Chapter 18—The Treacherous Wretch

The two walked in silence for a long time.

The pathway led them through another veil of fog which was curling unnaturally in the freezing air, as if it were breathing.

At the next turn, kneeling on the frozen ground, was a withering, ghost-like figure.

It didn't move nor did it acknowledge them. It didn't even seem aware of their presence. Its form flickered like something caught between worlds and its body thin and draped in what might have once been ceremonial robes. It was now nothing more than tattered strands swaying in the cold.

The figure was bowing. It's head was pressed to the stone and it's hands clasped together in prayer. Though its voice was barely above a whisper, it somehow reached them with eerie clarity.

"Please forgive our sins… Lord of the Bleeding Moon…"

Chael and Echidna froze in place.

"Oh, please… forgive the blasphemy… the treacherous wretch our clan brought upon this sacred land…"

The ghost trembled, pressing its head further against the stone, repeating the words over and over, its voice hollow and filled with despair.

"Please… forgive us, Lord Bleeding Moon…"

Echidna inhaled slowly and her fingers twitched toward her knife.

"What the hell..." she murmured under her breath.

Chael said nothing as his grip on the spear tightened and his pulse thrummed low in his ears.

There was something very wrong about this.

Not just the words or the presence of the figure itself, but the way it kept repeating the prayer like a broken echo. It was like it had been kneeling there for centuries, caught in an endless loop of regret and reverence.

Beyond this figure, was some kind of a settlement.

Chael's spear reflected the pale light of the twin moons and showed stone structures layered over each other, built into the side of the mountain. They were connected by crumbling stairways and narrow bridges. The buildings were carved with intricate designs and was covered in frost and veiled by the mist, their windows hollow and empty.

It looked empty yet not entirely lifeless at the same time.

The ghost didn't stop mumbling.

"The wretch… the treacherous wretch… our clan… our sins… please… please, Lord of the Bleeding Moon, forgive us…"

Chael and Echidna exchanged a glance.

Neither of them spoke, but the message in their eyes was clear, 'What the hell is this?'

Echidna stayed where she with her fingers brushing the hilt of her knife, but she made no move forward. Her instincts told her to not to go anywhere near it.

Chael, however, ignored every instinct.

Slowly, he inched forward. His grip tightened around the spear shaft and his breath was steady. The torch at the end of the broken shaft flickered against the mist. Every step he took made the air feel heavier and colder, like the very ground beneath him was rejecting his presence.

The figure kept speaking.

"The wretch… the wretch… cursed be the treachery of that evil wretch…"

Chael stopped right beside it but the ghost didn't react seem to react to him. It didn't seem to acknowledge him at all.

It just kept kowtowing, its skeletal fingers digging into the ice and its forehead pressing so hard against the stone that it looked as though it was trying to sink into the earth itself.

Chael frowned.

His foot lifted slightly then nudged the figure's shoulder. 

His boot passed straight through the figure as it was a mere illusion.

The air rippled and just like that, the ghost was gone.

Chael's jaw clenched slightly as he stared at the empty space where it had been. The only thing left behind was the echo of its voice, fading into silence.

Echidna finally moved, cautiously stepping up beside him.

"That was creepy as hell." she muttered.

Chael didn't respond immediately. His blindfolded gaze lingered where the figure had been with his fingers still tight around the spear shaft.

"It was a either a ghost," he finally said. "or some type of illusion."

"I caught on to that much." Echidna's eyebrows furrowed and she folded her arms. "Just what could 'wretch' and 'Lord of the Bleeding Moon' even mean?"

Chael turned slightly, facing her through the distorted reflections of his spearhead. "Sounds like he was still alive before this place turned to what it is now."

Echidna clicked her tongue.

The silence between them stretched for a moment before Echidna huffed, kicking a stray chunk of ice across the stone. "Well, whatever. Not like we're gonna get more answers standing here."

Chael turned his head toward the settlement beyond them, its hollow windows watching them like empty sockets in a skull.

He exhaled slowly, "Let's go."

They walked forward, leaving behind the spot where the ghost had once knelt, its whispers now nothing more than a fading echo.

The settlement before them loomed larger with each step, its towering stone walls jagged with ice, its rooftops layered and sweeping, built in elegant yet rigid formations. The architecture was unlike anything Chael had seen before. It wasn't entirely foreign but at the same time he wasn't familiar with it either.

The buildings were stacked atop each other in winding tiers, their sharp, sloped roofs glistening with frost, wooden support beams carved with intricate patterns that had long since begun to wear away under the weight of time. Some structures had collapsed inward, their walls shattered, leaving gaping holes where there were once homes. Others stood eerily intact, untouched by whatever disaster had turned this place into a graveyard.

At the heart of it all, an enormous archway stretched over the main street, its entrance flanked by two statues of cloaked figures, their faces chipped and broken, their gazes fixed downward in silent mourning. Beyond the archway, narrow bridges connected different levels of the settlement, their railings adorned with thin, dangling wind chimes and yet no wind blew through them.

Everything was still. So still it made the duo uncomfortable.

Echidna gave a sharp exhale, hugging her arms against her chest. "I wonder how long we'll be stuck here before we find a way back."

Chael barely reacted and kept his pace steady. "What makes you so sure that we'll find a way back?"

She scowled at him. "I actually still have a reason to live unlike you."

Chael didn't bother responding. He adjusted the grip on his spear and shifted the angle slightly. The reflections of icy rooftops and broken lanterns flickered across the silver spearhead. It was still hard to make out details and the images in the reflection were hazy and stretched at the edges, but he could perceive enough to see where they were going.