For several seconds, Juson could see nothing.
Only darkness surrounded him.
Then faintly, he noticed a weak glow somewhere ahead.
The torch.
Juson crawled toward it carefully across the floor.
His hand stretched forward through the darkness until his fingers touched something strange.
Grainy.
Cold.
The instant his skin made contact, a violent shiver passed through his entire body.
Juson jerked backward immediately.
His breathing became uneven.
For a moment, it felt as if something had moved beneath his skin.
He grabbed the torch quickly.
As soon as he lifted it, the faint glow disappeared completely.
Juson struck the torch again, confused. The switch was already on, yet the light refused to return.
He sat there silently while examining it closely.
Then he noticed something strange near the bulb.
A grainy substance had collected over the surface.
Dust.
No.
Not dust.
Blue grains.
Juson rubbed the particles away carefully and blew air across the bulb.
The moment his fingers moved over the torch surface, faint blue light followed his hand.
Juson froze.
The glow moved exactly where his fingers touched.
Slowly.
Unnaturally.
But when he repeated the motion again, nothing happened.
The grains had already fallen away.
After several more seconds of cleaning, the torch finally returned to life. First a faint glow appeared. Then the beam brightened fully again.
Juson immediately directed the light toward the floor.
Blue grains scattered across the ground.
Not many.
Just small piles.
But the moment he saw them, recognition struck him instantly.
The maid.
The blue grains were identical to what remained after the maid disappeared.
Juson slowly stepped backward.
The grains did not move toward him.
They barely moved at all.
Carefully, he crouched closer.
One hand held the torch while the other slowly reached toward the blue sand.
His fingers opened slowly.
Then he pushed them gently into the grains.
The reaction was immediate.
Juson froze completely.
A violent sensation spread through his body for a brief second, like something invisible moving beneath his skin.
He immediately pulled his hand away.
Too late.
Juson pushed himself backward violently across the floor.
The torch beam trembled in his grip.
Slowly, he raised his right hand before his face.
Blue grains clung to his fingers.
And they were moving.
Tiny movements.
Almost alive.
"What's that..."
His voice barely escaped his throat.
Juson lowered the torch slightly.
The sand pile in front of him had changed.
There was light inside it now.
A faint blue glow shifted slowly beneath the grains.
Juson stopped breathing.
The torch slowly slipped from his fingers.
It struck the floor beside him.
And moments later, Juson collapsed beside it into the darkness.