Strange tales: A woman’s lover is abducted by a bogeyman riding atop a gigantic rooster

She was standing in a large underground cavern. Its floor was strewn with bones. Strange-looking plants grew from the cracks between them, shrubs and bushes that glowed eerily. They had succulent leaves that gave off a shimmer, like live coals. The flowers had petals with serrated edges that whipped out like sinuous blades. The thick stems were covered with eight-inch menacing-looking needles that were slowly moving, pushing out and retracting.

The walls of this subterranean chamber were covered in what looked like a spongy coat of moss – but instead of green, it was the colour of clotted blood. There were also vines growing across the floor. These were a baingan-purple colour, as thick as commercial shipping ropes. As they rustled and twisted, Rani Grace saw that the vines sported razor-sharp black thorns, which resembled the dorsal fins of sharks sticking out of the water.

At the centre of it all stood a rooster the size of an autorickshaw. It had kohl-black feathers that shone like satin. The intense black plumage of its tail would have made a peacock’s multi-colored feathers look plain in comparison. The rooster stood still, its eyes like black glass beads so dark that even the flare from an...

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