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The original was posted on /r/nosleep by /u/jhurl24 on 2025-01-22 19:22:13+00:00.

Part 1 Part 2

When the recording started, a female voice could be heard whispering, “It. Will. Return.” It was clear, by the cadence the voice spoke with, the voice was saying each word separately and not as one sentence. The voice grew louder, “It. Will. Return.”

A male voice could be heard joining the other voice, they spoke louder, “It. Will. Return.” Speaking at a normal speaking level the male voice continued alone, “It. Will. Return.”

It kept repeating the same thing as the female voice spoke, “Jay. Will. Die.” Both voices grew louder, “Jay. Will. Die.” the male voice still chanting “It. Will. Return.”

As the two voices chanted their respective phrases, a familiar voice spoke, “Rule number five, Will. I’m not taking you down with me.” All three voices stopped. There was silence for a minute.

Will and I looked at Corporal D, who held a finger up, signalling, ‘hold on there’s more.’ Then a distorted voice in the recording broke the silence, “Rule number five.” The same voice came through again, this time more distorted than the last, “Ru– Num– Five.” Again it repeated, but this time the voice was so distorted, all we heard was “Five.” The voice had lost all familiarity by this point and sounded demonic.

After another long pause, a chorus of voices came through, too many to attempt to count, “It. Will. Return.” Just like with the first voice, each word was emphasised as being on its own, not a part of a sentence. Immediately after, they repeated, “It. Will. Return.,” this time it sounded like the words were being screamed.

The chanting continued, but again, the voices grew more distorted, “Will. Return.” Again they screamed, “Will. Return.” now followed by, “Jay. Will. Die.” I looked at Will, he was frozen in place, his face had lost all the rage it previously held and was replaced by fear and confusion.

The voices continued to scream, “Will, return,” this time it was clear. They were telling Will to return. The screaming coming from Corporal D’s phone abruptly stopped.

The familiar voice spoke again, “Jay. Will. D–,” it sounded like they were crying. It was cut off and replaced by the sounds of someone taking a beating. We listened in silence to the sounds of someone getting the shit beat out of them. The recording ended with the sound of ceremonial drumming. I could barely make out the sounds of chanting over the drumming, but could not understand what they said.

Corporal D put his phone back into his pocket. “How did you get that?” I asked.

Corporal D looked up at me and said, “I honestly don’t know. I was looking through old pictures on my phone when I got home yesterday and saw it in the recent files folder when I opened up the gallery. I thought it was some sick joke when I first saw the title, ‘Ryan was the Warning.”

“Warning for what?” Will asked.

“No clue.” Corporal D replied.

I knew there were no follow-up questions either of us wanted to ask, not right then at least. “Who was on the phone, D,” Will asked.

“I played the recording for the Admins this morning,” explained Corporal D. “They told me to call them if anything happened tonight.” Corporal D stood up, “I was ordered specifically to not call for EMS if anyone got hurt outside.” He clasped his hands behind his head, “Or if anyone was found alive.” I could tell by his face that something clicked, “Those motherfuckers knew what was going to fucking happen. They fucking knew we’d find Ryan!”

“Fucking hell,” I sighed. I looked over at Will, the rage filling his face again. I expected him to yell, but he didn’t say anything.

After a brief silence, Will finally spoke, “That was Ryan’s voice.” We all looked at eachother then at the ground.

We stood there in silence for what seemed like an eternity, digesting what we had just heard. I broke the silence, “How long does it feel like it’s been since we started the check? I’m meaning before we found Ryan too.”

“Dunno, maybe forty-five minutes?” Will said. “Feels like we’ve walked at least a mile too.”

“My guess would be, maybe, two miles minimum.” Corporal D said.

I looked down at my watch, “According to my stopwatch, it’s been–”

“Jay. Will. Die.” It echoed from all around us. It was the same voices from the recording.

I could hear the sounds of footsteps in every direction. I panned the flashlight in a circle, “What the fuck.” From what I could see, we were in a clearing. Tall pine and douglas fir trees formed what looked like the start of a ring around the grass. Off to the left of us, I saw something coming out of the ground. “What’s that?”

We walked over to what was clearly a sapling. “Looks like a yew sapling,” Will said.

The footsteps grew louder around us. The voices returned, “Jay. Will. Die.” The sound was deafening. I could feel the ground shake as the drumming started.

A female voice whispered, “It. Has. Returned.” This time, I didn’t hear the voice. The voice was in my head. “He. Returned.” it said. “The message was in his blood.”

Then there was silence again. No footsteps, or chanting, or drumming. “What does she mean?” I asked.

“You heard it too, huh?” Will asked.

“Same here.” Corporal D said. “There’s something else I’m not supposed to tell you.”

“More secrets?” I asked.

“Shocker,” Will said sarcastically. “What is it this time?”

“You remember that sample I took of the writing on the window?” asked Corporal D. “It came back positive for blood.”

“I kinda figured that one.” I said.

“Well the DNA test came back too.” Corporal D said. “It was Ryan’s blood.”

We all looked at the tree in front of us. “What kind of sick fucking game is this?” Will asked “Who pissed off the Land Spirits?”

“I have no clue,” Corporal D answered.

“What are Land Spirits?” I asked.

“An old native folklore.” Will said. “They are child-sized creatures that look like humans. Only difference being, if you’re unlucky enough to see one, the longer you look at them, they start to not look human.”

Just as Will finished talking, the flashlight died. “Fuck,” I said. I tried to turn it back on, but it was no use. “Flashlight is dead.”

“How long until sunrise, Jay?” asked Corporal D.

I looked at my watch and saw it was two in the morning. “Seven hours, I think? It’s two right now.”

“Luckily the trees don’t block the moonlight in this clearing. Maybe we should start to head back,” said Will. “There’s not much light, but it’s better than noth–”

The footsteps started again, this time they sounded like they were right on top of us. I felt a sharp pain in my head before everything went black.

When I woke up, I was lying next to Will and the Sun was up. I sat up to see blood covering us both. “What the fuck.”

Will sat up and looked around, “Where’s D?” he asked.

I stood up and rubbed my eyes. All I could see was Will, the sapling, and blood everywhere. “Corporal D!” I yelled.

“Jay, he’s gone.” Will said.

With the Sun out, I could see the entirety of the clearing. It was a perfect circle. The tall pine and douglas fir trees, I saw at night, lined the grass creating a perimeter. “Whoah.” I said.

Will and I turned and looked at the sapling. “Jay. Will.” was carved into the trunk.

“It’s missing a word,” I said. Will looked at me. “Die.”

Will looked back at the tree and studied it. After a couple seconds he turned around and looked at the blood on the grass, “Holy fuck.”

When I turned around to look at what he saw, I felt a shiver run up my spine. The blood next to where we woke up formed the letter ‘D’. I looked all around, searching for more letters, but saw none. “What does this mean?” I asked.

Will was staring back at the markings on the sapling, “Jay. Will. Die.” I heard him whisper. He mumbled something to himself and then looked at me with horror and excitement filling his eyes. “Jay, I figured it out.”

“Figured what out?” I asked.

“Ugh,” Will groaned while grabbing the sides of his head. “How the fuck did I not see that sooner?” he yelled.

“What?” I asked. “Will, what the fuck is it?”

“D,” he said.

“Okay?” I said.

Will looked at me frustrated, “Use your fucking head, Jay.”

“I’m trying here, Will. But I don’t see it.” I said.

“Die,” Will said.

“Fucking hell man, that’s a little harsh don’t you think?” I asked, laughing nervously. I was starting to think Will had finally lost it.

“For the love of–” Will said. “Jay, spell ‘die’.”

“D. I. E.” I said, “I don’t ge–” Then it hit me. “Corporal D. When they said ‘Jay. Will. Die’, they weren’t sending me a threat.”

“Exactly!” Will shouted. “They were saying D is going to die. It wasn’t a message, it was a list.”

“That’s why it’s missing from the tree.” I said. “You and me are still here. That means–” I said.

Will and I both hung our heads. Will knelt down and picked something off of the ground. “They lead us here.” He said before handing me a piece of metal.

It was a fence pole cap with a strip of reflective tape on the top of it, “This must be the glint I saw last night.”

“I’m sorry, D.” Will said while staring at the sky. “I hope it was painless.”

I thought back to last night, right before everything went black. I felt the back and sides of my head, “That’s strange.” I said. “Will, check your head.”

Will felt his head, “Huh.”

“For something, or someone, to have knocked us out, wouldn’t there be a lump or at least a painful spot?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Will said. “I feel nothing.”

“Me either,” I said. “Looking back,...

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