The Path of Ruin

Chapter 71: Outside the Town

*(A/N: Sorry... I accidentally scheduled these chapters wrong so they didn't get released. My bad...)*

*******

'I can find nothing... absolutely nothing...'

Kael was starting to feel annoyed.

He had searched the entire dungeon. He had examined eon everywhere, thinking he might find something unnatural.

But he couldn't.

All he had was the small amount of eon in the brains of the insane that they could not extract. Which he hadn't even found in the first place. Scher had.

'Eon, dungeon.'

His mind went back to the two words the Guardian had said. He started thinking all over again. He rechecked the natural eon in the room, looked again at all the insane people.

Finally... he gave up.

'There is... nothing here.'

He paused for a brief moment and sighed.

'At least nothing for me.'

Unless the Guardian was trying to trick them or something, there was literally nothing for him to find here.

If there was, it was beyond his abilities of observation.

'It must have been almost four hours... we were supposed to meet again.'

And with that, he took one last look at the insane people in an annoyed way. He examined them out of the corner of his eye. Then he turned and walked out of the room.

He wasn't thinking much as he made his way to their meeting point. The only thing on his mind was whether the others had found anything.

'Huh... why does it feel a bit stuffy in here?'

He paused for a moment on his way up the dungeon stairs. Frowning, he turned around and looked at the dungeon door.

Strengthening his eon sense, he checked his surroundings again.

And... for the first time, he found something.

Or rather... he realized something.

'This place... why is it so devoid of eon?'

He was talking about the outside of the dungeon. The stairs.

But then he realized his mistake and paused again. As his eyes gradually widened, he realized something that could be quite important.

'No... this place is not devoid of eon...'

It was the same as it had always been. The amount of eon in the atmosphere had not changed much, at least for this place.

The place where the amount of eon changed was the dungeon.

'Is the amount of eon in the dungeon... constantly increasing?'

He had been in it for four hours. And if the change was extremely minimal, he might not have noticed it in the short term because he was constantly getting used to it.

It was only when he came out and encountered normal levels of eon that he noticed it.

His lips curled upwards slightly. He didn't go back to the dungeon, he only quickened his steps towards the meeting point.

He didn't know exactly why, or what the consequences would be, but at least he had found something. And Scher, being much smarter than he was, might be able to find something.

*******

Pecera, Scher, Kael, and Amar were waiting at the rendezvous point with Amar, now a group of six.

What they were waiting for were the other two members of the group.

"They should have been here by now."

The deep silence in the room was quickly broken when Pecera, frowning, said what everyone wanted to say.

"We are forty minutes past the agreed time. I don't know about Matthew, but Baroch, as an experienced scout, should be aware of the time."

Kael sighed slightly.

"Something has happened to them, I think."

And with those words, all eyes turned to him.

"Didn't the Guardian tell us that the enemy was outside? It is very likely that they encountered this 'enemy'. At least that's my guess."

That was the guess of the others, too, obviously.

They just... weren't sure what to do.

"Even if Baroch is a normal person, he is experienced. And Matthew said he was a bearer. Whatever they're up against must be strong to have kept them so long. I think we're dealing with a powerful bearer at the very least, a follower at worst."

And Kael said nothing more. Then, it was Amar who kept talking.

"We didn't find anything in the town, the only thing we know about the dungeon is the small amount of eon we couldn't extract from the insane's brains and that the natural eon inside is constantly increasing. Now we're almost certain there's an enemy outside the town... I think it's clear what we need to do."

His eyes traveled over the three members of the group, sharp, cold, and confident.

"Kael and I will go to this 'enemy'. Ms. Pecera and Mr. Scher will stay here and continue to keep the situation under control."

A short silence fell over the group.

What Amar had said certainly made the most sense for their situation. He was a follower and Kael was a bearer, after all. They were the most capable of fighting.

And... no one had any objections.

*******

It was a strange feeling for Kael to go outside with Amar, to walk smoothly beside him.

This man... had tried to kill him not long ago, after all. Twice, in fact.

But now he was just looking ahead as if it had never happened.

"They went into the forest."

Kael paused at Amar's words.

"Forest?"

"It's about my blessing. I can see it clearly when I study the surroundings and use it."

'Oh...'

This... was a surprising piece of information for Kael as well as an acceptable one.

'Blessing...'

Apart from his own curse, he had yet to see almost any blessing or curse in active use. Even as a Bearer, that is.

So... it felt strange to hear about someone else's blessing.

Still, he didn't let his interest get in the way of his task. Continue reading on ???

"Then we are going to the forest..."

And so they did.

Amar, thanks to his blessing, was a pretty good tracker. Better than Kael, who was a 'scout'. He could guess exactly where Matthew had been. So much so that they even found his footprints at one point.

But after they had traveled for some time through the forest, Amar paused, turned to his right, and squinted.

"Did something happen?"

Amar did not answer the question. He turned the way he was looking, slightly quickened his pace, and kept going.

Kael, who was following behind him, couldn't understand much. But then one of the places Amar had passed over caught his eye. He saw a very distinct stain on the grass and his expression instantly turned serious, his eyes narrowed.

'Blood...'

Blood... was not a good sign. Especially with two people missing.

'I hope they're not dead...'

With that thought in mind, he continued to follow Amar in silence.

And when Amar finally paused, he did the same and turned to where he was looking.

"Oh..."

This... was exactly what he didn't want to encounter.

There was a dead body in front of them. A corpse that they knew who it was.

"Baroch..."

And the way he died didn't seem so painless.

"He was dismembered, disemboweled, and then eaten a bit. It looks like the work of a wild animal or creature."

Amar didn't continue, but Kael didn't need to. He could see something quite obvious himself.

"There is a characteristic eon that permeates the corpse..."

In short, although it looked like the work of a wild animal... it was actually the work of a Follower.

'I smell rot. But not from the corpse, from the eon. This... is definitely not a nice eon...'

Kael liked to study other people's eon. Each one had a different feel to it and told a lot about the person.

And this was the first time he had come across an eon that evoked such... bad feelings.

"I found where Matthew went. There's a cave not far from here."

Without a second glance at Baroch's corpse, Amar turned back to the cave he had mentioned. He moved forward with his usual coldness.

Kael, though, looked at Baroch's corpse with an involuntary sadness on his face.

He had... liked Baroch. He was a good person. Talented too.

He certainly didn't deserve... to die like this.

But that was their world. Cruel, unfair, rotten...

There was nothing he could do.

So... after a short time, he turned back in front of himself.

Baroch might be dead. But they had to move on.

And they did... After a short time, they found the cave Amar had told them about.

Amar entered the cave without slowing his steps. Kael realized that the cave was filled with that rotten feeling eon and involuntarily grimaced.

It was certainly not something he could not bear. But if there was a way where he didn't have to endure it, he would definitely prefer it, even if it was dangerous.

"Kael, get ready. We are going to meet someone powerful."