Chapter 25

They were on the train for nearly a full day before disembarking in a decently sized town. Large enough to have a train station anyway. From there it was another couple of days by carriage before they reached the last town Commander Mercer had received a communication from. 

Azlios was a small village miles and miles from any other form of civilization. There was a string of them, the Revenants in this area travelled between them during their deployment. There had been a few complaints in the past, wild animals mostly. The Revenants in the area had taken care of them without issue. 

There wasn't any information on just how many people lived out here, but there were maybe a couple dozen houses, a general store, a small inn, a chapel, and the makings of a market in the village square. In the distance they could see a couple of farmsteads. This place was so far off the grid she doubted it even had electricity. Or worse, no indoor plumbing.

Sun had never seen a place so small, having grown up in the Capital, which was stacked with people on top of people in the slums, then Perdition, which—although nowhere near as large as Solaryse—was still one of the larger towns in Nostravan. 

The rain was pouring when they arrived in Azlios, and rather than risk the carriage getting bogged down in the mud and snow of the central square, Cage thought it safer to walk the rest of the way. Given the emptiness of the place, he wasn't too worried anyone was going to steal it. And it had already been a difficult ride, given it was still winter, even if the snow out here was starting to thin out.

They could all feel the emptiness of the place, not even animals with the exception of their horses. 

They climbed off their horses, securing them to the railing in front of the inn. 

"I'll take care of the horses," Cage said. "I'll meet you inside."

Commander Mercer nodded, and the group headed inside. They were immediately hit with the stench of rot. Whatever perishables had been in the building had done just that. Yet what food had been left out didn't even have flies or maggots. 

Sun walked over to the nearest table, where a half-eaten plate of what must have been some kind of meat and potatoes sat. There was mould; it had rotted, but there was no sign rats or bugs had even attempted to feast on it. 

"What is it?" Mercer asked.

"No rats or bugs," she replied.

"Mm, I noticed that too. This whole place feels... empty. Dead."

Her eyes darted to his, and she sucked in a sharp breath. He was right. Looking around, nothing seemed out of place besides the obvious, but the feeling... She hadn't noticed because she was so accustomed to it, especially in winter when the divide between worlds thinned. The Traverse was stronger here, or maybe the barrier was just thin or broken? She didn't know enough to say. Regardless, she was reasonably sure the Traverse was at play here somehow. If she stared hard enough, she thought she might have been able to see past the veil. Was it somehow responsible for the missing villagers and Revenants? Again, she didn't know enough to say. What she should have noticed immediately was the lack of voices. Granted they were a little quieter these days, they were still unmissable. How could she not have noticed? Thinking back, when had she stopped hearing them? 

Unfortunately, she couldn't pinpoint an exact moment. That had to mean that on the other side, there were no souls. It wasn't just living people that were missing; the dead were gone too. 

"Sir?" She asked quietly. "Why was I selected for this mission?"

She knew she did well, but she wasn't exactly top of her class; there were other students who had better scores than her, yet she was here and they weren't. 

"I expect it was based on your scores," he told her.

Maybe he didn't know. Or maybe he didn't want to let her know. 

"We'll set up here for now, conduct a search, and look for signs of our missing Revenant."

"Did they stay at this inn?" Cullen asked.

Mercer nodded. "I'll go up and find his room in a moment. I want the rest of you to start cleaning up here, and when Cage comes back, we'll split into two groups and take a look around. I don't want anyone going off on their own."

They all nodded and set about getting rid of the stinking, rotten food first. 

At the beginning of the journey, Mercer had hoped to get the girl bonding with the other boys, but it became abundantly clear that wasn't going to happen. Both boys preferred to completely ignore her, and Sun returned in kind. 

Rumour mill had it that her group and this group were at odds constantly. And he had heard about a fight breaking out in which she was involved. Mercer was from a lesser noble house and had heard about it, and that Kalys had expected blood to be shed in recompense for the injury to his sister. 

Kalys had been an impulsive boy but had grown into a man of great restraint with a level head. Word was she'd had a couple of very minor cuts and bruises. It seemed rather out of character for him to demand so much of such minor injuries. 

The inn was small, only a few rooms. Mostly it catered to travelling merchants and Revenants. There wasn't a lot of through traffic out here. So it was easy to find Harker's room; it looked as if he had settled in to be here a little while, his Revenant coat was hanging on a wall hook, his clothes unpacked into the dresser provided, and his things scattered about. It wasn't messy enough for there to have been a struggle; Harker was just untidy. Mercer knew that well enough from how the young man kept his desk at work. 

On the desk, Mercer found the start of Harker's latest report. It mentioned nothing significant, that the town was fine despite the state of those nearest and their missing residents. He gave the room a quick once-over hoping for some kind of clue but came up empty. He would have a more thorough look after they'd searched the town; he didn't want to waste what daylight they had left. Out here they had no electricity. That kind of infrastructure just hadn't made it out this far yet. 

He rejoined the others to find they'd lit the lamps and candles in the dim room and cleared away the rotten food. At least they could work together despite their differences. That boded well. 

Cage entered the room just moments after Mercer. 

"No animals in the stables," he told them. "Going by the look of the horseshit in there, it's been a couple of weeks."

"How do you tell the age of horse shit?" Seph asked, a little disgusted, clearly.

"You've gotta stick your fingers into the middle of it," he replied, grabbing the boy's nose between his index and middle fingers.

Seph's disgust only became more pronounced as he tried to pull away from the offending digits.

"I'm joking," Cage laughed, letting him go. 

Seph rubbed his nose while he stared daggers at Cage. 

"All right, we'll do a quick sweep of the village just to make sure we're truly alone. Cage, you take the boys. Sun, with me. We'll take east, you take west. We'll leave the farmsteads for now and check them tomorrow."

They all nodded, and the candidates followed their superiors out the door. Sun hadn't thought to pack a raincoat, just a warm jacket. She didn't really mind the rain. Even in the slums she had loved it. Not only for the sound but also because it had been free fresh water to drink. They would set out their containers to catch it. It didn't rain enough in Solaryse.

She followed Commander Mercer through the town; they searched houses—every room, every shed, and cellar. There was nothing. In some houses dinner was still sitting on the table, well, big piles of mould mostly. But they found nothing; there was just no trace of what might have happened to the people. 

"A little creepy, isn't it?" Mercer muttered.

Sun could do nothing but agree. The emptiness was disconcerting. 

As darkness began to descend, they finished up with their last house. Commander Mercer suggested they head back to the inn. It wasn't huge, only four small rooms furnished with a single bed and a dresser or a desk; only half of them had both. The boys had to share a room, unless someone wanted to sleep in the proprietors room, which no one did. This place was creepy enough. 

Sun found a pot plant in her room that was beginning to die, so she gave it some water. It was a common thing she had noticed throughout the place: all the plants were dying. Even ones she knew could go for a while without water. Once she had her things dumped, she went back downstairs. 

Cage had rummaged through the kitchen, looking for anything edible. He came back with some dried meat and some canned beans. It was a far cry from the appetising meals she had been having at the manor, even from what the boys were served at Perdition. Cage figured there would be enough to live on for a few days. 

Over dinner Mercer told them watch would be taken in pairs. Either he or Cage would be up at all times, and the three candidates could rotate. Sun was to be first, Seph on second, and Cullen on third. 

After dinner the three not on watch headed upstairs to bathe or sleep while Sun and Mercer headed out to the deck. Standing out in the darkness and listening to the rain, Sun finally realised what was bothering her about the place. 

"There is nothing," she said, looking at Mercer. He looked back at her, an eyebrow raised. "There's nothing; there isn't even a trace of residual energy."

Mercer frowned and closed his eyes. Wherever people or animals had been, especially so many, there had to be some trace of energy, of their aura; sure, it would fade over time, but it would take years, not days or weeks. But after a few moments of searching, he confirmed what she said. Not even a trace. 

"I apologise for only just realising," she said. She knew something had been off about this place, aside from all the missing people and animals.

"No, don't be; I didn't even pick up on it. That explains the feeling about this place," he said. "What could dissipate the energy like this?"

She could only shrug, feeling quite useless. 

"I'll talk to Cage when we hand over shifts," he said. "Good spotting." With that he gave her that kind smile of his. She only nodded, that serious expression never leaving her face.

When it was shift change, Sun headed upstairs, quietly waking Seph for his turn. Their exchange lacked any of their usual vitriol, and that was almost as disturbing as the absolute deadness around them. 

After that she went to bed. She lay there, listening to the sound of the rain and the sound of the Traverse. While the lack of voices was something of a relief, it came with a hefty side of apprehension. She would have a look around once she fell asleep. Might even be easier with the sound of the rain and lack of voices. 

She never felt it when she went to sleep. Realisation she was in the Traverse always came slowly. Nor could she tell how long she was in there or had been in there before that realisation came. It was almost like coming out of a fog or a trance maybe. 

When she came out of it this time, she froze. There were... bodies. 

She had never seen bodies in the Traverse before. That didn't make sense; the only physical thing in the Traverse was supposed to be the environment, and maybe the ravens—though there were none of those here. Everything else was just energy. She had seen souls here get torn apart by the twisted people, and they just dissipated or were absorbed by the monsters, these altered souls. Even she was just made of energy when she was here, she couldn't really affect anything. She did wonder what would happen to her if any of those creatures got a hold of her, though. Not enough to risk it.

She crouched down beside the nearest body. Because she wasn't physical, she shouldn't be able to touch it; her hand should go right through it. But when she touched it, the body disintegrated, turned to dust. Form like this—a corpse—couldn't—maybe shouldn't? - exist here. Form required energy, or maybe just a soul? There was a lot she didn't understand about the Traverse, but she did know she never saw the living or the empty dead. Just souls, which she assumed counted as some form of energy. Maybe that was why it crumpled to dust? No energy to hold it together?

And there were so many bodies here; they had to be the villagers, but they were all old. Her stomach sank as she looked at them. She was well acquainted with that milky-eyed look of horror. Whatever did this... had the same ability as her? Or did the Traverse itself just do this to living things if they ended up here?

She picked her way around them, looking for any sign of the Revenants they were searching for. Ideally they'd have their uniform on because she doubted she would recognise them like this. 

Although she shouldn't be able to affect anything given her non-corporeal form, when her foot touched one of the corpses, it turned to dust again. Even if she could somehow bring them back to the world of the living, they would likely just be dust piles. 

From what she had gathered over the years, time moved differently in the Traverse; some nights it felt like she had been there for days, and others just minutes, when on the other side hours had passed. 

She wasn't sure if she was relieved or not when it seemed only minutes had passed before she was waking up in the creaky inn bed. Sitting up, she glanced towards the window. Through the threadbare curtains, she could see the sky was lightening, but there was no sign of the actual sun. That was most likely because of the still falling rain. 

She got out of bed, going about her morning ablutions while she debated with herself whether or not to tell them about the bodies she'd found. Kalys didn't want her talking about her power with people, but in this case it was pertinent to the mission. How could she not? Perhaps she could leave out the part about how they looked. She didn't want any kind of connection to be made between her and the manner of their deaths. 

She pulled on her uniform jacket and boots and headed downstairs. Commander Mercer, Cage, and Cullen were already there. 

Dread settled in her stomach at what she had to reveal.