Azalea Village

The gloomy atmosphere around the village was palpable, as if a heavy cloud of despair hung over the residents. The air was cold, and the residents of the village were very skinny, their frail bodies serving as a haunting reflection of the nightmare phenomenon they were experiencing.

Despite their physical appearance and the thick eye bags underneath their tired eyes, the villagers displayed resilience.

"The report mentioned that only a few weak residents of the village are experiencing the nightmares, but why does it look like everyone has it too?" Nash voiced his concerns, seeing the pitiful state of the residents of Azalea village.

Thick, dark eye bags, skinny frames, and a haunted look in their eyes were evident on every villager's face. The nightmares had taken a toll on their physical and mental well-being, leaving them drained and desperate for a solution.

'They look like walking corpses.'

'Aspro, have you noticed anything strange?' I asked, muttering under my breath.

'Yes, master. It seems like the energy of the residents of the village is being sucked away.'

'But by what or whom?' I pondered, my mind racing to find an explanation for the villagers deteriorating state and the nightmares plaguing them. 'This is not the work of a dream demon...'

As we entered the village, the atmosphere grew heavier. The streets were filled with a sense of despair and hopelessness. The villagers moved sluggishly, their eyes were hollow and lifeless.

It was as if a dark cloud had settled over the entire village, casting a shadow on their souls. Something sinister was at play here; I felt something ominous lurking beneath the surface.

"Greetings, travelers." a frail voice called out from a nearby porch. We turned to see an elderly woman, her face etched with deep lines of worry. "You've arrived at a time of great despair. Our once-thriving village has fallen victim to a curse, and the nightmares that haunt us are beyond anything we've ever experienced before."

"Hello, madam." I nodded at the elderly woman. "We're sorry to hear about the troubles your village is facing. We're from the adventurers association."

Nash took out his identification card and showed it to her. "We're here to investigate the curse and find a way to lift it. Can you tell us more about these nightmares? Any information could be helpful.

The elderly woman's eyes lit up with a glimmer of hope as she clasped her hands together. "Oh, thank goodness you're here!"

"The nightmares... they're relentless." The elderly woman paused, her voice trembling with fear. "People in our village have been experiencing them for weeks now.

"People wake up screaming, drenched in sweat. unable to shake off the horrors they've witnessed. Some say they see shadowy figures lurking in the corners of their rooms, while others are plagued by vivid visions of their worst fears coming to life."

"The nightmares have taken a toll on our community, leaving us sleep-deprived and on edge. We've tried everything to make them stop, but nothing seems to work. We fear that if this continues, it will drive us to the brink of madness." One of the villagers chimed in.

"I'm Micahel, the blacksmith of the village."

"The reports at the association stated that only the children and the elderly are the ones that are most vulnerable to the nightmares. But why is everyone else affected as well?" Nash asked.

"It's a CURSE from the Gods!!... I'm telling you all, no one listens to me!" A crazed voice shouted from behind. We turned to see an old man.

"Poor him... He's one of the earliest victims of the nightmares." Micahel explained sympathetically.

"He's been plagued by the nightmares for weeks now. It has taken a toll on his sanity."

"And her daughter and grandchild succumbed to the curse a few days ago."

"After that, he started spreading his belief that the nightmares are a punishment from the gods. He believes that no one is safe and that we are all doomed."

'Curse from the gods. Interesting...' Adrian thought to himself. He wondered if there was any truth to the old man's beliefs or if it was simply a desperate attempt to make sense of the unexplainable.

"You mentioned that his daughter and grandchild succumbed to the curse," Adrian said. "Are there others who died as well?"

The old man nodded solemnly. "Yes, many others have fallen victim to the nightmares. Some were driven to madness and took their own lives, while others simply died from the nightmares."

"The ones that died from the nightmare... are their corpses normal?"

Micahel's eyes widened. "How did you know?"

"Are the corpses dried up? Have they seemingly lost all their vitality?" I asked as two conjectures were forming in my mind.

"They appear as if they were drained of life, with a haunting emptiness in their eyes?" I added, trying to gather as much information as possible about the mysterious curse.

Micahel sighed heavily. "Yes, you are correct. The bodies of those who died from the nightmares appeared drained and lifeless as if all their energy had been sucked away."

"Can you bring us to the corpses?"

I asked, hoping to examine the bodies firsthand and potentially uncover more clues about the curse. Micahel hesitated for a moment before reluctantly nodding. "Follow me." he said, leading us towards a dark and eerie room where rows the lifeless bodies lay.

As we entered the room, the stench of decay filled our nostrils, and the sight of many dried corpses lay before us.

Their skin was shriveled and their eyes sunken, a haunting testament to the horrors they had endured. Each body seemed to have been drained of its vitality, leaving behind mere shells of what once was. Silently, I began to examine the corpses.

'No vampire bite marks.'

'Shriveled pale skins clung tightly to their bones.'

'Hollow eye sockets staring back at me.'

"Nash, can you turn around this corpse so I can check its back." I asked, my voice barely a whisper. Nash nodded and slowly turned the body over.

I immediately noticed a black mark engraved on the back of the corpse, contrasting starkly against its pale skin. It resembled a symbol I had seen before but couldn't quite place where.

"Micahel, does every corpse here have a symbol like this?"

"No... this is just the fourth time I've seen this symbol on a corpse. Not every corpse has a symbol like that."

Micahel examined the face of the corpse. "That is old James; I remember him as one of the earliest victims."

"Come to think of it, I've seen a symbol like that on the corpses of the residents who had the nightmares earlier. They all seem to be connected somehow, but I can't quite figure out the significance of the symbol yet. So I didn't delve into it further."