Vidar was reading a report on the latest activities of the explorers when he heard a knock on his door.

"Enter."

Magnus dragged his feet into the office looking unusually tired even for him, Maybe I should give them some time off after this, the branch leader though.

"I came here to give a status report on the investigation of the unusual world essence activity."

"Go ahead."

"We examined the wards on the guild and most are intact but... the ones around the Mirmirsker have been affected somewhat." Magnus took a deep breath before continuing. "We are not entirely certain on what the purpose of the ritual was. It could have been something that targeted the Mirmirsker, but given the few minute traces we think it's the newly Awakened Talents."

The vice-leader signed and shook his head.

"This has either been an inside job or someone has managed to sneak in, and tamper with it. Although I don't think the youths are capable doing anything to affect the artifact, given the number of new people filtering through the building over the last few days, I am leaning towards the latter. Still, whoever did this was extremely skilled... or they've been preparing for a long time."

Vidar's face morphed into a frown as the vice-leader continued speaking. They sometimes had different youths or their families trying to do strange things to affected the ritual, in foolish attempts to improve their chances. This incident however, was starting to bother him—there was something off about it.

"Noreen is not sure if we will be able to make any further headway into pin-pointing the source. The trail was covered extremely well. But we are certain they were either inside the city or in the surroundings."

Vidar sank deep in though for a few moments.

“We cannot afford any tampering with the ritual. Until we find the breach in our security, we cannot run it again. Employ the High-Rank explorers to examine the wards, and discreetly start looking into the staff.”

His voice turned cold. “If it was someone on the inside, I want to know who.”

Magnus nodded, then frowned and added, "What about the new Talents?"

"Use the opportunity when they are registering their Talents to investigate them." He paused before adding. "After you finish looking into the staff, if you don't find anything with our people start monitoring the new Rune Bearers more actively."

The vice leader nodded.

"Thanks. And the other issue I asked you to look into?"

Magnus leaned forward slightly, and lower his voice a bit, "The noble scion and his company went through the archives looking for any information about a First-Rank Whisper—the one at the foothills of the Draugkel mountains. As well as anything on Murin and Bjorn Skulheim."

Vidar's eyes narrowed.

The vice-leader asked with in a hesitant tone, "You don't suppose they are trying...?"

"No... that Whisper is a death trap. Murin survived it but..."

The guild leader shook his head.

“They’re after something…” he sighed, then said, “Alright, continue. Inform me the moment anything new comes up.”

***

Erik clung to the tree’s rough bark, his breath catching as the valley unfolded beneath him. From his vantage point, a swamp and a forest mingled into a haunting expanse, both breathtaking and somber.

At its heart lay a glimmering lake, its surface dark and still, reflecting the heavy, gray sky like an enormous mirror. To the west hugging the shore of the lake, the jagged ruins of an ancient city jutted out of the earth, their stone remnants clawing skyward as if in defiance of of their fate. Vines and moss had overtaken the crumbling walls, blending the city’s remains with the encroaching wilderness.

Surrounding the valley were towering mountain peaks, their sheer faces shrouded in a thick, dark mist that clung to the heights like a warning. The mist twisted and writhed unnaturally, casting shifting shadows that seemed to move with a life of their own. Only the northern most peak stood untouched, its rocky summit piercing the clouds like a lone guardian watching over the desolate expanse.

Behind him, Erik felt the looming presence of the southern peaks, their ominous mist curling on itself. The air was heavy, almost suffocating, and every breath carried the faint scent of decay and damp earth. Surprisingly there was no unpleasant smell, but there was definitely something unsettling in the place. He felt a chill run through him, though whether it was from the cold or something else, he couldn’t say.

The beauty of the valley was undeniable, yet a weight pressed upon him—a sense of time standing still, of stories untold and secrets buried deep in the mire. It was as though the swamp itself mourned, its melancholic stillness a dirge for something long forgotten.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

After a few moments Erik came back to his sense.

Strange...

He did not see any tree he was looking for, which was a problem. He wasn't sure where it could be, so he would have to explore.

As he was looking at the landscape, out of the corner of his eye he saw a bolder halfway up the northern mountain peek move. For a moment Erik thought it was a landslide, but when he focused on it, with horror he realized... it wasn't.

It was a Nilgrim, the same type as the Shackled King's Mischief he killed earlier, but much larger. He couldn't see it in detail due to the distance, but he saw as it shook itself and looked around. Its head turned to the mountain peek behind it and paused, before it turned around and scanned the valley.

Erik was gripped by fear as he felt its gaze turn in his direction. He quickly hid behind the trunk of the tree as best as he could, and did not dare move a muscle or even breath.

You're kidding me! What is this monstrosity!

He waited until he calmed himself before he took a peek in the Nilgrim's direction again.

It was gone.

Thank the Exalted!

He eyes roved around the valley, but did not see it. Then a something occurred to him.

Was that he Shackled King? Erik though it was likely. But if that is the case, then this Nilgrim would be of the Horror Grade...

And that was extremely troubling, because Horrors were cunning. Unlike the Nilgrim of some of the Lower-Grades, who were consumed by madness. They had Abilities, as well as an Aura of Fear, that petrified those around them. However, the main reason why Erik thought it was of the Horror Grade, was because only they, and those of higher Grades, could propagate.

How did he get so unlucky? He had never heard of a First-Rank Whisper holding anything more than Fright.

Didn't Taron say that it shouldn't be too difficult to conquer!

Suddenly, Erik was feeling a lot less guilty about going behind his friend's back.

Even if he doesn't need to kill it to conquer the Whisper, the creature was now roaming somewhere in the valley. What if he came across it? This journey was becoming more perilous by the minute.

I should keep moving soon...

The ruins were the closest landmark to him so he decided to head there first.

He then figured out the best route to get there. It would be a bit of a trek, but it shouldn’t take him more than half a day. He also did his best to try and memorize the valley, and note any potential dangers.

Just as he was about to make his way down the tree, something caught his attention.

He turned around and stared closely at the southern peaks, where the dark mist was closest to him.

But as his gaze lingered on it, he realized that he wasn't imagining it—the dark haze was ever so slowly creeping downwards from the peeks, towards the valley's center.

Erik's face became somber, he figured that in a week or two at most, the valley would be fully submerged in the dark mist. And he was sure he didn't want to stick around to see what would happen.

It was time to get moving, so he made his way down the tree, gathered his stuff and set off for the ruins.

Still on edge from the fight, and from the abomination he saw after, every noise made him jump. He was suspicious of every shadow and every rock. But thankfully the physical exertion calmed him down a bit.

He checked on Gravesight's Blood Rune and it appeared to have regained a bit of its color. It seemed that the little fellow would be alright.

Then a thought occurred to him. Since he began Awakening his Talent, he had also began understanding his Blood Runes. Before when he examined his Gift Rune, he gained no further understanding of it. Maybe now it would be different.

So he gave it a go and observed it more closely, and indeed he did learn something—new information surfaced in his mind. The name he gave the vulture, followed by its Rank.

...Gift: Gravesight

Enkindled.

As I though, if its an Enkindled Rank, then Gifts have the same progression as Talents.

Then he found out it's Grade.

Refinded.

Not bad... Erik though.

He felt that his Gift had a lot of potential. The vulture wasn't to be underestimated. The only downside was that Gifts could not develop and grow stronger—their power was fixed. But the little guy had saved his life, albeit also endangering him first. So he was grateful to it not matter what Grade and Rank it had, he would cherish it.

Then some more vague information came up about what it could do.

Its Skill seemed to improved its sight and allowed it to see some sort of essence. What exactly, Erik wasn't sure. While its Ability allowed it to share its sight with him.

He had a lot of questions, but there was no way for him to find the answers here. He decided that the first thing he would do would be to seek out the mentorship of the explorer's guild if he survived this ordeal. Through them he had much better hope of understanding how to navigate the Path of Refinement.

He knew that he would need it.

Learning more about Gravesight gave Erik another idea. Couldn't he read the runes of his medallion? He had never understood them, there weren't anything like the common runes.

He took it out and closely examined the familiar yet strange heirloom.

There was... something about it, that he didn't feel before. But he couldn't quite place it. It didn't look any different to him and there was no insight that appeared in his mind like with his own Blood Runes. It was more of the feeling he got.

Given everything that had happened, he was certain that the medallion was not ordinary. However, it came from his parents so it couldn't be anything bad.

Signing with slight disappointed that he couldn't learn anything new about it he continued with the trek.

The terrain was a little rough to transverse and he had to keep his eyes open. At times the forest transitioned to a swamp, which made it more tedious to get through. It wasn't just the environment that was slow and arduous, on a few occasions Erik almost ran into more of the Mischiefs.

After more than half a day he finally stumbled out of the forest and came face to face with the crumbling walls of the ruined city. Up close despite their dilapidated state, they loomed over him. Decaying vegetation had crawled all over them and there were breaches in many places. Though Erik could not tell if this was the due to the hand of time or some massive abominations had reduced them to this state.

He kept his guard up and listen carefully for any noises, but the deathly stillness of the place gave nothing away, no bird that spun its song and no insect that buzzed around.

It send a shiver down Erik's spine. He wasn't sure he would be able to find the Whisper Tree here or even any clues as to where it could be, but he had no idea what else to do. And this place looked like the only one that could hold some answers as to what befell this valley, and how he could get out.

Well... there is only one way to find out, Erik though and walked forward cautiously.