Chapter 5 Second Quarter

If there were one thing you could call Ashton Venue it would be persistence. In just a couple hours the town had become engulfed in a shower of orange, chatter had overtaken the dead silence of the night.

Lanterns strung down from long gray wood poles dangled above, the chatters of the chains striking one another pierced through the crowd like shackles and stands lined across the road, a traffic junction starting in the center.

A faint song leaked out of the forest, signaling that the Night Festival was approaching an impending event, unfamiliar to no one besides me. The anticipation was killing me.

The heat on the back of my neck continued to fester, like the feeling of being watched but turned to the extreme. If this continued, I feared a fire would start. As we walked through the ambiguous roads, all unfamiliar to one another, I became more conscious of people's gazes.

We entered a familiar plain of land, memories of early this morning flashing past me. In just a few minutes we'd end up at the sight of the wreckage, and I didn't understand why. Didn't Elizabeth already check it out? I mean that's what I thought she went to do, maybe I was wrong. And if that wasn't the case what would be the point of taking me there? Did Marie do something else? Did I have any time to prepare? I was being paranoid I know that, but for the life of me, I couldn't understand why we were going there.

"Do you know anything about the fire?" Elizabeth asked, still walking ahead of me.

"No, I just happened to be in the area when it happened."

"Just so happened to be in the area huh?" There was a hint of doubt in her voice. She made no intention of hiding it. But my innocence was true, I was just in the area, but I didn't want to say more until I was sure about everything else and for that, I needed to talk to Marie.

"Why do you say it like that?" "Like what?"

"You know what."

I didn't understand Elizabeth, her moods seemed to change at the drop of a dime with no catalyst to pinpoint when and why. Perhaps it wasn't my place to question her, I was stepping on dangerous territory, and one wrong move could set her off. Maybe I should get to know her more I thought, her intentions were too vague to discern but I settled with my instincts and took a step forward.

"Elizabeth."

"Yeah, what is it?"

"What do you like to do?"

"Where'd that come from?"

"Just curious."

She took a brief moment to respond pinching her chin. "How about later tonight I'll show you, It's sort of hard to explain."

"You mean I'll be staying in your place again?"

"Sure, If you have no problem with that." So I was overreacting then. Whatever was happening soon didn't have that big of an impact on me, that much was clear now.

I let out a hefty sigh, holding my chest.

"Were you that worried about where you were sleeping tonight."

"No, no, just thinking about something else."

"Mind telling me what?"

"How about later tonight I'll tell you, it's sort of hard to explain."

"Was that a shot at me?"

"Maybe." For now, I was fine with what I got.

****

Shane stood in front of the wreckage, a small picket fence dividing it from other buildings, the grass behind burned to ash. The faint smell of smoke still lingered, along with another that reminded me of rotten eggs. My nose felt extra sensitive to the scent, and a pain in my stomach gathered, but why now?

Then as my vision traveled upward I realized the cause of my discomfort. Still standing high on its pedestal, Its gaze even now set on me. The Eye of Rendition still stood high unbothered by the world below it. Shane stood right underneath it, turning his attention on me.

"Can you believe it took four hours to take down the fire? an unbelievable amount of water just to take it down, and even after all that, this one fucking piece of wood kept this thing up." Through his calm, smiling exterior, his words couldn't have come out sharper, pent-resentment leaked through his eyes, a blank, cold, hatred for their idol. He looked at me with a similar expression, I felt forced to react.

"Somewhere underneath all this, I think we've got our answer to who did it too. And I'll tell you this, I'm not stopping until I figure it out."

I turned to Elizabeth, and she noticed me immediately, "Why'd you bring me here." She didn't respond, instead waiting for Shane to answer for her.

"I'm under the belief that several people might have died today. Somewhere underneath this rubble, the body of a child is probably trapped inside, the other has gone missing." My heart stopped for a moment, for whatever reason my body reacted before hearing his next words.

"It's Marie isn't it," I said.

Elizabeth froze, staring at me with wide eyes. "So you do know something about it?"

"No, just that I think she had some involvement in it."

"In the fire you mean?" Shane asked.

"Yes."

There was no point in hiding it anymore, it was naive to think I couldn't have done it by myself anyway. With Maire missing, my entire plan had gone down the gutter, even with her gone her intentions were still a mystery. The effects of my inaction were sending ripples throughout town. This in due time would circle back to me.

"So it's your word against hers and coming from a Visitor, that could mean a lot of things, I'm sure Liz has told you how Ashtons Venue feels about you people."

"I don't think it's fair to label me with the rest"

"Of course, I don't intend to, I'm just stating the obvious." They sounded similar, and their time together showed. Though Shane's words were clouded with an air of uncertainty. Just like Elizabeth, I couldn't tell his intentions but with him, I knew his were unfavorable. His views on me weren't reflected in his words I couldn't trust that.

"But this matter has gotten away from my control."

"What do you mean?"

"My hands are tied, whatever happens to you after this will decide how your stay here goes. The church has its eyes on you, I don't need them doing the same to me you see."

"Are you seriously worried about that!." Elizabeth snapped, stomping her foot into the gravel.

"Of course I am, you know how important the Church's favor is in Ashton's Venue, don't say such a silly thing again alright Liz." And just like that she had no response, he'd shot her down without even a moment of thought. All she could do was drop her head and obey.

"I don't think that was wrong to say" I murmured, holding in my frustration.

"We're getting off-topic Gryce, the question at hand is what you're going to do to stop this from getting out of control, there's only one thing you can do."

"You want me to find Marie then?"

"Correct."

It was a recipe for disaster, sending someone completely unfamiliar with the land to find somebody, especially in this environment. You'd be sending them to their death which is exactly what he wanted. Where did this change come from? I wondered. Today, Shane seemed like a different person, or maybe yesterday wasn't him in the first place.

Moreover, there was no denying his order. He was dead set on making me look for her and there was no way of changing his mind. There wasn't anything more I hated than closed-off people realizing their prejudices and refusing to fix them. I couldn't hold ill to the people who judged me because of my title, I believed they had their reasons, and at the very least they weren't aware of the other side. But I couldn't say the same to Shane. From all appearances, the man was the leader of Ashtons Venue, the possibility of him being ignorant was a frightening yet unbelievable possibility. Somehow this had all landed on my shoulders and no amount of prying would get the reason why out of him.

"Mallory wants to see you before the Night Festival starts, right now there's about five hours until it's fully completed, anytime around then would be fine."

"And what are you going to do."

"Buy you time, I can't help physically but I can swing the narrative as long as possible. I'll have Elizabeth help you."

The idea to have Elizabeth help must've been a way to punish her because soon after saying that, he smirked turning his attention back toward the rubble. Whatever she said had ticked him off and she had no desire to question his intentions. Neither did I to be fair. Ultimately, this was my goal anyway, I just wanted to do it alone.

Our little conversation ended soon after, being given no clue as to where she went, or any possible leads. Elizabeth didn't say anything else, she seemed down, like all the energy had been seeped out of her and I couldn't help but feel like I was responsible, at least partially. I blamed the rest on Shane.

I turned back towards her, she didn't want to talk, especially to me but I'm insensitive at heart so I Ignored it and broke the silence anyway.

"We're heading to the Salon, are you okay with that?"

"Yes."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." Hmmm, on second thought maybe it was best to let it go. We'd have a lot to talk about tonight anyway, I'll leave to then. We both had a lot to think about. We headed in the direction of the Salon.

***

Just as before, the two small light posts shined across the door and sign but this time it was gone. Faint voices leaked through the walls, and incoherent chatter, from more than two people leaked through.

"So Mallory Isn't the only person I'm talking to?"

This part of town was weirdly dead. Not a sign of the festival showed and the people's liveliness was replaced with the silence of the night, an unwelcomed return to normalcy.

Before I could move my hand, Elizabeth had already grabbed my arm. Whispering in my ear, "Don't touch that door." Her hands trembled and I could feel her shallow breath against my cheek.

I looked around, but there was no one near us. It didn't take me long to realize the thing she was afraid of wasn't outside but on the other side of this door. "We're leaving, now." Even though I didn't know why, I could tell there was a good reason for her haste.

I backed up slowly, Elizabeth following my stride. Each step carefully landed on a flat surface. Stopping once we hit the open road. Any steps now would make too much noise to hurry but with one wrong move, we'd be at a disadvantage if anything came out of that door.

I was practically dragged along the road as she yanked my arm, and sprinted as fast as she could.

"Argh!."

My arm was practically being torn apart as her grip on my arm tightened as I struggled to keep up with her

"That idiot! I said this wasn't a good idea."

"What's going on!"

We took a sharp right turn, the both of us sliding across the road.

"Isn't this far enough!."

"Not until we find more people!."

The heat on my neck grew hotter and hotter by the second. I could feel my heart beat out of my chest. Something was behind us and it had its eyes set on me. I refused to look, afraid that, that's what it wanted.

"There's something behind us isn't there!."

"Don't talk about it! Just Run!."

I could see the festival light ahead, we were so close.

Then as the heat slowly dwindled, an early sense of relief set in, and in my overconfident state I turned my head, expecting just an empty road. What I found instead was darkness, a pure black void grabbing a hold of me, then as seconds, minutes, and hours went by I realized that I was already in its trap.

Indictint words echoed throughout my head, It went something like this,

"Darkness treads along the land, driven by maleficent gusts of piercing wind. Rivers begin drawing back, afraid of the rolling black clouds that replaced the once-white sky. In a flash of light, striking from the heavens onto the ground below lightning struck in pairs of three and four, and in its final smite, it birthed an unwelcome visitor. Being washed ashore upon Ichemound's domain, a man clinging to life had been given a new purpose."