Doll of Brodgan

Dear reader,

you are about to read the very first story that has been written under the label of Wondrous Tales. Enjoy the beginnings of a journey that started in Jan. 2022.

Be warned tho, this is a horror story.

One chilly autumn morning, dew sat on the blades of grass. At the break of dawn, Mirza was fast asleep in her house, beside her, her husband Kean when they both were shaken awake by the sound of something crashing and breaking downstairs! Of course, the couple started, jumped out of their bed and Kean rushed down to check what the noise was. An obvious assumption of course that someone broke in. Kean sprinted down the staircase and looked around the room, no signs of intrusion, and the door was locked.

He threw his light crystal on the floor to illuminate the kitchen and dining room as he peeked around the corner, breathing heavily, expecting to find someone rummaging through their kitchen! But as he peeked, to his surprise there was no one to be seen. In the middle of the kitchen floor lay shards of broken plates. From the top of the stairs Mirza spoke, “Darling? Is everything alright?” He rounded the corner and looked around very closely, seeing nothing out of ordinary, he nodded at his wife.

He shrugged, “hm…. there’s no one here…” he picked the crystal up and examined the windows, all of which were closed and intact. No sign of intrusion. Confused, he checked the door just to be sure, but it was indeed locked. As he turned around to go back upstairs, he heard a whisper… a whisper that sent chills down his spine.

“Dad…” is what he heard! Startled, he quickly turned around but saw no one. .”

I must be losing my mind,” he mumbled to himself quietly as he went back up the stairs.

He washed up and went to work. Kean worked as a blacksmith for the northern neighborhoods. The day went by uneventfully but he couldn’t stop remembering the whisper he heard, until it distracted him enough that he forgot to put on his thick leather gloves as he went to reach for the tongs with the knife in the furnace, forgetting that they get quite hot and burning his hand in the process. He dropped the tongs and looked at his hand, he could see a letter k in the burn on the palm of his hand.

Kean shook his hand and bandaged his hand up, continuing to work. He finished his orders for the day shortly after and headed off to the market to buy some groceries, and flowers to bring to his son’s grave. The day was still relatively short and nightfall was a mere couple of hours away. A trip to the graveyard where his son was buried would take about an hour, meaning he’ll be returning home in the dark, but that never stopped Kean from visiting his son’s grave.

For the past 3 months he went there every single day! As he made his way to the graveyard he could see a handle light dimly illuminating his son’s grave, and a figure sitting by the grave. As he approached he recognized his wife, Mirza, sitting beside their son’s grave, crying as a grieving mother would. He approached quietly and sat the flowers down, praying before the grave in silence. However, it did not take long for Mirza to notice the bandaged hand of her husband, “Kean!? what happened?”

He shrugged and groaned, replying in a mumble, “it’s whatever… a minor injury, don’t worry dear, let’s head back.”

Mirza stood up with a concerned face and nodded. In silence they begun their trip back home, the sun was setting and the atmosphere was gloomy. Kean couldn’t help but feel like they were being watched, he took his wive’s hand and lead the way firmly, however, despite his worry and intuition, for some reason, without even realizing it he decided to lead them through the forest..

And thus the couple walked through the grim, dark forest in silence. A quiet, chilly evening but the forest was quite lively with sounds, hooting of owls could be heard echoing through the darkness, and the rustling of the leaves and bushes as the rodents went about their business hiding from the predatory birds.

5 minutes pass and soon another 10, they find themselves in the middle of the forest when suddenly they heard a screech! A sound somewhere between a howl and a desperate cry. Terrified by the sound Mirza froze in place and clung onto Kean’s arm, “w…what was that…??? Kean?? was that a coyote?”

Kean looked around nervously, trying to maintain his cool, “uh… yeah! it must’ve been a wild dog! don’t worry… let’s go! they don’t attack prey larger than themselves..” she could hear his voice shake.

They picked up their pace and walked hastily. The sun had completely set by now and the path was dark, moonlight barely reaching through the dense forest canopy! A few long minutes later gust of wind blew through the forest, causing quite the uproar as the dense canopy rustled and shook, and suddenly, in a brief moment of moonlight, shining onto the path the couple could see a porcelain doll sitting on the path…Wearing a white dress like a bride, but its eyes black as the night sky!

Mirza pointed at the doll, “Look at that! wha…why is there a doll sitting in the middle of a forest path?”

Kean shrugged, “how would I know dear? must’ve been the darned kids playing in the forest again and leaving their toys behind… let’s grab it and bring it back, maybe we can return it to the owner.”

He approached the doll and ducked down to pick it up, but as he grabbed it the doll’s mouth fell open and he could hear a whisper.

“DON’T TOUCH ME!!!!”

Kean instinctively threw the doll against the tree and took a startled step back, pushing his wife to stand behind him with his other hand, “w…what in the 6th circle of hell was that? d…di d you hear that?” he spoke nervously, stuttering. Mirza stared at him in confusion, “Kean? What’s wrong? Why’d you just throw the doll? did you get a splinter you big fool?”

He gazes, switching between the doll on the forest floor and Kean. Kean turned his head to look at Mirza, “wha..what do you mean?

Mirza shrugged, “I haven’t the slightest clue… what happened?” he shrugged and shook his head-.

“No… it’s nothing… it must be lack of sleep… go grab the doll.” he smiled nervously at her as she shrugged and raised her eyebrow-.

“Alright….”

She walked bravely towards the doll that laid upon the ground, face first into the forest floor, she picked it up and dusted it off, examining it, “strange….it’s creepy… almost like it’s alive, its eyes are like an abyss, dark and infinite…”

he approached her carefully and slowly and peeked over her shoulder, “wh…what?? nothing happened??” she looked around and shoved the doll into his face, holding it by 1 arm, dangling it, “what WAS supposed to happen you silly fool? I swear… for a tough blacksmith you’re one scaredy cat! Tsk… let’s go,” he smirked, “hey…who was clinging onto my arm when you heard the wild dog’s howl?”

She snickered, “yeah yeah… come on… let’s be on our way! it’s quite spooky here at night.”

Kean nodded and they walked.

But the moment he took the first step he sensed what felt like a tap on his right shoulder. He turned instinctively and there he saw the doll, smiling at him, creepily… Her black as-abyss eyes like 2 holes into the void, her mouth stretched all the way from 1 side of the face to the other, her teeth like shark fangs!!! He tried to throw the doll off screaming in panic, “AAHHH!! GET OFF ME!!!” but as he stumbled back and tripped on a rock, falling down, the doll was gone when he had landed.

His wife turned around holding the doll in her hands, at her stomach’s height, holding it carefully. The doll’s face twisted into a grimace so unsettling that Kean’s eyes began to water as he crawled away from his wife-.

“NO! NOoO! Throw it away! get rid of that demonic thing!” his face expressed nothing but purest fear. Mirza lifted the doll up and turned it around, examining it and smiling-.

“My god… what is wrong with you Kean? isn’t she kind of adorable? ah that reminds me…..” she spoke as she played with a doll, “kelan… our son, he had a similar doll did he not?” completely oblivious to Kean’s fear she turned around and walked on, “come on… let’s go!”

Kean jumped up to his feet and sprinted to her, grabbing the doll and throwing it into the forest, “BURN IN HELL YOU DEMONIC THING!” he shouted as he threw the doll. Mirza slapped him angrily, “Hey what the heck are you doing? are you out of your mind?” she exclaimed angrily as Kean stood there, shocked.

Mirza pointed into the bushes, “go! find it! right now!” she spoke in a commanding tone but Kean just grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her-.

“Idiot! do you not realize that doll is of no purity!? it is…it’s….a demon! or something! I don’t know! let’s get out of here!” he shook his head, “please listen to me!!” but she only shrugged, “no… i’m not going anywhere until you bring that doll back to me!” but Kean hesitated, and who could blame him? he shook his head, “no… nope! I’m leaving as Mirza shoved Kean out of the way and made her way into the bushes, Kean just shook his head, “this ought to be a nightmare or something!”

He burst into a full-on sprint, trying to escape the forest, but before he could get as much as 5 meters away he tripped and fell again as if someone tripped him on purpose. After he hit the ground he swiftly turned around and looked around to see if the doll was there, but to his surprise, she wasn’t…”

As Kean scrambled to his feet he could feel a hand on his shoulder and a familiar voice whispered, “Don’t leave her, father!” as he felt like he was pushed slightly from behind. He turned his head, “Kelan? Kelan…. it’s you?” a tear rolled down his cheek but he heard no response.

Kean nodded confidently and rushed back towards where his wife went into the bushes. As he stumbled his way through dense bush line off the path, he shouted for his wife.

“Mirza!? Mirza where are you!??” but received no response. He continued to struggle through and search for her in the dark forest but to no avail… She was not where the doll should have landed. She must have picked it up already and left… But where to?”

He walked hastily, shouting her name but all his efforts were in vain.

10 minutes passed, and then another 30, at this point, Kean lost track of time he had spent in the forest searching for his wife until he heard a loud snap. He dashes for the sound and as he came from around a large ancient tree, he could see his wife, playing with the porcelain doll, sitting on the ground, like a child… He approached her carefully, “m…mirza… dear…?? is everything alright?” he struggled to speak calmly as he heard another crack.. He stopped and stared, afraid, confused…

As he continued to examine her in the dim light of the moon, shrouded in the shadows of the canopy, he could barely see her slowly raise her hand, with 2 fingers broken, twisted in unnatural ways as he heard a creepy giggle echo through the forest from his wife., “hehehe…hehe…hehehhee….” a chill ran down his spine again but in that very moment, the burned letter ‘k’ on the palm of his hand began to itch. He tried to ignore the sensation but it was too much.

He ripped the bandage of his hand just to see the letter glow faintly, a voice whispered to him once more.

“Purge that doll it is of evil origin.”

But before he could raise his eyes and focus on his wife once more, she was gone… In her place only the doll sat, on the forest floor, her face twisted in a grimace of pure evil, almost unbearable to look at, Kean thought he should destroy the doll and tend to his wife after, but to his surprise, before he could reach for the doll he heard someone walk up behind him, as he swiftly turned around, he could see his wife standing behind him, holding a large branch in her hand, dragging it on the forest floor. A gust of wind rustled the canopy and mood light illuminated her face, he realized now that his wife was bleeding from 1 of her eyes, “Mirza… listen to me… put that down before you…” but before he could finish his sentence she took a swing at him, clearly aiming for his head, he managed to step back and dodge.

But… he found himself backed against a tree now. He struggled to put his arms up in defense as another swing came, the branch thankfully hit the tree and only briefly connected with his arm, however, the adrenaline rush was enough to make Kean act quickly, he leaped for the doll and took a hold of it, rolling over to his back he grabbed it’s arms and pulled-.

“Damned thing! what have you done to my wife!?” he shouted angrily as he attempted to rip the doll into pieces!

But the moment he pulled with all his might and heard the ripping of the threads, in that same instant his wife dropped the branch and fell to her knees, shouting in agony, “AAAAAA! IT HURTS!”

And as he looked at the doll in shock, he realized the doll now had 1 eye, the 1 from which his wife was bleeding… Fear washed over Kean as he contemplated on what to do…

But before he had much time to think, his wife was back on her feet, armed with the branch once again. At that moment, as Kean began to crawl away from his wife, a voice whispered to him once more.

“Pray father, pray for my soul!”

And so he did… he quickly got on his knees and prayed! Squeezing the doll between his arms he prayed – ‘oh 12 protect me and my wife. Save us in our time of need. I pray upon you! Son, my dear boy Kelan, grace us with your protection just as you protected our city’.

For a moment nothing happened… but then out of the burn on his hand light shone and enveloped the doll, and slowly the 1 eye on the doll began to close and turn back to the black void it once was! His wife lost consciousness and fell to the forest floor, his heart filled with hope as he heard the whisper from his son once more.

“Father, tell mother I love you both! I will seal the doll, it will cause no harm anymore!” as the doll’s eye completely turned back into the void it once was her face was erased entirely the same instant, nought but darkness remained on her face! The light dimmed and faded and with it, Kean dropped the doll and rushed for his wife. She was unconscious but alive, breathing steadily, he knew she would be fine. But before deciding to carry her back, he made the uneasy decision to take the doll with him… ‘Better I bury it in my backyard than leave it laying in this forest’ he thought as he packed the doll into his bag.

He safely made his way back to the city of Brodgan and took his wife to the medics, they treated her and left her to rest in the infirmary over the night as Kean spent the night tirelessly digging a hole deep as he could to bury the doll behind his house.`.

Next morning came and he went to check on his wife who was awake and well, with no memories of what happened the previous day. Kean decided to not tell her the story so as to not worry her. But from that day on, kean stopped walking down the north crystal road where a porcelain puppet store was, and Mirza never could figure out why he suddenly began avoiding that street.