gone. The house was destroyed. There was no place for me here—just broken dreams and bizarre wire sculptures that whispered in the wind.

"Mom knew," I said, the realization hitting me like a physical blow. "She knew he wasn't here anymore. Or maybe not… She probably didn't even bother to call him. She just sent me here to... to what? Get rid of me?"

Kristi didn't answer. I felt something crack inside me—not grief for a grandfather I'd never known, but a deeper pain at the knowledge that my own mother had abandoned me to a ghost farm filled with junkyard art.

I sank to my knees in the ash, defeated in a way that even the biker gang's assault hadn't managed. Around me, the wire webs seemed to mock my misery.

"Alec," Kristi said softly, her hand coming to rest tentatively on my shoulder. "We should go. It's not safe here. Sometimes hungry things wander out of the Birchwood dungeon."

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"Maybe… I can sell this farm to your dad," I said. "Buy some delving equipment with it."

"I don't think that this counts as a proper will," Kristi said, glancing at the wall message. "Without legal paperwork, the farm will likely go to your parents."

I let out a hollow laugh. "Great. Well, then I won't tell them shit. As long as they think that he's still alive, I can live here."

"Alec… you can't live here, that's… this place isn't safe!" The raptor-girl waved her hands around the devastated farmhouse. "There's no barrier shield here! Nothing prevents random wandering monsters or Astral Phantoms from snacking on you!"

I was about to reply to her when silver sparks filled my vision, manifesting into a semi-transparent fuzzy figure.

"Human-tater," a staticky voice spoke in my head. "Where the fuck are you? I told you to wait for me at the gas station. I've been trying to voicecast you for an hour now! Donutz, are you picking up his location?"

The figure of a sparks-formed cheetah turned to her left side where a fox-girl appeared formed from the same silver static.

"On it boss," Donutz said. "Ugh. Signal's barely getting through. Got it! He's… right outside of Ferguson, North of the town's barrier shield."

"North of… wait," Captain Adler sputtered. "Can we pick him up from there?"

"Not on our bikes," Donutz replied. "That entire area is basically surrounded by impassable mountains. You'll have to use the anti-grav function on your wheels and even that might be dangerous as fuck—those cliffs there have ceramic and misc materia wyvern and papercraft dragonette nests."

Kristi had been hovering nearby, watched the silver projection with growing fury. At the mention of retrieving me via a flying bike, she stepped forward, glaring directly at the cheetah and fox.

"Maybe he's just trying to get away from the trash prads who assaulted him!" she snarled.

The projection of Adler flickered. "The fuck? Who's that?"

"Krysanthea Strand," Kristi spat, her tail lashing behind her. "Remember me, Adler? The one who testified at your expulsion hearing?"

"Strand?" Adler's projection crackled with barely contained rage. "What are you doing with MY human?"

"He's not YOUR anything, you psychotic bitch," Kristi growled, her claws extending reflexively. "You claimed him against his will after beating him half to death. That's a criminal offense!"

"Pfff," Donutz rolled her eyes. "Maybe in your mafia-controlled town, but out here in the wilds there's no such laws. He's of age and unclaimed. As such, we claimed him as is the tradition of free range prads. Wait… this is a private, soul-bound Astralcast… that raptor knob shouldn't be hearing us at all. How the shit did she get into this line?!" She muttered the last part looking confused. "That shouldn't be possible at all… unless…"

"Fucking Strand-beerch," Adler hissed, her static image leaning forward as if trying to get a better look at Kristi. "Still the same self-righteous princess, I see. How's daddy's little ranger-in-training? Still relying on overpriced artifacts to hide the fact how weak and pathetic you are? Still failing at getting anyone to sleep with ya? Just had to steal my new man, did ya?"

Kristi choked at Addie's words. "You were expelled for a reason, Silvertail," she hissed back, using Adler's family name like a curse. "Harassing classmates, setting that fire in the chem lab, constantly drinking in class, assaulting an instructor and now forcibly claiming humans? You haven't changed a bit. You're still the same out-of-control trash prad you were when they kicked you out!"

"Like you're any better, Strand," Adler laughed. "You just have daddy's money and influence to sweep your naughty behaviour under the rug. Not all of us are born with a celesteel spoon in our mouths. I've made something of myself, brought my buds from different species together in a pack of pro delvers. Unlike your legacy-shackled Prima-beerch ass, I'm free—I can do whatever the fuck I want to out here! You pretend to be top shit on Pradstagram but I know that ya slowly rot from within and suffer in misery. Always playing by the rules while setting everyone else up to fail. How many students did you get expelled again?

"I didn't get anyone expelled on purpose," Kristi snapped, eye twitching, clawed hands opening and closing, feathers fluttering. "Their own fucked up behaviour got them expelled. Just like yours did."

"Keep telling yourself that," Adler sneered. "Anyways, I'm checking on my human, you can piss off."

"I'm not your human!" I interjected, unable to stay silent any longer.

"Ah!" Adler's projection turned toward me. "Alec-tater! Hrm. You're looking better already. Did that banging Reconstitution finally kick in? I'm glad. N'ways—don't trust that Strand cunt, she's only pretending to be polite and proper but in reality she's far worse than me as a GF. The only reason she's hovering around you is cus' she's a jelly beerch obsessed with taking my shit. If our mark wasn't on ya, bet she wouldn't even look at ya."

"What? Are you listening to yourself?" I laughed. "You beat me up and chucked me into a dumpster. Why the fuck would I consider you my girlfriend?"

"You were asking for it!" Adler said. "You pushed me! I was being nice… if a bit drunk. Come on Alec-tater, you've got a rare as shit skeel—you should be levelling the fuck outta it with me. I… I did ya a service, see?"

"What fucking service?" I snarled.

"I smacked you around a bit to level up your skeeell," she said. "It's how it works. The more you use it, the better it gets. Donutz' loop should be funneling my liquid mana your way if she set it correctly. You set it correctly, ye?"

"I wasn't anywhere as drunk as you, Cap," Donutz nodded. "I set the tag properly, bound him to you n' me. Ain't nobody getting it off—the condition's unbreakable."

"Candace you had so much potential as a Binder mage," Kristi growled. "A future, a scholarship to Howlward, internship offers from Archtek Enterprises, Strand Inc and Gurrwulf Industries. What the fuck is wrong with you? Why are you with this beerch? You weren't even expelled! You just up and left Ferguson! Your parents are still furious!"

"What's wrong with me?" Donutz tilted her head. "I simply see the world for what it is—a bunch of binding loops leading everyone to a most unfortunate end. Might as well make the best of it and do whatever I wanna. You might be satisfied with being slowly strangled to death by parental and corporate nooses, but I ain't."

"So you bind others in magic loops against their will?" I asked the fox.

"I did it to protect you from twats like her," Candace crossed her arms. "From the future that leads you straight to your permanent death!"

"Bullshit," I said. "You did it so you could control me, claim ownership over me!"

"What?" Donutz blinked. "There's no controlling mechanism in there. It's just a tag that connects you to me n' Cap. Without it on you, any Ferguson knobfold would be able to claim you at anytime. Trust me—that tag is there for your own good."

"I have no trust in your gang," I said. "You didn't offer me a choice. I'll scrub that tag off as soon as I can afford it."

"Afford it?" Donutz laughed. "Darling, that tag can't be taken off with money—that's the whole point of it. The binding condition is… love."

"Love?" Kristi laughed. "What?! That's the stupidest thing I've heard."

Donutz traced a sideways number eight in the air with her claw. "I've learned something from the Superstore, babes. A loop bound with the Dagaz Rune can't be broken with brute force. It's conceptually infinite. It will take a delver mage of infinite level to snap off that tag by brute mana approach."

"What?" I sputtered.

"If you don't wanna be our packmate," Donutz said with a sly grin. "Then all you have to do is find two prad femmes who love each other and you more than we will. It's a pretty simple condition!"

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.