Chapter 19—Yue Clan

They walked through the main street, their boots crunching against the frost-covered stone. On either side of them, merchant stalls stood abandoned with their wooden frames half-rotted and fabrics stiff with ice. Some had bowls and plates still sitting out, their contents long gone. Others had old scrolls which were brittle and peeling, laid across polished wooden tables.

Echidna reached out and tapped one of the bowls with her knuckle. It made a hollow sound.

"This place looks like everyone just up and left." she murmured and tilted her head as she scanned the empty streets.

Chael shifted his weight slightly. "Who knows. Maybe they didn't leave at all."

Echidna frowned at him. "That's a comforting thought."

They moved deeper into the settlement, the fog rolling in heavier and curled around the buildings like it had a will of its own.

Somewhere in the distance, a faint chime rang out. It was a single note from one of the frozen wind chimes.

The sound shouldn't have been possible because almost everything here was clad in ice, and Chael was sure the chimes would've been no exception.

Echidna stiffened but didn't stop walking. The street narrowed ahead and led into what seemed like a courtyard.

The area was lined with tall stone pillars with each one carved with swirling patterns of what might have once been moonflowers, their shapes barely recognizable under layers of frost. An altar stood at the centre, its surface covered in what looked like old offerings - frozen fruits, vials of coloured liquid, delicate porcelain bowls arranged in a precise formation.

Chael slowed.

His fingers tightened around the spear shaft as he turned the spearhead slightly, scanning the area.

The reflections showed nothing unusual. There were no movements and no figures. Just the ruins and the pale light of the twin moons overhead.

But something felt wrong. "This feels like a graveyard."

Echidna must have sensed it too, because she moved closer and kept her voice low. "It probably is."

Chael didn't like that answer.

They walked past the altar, their boots silent against the frost-covered stone. Further ahead, a set of staircases led to different levels of the settlement which split off into separate districts. Some buildings were taller, marked with sigils above their doors, while others were smaller and clustered together like homes for common folk.

Chael glanced at the sigils. They weren't readable, but he recognised it as the same language he came across in that strange purple realm. Except this time, he didn't understand them. For some reason, it seemed that he only understood it there, and not in the real world.

Echidna touched one of the carvings, brushing away the frost.

"Some kind of clan marking?" she narrowed her eyes and looked hard at it. "Yue Clan?"

Chael turned towards her slightly, "You can read that?"

"I used to be an archaeologist." Echinda simply said, but her gaze grew heavier with each second that passed. "It's a language called Shan'thura whispered by the deities that rules the Primordial Sea several millennia ago.

Echinda shot him a solemn look, "The most recent use of this language was found in the ancient catacombs of Enir-Ilim. And that was a thousand years ago."

The silence hung heavier after Echidna's words.

A thousand years.

This place had been thriving once, its people walking these very streets, whispering in a language that only the dead now spoke. And then it was simply gone.

Chael exhaled slowly, his breath curling in the frigid air. His grip on the spear tightened.

Ahead of them, the settlement split into two paths.

One led east. Down a wide stone street, flanked by layered buildings, their rooftops curling at the edges like the temples of the old world. Bridges arched over narrow canals, frozen solid beneath the weight of time. This path led deeper into what remained of the Yue Clan's domain.

The other led north. It was toward what appeared to be a plain frozen expanse. They could just about make out a colonnade. Frozen Pillars holding up a roof of sorts stretched far beyond what they could perceive. The mist there was thicker, curling unnaturally around the ruins. 

Chael spoke first. "We go east."

Echidna frowned. "Why?"

He tilted his head slightly, the reflection of the streets shimmering in his spearhead. "It leads deeper into the city so there's more to come across. Maybe we'll find a way to get out."

Echidna didn't respond immediately. Instead, she turned her head toward the northern path and stared at the eerily broken pillars, the swirling mist and something in her posture tightened.

"...I think we should go north instead."

Chael turned to her, his blindfolded gaze unreadable. "And why would we do that?"

Echidna pressed her lips into a thin line, then sighed, rubbing the back of her neck.

"I don't know," she admitted. "I just-"

She stopped, frowning deeply.

Chael studied her. "Just what?"

Echidna exhaled sharply through her nose, pressing her fingers to the bridge of it like she was fighting off a headache. "I don't know. I just… I feel like we shouldn't go east."

Chael remained silent, his grip on the spear shifting slightly.

Right now, the logical thing to do - to avoid danger as best as possible would be to go north as that was a near empty expanse with seemingly no beasts or monsters as far as their eyes could see. 

And towards east, which led to the heart of this ancient clan, were countless structures and who knew what horrors like that dragon had hidden themselves in there?

Chael sighed and turned away from her, "We're going east."

Echidna scowled. "You really don't listen to people, huh?"

"No," Chael said simply, already walking. "I don't."

Echidna groaned but followed after him anyway.

The mist curled behind them, swallowing the northern path whole.

The silence stretched as they walked through the abandoned streets of the Yue Clan.

There was no wind and no rustling movement. Only the soft crunch of their boots against the frost-covered stone and the distant creaking of old wood as the frozen structures settled beneath the weight of time.

Chael's grip on his spear remained firm and his blindfolded gaze shifting slightly as he tilted the spearhead from side to side, scanning their surroundings through the distorted reflection.

Everything was still.

Echidna walked a few steps behind him, her arms wrapped around herself as if warding off more than just the cold.

"This place is massive," she murmured, her voice barely above a whisper.

The Yue Clan's domain wasn't just a collection of abandoned homes. It appeared that it had once been a fortress. Tall watchtowers were lined the streets and bridges connected different levels of the settlement, weaving through the air like frozen veins.

But no matter how far they went, they saw nothing besides these ruins. 

Chael was starting to get bored about now. It appeared there were no dangers or monsters in this location but there was something very eerie about that fact. There were countless ruins and abandoned settlements in the Silver Expanse, but almost all of them were now crawling with beasts and other dangers. 

Perhaps there was a reason for why there weren't any monsters here?