Ch.21

Remnants of an abandoned town half buried under snow came into view, stone walls long eroded formed a semi circle perimeter around the ruins, their crumbled state left many holes one could use to enter the lifeless place.

Stalactite ran down building roof's edges, a church tower still stood tall its other half buried deep, only the tallest structures were unearthed.

Taverns, habitations, stores, all buried.

Erik stood at the main gate—what was left of it—because if he had to make his entrance, might as well do it properly.

The place gave him chills.

Legends has that this town used to brim with life many years ago, no records described its fall, not that Erik knew of, his best guess was war destroyed it. If a human settlement disappeared from the map, the cause was almost always war.

According to Sieg, treasure hunters sometimes came by seeking hidden wealths, though few exited the ruins.

Erik had wondered why no one claimed ownership of the town, after all, that place itself was the a prized possession.

He's heard rumors in the past, some said bandits already owned the place, or the Basara clan forbade anyone from claiming ownership, the most famous one claimed this place was haunted.

The latter he trusted more and more.

"Wildfather…, just what is this place?" Erik could hardly make sense of what he saw using [Shaman Senses].

Blurry white human figures populated the streets in the spiritual world, hundreds, perhaps thousands of lost souls erred, aimlessly walking around, awaiting salvation.

'Can so many ghosts be stuck in one place?' He thought, shivers unrelated to the cold ran down his spine. 'What happened here that thousands are stuck in the spiritual realm?'

Erik had heard a few haunted places like this one existed on Nurmen, but never thought he'd actually see such grim spectacle.

"You want us to step in there?" He asked White standing by his side, it nodded in approval.

"What did the ghost say?" Rex said, no longer shivering from fear at the mention of it, he had gotten used to the idea that an invisible entity followed them.

"It seems it is its will I enter the ruins." Erik nervously swallowed his saliva. Beasts he could deal with, anything partaking to the spiritual realm was another matter.

He was a total noob at that but had a bit of knowledge on the subject.

The concentration of lost souls in these ruins was so abnormal even non-shamans could slightly feel their presence, such density could temporarily open invisible rifts between both plains, allowing ghosts to have short interactions with physical objects or people; the worst things is, they remained intangible to normal people.

This phenomenon was known amongst shamans as a "convergence," normal folks called it "paranormal activity" or something else depending on the culture.

"I don't like this place," Rex said.

The raven landed on Erik's shoulder, she cawed, her voice was like a whisper.

"Old Bone says this place looks familiar," the dog translated.

"According to Sieg's map, it's called ruins," Erik ignored the red cross signaling no trespassing. "Does it ring a bell?"

Caw.

"She says your joke was not funny," Rex translated. "What was the joke?"

Erik chuckled, Wildfather, he wished this dog's candidness would never go away. Thanks to it, he relaxed a bit.

"Nothing worth remembering," he patted Rex's soft fur and turned serious. "Look, this place houses many lost souls. They might harm you guys or not, I have no way to tell for sure."

Rex's face grew fearful. "L, l, less friendly ghosts?"

"Perhaps. Just in case, I want you two to stay outside the ruins' boundary while I search what our ghost friend is looking for in here."

The dog looked at the ghost town then back at his contractor, "I'm coming with you."

"Absolutely not," Erik's gazed turned strict, "I can see them and more or less predict their behaviors. You can't. And the more living beings enter this place, the more dangerous it'll become. They can sense life, it'll stimulate them, push them to act. Normally they can't touch us, but the concentration of spirits in this place is so dense it can become dangerous."

"But what about you, friend?"

"I am a pugilist and a shaman, remember? Dealing with lost souls is my specialty, no harm will come to me," Erik lied through his teeth.

"Alright, if you say so, I'll trust you and wait here."

'Damnation, my guilt…, I feel bad for lying but I have better chances alone. It's for their own good,' he thought.

The cunning raven on his shoulder eyed him knowingly, he could practically feel her gaze penetrating his guilt. She jumped on Rex's back and held his gaze as if saying "liar."

"I'll be back in an hour. Savage beasts shouldn't approach this place so you're safe here." The spiritual presence from this place deterred most beasts, unless desperate for something, they wouldn't come near this place.

Caw.

"Don't get too cocky, kid," Rex translated. "Be careful, friend. If you are not back in an hour, we'll come looking for you."

Erik nodded and followed White into the unknown.

Clouds covered the sun as he took his first steps, the ground seemingly colder under his bare feet. Sudden gusts brought snow to his face.

He sheltered his eyes, blinking once to clean his vision. In that moment, ghosts teetering in random directions vanished, reappearing meters away.

White glowed brighter than the others becoming a beckon in the grey world he could follow.

A square, or at least what looked like one judging by the position of buildings, soon came into view. At the center of it, Erik saw what he assumed was a bald head, perhaps the features were long lost to frost and time. Buried under meters of snow was the rest of its body.

White stopped next to it.

"Is this what you wanted to show me?"

No response, it just turned towards him. Whispers bounced on old stone buildings' walls, losing themselves in the wind's howl they became inaudible.

Alerted, Erik gazes at the windows, where used to be rooms were destroyed structures, amidst those ghosts who noticed the trespasser seemed to stare intently at him.

'I better keep quiet while using [Shaman Senses] or I'll attract too much attention,' he thought, 'If I already didn't, that is.' He had gotten too accustomed to talk to White freely when staring into the spirit world.

Seeking answers, Erik dug near the stone head, trying to unearth part of it. The shape became clearer the deeper he went, so did the many whispers.

"Leave…"

"Forgive…"

"Please…"

"Kill…"

Amongst those, one seemed closer. "… father."

Erik's eyes rapidly traveled up, White was still there. 'It was you, wasn't it?' He thought. 'It is probably using the convergence to give me hints. Is this statue depicting its father?'

The head was completely unearthed, it looked both beast and human, a raven's head formed the external layer like a helmet, inside its opened beak was… nothing.

'I don't know who that was but they should be a famous figure,' Erik saved the image of the head in a drawer of his memory, red tapping it as "research" before digging further.

One meter deeper, he reached the statue's torso, what caught his attention wasn't the perfectly chiseled bare chest but the bird perched on its left shoulder.

'Is that a raven?' He tried recalling famous people accompanied by a raven, none came to mind. 'Gotta unearth the whole statue to get more clues I suppose.'

Erik channeled [Enhanced Speed] hastening his progress. When he saw the waist, ghost voices grew louder.

"Leave this…"

"Forgive us…"

"Please, my lord…"

"Kill them…"

Heart pounding, feeling more lost souls gathering around him, Erik grabbed the statue's head and pulled in his hurry to unearth it, increasing his strength with his martial art.

"… Wildfather…" White said.

'What did it say?' He wondered, thinking it couldn't be talking about the statue. The Beast God has always been depicted with a tiger's head.

Crack!

'Huh?' Whispers turned silent as Erik's gaze shifted from the stone head in his hand to the neck, 'Guess the structure was more fragile than I thought. Wait, what's that?'

The statue was shallow, through the neck's opening, he could see gold pieces, rubies, diamonds, all kinds of treasure.

Greed pulled at his heartstring, however, two facts put his rational mind back in control.

First, before the Divine Fall, followers filled the gods' statues with treasure to honor them, which meant this town must date back to at least a thousand years ago. No matter how hard he tried, Erik couldn't recall a raven faced god, White had whispered something about the statue being the Wildfater—maybe—but that was impossible, it went against everything he knew and believed in. The raven was considered a cunning bird and the companion of the Trickster, the God of Mischief, that one had a fox's head though.

Second, it was eery silent.

Erik slowly put down the stone head, examining his surroundings he saw cracks, openings between the physical and spiritual world growing wider, more numerous.

"Flee to the church!" White urged from behind a crack.