The Ghost Eater's Curse

Setsuko’s earliest memories were splinters—fragments of childhood laughter mixed with whispers from shadows she’d been born to chase. Mother had tried, in her fractured, stunted way, to carve out moments of happiness for Setsuko and her twin sister, Ayako. But happiness was like sunlight slipping through grasping fingers, always ephemeral and swiftly fading into the inevitable chill of night.

Mother was never fully present, her gaze forever split between the world they inhabited and realms unseen. Ghosts, spirits—restless shades drawn to the power humming through their isolated northern homestead—made frequent and unsettling visitors. Ayako feared them deeply, trembling in her blankets, but Setsuko felt an odd curiosity. Even then, she knew her destiny was tangled irrevocably with these ephemeral guests.

At six, childhood ended abruptly. Mother revealed their grim heritage: Ghost Eaters, born to consume the dead, binding souls who refused the peace of the afterlife—or even robbing them of that choice. The training was brutal, relentless. Yet Setsuko thrived where Ayako faltered, her innate strength a curse disguised as blessing. Seeing Ayako weaken daily, Setsuko grew desperate, knowing the magic that sustained them would inevitably devour her gentle sister. In secret, Setsuko devised a ritual, a protective seal to sever Ayako from their cursed bloodline—but she lacked the strength to do it alone.

Mother, meanwhile, harbored bitter grudges against the Fey, who had stolen from her the powerful artifact La Belfana’s Broom, capable of magical flight. By twelve, Setsuko manipulated her mother’s vendetta, proposing a ruse: pretend defection to infiltrate the Fey and retrieve the broom. Mother hesitated, wary of Ayako’s weakness, but Setsuko convinced her that Ayako’s frailty would make the deception believable.

Arriving among the Fey, Setsuko quickly betrayed their mother’s intentions, offering Ayako in exchange for the broom, alongside a ritual artifact guaranteeing permanent concealment from Mother’s wrath. In exchange, the Fey sealed Ayako from magic forever. When Setsuko returned home alone, broom in hand, Mother’s rage was volcanic, her punishment harsh and unending. But the deal had been struck; Ayako was lost, leaving Setsuko alone beneath Mother’s cruel tutelage.

Years passed in a blur of vicious training and grim apprenticeship. Setsuko’s solitude was absolute until, at fifteen, Mother tasked her with devouring her first ghost—the familiar of a dead wizard, a mischievous Bliss Cat haunting a crumbling tower. The hunt overwhelmed Setsuko, her resolve cracking until tears spilled forth, startling the cat into empathy. The creature surrendered willingly, preferring companionship in oblivion to lonely eternity. Setsuko named her Phantomina, and for the first time, knew friendship.

Yet as Setsuko’s strength grew, Mother’s fractured psyche splintered further, her control slipping. Ghosts she had consumed began to rebel, possessing her, lashing violently at Setsuko. Mother admitted finally that this was inevitable, revealing the family curse in full—the powers of their Ghost Eater lineage could not be maintained indefinitely. Each generation must eventually pass their power to their progeny through ritual, one soul at a time. When this is done, they may cross to the other side of the quantum shadow. Failure meant eternal entrapment in a personal shadow-shard prison with the ghosts they had consumed, and madness.

When Mother’s time came, the ritual went smoothly, until only ghost remained: Voraghost, Mother’s most powerful captive. And here, Setsuko faltered. Voraghost had been planning and waiting for this day for many years. He tricked Setsuko, and began to overpower her from within.

Only Mother's desperate return—now herself a ghost—prevented Setsuko’s complete annihilation. She dragged Voraghost into a distant abyss, angrily sacrificing her peace to save her daughter.

The aftermath left Setsuko dangerously unstable, haunted by whispers and power struggles within. Eventually, Tesserak, another powerful spirit, began seizing control. Setsuko realized the danger and set off deep into the Thorn, where she hoped she could satisfy her hunger without harming innocents.

In the mists of the Thorn she wandered like a true monster, locked in a back-and-forth internal power struggle and battle with Tesserak. When he took control he would scour the Thorn for lost travelers and adventurers to kill and consume. When Setsuko took control, she was forced to prey upon disgusting beasts in order to keep up with Tesserak's hunger. Yet, in that horror, Setsuko had an epiphany.

In the times that Tesserak took control, he locked Setsuko away inside the internal ghost-prison that Mother had taught her to build in order to keep control of the souls within her. Being among them, she began to know them more deeply, and to empathize with them. She realized that the ghosts could not be controlled. The magic of their lineage had reached its limit. She promised a change.

Tesserak was a sadistic tyrant, abusing the other ghosts as much as he did Setsuko. Rallying disenfranchised ghosts, she reclaimed her body, imprisoned Tesserak deep within, and opened the cells of the internal ghost-prison, founding instead a grand Carnival—a realm of spectral delight, bargaining peace and cooperation with the souls within herself. She kept only one cage now, for Tesserak.

Despite regaining control, Setsuko’s life remained a delicate balancing act. Each ghost she consumed added to her strength but also increased the complexity and difficulty of maintaining harmony. Each ghost brought unique desires, opinions, and demands that Setsuko had to negotiate constantly. The more powerful the ghost, the harder it was to control.

In emotionally or magically intense the situations, ghosts would sometimes "slip out," temporarily hijacking control or causing terror. Setsuko had many ghost allies swirling around inside and through her at all times. They saved her ass at times. But they also scared people shitless.

Even after leaving the Thorn, Setsuko chose isolation. "Ducks"—normal folk without magic—feared and misunderstood her, and rightly so. Keeping to society’s fringes, she sustained herself on ghost-hunting contracts, living quietly but precariously, walking a fine line between savior and monster. Many denizens of the Runiverse considered wizards like her to be a textbook definition of "necessary evil".

But Setsuko didn't believe in evil - just a hungry runiverse, and in the fragile hope that if vengeful spirits could find peace and redemption, that maybe one day, she could too.

Art by @_burntcoffee Story by @0xPonyboy

Entered by: 0xC4A6…5652