Red and Domeron resumed their travels not much later. Before leaving, though, the youth searched around the village’s vicinity for any tracks of the supposed mercenaries that came to investigate the disappearances. He was not surprised when he didn’t find any tracks leading to or from the village.

Domeron frowned once he saw this. “Was the elder lying about that, too?”

“I don’t know.” Red shook his head. “It could be just as likely that this group is experienced enough not to leave any traces of their passing.”

“You think Gustav is behind this?”

The youth hesitated. “… He is too convenient of an excuse for mercenaries to use while out here, but at the same time, it’s foolish not to consider the possibility he could be involved. I can only imagine he also has people looking into these kinds of rumours all around the region.”

Red knew that Rimold also provided Gustav with a lot of these rumours himself to pay off his debt to his organization. That being said, he didn’t think Rimold would have told the merchant about this matter he seemed to care so much about. At the very least, he couldn’t think of a reason as to why the rogue would do it.

“Well, as long as no one in their group is in the Lesser Ring Realm, we should be able to handle it.” Domeron shrugged.

Red hoped so too, but things rarely ever want to plan with these types of matters.

They kept travelling, and soon enough night had fallen. At this rhythm, they would reach the supposed dead section of the forest before long, so they chose to continue travelling during the night.

They weren’t running, considering that these mercenaries already had several days’ lead on them and the duo was unlikely to catch up, but they also chose to forego a night’s rest in favor of being done with this as soon as possible.

As they walked along, Red looked up at the night’s sky.

The New Moon was nearing, and it would probably be less than a week before the curse flared up. This would be the first time he would face the curse with the help of his “special” acupoint, and he didn’t know what to expect. Red hoped by then the insectoid core would have recovered enough to supply him with the energy to resist it, but somehow he felt that this time there would be something more waiting for him when the time came for the curse to strike.

Despite all these thoughts, what attracted Red’s attention the most wasn’t the Moon or the Curse. Instead, it was the green flashes of light flaring up in the night sky. They kept increasing in number and frequency every passing night.

Red still didn’t know what these were. The coloration immediately made him associate it with Moonstone Energy, but these beams seemed brighter and more tangible compared to the misty form of that energy, all shooting in the direction of the Moon in the sky. Yet, it was clear now that the phenomenon was becoming more frequent the closer to the New Moon it got.

Red wondered what the sky would look like when the time for his curse arrived.

Aurelia interrupted his silent comtenplation. “You’re looking at the sky again!”

The youth ignored her and kept walking.

“Damn it all, you never told me about what you were seeing!” Aurelia said.

Indeed, they were both so focused on what was happening in the village that this matter didn’t seem important enough for Red to mention at the time. This wasn’t without reason, though, as Aurelia made it clear in the past she didn’t want to discuss anything regarding the Moon or the phenomena surrounding it besides the curse itself.

In fact, she even refused to look at the Moon. The youth just didn’t know how he would explain these shooting beams of light without discussing the astral body.

He stopped walking all of a sudden. Domeron, who was walking ahead as per usual, looked back at him with a strange expression once he noticed this.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Something.” Red said.

“What?” The swordsman looked confused.

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“Could you go over there for a second?”

Domeron sighed but chose not to argue with the youth.

A few seconds later, Red was by himself again and he wrote on the paper a quick message.

‘I am seeing beams of green light with an increasing frequency in the night sky, shooting towards the Moon.’

Aurelia didn’t respond immediately. “… I told you to stop looking at the Moon.”

Red frowned.

‘Should I be worried?’

“You should be worried about everything you don’t understand, yes.” Aurelia said. “I do not know what this is, and even if I was willing to investigate it, I doubt we could do anything about it. Just put this to the back of your mind for now and we will deal with it when the time comes.”

The woman didn’t elaborate any longer. The way she spoke, though, seemed like she would help him no matter what happened, so this put Red at ease.

In fact, he was noticing that since they met and she offered to help him, which wasn’t much longer than a week ago, the woman was doing well on her promise. She wasn’t helping him with every small ordeal, but she definitely provided him with insight into puzzling matters Red would have no idea about otherwise, and for one reason or the other, she also saved his life.

There was obviously a selfish desire behind this, since Red’s life and success were very much tied to hers right now, but it seemed like Aurelia had truly taken his burdens as her own. It gave him a sense of safety in being able to rely on someone like this, but this feeling wasn’t something Red liked.

This was the seedbed for complacency. He couldn’t forget who he was dealing with here - a ghost of a very cunning and ruthless cultivator, whose attachment to her ambition was strong enough to birth a cursed life after death. If she had a better way out of her predicament, would she hesitate to betray Red? The youth didn’t think so, which was why he was thinking back on their earlier conversation.

‘She seemed eager enough for me to go looking for the entrance to the underground.’

Did she know more than she let on? It was hard to say, but if she didn’t think this would benefit her cause in some way, she wouldn’t have suggested it.

No matter what, Red couldn’t let his guard down. To make matter worse, this wasn’t the only potential traitor he needed to watch out for.

“Are you ready to go?” Domeron asked as he watched Red approach.

The youth nodded. “Let’s be on our way.”

The duo resumed their travel before long.

…

Early the next morning, they arrived at the edge between life and death.

Domeron frowned. “Well, this truly does look ominous.”

They were staring at the sea of dead trees and plants in front of them. The change in biome was quite abrupt, as a few meters behind him they could still see the lush and bright colors of the thicket, but ahead of them all they saw were dead trees and the ashen dirt of the forest floor. This was enough to evoke an uneasy feeling in anyone who looked at it.

No plant, no animals, no life. Nothing but the sound of the haunting wind blowing through the dead trees.

“Does it look any different from what you saw back then?” Domeron asked.

“It was a long time ago.” Red said. “But no. It looks the same.”

As far as Red could tell, the death pervading this region didn’t advance, but neither did it retract much, still extending for a large area of the forest. According to Rog, the ground was completely depleted of nutrients to support plant life, and no animals or monsters dared to step feet inside this place either. It was uncertain how long it would take for this place to recover, and no one in town was too eager to come over to here and help the process along.

“I can’t feel even a sign of life from this place, undead or otherwise.” Aurelia said. “What the hell happened here, Red?”

The youth didn’t say anything, but even if he could, he would have hesitated to explain it to her. This was all the work of the crimson mist inside his body, of course, which would have probably kept consuming life essence from the entire region if Red hadn’t put a stop to it.

He often wandered what it could have accomplished if it was left unchecked. Was the hellish landscape Red saw in his dreams a result of the crimson mist’s work? Would his own world have become the same?

Thankfully, he wouldn’t need to find out any longer. Or so he hoped.

“Do you have a place in mind that you want to look into first?” Domeron asked.

“I have a few.” Red nodded. “We should also be on the lookout for those mercenaries, though. I’m not sure if they knew where to head, but it won’t be hard to bump into each other in this place.”

Without the canopy to cover them, it was rather easy to spot anything in this forest from afar.

And so, Red started to lead them to the first place he had in mind. It wasn’t the cave he emerged from - that would be left for last - but rather he was heading towards where he buried his insectoid core when he first reached the surface. This was around the center of the dead forest, and it wouldn’t take them more than a few hours to reach it.

That was if nothing distracted them, that is.

“There’s something in the distance.” Domeron squinted his eyes and pointed in the direction they were heading.

Red frowned, spotting the same thing a few seconds later. “It looks like a… person.”

Although Red said that, he was questioning himself for a bit. They were still too far to discern the image for certain, but they could see the silhouette of a human being right next to a particularly large tree. The only problem was that it seemed to be suspended a few meters in the air.

“Let’s get closer.” Red said. “I can’t examine them from here.”

Domeron nodded, and the two approached.

As they got closer, the scene became clearer. This person wasn’t so much floating in the air as they were impaled onto the tree trunk by a large spear a few meters off the ground. Both Red and Domeron got on their guards as they saw this.

The youth extended his crimson sense in the individual’s direction. When it reached him, he was greeted by a weak but still moving fluctuation.

“He’s alive.” Red said. “… I think he’s still conscious.”

He and Domeron exchanged glances.

“I’ll take the lead.” the swordsman said, approaching the man with a hand on his sword’s hilt.