Herk looked at me as we sat on our beds, wondering if something was wrong. I nodded in response. The air was different. Ivian and Yann were acting strangely and getting too comfortable despite our recent constant fight for survival. My aching muscles started relaxing, and my eyes were growing heavier. Herk showed similar signs.

"Aren't you feeling weird?" I spoke to them. My voice was softer, and my breath drew longer. Ivian and Yann looked at me with a haze over their eyes. Herk took notice, and his mind began to ponder.

"I don't know exactly what you mean, boss. I think we finally got a lucky break. It's good for us to relax a bit." Ivian responded with a shrug, and Yann just nodded with his head flat on the pillow. I approached the window to take a look outside. The small patch of forest around the manor swayed in the wind. However, it was too dark to see past the trees or between them, even with moonlight.

"Gale, could you help me scan the room?" Herk proposes the idea.

"What are we looking for?"

"Ever since we stepped into this mansion, especially this room, the air around here has been sapping our strength. Our wills are able to resist it, but not enough to repel it. If this is a ritual curse that I think it is, we are seriously in trouble."

"A ritual curse? Ivian, I need you to-" Before I could finish, Ivian had laid in bed with his eyes closed. He was in a deep sleep that we couldn't awake him from. Yann was already asleep before Ivian. Herk touched her heads and examined them closely. Their eyes were fogged over in a trance.

"Shit! This is worse than I realized. Quick! Look anywhere! We need to find the focus and destroy it. That is the only way to free them!" Herk went to move but soon fell onto his chest. His legs were unresponsive. "I can't feel my legs...! Damn it! It looks like I won't be of much help. Hurry!"

Why is this happening? My mind constantly asked this question. We had to deal with a massive storm and sick companions, and now this? I unsheathed my swords and aimed for the door. Not thinking of my actions, I figured escaping this room would help. Yet, when my blades struck the door, some barrier quickly repelled me. Knocking me to the ground, I tumble to my feet.

"What the hell?" Something was keeping us inside the room. I tried again only to meet the same results. I could feel my body going numb and soft. A couple of taps to my temple with my hilt to keep myself awake was all I could do to prolong the curse. "Herk, please tell me you know a way out... Herk...?" Consumed by the curse, Herk was asleep without issue. I held onto my blade tightly as my legs gave out.

Heavy breaths rose from my lungs. I frantically looked all around the room to spot the focus that Herk mentioned, but nothing stood out. Nothing did; it was a mystery if there was anything. Unless it was hidden by some magic. I reacted, and I lay on the ground with my eyes halfway closed. A fog clouded my vision, but I noticed a faint flickering within the mists. Something was inside this room causing this. My blades scrapped against the wooden floorboards—every ounce of strength to pull me along.

The flickering creature crawled on the wall. No bigger than my hand as it slightly moved away from my presence. The creature did not strongly emit the aura of the curse, so I drew one of my daggers and attempted to throw it forward. My body was in a river of numbness, and my arm gave out halfway into the throw. The dagger clanged along the ground, but I didn't let it stop me from crawling towards the creature.

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"Our journey won't end here..." I flip the blade into my hand and cut my wrist. The blood pools onto the floorboards. This causes the creature to crawl a significant amount toward the scent of my blood. Drawing it into my trap, the moment it gets within reaching distance, my hand pulls the dagger forward and, with my fingers, flick the knife into the creature.

With a low shriek, the creature falls onto the floor, squirming. I don't hesitate to draw my other dagger to crawl a few feet before driving the dagger through the creature. The flickering stops and unveils the rotting flesh of some reptilian newt. Its scales were a sickly green, and the head was shaped almost like a rat.

"A familiar...? I haven't seen one of those in ages..." With the curse now disabled in the room, I could feel my body gain feeling. The others would still be under its influence even if I tried to wake them up now. It would take some time before they regain consciousness. I held my ground and continued to move my arms and legs, keeping them in constant motion.

Herk was the first one to wake up after a few minutes. Crawling to his knees, he looked at me and then at the dead familiar. Shaking off his daze, he quickly places his hands on the other two and recites a spell to help recover them.

"Seems like this Cornelious and his servant are hiding something if they are using a familiar to knock us out." Herk says while tending to the others.

"There's also the doctor from the clinic. Rys was his name. He told me he works here and tends after the people who take residence."

"Are you saying he might also be a part of this?"

"I don't know, but it is a coincidence that he mentioned he was also the clinic doctor. But we must assume that whoever we find isn't friendly."

"Thankfully, you held out from the curse. I didn't know you were so resistant."

"We shouldn't have recovered from this. There was something that slowed down the curse and limited its properties of dulling our senses."

"A third party trying to prevent whatever is going on?"

"Possibly. I don't want to find out. Just get the hell out of here, recover Lukia and Caleb, and then tell the village about this place. It's only been up for some months, and the people who come here to stay haven't visited the village since."

"There might be people we can save Gale."

"I want to make sure we can save ourselves, Herk. We are down two of our supporters. Ivian and Yann won't be able to take anything in a fight after waking up. The weakening curse would have already drained them of their strength far too long. No, we have no choice but to leave."

"Very well. Can you open the door now?"

I turned to see the door. It wasn't scratched by my attacks earlier, so I was unsure if they would repel me like before. Herk gave me a nod as I approached the door. My hands shook softly as I pressed them against the door. I didn't feel any resistance repelling me back. So, I tried to open it. The doorknob turned like normal, and it bridged open without issue.

"It looks like we are in the clear. How are they doing?" I said while holding my blades against the door.

"Shouldn't be longer. Just a few more minutes and they-" His breath cut short, and his eyes stared wide in fear. A chill ran down my spine at the sudden shock across his face. A cold air brushed against the back of my neck. I turned to confront what was near, only to see an elongated face stretched into unreasonable proportions. The eyes bugged out of the socket, and the neck was longer than a foot that twisted around as it stared at me. A rotting smile across its disturbing face, the soulless eyes poured dread into my core.

"Did you enjoy your stayyyyyyyyyyyy!" Without a moment to react, the creature's arms stretched out and wrapped around my arms, dragging me out of the room and tossing me against a wall. The skin was ragged and wrinkled. A gray tone for the skin made it look sickly. The stench of rot was ever so pungent from the creature. It was something undead or close to it.

The creature ignored Herk and went straight for me. The mass of flesh stretched with ungodly sounds of visceral horror. The stench was so pungent that I couldn't properly focus on defending when it attacked—bashing me across the chest and into the other side of the hall, slamming into a picture frame. The glass shards cut my cheek and the back of my head. The blood inked down my face. I lay there, underneath the presence of this monstrosity, still recovering from the weakening curse. I've never faced a creature of this kind before. But I had to face it here: if we have a chance of making it out of this mansion alive...