(POV - Laura Cavendish)

Inside a black van, Laura made her way toward the entrance of the small village, the only available access since the area was surrounded by towering mountain ranges. Her eyes, hidden behind her distinctive glasses, remained fixed on the scenery sliding past the window. The chilly breeze, carried by the wind descending from the mountains, brushed against her face, causing her to shiver slightly—a reflexive reaction to the icy touch of the air.

"I have a general idea of what happened, since it's part of the protocol, but what exactly are you looking for in the notebook?"

Shaking off her thoughts, Laura gently shifted her gaze to the left, meeting Victor's eyes. Then, her attention returned to the laptop resting on her lap. On the screen, the email was still open. Laura remained focused, trying to uncover the identity or at least find some clue about who had sent all that information about the village they were about to visit.

"I'm just trying to find a pattern in the message that could lead me to a clue. There’s no sender, and even when I try to trace it, the location always points to the middle of nowhere. I want to figure out who sent all this information and, more importantly, why it was sent to me. Honestly, I'm starting to think we might be dealing with some kind of mass delusion"

Victor stayed silent for the rest of the journey. In a way, he knew he wouldn't be able to help with Laura's problem. After all, as the leader of the response team, his role was usually about solving situations with brute force—something quite different from Laura's work, which required reasoning and analysis. Not that Victor thought of himself as an idiot, but compared to Laura and Emily, that would probably be the impression he'd give.

A few minutes later, the van made a brief stop at the entrance of a small forest. However, the forest wasn’t dense, and the trees were completely leafless, allowing Laura and Victor to have a clear view on the other side: the village they were looking for. Without delay, Laura tucked her notebook into her bag, placed it on the seat next to her, and opened the van door, stepping outside.

As she stepped out, the muffled sound of the earth beneath her feet echoed softly, catching Laura’s attention. Instinctively, she looked down to observe the ground, her brow arching briefly, along with the question starting to form in her mind.

(Weird... It was raining not long ago, so why is the ground so dry here?)

Laura raised her gaze, carefully scanning the surroundings. Despite the oddness surrounding her, nothing in the environment seemed to indicate they were in an anomalous area or anything like that. Still, the persistent feeling that something was wrong wouldn’t leave her. Victor, who had approached her moments earlier, shared the same discomfort, as evidenced by the uneasy expression on his face.

"Why that expression again? The last time I saw you like this, we almost got eaten by anomalous dogs in an endless forest"

Victor, as usual, ignored Laura's words, keeping his gaze fixed and alert, with heightened vigilance. The weapon he held remained steady in his hands, ready to face any threat, no matter how small, that came his way.

"This place feels off... The forest where we found the [Angel of Death] last time also gave me that feeling, but it was different. I knew the risks. Here, though, we don’t have any prior info on this place. Still, my instinct tells me something is really wrong, much more than back in that forest..."

Although Laura could easily dismiss Victor’s words as nonsense, she chose not to. One of Emily's lessons was to look at situations from different perspectives to understand the truth, and that made perfect sense in that moment. Moreover, Laura knew Victor well enough to realize that he had a sort of sixth sense for detecting danger. If he weren't so unmistakably human, she might even believe that was his anomalous ability.

"We'll go in, but carefully. I think it’s better if we investigate the situation ourselves before making any moves. We need to figure out if the villagers are hostile to strangers or not"

Victor nodded at Laura’s orders and turned to the team, who were waiting for further instructions while watching their surroundings closely. As he briefed the response team and warned about the potential threat in the area, Laura turned her gaze back to the distant village. Whatever was going on there, it didn’t seem like something trivial.

Minutes later, Laura, Victor, and the rest of the response team began moving through the forest toward the small village ahead. As they got closer, both Victor and Laura felt an increasing sense of strangeness in the environment. The biggest clue to this was the complete absence of wind. The weather was warm, which was impossible, especially considering the proximity to the frozen mountain ranges.

"Stay here, wait for me. I’ll get closer and check if anything’s off in the village. Laura, you stay too"

Lost in thought, Laura only reacted when she heard her name. Though distracted, she had been paying attention to most of what Victor was saying. With a determined expression, she shook her head in refusal to his suggestion.

"I’m going too. After all, all we’ll be doing is observing from afar; it shouldn’t be too dangerous"

Victor wanted to argue against Laura’s suggestion, but couldn’t find a clear reason to do so. Though his mind was filled with reasons why it would be a bad idea for her to come, he knew those arguments wouldn’t be enough to convince her. After all, if he had been able to dissuade her earlier, many of the problems in the forest, where they encountered the [Angel of Death], could have been avoided.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Ugh... fine, but stay close to me and, please, don’t make any noise. Remember, we don’t want them, whoever they are, to find out we're here. We’ll observe carefully and assess the situation before taking any action"

With a surprisingly relaxed expression, Laura made Victor wonder if she truly understood the situation. Placing a hand on her head, she struck a perfect soldier pose, but instead of reassuring him, it only heightened Victor’s unease.

Determined to push away dark thoughts, Victor walked in silence alongside Laura as they both made their way through the forest. Strangely, no sound could be heard except the soft noise of their own footsteps. On the outside, Laura kept up a façade of strength, but inside, fear was consuming her. Still, her curiosity was even stronger than the fear, pushing her forward.

The village... No, maybe the entire forest, seemed strangely off. Laura noticed the complete absence of wind, animals, or any sign of life. The place radiated an overwhelming sense of desolation. Despite this, the information clearly indicated that people lived in the small village.

As Laura's thoughts deepened, she concluded that something anomalous was present in that place. It might not be the townspeople or the forest itself, but there was definitely something strange and unsettling here.

"Let's stop here. We have a good view of the village, and we're at a safe distance. I think if we get any closer, they might notice us... Our clothes, let's face it, aren't exactly subtle for what we're doing"

Laura, lost in thought for a moment, snapped back to reality when she heard Victor's voice. Looking around, she realized the village was just ahead. Both were hidden behind some rocks that seemed to have naturally formed between the trees in the forest. It was, in short, a perfect hiding spot to observe without being seen.

Laura and Victor fixed their eyes on the village, searching for any signs of something unusual. However, what caught their attention the most was that the village was completely deserted. There were no signs of the residents, not even traces that anyone had been there recently. Curiously, despite the apparent abandonment, the village appeared strangely well-kept, which only made the situation more mysterious.

"This is... weird"

Laura nodded to Victor's words, sharing the same thoughts. Though the village seemed abandoned due to the complete absence of life, it also gave off the impression of being preserved and well-maintained, as the houses showed no signs of decay or visible wear.

"I see some footprints... a lot, actually. But I still can't figure out who or what could've left them"

Laura slightly lifted her head, directing her gaze toward the spot Victor had mentioned. As he pointed out, there were indeed footprints in the center of the square, and not just a few. From what Laura could see, the marks formed a circle, as though they were surrounding something.

However, the detail that caught her attention the most was the pair of footprints in the center of the circle. They were smaller than the others, which clearly belonged to adults, while the ones in the center had the size typical of a child.

As she lost herself in thoughts about the meaning of the footprints, Laura's gaze was suddenly drawn to a white movement. She blinked, thinking she was imagining things, but the blur persisted. Only then did Laura realize it wasn’t an illusion.

What seemed like a mere blur began to take shape, forming the silhouette of someone relatively tall, probably a man, dressed in a completely red cloak. Where his face should have been, there was only a purple spiral symbol. Absorbed by the sight, Laura didn't notice when her hand brushed against a small branch nearby, causing a soft snap that broke the silence around them.

In the same instant, the figure turned almost unnaturally toward the sound, but its eyes found nothing in the spot. However, what really happened was that Laura and Victor were saved by someone who, at that exact moment, lowered their heads, preventing both from being seen.

***

(POV – Protagonist)

No matter where I looked, I was surrounded by these strange figures wearing white robes. A finger rested near my mouth as my eyes blinked in confusion. I looked around, trying to figure out where these people had come from. No, seriously, where the hell did they come from? Just a second ago, this place was completely empty.

Also, I honestly couldn’t tell if what I was seeing was human or something totally different. As always, I used my eyes to identify exactly what I was facing. I briefly closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, the colors of the rainbow shone brightly in them. My gaze focused on the figures surrounding me, trying to understand what I was up against.

Their patterns were everywhere, and their entire bodies seemed to be the weak spot, which indicated that they were all human. However, instead of the reaction I expected, instead of fear, they exchanged glances with one another, as if something was being discussed silently. Suddenly, they all knelt around me. I blinked my eyes, but inside, a single thought dominated my mind.

(Can someone please explain to me what the hell is going on here?)

For some reason, I had this feeling that a lot of strange things had been happening around me lately. I won’t say that I’m completely oblivious to these events, but I definitely didn’t start them. They just seemed to happen because I was there. So, when some of those robe-wearers suddenly left and came back with a chair made of bones, I honestly didn’t know how to react.

(Also... those are definitely human bones, aren’t they?)

I blinked my eyes, watching as they carefully placed the bone chair in front of me and then knelt again. I stood there for a few seconds, confused by their actions. For some reason, something told me they wanted me to sit in that chair, but personally, even though I wasn’t human anymore, I just didn’t think I’d feel comfortable sitting in it... I mean, it was made of bones.

As I reflected on what to do, one of the hooded figures stood up and, from inside their cloak, took something and placed it on the bone chair. I blinked, wondering if they really thought that would persuade me.

Well, ignoring the fact that moments later, they were taking me somewhere while I enjoyed the ice cream placed on the chair, I glanced around briefly as I took another spoonful. It seemed like we were entering a cave. Honestly, I don’t even remember how we got here. I was so focused on the ice cream that, by the time I noticed, we were already inside.

Anyway, whoever these people were, they didn’t seem to mean me any harm. If I had to guess, I’d say they seemed more like they were worshiping me or something. Even for someone like me, who suddenly woke up in another body and discovered the world was full of these anomalous things, my current situation still seemed weirder.