The Secret of the Ritual

I looked around the village for a few minutes, thinking about how we should start our investigation regarding the death of all those people. Since they don't know they are dead, just talk with anyone on the street was a waste of time... I should, instead, investigate something that's probably related to the incident first, like... Like the disappearance of Air even though she's still there.

But to who to ask, it was still a problem, though not for long. If there's something wrong in the village, the matters are usually taken to the leader of the village, right? So he should most likely know everything that happens around here, he was the one we should be questioning right now.

"Umm, excuse me, sir", I said to a man that walked near me right after I have thought that. "Does this village has, like, a chief or leader? I would like to speak with him".

"The chief...?", he said, sounding a bit confused. Actually, he sounded exhausted... So much that he seemed tired from even thinking. The sweat over his body only proved this further. "Oh, that would be... Yeah, that would be the man who lives in the biggest house, of course. If you still find some difficulty to find it, you notice it by the huge double wooden front doors it has unlike the other houses", he said, smiling a little even though he was tired... And apparently, he was also wounded on the leg.

"Thank you... May I help you with something in return? Ah, I know, how about this", I got a part of one of the three loaves of bread I had and gave it to him. He shook his head, however.

"Uh... I don't really want that..."

"Ah, sorry... I should have explained. There's a health potion on the bread, I am sure it will do good for your leg", I told him, and tilting his head a little, he accepted.

"Well... In that case, thank you...", he said and ate it... Could he actually eat something from the living world when he's in the ghost world? I could only wonder... Until I saw the effects of the potion on his leg. Amazed he looked at me and I just smiled at him while walking away with Jeffrey and Beech.

"You seriously just gave an already dead soul a part of our healing loaves of bread? Did he even eat it? 'Cause there's a piece of bread in the floor..."

"Well... He did eat it and his leg is healed... And either way, it was for a good cause, now follow me, I have a hunch of who to ask questions", I said and walked through the village, searching for the biggest house the man spoke of.

There was only one building that was bigger than the others in the village... But this was the only thing that it seemed to have of special, the architecture and the appearance of the building overall was rather simple. But I guess just the extra space is already enough to make it very comfortable.

Jeffrey and the fox just passed through the closed door of the building, but I could only guess that the door was broken or open in the real world. I, on the other hand, couldn't get in the house like that, it's would be very disrespectful, so I just knocked on the door.

"Wait a minute", someone said. After a moment, the door opened, revealing a man who seemed to be a bit bothered.

"Yes, how may I help you?", he asked. I didn't know if this was a servant of the chief or the chief itself.

"Umm... I am a traveler... Dagger Everblade". Just as the words left my mouth, I realized my mistake by saying that... I said my name, he could try to arrest me or something. Unless... Unless the incident happened before I was declared a criminal. And it seemed like so, he only smiled a little after hearing my name.

"Ah, I see. Welcome to our village, Dagger. You seem pretty strong... Did the kingdoms outside finally learned their lesson that both men and women can fight?", he said and laughed a little. "Of course not. Are you perhaps a warrior of one of the four elements?"

"No, no... I am from Coventry, actually"

"Coventry? I am glad to see that the world outside is finally listening to their superiors. Humans never seemed to hear our gods about men and women being alike in rights... I wish I had heard about that sooner but we don't see travelers in decades..."

"Uh, well... I am just here investigating a little. I heard that your goddess left you here alone, right?"

"Ah, yes... It's sad, but at least she left us with her blessing. Do you have news from her? Oh, she is now living in the Coventry Kingdom, right? That's why they changed for the better and-"

"Sorry, no... She... Just really disappeared, so I thought about discovering what happened..."

"Really? Well... I can only think about the possibility of something having happened up here while we were doing the ritual or we did something wrong that possibly made her disappear..."

"Uh... Why don't you talk a little bit more about this ritual? I think it might help me"

"You think so? Well, come in then, I will tell you more about it", he said while moving aside to let me in and I did as much, entering the house at the same time I examined it. This place was very luxurious inside, with lots of details and apparently expensive ornaments and other arts.

"Well, have a seat", he offered me and I took a seat near the table he was close by. He then looked to the side and shouted. "Emma? Can you bring some tea? We have a visitor", he said, and almost immediately after, a woman came carrying tea and serving us with it.

"Well, getting back to the subject... The ritual, right? It used to be held every two months, blessing the mountain with conditions that allow us to live up here... Usually, it starts to get cold again by the end of the two months, when the ritual effect starts to wear off. The ritual itself is simple, we go down to the base of the mountain and walk around it about seven times, once per day.

"So, during a whole week?", I asked while taking a sip of the tea.

"Yes, that's right. And we don't return to the top until this week has passed, so we stay in an encampment. We did just that on the day she disappeared, nothing unusual..."

"But you don't do the ritual anymore, right? You said you 'used to'..."

"Yes, it's very strange... But since that day when Air disappeared, the blessing never ended anymore. It was the gift of her for us, I am sure of that"

"Umm... May I know how that might occur in normal circumstances, in case if it wasn't the goddess who did that...", I asked and he tilted his head in confusion

"Of course... Well, humans can make this blessing last forever if they make a sacrifice of a human or entity of higher standing during the seventh time you go around the mountain, but Air forbade us from doing any kind of sacrifice like that... Wait... You don't think... That Air was sacrificed, do you?"

"It's possible", but actually, it is the opposite. Thousands of humans were sacrificed, not the goddess... But how? "So we know that she probably died on the last day before you returned to the top. But that doesn't clarify how... Can you give me details of what happened when you were returning to the top the day she disappeared?"

"Well... It's funny... We walked around for the seventh time around the mountain and then we had our last meal before returning to the top... And after that, we all slept. I think somehow that last time doing the ritual was more exhausting that we just couldn't stay up after our meal, hehe...", he said, chuckling a little. It's hard to believe they all would simply sleep at such a time before going back to the top, mainly when it's not a habit... That was probably when they died, then.

"Huh, I guess it happens sometimes... But before you slept, did anything else happened?", I asked. Something must have happened before for them all to die like that.

"No... Nothing unusual, at least not that I remember", he answered me and my mind went blank with that answer. If nothing unusual happened, what possibly killed them? It seems like more pieces of this big puzzle are still missing...