Chapter 117: Falatra

Leo stood near the entrance of an old watchtower, arms crossed, his eyes fixed on the distant mountains to the west. Forests blanketed their slopes in deep green, broken only by jagged cliffs and thin waterfalls catching the morning light. Somewhere within those peaks—half-hidden by the treeline and time—lay the ruins of Falatra, a long-abandoned city swallowed by myth and wilderness.

He adjusted the strap of his gear pack, scanning the horizon as wind tugged at his cloak. The morning air was cool, damp with the scent of dew and old stone. Behind him, footsteps crunched over the gravel.

Klaus joined him without a word, giving a short nod. Moments later, Ivo and Sophie approached, the soft rustle of their movements barely breaking the stillness.

"Okay, let's go," Sophie said briskly. She tightened the clasp on her gauntlet and started down the trail without waiting for discussion.

They had spent the previous night sheltered within the tower's cold stone walls. No one was in the mood to delay—whatever was in Falatra, it wouldn't wait for them.

Their boots struck the ground in rhythm as they descended toward the forest. The trees loomed taller the closer they came, ancient and thick-barked, their canopies pressing together to blot out most of the sunlight. After about thirty minutes, they crossed the invisible line where grass turned to underbrush and shadow.

Though the forest looked empty, Leo knew it wasn't. Something stirred within the dark. No birds sang. No leaves rustled. Not even a distant branch cracked. The silence wasn't natural—it was watching.

He stopped for a moment and took a breath, then activated Moonlit Gaze. Mana surged through his vision, and almost instantly, hazy heat signatures flared into view—creatures hiding just beyond the visible spectrum. They clustered behind trees, burrowed beneath roots, and perched in the high branches. Predators. Observers. A few larger signatures moved slowly in the distance, too far to make out.

He could see their shapes, but not what they were—no features, just masses of living warmth.

With a blink, he released the spell and tried something else. Concentrating, he began forcing mana into his eyes, attempting to trigger Vampire Gaze. Nothing. The flow resisted him. Again and again he tried, adjusting the stream, focusing his intent. No success.

His thoughts were broken when Klaus's voice cut in from behind.

"What are you so focused on?"

"Trying some spells," Leo said with a shrug. True enough—but not the full picture.

"Don't waste too much mana. If there are vampires in the ruins, we'll need every drop."

"I know."

As they continued walking, Leo changed tactics. Instead of focusing directly on his eyes, he concentrated on pumping blood into them—enriching the vessels, increasing pressure—then let mana flow through the circulating blood. His vision dimmed to grayscale, but the shapes around him took on clarity. Outlines sharpened. The air itself seemed to pulse with life.

He looked at the others. A faint, red mist clung to their forms—shaped like them, moving with them. Not aura, not heat—life.

'It's showing their life force,' he thought. Intrigued, he examined the intensity of color—Sophie's left arm glowed darker red than the rest, maybe a lingering injury. Klaus's legs were a more consistent hue. Health indicators, maybe?

Next, he layered Moonlit Gaze over it. This time, the forest came alive. Creatures appeared everywhere—shapes outlined in shifting reds and oranges. Insects. Beasts. Something slithering beneath the soil. All clear now. The shadows between the trees no longer hid anything from him.

Despite the daylight outside the canopy, the forest was dim. The thick branches overhead allowed only slivers of sun to reach the ground. But to Leo, with his dual vision activated, it was as bright and revealing as noon.

Some creatures froze when they noticed him looking. Others backed away slowly, returning deeper into the woods. A few bolted entirely. He allowed himself a small, quiet smile and deactivated both spells.

Then, a new thought crossed his mind—something riskier. What if he could boost his physical power by increasing blood pressure and oxygen flow to his muscles? The idea was dangerous. The strain could rupture vessels or damage tissue—but his accelerated healing might allow him to survive it, at least for a short burst.

He tensed, preparing to try it, when Sophie's voice called back to them.

"We're here."

He blinked, pulled from his focus. Immediately, he reactivated both vision spells and swept the area. No signs of heat or life matching vampire patterns. No stalkers. Nothing waiting in ambush.

They stopped at the mouth of a cave—wide, tall, and carved into the side of the mountain. Its walls were damp, mossy in places, and the air that flowed from within was cold and stale, laced with the smell of wet stone and decay.

Inside, the cave widened considerably, easily able to accommodate ten people walking side by side. The group moved cautiously, footsteps echoing as they passed through the gloom.

The passage ended in a sweeping chamber cloaked in shadow and silence. They had reached Flatra.

Crumbling gray stones spread out before them—a ruined city, forgotten by time. Half-collapsed structures rose like broken teeth, towers cracked in half and walls leaning at impossible angles. Time and weather had stripped away any decoration, leaving only bare surfaces and shattered remnants of once-proud architecture.

A single stone path cut through the ruins, winding like a scar across the ancient ground. It curled between buildings and descended into sunken plazas choked with debris. Deep fissures split the stone, swallowing anything that ventured too close.

Massive archways and leaning pillars flanked the path. Their tops were jagged, worn down by centuries of erosion and neglect. High above, fractured bridges still clung to support beams, hanging like broken ribs in the gloom. A thick layer of dust hung in the air, disturbed only by their movements, catching in their breath.

Though ruin had claimed everything, a strange stillness lingered—an unnatural quiet, heavy and pressing. It wasn't just the absence of life. It was watching silence. Unsettling. Alert.

Every footstep echoed louder than expected. Every shadow seemed just a little darker than it should be. The kind of silence that made you hesitate to speak—because it felt like the place itself was listening.

Leo slowed, his gaze sweeping across the ruins, both of his vision spells still active. Nothing moved. No flashes of heat. No pulses of blood. No flickers of life. But the silence wasn't comforting—it pressed in like a held breath, waiting to be released.

He inhaled slowly, letting the unnatural stillness settle over him like a shroud. The ruins were too clean. Too untouched. Not a single broken branch, no scattered bones or signs of scavengers. It was as if time itself had paused here.

Sophie raised a hand, her palm glowing with faint light as a ribbon of wind curled around her fingers. "Stay close," she said. "I'll cast a sensory ward—anything that disturbs the air around us will trigger it."

With a subtle gesture, she released the spell. A ripple of wind spiraled outward, low and steady, brushing across the stone like a whisper. Leo felt the disturbance as it passed him, like stepping through a thin veil of static. The air reacted—but not naturally. It shifted around them like it was resisting.

"Something is wrong with this place," he murmured.

Klaus, already on edge, drew his blade. The silver edge shimmered even in the low light, catching a glint from somewhere unseen. "No birds. No insects. No rot. Even the wind's too clean. Something's off."

Ivo hadn't spoken until now. He rolled his shoulders, the quiet creak of leather echoing too loud. "I don't like this kind of quiet. Feels like a tomb that knows it's being watched."

They moved forward in tight formation, boots scraping against the ancient stone path. Every step echoed. Every breath sounded too loud. Leo took position at the rear flank, his gaze constantly shifting—left, right, rooftops, corners. The ruins around them felt dead, yet somehow aware.

Through the overlapping auras of Moonlit Gaze and Vampire's Gaze, he could see faint residuals. Echoes of what once lived—long-extinguished heat signatures embedded in the stone, as though the walls themselves remembered. But none of them were fresh. Until now.

A sudden, creeping chill traced his spine. He stopped mid-step, eyes locking past a collapsed archway near the far edge of the ruins. At first glance, there was nothing. But then, through the twin filters of blood and heat, something shimmered—like a mirage, or fog rising from sun-warmed stone.

It wasn't alive. But it wasn't dead either.

"There," Leo said, voice low, tight. He pointed toward the archway. "Far end of the courtyard. There's something… flickering ."

Sophie narrowed her eyes in the same direction. "A construct, maybe? Or it could be an old guardian left behind."

Leo shook his head. "It doesn't feel mechanical. More like a remnant of something old.."

Klaus moved beside him, following the line of Leo's gaze. "Whatever it is, it's not just watching. It's waiting."

Sophie turned to the others, her voice sharp and controlled. "We move in pairs. Leo, you're with me—we'll hold position and cover the rear. Klaus, Ivo, you take point and advance. If anything moves, say it loud." 

Ivo nodded once, cracking his knuckles and stepping up beside Klaus. Leo fell back slightly, flanking Sophie, his muscles tensed.

They passed under the collapsed archway, stepping cautiously into the shadowed structure beyond. The interior was tight, the corridor narrowing with each step. Broken stone lined the walls like jagged teeth, and the floor sloped slightly downward. The deeper they went, the more the air pressed in—stale, heavy, untouched by time or wind. After a short descent, the path split into two narrow hallway.

Klaus stopped at the fork, squinting into the dim passages. "Now what?"

"We can't split up," Sophie said, her voice low but firm. "It's too dangerous in here."

Ivo stepped forward, peering down the left corridor before moving to the entrance of the right. He tilted his head, eyes narrowing. "There's wind coming from this one," he said.

Leo joined him, scanning the passage with his vision spells. Faint threads of power shimmered at the far end—flickering, restless, and more concentrated than before. 

Sophie inhaled, about to speak—likely to make the call—when her ward pulsed. A sudden shift in the air from above.

"Look out!" she shouted.

The ceiling groaned, then gave way. Stone and dust cascaded down with a deafening crash. The narrow space filled with choking gray. Leo threw up an arm to shield his face as the world became noise and rubble. Then, silence.

When the dust finally settled, Leo coughed and looked around. The tunnel behind them had collapsed completely, and debris now blocked both their retreat and the left passage. Only the right path remained open, directly ahead—where Ivo still stood, brushing dust from his shoulders. 

But Klaus and Sophie were gone. 

"You good?" Ivo asked, stepping over to Leo.

Leo nodded silently, still scanning the blockage. Ivo walked up to the rubble and shouted through a gap, "You two okay?"

"We're fine," came Sophie's muffled reply. "But we're stuck here. I can't risk blasting through—this place could come down on all of us."

"Then we'll each take a path and try to find another way around," Ivo shouted back. "Stay sharp. We'll regroup as soon as we can."

"Just be careful," Sophie called back. "If anything feels wrong, fall back."

Ivo turned toward Leo. "You ready?"

Leo gave a curt nod. His blood still pulsed with energy, spells still active in the background, sharpening the edges of his vision.

"Let's go," Ivo said, turning and heading down the right-hand tunnel, where the faint breeze stirred the stale air.

Leo followed in silence, one hand near his weapon, eyes glowing faintly in the dark.

…

After walking for a while, Ivo and Leo finally reached an open area. Though still beneath the mountain, this part of the cave widened into a vast, empty chamber, broken only by a few gaping holes in the stone floor that seemed to lead into endless darkness. On the far side stood another large opening, and beyond it, more ruins waited in silence.

Ivo stopped near the edge and pretended to inspect the surroundings, his eyes drifting toward Leo. The boy had wandered forward into the center of the chamber, unaware.

A faint smile tugged at Ivo's lips. He had been waiting for this moment. For over a year now, all he had wanted was revenge—and now the chance had finally come. He could kill Leo here and tell the others they were ambushed. Only Klaus might suspect something, but Ivo didn't care.

Without a sound—unnaturally quiet for a warrior of his size—he drew a greatsword from his magic bag. In one swift motion, he swung it down at Leo's head.

The blade cut cleanly through Leo's body, slicing him in half.