The knight was just standing there, crouched, hands halfway to covering their ears, only on hearing the priest's response did they corrected themselves, standing back up.
"For what reason is a guard of the Antra village here in our village?"
A kind smile was plastered on his face, contrasted against the people who watched them as they disseminated, frowns particularly as they saw the knight.
Looking left to right, seemingly not knowing what to say, awkwardly, they ended up just shrugging.
"Are you just sightseeing, perhaps?"
Their head immediately began shaking up and down rapidly.
The kids staring from behind the man only grew more suspicious the weirder the knight acted.
"Sounds nice, although I don't think we have anything good to show you...as you can plainly see."
He gestured to the surroundings, now filled with people, most were filtering back inside, others helping with the few crops, fewer even going out the town?
"Them?", noticing the knight's stare, he could only ask and receive a nod.
"We don't have a guaranteed income of food, the other towns do with regular, dedicated trade channels & hunting, not to mention smooth roads lead here, no good merchant, if any left, sees profit in a broken town like ours.
Our folk solely hunt and bring back animals, it's how we've been surviving, although the trek from here to the forest southwest of here is far enough that a trip back and forth is nearly a whole day, compared to the rest of the villages who are closer, and we don't have access to many goods to make the food last..."
He continued staring from where they left with the knight.
"Going around the forest makes it a big hassle, but traversing through it tends to get many people lost, few even lost their lives to it in the olden days, although their skeletons are far gone now, and the other villages don't really give a helping hand...despite our shared history."
His previous smile gone, a frown only grew to replace it with that.
Ixa was perceptive enough to catch a few bitter frowns on those listening in, even more so in the kids who lingered behind the man.
He gestured with his head, questioning that last bit.
"To put bluntly, a monster wave came crashing, was going to drown each town in blood and corpses if it weren't for each town's mercenaries, guards, and adventurers uniting; we made our stand here, but the damage was immense and wasn't able to be kept outside as they had monsters of size and capacity."
The man raised his right arm, and faintly, a slit appeared near the center of his palm, out came his blood, controlled, pooling before beginning to float for a brief moment, trying to form into an orb before falling weakly, being absorbed back into it before closing.
Staring in amazement, the knight could only look at the palm that was now shaking.
"Blooderence, its official name; followers of my belief held the idea that with blood, carried the memories of those before us, and in its continuance, allowed those further along to be better off than those before, that we are never left alone of those we miss who share their blood, from the ones gone to those still here.
"Most if not all believers and practioners perished in the attack; others moved on and joined the other villages. Don't have enough in me to protect this place like I used to, but enough to call myself the head priest of this church and maintain its holiness."
"Holy he says..."
"Dark magic isn't our salvation."
Small whispers occurred around them.
Glancing around, Ixa couldn't see who blatantly whispered those things, but the priest interrupted him.
"Don't bother, kind one, there are those here who never quite believed in her teachings, even before we deteriorated to this state; the teachings of Meruerora weren't enforced then, they won't be now, even if it now sustains them to this day."
With that last part, the last ones listening in finally went about their day, grunting in frustration.
Gesturing again, the man didn't seem tired of answering quite yet.
"Inside, like all places that demarks & reveres the gods in our world, lies a statue of her, and within, lies a blessing, an enchant that will keep pouring enriching blood; of course, it's actually water, however, it carries the red tint and unmistakable smell of iron, of blood; it serves a strong reminder: that in the water we need to live, it prorogates, sustains our blood, our lineage, and our continued existence, in creating further memories.
In spite of the lesser population following her here, lessened even greater after the tragedy to the extent of only me being left, the statue being in disrepair, it remains blessed, kissed, by her touch; she hasn't left this place yet, and as long as she doesn't, I won't abandon it either."
The knight remained still, unable or simply not responding.
The old man seemed to know exactly what is going through his head.
"It's awfully refreshing to meet truly kind fellows like yourself compared to this unthankful lot."
Ixa didn't know what to think with all this together.
'Maybe I can do something, just help them out a tad.'
Pointing out towards the gate, towards the people who left, he could only try to speak, only for it to fail.
"You want to...help?"
Ixa could only ignore his confusion, shaking his head more calmly than before(although still pretty exaggerated).
"And how would you- ~ouphf~"
Grabbed by the hand, Ixa pulled, others began to stare before the man signaled with his hand he was fine, before allowing himself to be dragged along, only after saying for the crazy knight to slow down.
The kids following in pursuit.
"Please make it quick, I still have to maintain the enchant, so I can only be gone for a little bit, okay?"
• • • • •
Standing in front of the decomposing forest, the old priest refused to go any further, however, he did manage to catch the people who were supposed to leave before, as they didn't manage to get far...strangely.
"Elder, what are you doing here?"
A disheveled yet vibrant man stood, hunting gear peeking out of his backpack and on his person, matching the near dozen others standing around.
"This man seems to want to help.", the old man could only point as his other hand supported his back, pushed from the pulling before.
"With the hunting?"
"I can only assu- hey!"
The knight was walking into the forest, the others watching with odd stares.
Only stopping at being yelled at, he gestured at himself then pointed forward.
"Are you saying you know the way through?"
The knight nodded.
Stepping a bit closer, the huntsman whispered, "Respectfully Elder, why is the Antra village only helping now, I don't think we should trust this kn-"
The elder stepped even closer in response, a dark & shrewd expression on his face, surprising the man.
"I have reason to believe this knight speaks the truth, if you can't trust him, trust me."
Stepping back, the innocent old man yelled, "I'm trusting you, kind fellow, with them!"
The huntsman could only follow the elder's guidance, subduing his group's unrest at the idea of going through the forest.
As the group joined the knight inside, he began to lead them further in.
The elder stepped back, ready to return, before seeing the group of kids from before, following him.
"I know your curiosity as children, especially due to your part in this, but keep away from them, this matter is important to helping this village once again prosper!"
Not allowing them a conversation, the man started walking back, past them.
After only a minute or two, did he notice no footsteps came behind him.
"Don't tell me...!"
Turning around, no one was there.
• • • • •
The forest during the day, without many clouds, felt odd and perturbing, especially in the midday, thanks to the thicket of interwoven dead branches and the light breaching it, an odd atmosphere of light and darkness enveloped the forest; shadows and light moved constantly here, even when they were not.
As they went through twist and turn, walking through, they could only follow the knight silently... for a second.
"Sebastian, are we really doing this?"
The huntsman from before could only look back at his friend and nod, despite his own doubts.
"The elder says to trust him."
"Can we though?"
A huntswoman from the side intruded into the conversation, staring daggers into the knight's back.
"He pushed on this, saying to 'trust him' if we can't trust the knight."
Suddenly, the knight paused, looking back, the group and these three particularly froze.
"Everything alright?", Sebastian awkwardly asked, hand reaching for his back, afraid the knight heard.
The knight did the slowest response of a nod possible, before carrying that tempo in turning back around and then continuing to walk.
'There are people following.'
Ixa noticed 4 presences following, from what he can tell, they were humans, weak...
He couldn't quite tell why they were weak, that feeling of their life fleeting, withering within their bodies, yet recovering, that maintenance, balance... the scaleof it was small...much smaller compared to something, like say the guards Dua killed, much smaller.
'This vision... need a name for it too...'
In Ixa's eyes, every existence was akin to flames, liquid, living...dying, flames.
The trees embers as they were husks of their former selves, in the faint shape of their physical vessel, the dirt, mere spots of white and blacks that shifted and writhed.
Those able to be scrutinized varied, blazing with white fire, a core of indefinite black at its center.
From dim and small, to large and burning brightly, so far, they all seem rather uniform in those few traits and looks, albeit with small differences from smaller orbs to larger flames, alternating from apparent factors like age, size, among others with the life he's so far witnessed, from nature to humans.
They spanned across his indefinite void of vision, figures, shadows, filled with the output of these fires, only reason he could judge distance was where he was in relation to each one, amidst his puppets and himself, a perceptible shadow without a flame but a core.
The Rabit however was a core with a black flame, it's fire was constant, never changing, almost static, in a way...
'Mortality's Sight...good name.'
[ Nice name.]
'Don't ruin this moment.'
[ ): ]
• • • • •
"Are you sure this is a good idea?"
A lanky kid with clothing too small for him spoke, his eyes languid yet darting left to right in nervousness.
"I agree with Trevor; we can easily get lost, and we don't even know where they are."
Spikey hair and sharp eyes, frail body, this boy had his hand on his friends back, comforting him.
"Stop being a wuss, weren't you curious before about him? Didn't want to stop then."
Short and younger than the rest, a curious-eyed girl with amber eyes kept her gaze forward, watching the footprints left in the ground through the short black hair partially covering her face.
"Calm down Trevor, as long as we follow their trail, we're fine, and Annie, don't be rude, he's right to be anxious in a place like this where even the adults avoid."
A tad taller than the rest, loose buttoned clothes, messy red hair, her brown eyes scanned around her friends to the restless surroundings of moving shadows and lights.
"Annabell?"
"Claton?"
Seeing him pointing, Annabell looked forward only to see the trail ending.
• • • • •
'They stopped.'
Ixa could only wonder as they got further and further away.
'Should still check.'
His bunny, which was guarding the entrance of his enclosure, finally got to moving.
As they walked one direction, the people chatting amongst themselves to ease the tension of the forest placed upon them, the rabbit was dashing the other.
It wasn't long before it was upon them.
'Children? What are they doing here?'
He briefly remembered them behind the old man from before.
'I should-
• • • • •
"What do you mean the path is gone?! How is it gone?!"
Trevor was panicking, gripping his already tight shirt while Claton could only reaffirm they were safe, Annie was messing with the ground, the path both forward and back were now gone, without a trace or cause of its disappearance...
The surroundings only made it all the more unsettling in their predicament.
Annabell, who was just starring off as she thought of what to do, caught something in her sight.
Two white dots of light were stationary, compared to the rest of the moving shadows and lights.
As her vision focused, her surroundings fading in the background with her friend's panicking, she noticed a rapid flicker of black lights intermixing with the white, it was also...weirdly moving, more than the surroundings?
An alarm went through her head.
"GUYS!"
Turning their heads toward her, they were about to yell before noticing seeing what she was staring at.
The eyes began to move, slowly circling them, from one side to the other, it's figure roughly discernable, it was twitching rapidly.
Their eyes remained trained on it, the surge of panic now shared amidst the group.
• • • • •
For Ixa, he was experiencing something new.
His vision swam with dots, flickers of white and black swarming his vision.
From Ixa's main body, to the knight, to the rabbit, they all shared this feeling...
Pulsing, odious, noxious, demanding attention.
The knight fell to the ground, shaking.
The rabbit continued to stare and move, bearing its part of the burden in silence.
Ixa's consciousness began to retreat from the puppets, back into his main body.
Shrinking fragments were left, guiding the bodies forward.
Unknowing to Ixa, they now performed without his direct manipulation, as he shuddered and writhed in his darkness, in his phase of nausea, with System silenced.
The rabbit maintained its duty, watching the children, partly keeping them where they were as it patrolled.
• • • • •
"Hey, you good?"
Sebastian's hand was on the knight's back, their shaking was easily seen.
As it turned its head back, it nodded, before slowly getting up, although still shaking.
It continued to walk, leading them.
"What was that?", one of huntsmen following asked.
"Don't know.", Sebastian could only respond with a frown.
If something were to happen to the knight as it was guiding them, they'd become lost, easily.
This forest's tendency to take you in all directions with its shadows, its small and wide enclosures of trees, makes it so you can never leave easily, with paths going which way and that; one walking mindlessly in can wander endlessly with no out, if they don't put their brain to work on getting out, and paying attention to where they're going.
Sebastian and by extension, the group, inched closer to the knight, this jostled their sense of safety easily, the fact of losing their guide.
After some time, more turns left and right, forward, the knight suddenly froze, the shaking with it.
"Sir knight?"
It turned its head, nodded.
"Why'd we stop?"
It turned its head to the side, confused, before abruptly turned back forward and continued, no longer shaking.
'Is he feeling better?'
• • • • •
'When will the unexpected events end?'
Ixa was back, feeling better, only to find that his corpses have moved without his knowledge.
He was getting tired of these sudden unexplained events, from having absolutely nothing to do, to everything happening at once.
'I swear next time I'll-'
[ Hello Ixa. ]
"System, what's going on NOW?"
Jumping straight into conversation, with his rabbit now still, staring at the kids who are just terrifyingly staring back, and the knight still guiding the people.
[ No answer, I was also put on hold when all that was happening: whatever 'it' was struck your being to such a degree that I was affected as well, losing my ability to actively communicate and oversee.
However, I'll get straight on studying why it happened, for now, it seems your bodies acted on their own to continue the intent you were following before all of 'that' put you out of commission. ]
Ixa could only internally nod in agreement, still simmering slightly, but moving on from it, this may be a secondary effect from [Fragmented Consciousness].
'I can 'localize' any mind disorientation to a part of my mind and stay operational, but I'll still suffer through it personally, and the puppet's will not be in my direct control; things will continue to happen without my knowledge...
This is a double-edged ability, I must use it carefully...wait, do I even get a choice? If I am to be hit again with whatever happened, I may not be able to prevent this from happening again.'
Ixa had no memory of what his bodies were doing while he was out.
'Something to think about later, for now-'
Looking at the current scene, the children looking like their ready to bolt at the slightest warning.
"Better get them out of here."
As he moved to put his plan into action, the knight and party had finally reached the other end of the forest.
With the sun reaching the middle of the sky.