Eerie | Chapter 2

Entering the forest wasn't too different from the mud-ridden outskirts; the path was just as soft and wet. The foliage was odd though. Creaking trees that stretched to the sky, and entangled brambles that swayed on their own. Expectedly the wildlife was quiet except for the occasional chirp or scuttle from the brush.

Strangely though, the border of the village was… empty…

The few spread apart cottages didn't look lived in for years either. Dilapidated thatch roofs, thick damp log pillars, and the cobble walls were fitted with moss and vines.

They stood between two of these structures, pondering the environment. Garrick, who was on Aurin's left, picked between the rocks with the tip of his blade. Then, Elia, she was next to the right building… she just stood there stiffly fiddling with her belt pouch with a metal clinking.

Aurin though; he was just ordered to stand close and stay quiet, but that worked well for him: Keeping silent was a good way to stay out of trouble. He looked around before he spotted a rather damp wood pillar collapsed next to the left building.

'Yes!'

Nearly crumbling to the ground, he dribbled closer to it. Right before he was reach it though, Garrick blocked his path with an outstretched arm, and said, "Where are you going?"

Slowly shifting his gaze to meet Garrick's, the man narrowed his eyes, and his lips grew tense. 

 'Sheesh… does it look like I can go anywhere?'

Aurin pointed a limp arm towards the fallen wood. Then Garrick shook his head abruptly, and said sternly, "No." 

Returning a blank stare, Aurin didn't care much for his demands at that moment. Internally giggling to himself, a stupid grin appeared on his face. Instead, he continued his dreary march to his lavishly dreamed resting place. Though the crooked stones spread across the path had other plans for Aurin. His third step he took was especially sloppy, and uncontrolled, resulting in a rather abrupt trip from one of the rocks.

While he fell toward the muddy ground, he was already imagining having to use Aqavium again. 

Right before he was about to land, he felt a rough grip tensed around his hood planting him in place. Shocked, frozen, he tilted his head backward and met with Garrick's distasteful, and annoyed gaze again.

Deep within his squinted stare, a sliver of worry, his voice sounded deep and relaxed, saying morbidly, "We can't rest yet, I'll carry you if I have to, but we can't stop…" 

Glancing up from messing with her tools, Elia nonchalantly mumbled. "Why not? We can give the kid a break." 

Lifting Aurin up straight, he pointed towards the forest, and responded, "You hear that?"

Then something dawned on Aurin. Instantly he stopped struggling against Garrick's grip, and was instantly met with a straining silence that shifted through the air. The goofy tired charade he was entertaining himself broke. That familiar pit of angst gutted through his stomach as he darted his head from side to side.

He noticed, 'If no one's in the village outskirts… It's quiet...'

Time stood still before it was broken by Garrick who followed up with, "It would be nice to break, but you see… There isn't a trace of smoke or recent camp nearby either, nor any activity. So we hurry on until we reach the village center. Xyph, let's hope this isn't the only destroyed part…"

Moving his scabbard to the waist, it dangled across the ground as he sheathed the blade clicking it in place. Leaning his back to the ground, he waved his hands to Aurin, sighing, "Brat, let's go, I'll carry you if you can't walk."

He hesitantly limped towards his wide back, and fell atop him, followed by Garrick standing up sharply, holding Aurin from under his knees.

'It's a trick isn't it!'

Aurin clasped the back of his hair tightly, struggling not to panic, but he didn't make that obvious.

'Is he going to throw me to the ground for not listening? No, maybe no food?'

Elia looked over. The corners of her mouth broke in a humorous angle, clicking her tongue, she mumbled, "Getting protective with the merchandise are we?"

Pinching the brow of his nose, he said, "Of course, Xyph knows how long until we can reach those damn aristocrats. Quit being a nuisance, let's go…"

'Huh... what?'

'Aristocrats? Merchandise? please... words I know for once...'

Hunched across Garrick's back, the desolate cabins faded behind them into the cloud of trees. The path grew slimmer the farther they went in, and strangely enough, even the trees and brush stood still. Not a single croak from the wavering trees, not a single rustle from the thorns. 

'Why aren't we going back?'

"Go back..." Aurin weakly whispered tugging on his shoulder.

Garrick continued with Elia before grudgingly saying, "Quiet. No, we keep going, it's just because we are getting closer to the village…"

He figured the same, but the eerie silence, along with the black-coated figure he saw earlier, gave him other impressions. Despite him saying that, the attitude of jabbering to each other changed, it was a quiet walk. 

Garrick seemed to always have on the hilt of his sword, and Elia's head was spinning. Twitching to any crack of a twig under their feet, or to any brush of the wind. Despite the tensity, Aurin found himself enjoying his ride, and was quite entertained by them being on edge. He even went as far as to pick twigs in passing to secretly chuck them next to her feet.

A journey that would almost put one to sleep, and it did. Methodically being carried without much worry except for the unusual silence was nice. Too nice…

His eyes became heavy countless times, and almost every time he blinked, he swore they traveled so much farther. After a while of this repetition, his senses grew numb, the sound became dampened, the air felt cool yet warm, and a few moments later, he faded into a mindless pitch-black scape.

No dream, not even a sound to wake him.

This was short-lived, because the storm had arrived.

Thunder rippled through the distant clouds, releasing an ear-piercing screech. Nearly leaping off Garrick's back, he felt like his spine was going to leap out. His chest thumped up and down rapidly as a cold sweat drifted down his neck. 

Though, as he looked around, the two were just as startled. Because while they stood on a steep cliff, ahead of them stretched a giant clearing. The village. It seemed so vast that you could barely even see the edge of it.

'This is considered a small village?'

Squinting to see it at all, some of the buildings were two stories built of solid stone bricks and proper shingled roofs. Others were built just like the pathetic huts we saw before, although, maybe a bit larger. 

Along some of the wider twisting roads, structures next to them were flattened as if an inundated horror tore its way through. Besides all the destruction, there wasn't even a single torch, lantern, or smoke trail among the wreck. Nothing. A ghost of a village.

The place was built with chaotic amounts of buildings, with only the neatly paved brick roads keeping it together. It was like the designers had built the roads so a person viewing from afar could see it in steps. Because they all lead to the center of the village luringly.

'That's… out of place…'

In the massive crooked clearing in the dead middle stood a gigantic cathedral. 

Tall clear glass windows were cracked head to toe, vines crept across the solid decrepit walls, and the reinforced double door crashed inwards. The towers weren't connected to the base anymore, instead, they were lying on the crushed cabins farther out. Like someone ripped them off and tossed them to the side. 

None of them said anything, just the subtle sense of shock, but the drifting storm was indifferent. Past the village was a huge empty grassy field, and the storm was above it. Rows of lightning struck across it every second, it was devastating. They got to see the front of the storm, but that wasn't the sickening part. Since it was blowing south, the wind carried something foul. The smell was of rot and iron.

End of Chapter 2