Chapter 25

As soon as the duo step off the boat and onto the pier a chilling wave of air rushes over them, the cold air biting and making their breath visible.

It struck Ryder as strange, how had the temperature dropped so drastically just by taking a few small steps.

Had they crossed a threshold of some kind? Like back in the tomb?

Wanting to confirm his suspicions he turned to head back onto the ship, now horrified to see it had vanished into thin air.

Where once there had been a ship, now there were naught but waves rocking up against the pier.

Ryder quickly took in a breath of the biting cold air, attempting to calm himself and rationalize what just happened.

Perhaps this was truly the work of another threshold of some kind, and that's why everyone else went missing… though that doesn't explain why everyone did.

Surely some would've stayed behind, waited for a signal or something.

There had to be something more going on here, especially with the eerie serene calmness of this place.

Not even the darkness was reacting to it, in fact it was silent.

"Ryder, what do we do?" Melia asked, her voice shaking a bit as she was now clearly out of her depth.

Truth be told they both were.

"Well we move forward for now, it's all we can do after all." he replies, trying to keep a brave facade as he draws his sword. "Just be ready for anything, we don't know what's waiting for us."

With a nod Melia prepares her sword as well, the two beginning their rescue mission.

Upon making it to the end of the port the first sight they're greeted with is a snow covered port town, covered in a dense fog making it nigh impossible to see beyond one to two buildings ahead.

Each building looked abandoned, falling apart, as if this place had been forgotten for decades.

The only sounds that could be heard as they walked into the central plaza were simply their own footfalls.

There was one strange structure in the plaza though, in what looked like a dried out fountain.

It was… a tree? No, perhaps it was better to say a strange stretched out corpse.

Its skin was a sickly greenish brown, the arms reaching far higher than any humanoid should be able to, its fingers sticking out like twisted and broken tree branches… and then the eyes…

The eyes were two soulless husks, the sclera being pitch black and iris being bright red.

Whatever this thing was it wasn't alive anymore, clearly frozen stiff and gazing up to whatever might've been in the sky at the time.

After finally being able to break his gaze from the horrid thing Ryder looks back at Melia, finding her now standing there and shaking profusely.

Was it from the cold, or the nightmarish display before them? Either way he couldn't blame her, he'd been feeling sicker and sicker the longer he gazed upon its visage.

"Come on, let's get inside before we freeze." he says, gently taking her by the hand and guiding her away from the plaza.

She was brave, that much was for certain, after all not many would willingly be the first to head to the mainland.

This though, this was different from the island, it was bound to hit everyone harder… especially those who weren't ready for this kind of atmosphere.

A few minutes pass as they walk through the town, seeing more and more of those twisted visages as they go, until finally they spot a building that looked to be in decent enough condition to take shelter in.

It looks like a small home, a single bedroom at most, but there is a chimney and the roof seems to be holding up still.

Cautiously Ryder opens up the door, surprised but relieved to see it abandoned, no sign of enemies but also no sign of their friends either.

With a sigh of relief he walks into the living area, letting Melia follow him in as he makes his way to the fireplace in the corner.

It's a humble abode, but it'd work well enough for now, it'd provide warmth and shelter until they could think of another plan to act on.

After getting the fire going the two sit in front of it, a deafening silence growing between them for a moment, unsure of what to say to the other.

The crackling fire being the only sound making it to their ears as not even the winds dare howl.

There they sat, both trying to message those who went missing with no response, not even a single message blip.

"Hey… do you think the others are alright?" Melia's quiet voice finally breaks the silence, clearly laced with fear and worry as she just gazes into the flame. "I mean, I don't want to assume the worst, but…" she trails off, her gaze slowly drifting to the window.

"I- I honestly don't know." Ryder admits, his own worries now rising to the surface. "I hope they're alright, but I can't say for certain…" he looks down at his own hand, a tiny black ember forming in it.

With a sigh he closes his eyes and snuffs the ember out. "We can only keep searching for them, hopefully we find them soon enough."

All Melia does is nod as she returns her gaze to the fireplace, a sorrow being clear in her eyes as the fire is reflected in them.

"Well we should probably think of a plan of some kind… maybe we could try to alert the others to where we are?" Ryder muses as he looks through his inventory for a moment.

"And how would we do that?" Melia questions, a bit of pessimism now clear. "Plus what if it just lures enemies to us?"

"That is a possibility, but would you rather trek aimlessly through the cold and get ambushed that way, or send out a signal and observe." he replies while pulling out a flare stone and some scraps of his old cape. "So, what do you say?"

Hesitance is clear on Melia's face as she thinks for a good long while before sighing. "Go for it, hopefully someone sees it."

With a nod Ryder walks out the front door with his items, walking a good ways away from the house before tying the flare stone with the cloth.

Using his sword he strikes it, causing it to activate, instantly lighting up the area.

Not wanting to waste the duration of it he spins the strip of cloth, letting it gain momentum before hurling as high into the air as he could.

Much to his surprise it went higher than anticipated, making almost seem like a real flare… maybe putting points into strength really was helping.

Quickly he ran back to the house, ducking inside and began to wait, surely if there was anyone else around they would've seen that… right?

So they sat and waited, and waited… and waited.

It felt like hours had passed, the sun was beginning to set, when finally a single sound was heard.

In the distance, the sound of someone or something whistling, growing ever closer by the second, closing in on their location.

Yet something struck Ryder as odd once again.

The whistling was clear as day, yet no one could be seen, nor could the sound of walkling.

That's when it started.

Louder and more prevalent than ever.

The Darkness within screaming at him, yelling that his life was in danger.

Then it hit him, the reason the whistle was so crystal clear.

As he looked in the window he saw it in the reflection.

A ghostly figure standing towards the back of the house, clothed in all white, a veil obscuring their face, a frost covered blade resting in their hands.

"MELIA!" Ryder yells as he whips around, sword in one hand and sigil forming on the other.

He's met with Melia, already face down on the ground, her HP bar now being empty, yet no wounds could be seen.

Ryder freezes, his blood running cold as the figure focuses on him.

The whistling growing ever louder.

He couldn't move, no matter how hard he tried it would not budge.

A freezing cold overtaking all his senses as the figure approached, extending a ghostly white hand to him, lightly touching his face, their hand cold as ice.

It felt like death had finally caught him as his body went cold and he collapsed to the ground, his body barely functioning.

His breathing began to slow, then his eyesight began to dim, and just when he thought all was lost… a new sound entered his mind.

The sound of screeching and metal clashing.

How he longed to look, to see what was going on… but he was oh so very tired now.

Then he saw a figure in all black emerge in front of him, rushing over to Melia and looking her over before making her drink something.

Regis? Was it her?

Had she somehow managed to find them thanks to the flarestone?

Hopefully she'd been able to save Melia…

Ryder's mind began to fade as the figure looked at him and rushed over, gently scooping him up and pulling out a second vial.

The curse on Ryder's body had already progressed so far that the bluish white markings were all over his body.

The last thing Ryder heard as his mind faded was a voice he couldn't quite place.

"Damn it Ryder, don't you die on me! Stay with me! Don't leave again-"

Then, there was darkness.