The fog covered Ambrose’s vision, swirling around her in a harmonic rhythm. Then without warning it dissipates and she finds herself huddled in the corner of a room with the rest of her group. She can feel a tether to the spot she is crouched. A connection from where she was, to where she is.
The group look at each other, Bunny putting a finger over her lips as the others nod. Ambrose studies her surroundings. It’s night-time. The area is dimly lit, a small number of braziers spread across the walls. Their light does little to reveal their surroundings. Only offering small spotlights of vision around the room, masking everything beyond them. A cool breeze passes through the room, the group shivering in their thin clothes.
Ambrose makes a gesture and they begin to move slowly, doing their best to mask the sound of their footsteps. The world around them seems eerie, particularly when they spy a window shining the barest hint of light from outside. Red, unsettling light.
Ambrose navigates around the brazier’s light, using it as a way to direct herself as the group moves across the room. As they move past one of the brazier’s it begins to swing wildly. Back and forth in big waves, like a gust of wind picked it up and sent it flying across the air. The group freezes. The brazier’s light dances wildly, revealing hints of the room around her.
Ambrose catches the sight of a shrine as it swings past near the end of the room, her eyes trailing farther along and seeing a group of offerings. Meize has his eyes shut, and Bunny only looks fearfully at the brazier. Anastasia’s breath hitches when the light catches onto a corner of the room and, for a brief moment, she saw an arm stretch out of its depths.
The barest hint of a shrill cry escapes her mouth as she desperately suppresses her scream. Ambrose leans over and covers her mouth, receiving a grateful look in return. Ambrose only stares, watching, judging as the brazier continues to swing in tandem. Slowly its swings grow smaller and smaller, until it stops altogether. Hanging there like before.
Ambrose turns to look at the others and sees the uncertainty in their eyes. Anastasia is waving her arms around wildly and the group turns to her. She points to her mouth, but they all shake their head. Frustration fills her eyes. She continues to gesture wildly at them as they try and figure out what she’s saying. She tries to mouth the words, but only leaves them more confused. Finally Ambrose points to her mouth and holds up one finger. Anastasia nods.
“Arm.” She whispers as quietly as she can, unable to avoid the fear that has creeped in her voice. She points to the corner she saw it in, but they see nothing as they peer into the surrounding darkness. Meize shakes his head and points forward. The group take a deep breath and move on. Anastasia hurries to stick near them as her eyes continue to glance towards that corner every few seconds.
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The cold doesn’t help the atmosphere and as they walk further through the room they start to huddle even closer for warmth. The tension kept them rigid with bated breath. By the time they make it to the third light, they’d already felt like they had fought a great battle.
“I can’t take this!” Meize suddenly cracks, his thinly veiled voice stretching out into the endless darkness. With bunched up fists he eyes the surroundings with a wild look. “Come out! Whatever is here!”
“Shutup.” Anastasia hisses. Before she can continue Ambrose grabs her arms and drags her back, taking a few steps away from Meize. “What are you doing?” she whispers, quiet this time.
“Waiting.” Ambrose responds, and gestures for her to be silent. Nearby is Bunny, having already done the same, as she watches Meize quietly. His voice still rings out as he screams for something, anything, to come out. It rings out until his throat goes hoarse, and his voice loses its strength. It is then that he notices he’s alone. Fear fills his eyes.
He looks around again, searching, until he spots us a short distance away. A deep breath he’d been holding escapes. “I’m sorry.” Meize whispers. “I was so wound up, I just lost it.”
“Brute.” Bunny huffs, walking closer.
“I know.” Meize shakes his head as he turns to us. “Look, at least-“ a hand reaches out and grabs his arm. Anastasia lets out a scream as Ambrose jumps back, her hand moving to her waist.
“What are you lot doing here.” A voice follows the arm, and soon the man steps close enough to reveal himself in the light. The group heave a sigh of relief as they realise it’s an old man. Ambrose studies the ceremonial gown that cloaks him, her eyes wandering its patterns. “This is a sacred shrine. Outsiders aren’t allowed in here.”
“Sorry we didn’t know.” Bunny steps up. For a moment the stars on her staff light up, before going still again. “You can see we’re worse for wear. We’ve been on a long journey and ended up a bit muddled when we got here. Do you think you could help us out?”
“Of course.” The old man chuckles. “We don’t often have guests, but there’s a little shack just outside of town you could use. I hope in return you can regale me with some of your adventures come ‘morn.”
“We’d love to!” Anastasia speaks up, her voice a little shakey. She quickly introduces the group before turning back to him. “What’s your name?”
“Mourne.” The man answers. “Let me show you the way.” He gestures to the group before turning around, and Ambrose and the rest begin to follow him. This time they don’t avoid the light, almost feeling a little silly as they realise there’s nothing hidden in the darkness.
As they start to leave the room Ambrose turns her eyes around and cast them toward the shrine. She takes in the statue of a fox. It sits upright, with nine eyes on each of its tails casting their gaze to the sky. Ambrose looks down at the small offerings given, a small frown flickering across her lips. With one last look she turns back to the group and follows them outside.