[https://i.imgur.com/VGCFMQy.png]

Nox watched the village walls with cautious vigilance as he approached. The gate hung open enough to suggest something was wrong but not so far open as to actually allow easy sight into the village itself. He could see the snow built up around the gate. It had been open for a while.

His heart sank as his cursed sense began to stir deep within him. Someone had died in there. As his sense continued to awaken, his heart sunk further. A lot of people had died in there.

He looked at the group with him. If it was just him Refenial, and Nia he could have said something to warn them, but with the men from the caravan, especially with the ever-smiling Helus, he couldn't risk their finding out he was a ghoul.

The group reached the gate as they cautiously drew their weapons. He noticed Refenial was holding his dagger. He was sure the boy hadn't had the weapon before arriving in Waterhill. He couldn't blame the boy for buying a weapon to protect himself.

He often wondered about the strange boy, Refenial had opened up only a little, and he was certainly keeping many secrets. He had theories, especially after the strange encounter with Hildegard and that night with the crow that kept staring at the boy, but he wasn't willing to push the child into talking before he was ready.

Matrill gestured silently with his axe, making it clear that the older man would step through the gate first, and the rest would follow.

Nox was nearly the last person to step through, his uncertainty about what he'd find inside delaying him more than he meant to.

[https://i.imgur.com/oMrGBK6.png]

He looked around the village, taking the sorrowful sight in. The place was in ruins. Bits of bloody clothes stuck and abandoned tools sat half exposed beneath the white snow. Even without his unnatural sense, he could tell this was a place of death, the cloying, sickly smell that lingered even in the open air said enough.

Many of the houses and various buildings were in partial ruins, as if someone had no respect for their frames, like they had been cannibalized for parts. As he looked around, that, in fact, seemed to be exactly what had happened.

At the centre of the village sat something crooked and vaguely akin to a two-storey house. Its design was crude, a nonsensical mishmash of straw, wood and stone. Shuttered windows stolen from other houses sat at drunk angles, and a door on the upper floor hung slightly ajar, opening into nothing but open air. It looked like a single puff of breeze could blow the house down, but he doubted it would be that simple.

Nox looked at the crude approximation of humanity that the house represented, his ability to sense death spiralling into overdrive in the presence of the structure and knew in a sickening heartbeat what it meant.

"Monster." He whispered under his breath.

Matrill gestured everyone over so they could talk in low tones. "We need to know where the monster is. If it's not home, it might be safest to move the caravan into here for the night. We could use the wall to keep it at bay."

"Why don't we just burn down that creepy house?" One of the men asked.

Matrill shook his head. "If the monster isn't home and sees the smoke, it might attack before we're ready. We should split into teams of two and search the damaged houses for clues and survivors. Then once they're clear, we'll go to that house together."

"Just keep quiet so you don't let it know we're here if it is at home," Matrill added.

From the grim looks on everyone's faces, Nox knew, like him, none of the people here were expecting survivors.

He looked around for who to partner with and noticed that almost everyone else had already partnered. Nia and Refenial already skulking away to one of the nearest ruined houses.

"It looks like it's me and you." an unfortunately familiar voice said behind him. Nox turned to see Helus smiling sadly behind him.

Nox looked around, desperately hoping to switch partners but knowing it was too late.

"Fine." He said in defeat.

Helus frowned slightly. "I know you've got doubts about the Systemic Order, but surely you can put them aside at a time like this?"

Nox bit down on his tongue to stop himself from saying something he'd regret. As much as he'd like to wipe that smug smile off the evil priest's face, he knew now wasn't the time.

Nox silently pointed at a nearby house, not trusting himself to say anything.

Helus nodded and began walking with him towards the house.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

[https://i.imgur.com/oMrGBK6.png]

The pair crept towards the house. While this village was small, it must have been relatively wealthy since the house was made of a mixture of stone and wood. The straw roof was half-caved with straw spread liberally around. The door hung smashed open, a dark portal to a dark interior.

Nox pulled on the door as it stuck slightly in the snow, careful not to use too much strength unless he gave away his true nature to Helus.

He looked into the ruined house, his ghoulish eyes instantly adjusting to its gloom.

It was a grim sight. The first thing he spotted was the large table. Rotten remains of a half-eaten meal were sprayed across it as if knocked over in a struggle.

"Ugh, it stinks," Helus said, holding his hand to his face as he stood behind Nox, craning his head to look past him.

Nox nodded. He was about to quip back at the irritating man, but the empty, bloodied baby basket that lay strewn carelessly on the floor made the words catch in his throat.

"It's bad in there. You might want to stay here." Nox said to the would-be priest softly. He hated Helus, but he wasn't sure he would be willing to expose even someone he hated to the horrors they might find in the home.

Helus stepped forwards, retching quietly as he noticed the basket. Nox stepped forwards slightly into the house, concerned that Helus might be sick on him.

After a moment, the man seemed to have calmed his stomach a little. "No, I won't hide away from the evils of the world." He said softly to Nox.

Nox nodded and walked deeper into the house, leaving Helus to make his own choices.

Looking around, the house was what you'd expect of a slightly wealthier peasant in a village like this, a little furniture, a table, a few chairs and benches. Simple straw beds. One adult sized and two for children. He looked at the food carefully. It had started to rot but was not completely gone. He guessed a week, maybe two, since the tragedy had happened.

"Oh System, there's children's beds too." He heard Helus whisper in a tone so filled with pained horror that Nox felt a pang of pity for the man.

Nox turned to Helus, trying to shut down any thought of what must have happened here. "There's no survivors here. We should carry on searching."

The pair left the house and searched two more broken homes. Both just as empty as the first. They then headed back to the gate where everyone was meeting.

[https://i.imgur.com/oMrGBK6.png]

Nox looked at the faces of the men as he approached. Their looks were grim and hollow as their troubled minds tried to process the realities of seeing the signs of so many lives butchered without mercy or compassion. He noticed there were no survivors huddled into the group, he'd expected nothing less, but it still hurt to see as he remembered the basket and children's beds.

Once of the last of them returned Matrill cleared his throat, then spoke quietly to them in a voice that held only strained sorrow. "Did anyone find any clues?"

"I think it's probably been a week or two since the attack," Nox suggested, and a few other men nodded in quiet agreement.

"That was my assessment, too," Matrill said. "We need to work out if the monster is in it's house. If it is, we should burn it down like suggested earlier." He pointed to two of the men. "Get lit torches from the wagon. We'll scout it, and if there's anyone there, we'll burn it down."

The two men ran off quietly towards the caravan.

"What if there's survivors in there?" Refenial asked.

Matrill looked down at the boy, speaking to him with a soft tone of fatherly concern. "Lad, you should go back to the wagon."

Refenial shook his head. "No, I'm going to see this through to the end."

Matrill nodded, his expression sombre, "Then I'll tell you. If this monster attack happened a week or two ago, most likely everyone in there is dead, and if they're not..."

"What?" Refenial said, pulling himself into a determined stance and giving Matrill a fierce look.

"Lad... monsters don't always eat people quickly. If someone is somehow still alive, they'll be lacking... parts."

"Oh..." Refenial said distantly.

"so we're in agreement then?" Matrill asked. Looking around at the nodding heads.

Nox was surprised to see a lone dissenter, Refenial.

"Refenial..." Nox said, feeling sympathetic for the boy's objection.

"No! If there are people who are alive in there, even if they're suffering, what right do we have to murder them."

"Refenial, this is our only chance to stop whatever monster is in there. If the monster isn't in there, then we might be able to rescue people, but if the monster gets out, then others will probably die." Nox said.

"nox is right. We're more likely to save lives by burning it down if the monster is in there." Matrill said sadly.

Refenial started talking rapidly back and forth with Nia in her language. After a moment, he turned and started running towards the twisted house.

Nox started to move to chase the boy, but Nia stood between the group and Refenial. She shot a warning shot from her wand into the air, the projectile faintly humming through the air, before lowering it back down pointed at the group.

"No." She told them in her thick accent.

Nox hesitated. He wasn't sure how powerful her wand actually was. Maybe he could rush forwards and overpower her if he gave it his all, but that would give away his inhuman nature. Questions would be asked, and with Helus standing next to him, those questions would likely lead to his death.

As he saw Refenial getting closer and closer to the house, he made his decision, but before he began to move, he felt Matrill's strong hand on his shoulder. He turned to look at the one-eyed man, confused.

"If there's the sound of a struggle and the monster is in there, it will give us away, and the monsters will see Refenial. Our best hope now if the monster is in there is if Refenial comes back."

Nox dropped his head forwards in frustration. He'd been a fool to let Refenial come along. Sometimes the boy seemed so mature for his age. More like a little grown-up than a child. Sure, Refenial knowing magic and being titled might meet he was tougher than average, too. It didn't mean he had the sense not to crawl into a monster's nest.

He'd seen the traumatized look on the boy's face when they'd travelled through the forest or when questions of his past came up, but he thought, if anything, that trauma would make the boy run from certain death, not charge blindly in.

He looked over. Refenial was at the house now, creeping forwards ducked low as he walked towards a crooked window that sat just above ground height. The boy slid his dagger through a gap in the window shutters, undoing their latch and allowing them to quietly swing open and give him access to the horror inside.

Refenial looked back for a moment, and despite the distance their eyes met, Nox felt like his heart would break with grief as he saw the look of determination on the boy's face. He knew Refenial wouldn't turn back, he would go into that monster's lair, that house of horrors, and it would be the last he'd ever see of the boy again.

Refenial turned away and slipped into the crooked house.

[https://i.imgur.com/3vZaHAB.png]