Ethereal Chronicles

He collapsed then, sprawled face down in the muck and the dirt, feeling the cold splatter of rain against his skin and the squelch of mud beneath his weight.

Pressed against his back, though he could not see it himself, was the creature, clinging to him pathetically as a child might cling to its mother. With a nasty, gnarled voice, it laughed. “Giving up already? But we haven’t even found my grave yet.”

“I can’t.” The man looked up wildly, his eyes bulging from their sockets and darting around erratically. His hands squirmed in the dirt. He mumbled incoherently to himself for a moment, and the creature smiled.

“Give up then.”

His clothes were ripped to pieces, his feet bare and filthy. It had been days since he last felt food in his stomach or the trickle of water down his throat. Days, weeks, perhaps even months since he remembered having his mind to himself.

“Or continue. I have all the time in the world.” The Kuri drawled. “And when you do die, I’ll relish every step I take as I drag you to the depths of Hell.”

APPEARANCE AND ATTRIBUTES

The Kuri is a malicious spirit of English folklore. It chooses a host to attach itself to, driving them to the brink of insanity.

The appearance of a Kuri is shrouded in mystery, rarely seen or spoken of, because the creature is not visible to the person it haunts. It merely acts as a parasite, discreet at first but inflicting a torment that quickly becomes deadly to all of its victims.

Kuris lurk in cemeteries, waiting for somebody to pass by before latching on to the unsuspecting human.

THE FIRST PHASE OF POSSESSION

Initially, an individual will remain unaware of their new guest, with this period of ignorance lasting from a few days to a few weeks. Soon enough, however, the Kuri begins to make its presence known through low, incoherent whispers, often heard when the person is alone or trying to sleep. These sounds become increasingly irritating and overstimulating, haunting the human until they begin to hear the whispers constantly.

The Kuri may then invade one’s dreams, appearing at first only in the background, entirely harmless, before turning those dreams into nightmares and causing sleep paralysis. Such horrifying occurrences often lead to insomnia, as the individual becomes so terrified of sleeping that their brain trains itself into not sleeping at all. This sleeplessness invites delusions and hallucinations, which the Kuri readily exploits, transforming even the waking hours into an inescapable nightmare.

PHYSICAL CONTACT

Once the Kuri feels that it has inflicted sufficient mental torment, the abuse begins to turn physical. Victims often find themselves covered with unexplained bruises and scratches, feeling as though they are constantly being scraped, poked and prodded by the creature. In some cases the Kuri isolates a victim further by appearing in the faces of their loved ones, distorting even the most familiar aspects of reality.

A RETURN TO THE GRAVE

The Kuri does not torture its host forever. Once it grows bored and desires a new victim, it finally speaks clearly to the individual, offering a deceptive promise of freedom should they deliver it back to its grave. Of course, this is a task doomed to fail. It is merely a joke, one final cruel trick not intended to be successful but to push the person into such a state of insanity that even death feels more merciful.

The host wanders in search of the Kuri’s grave, enduring days, even weeks, without food or water. Their body, driven by a deranged and soulless compulsion, never stops moving, even as exhaustion begins to consume them.

The host only stops walking once their body has reached its limit, often collapsing in the middle of nowhere and succumbing to starvation or hypothermia. Before they draw their final breath, the Kuri speaks to them one last time, expressing its desire to drag their body to Hell.

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Kuri: Phantom Parasites of English Folklore | by Yamuna Hrodvitnir | Medium

Monster Legend: Kuri – (crypticchroniclespodcast.com)