KAGEN

"When a child turns 13… they’re taken."
[Scene 1 – Hollow Village, Night]
Ren’s sister Airi just turned 13.
Inside their house, the windows are shut, the doors locked. Their mother lights candles. She’s crying. Everyone knows the stories, but no one speaks of them.
Ren is 12. He grips a rusty kitchen knife. He stands at Airi’s door. Waiting.
The house is silent — except for the wind. Snow slaps against the wooden walls.
The lights flicker once… then again…
Then they go out.
Airi screams.
The shadows come.
Black arms stretch out of the floor. The ceiling. The corners. They don’t walk. They slide, like liquid darkness.
They grab her.
She disappears into them — screaming.
Then silence.

Scene 2 – The Forest
Ren runs barefoot through snow, knife still in hand. His breath burns. His feet bleed.
He sees them ahead. Five, maybe six — gliding shadows moving through the snow like smoke. They carry something.
He keeps chasing.
Snow whips his face. Branches tear his skin.
Then — they vanish into a hill.

[Scene 3 – The Cave]
There’s an opening in the rocks. A dark cave mouth.
Ren hides behind jagged stone.
He looks inside.
He sees them.
More shadows than he can count — flickering, mutating, crawling on walls, whispering.
In the center, on a black stone slab:
Airi.
Alive. Shivering. Crying.
They surround her.
One of them sinks into her chest. She screams.
Then another. And another.
They rip into her. Not fast — slow. Like they enjoy it.
Blood spills. Bones snap.
Ren’s legs go numb. He covers his mouth — eyes full of tears, body frozen in place.
Then — he screams.
All the shadows freeze.
They turn. Slowly.
They come for him.
But he’s already running.

[Scene 4 – The Village, Morning]
Ren falls into the village square, face bloodied, clothes torn.
He screams:
 “They took her! The shadows! I saw them eat her!”

Villagers gather. Blank faces. No one speaks.
The village elder steps forward.
 “Don’t lie.”

Ren:
> “I saw them! There’s a cave—”


The elder interrupts:
 “There is no cave.”


Ren turns to the others. No one meets his eyes.
One woman whispers:
“Just like the last one…”


Ren falls to his knees.
No one helps.
The villagers leave him alone.
Behind him, on the roof of a house —
a black Demon crouches smiling...